Tradwives on the rise

How female influencers are reverting to gender norms

Nara Smith sports a sequined red evening dress as she carefully prepares a kimchi dinner for her three children and husband. The 23-year-old's hair is perfectly styled, her makeup flawless - just as it always is in her social media videos on TikTok or Instagram.

Similarly glamorous outfits are worn when Smith is crafting homemade versions of everything from Coca-Cola to granola and Nutella.

An American blogger of South African and German descent, Smith is part of the growing "tradwife" trend - short for traditional wife - on TikTok where traditional gender roles are promoted, with a lot of cooking and childcare content. She already has more than 9 million followers on the platform who watch her daily. But according to DW, the tradwife trend isn't just about glamour, as it includes a range of lifestyles.

Hannah Neilman, 34, is a TikTok influencer known under the social media name Ballerina Farm who showcases her farm life in Utah where she keeps house, milks cows, grows vegetables and raises eight children with her husband. With nearly 10 million followers, the former ballerina, model, and blogger embodies a new online movement promoting 1950s-style domestic bliss.

The spurt of the trend

The "traditional wife" movement began gaining popularity on social media about six years ago. Some say it has ties to an anti-feminist, misogynistic forum on social media site Reddit called Red Pill. In the film The Matrix, taking the red pill means being awakened to the truth - in this case, a metaphor embraced by men who feel their manhood has been repressed and who yearn for conventional gender roles.

But the notion of the tradwife goes right back to the 1950s ideal of the nuclear family. Today this idea is a nostalgic, class-based fantasy, says Lisa Wade, associate professor of sociology and faculty member in the gender and sexuality studies program at New Orleans' Tulane University. In earlier US history, most families operated as small businesses in which the husband and wife both contributed to the household's economic viability, Wade explained.

"The ideal of a breadwinner husband and homemaker wife emerged in the 1950s but quickly fell apart," she told DW. "By the 1970s, the dual-earner family model became dominant due to economic necessity, as it was increasingly difficult to sustain a family on a single income." The researcher believes that the tradwife trend "cherry picks history by focusing on a brief period when middle class and wealthy white men could afford to have stay-at-home wives". But this ignores the economic realities of most families today, says Wade.

The retrograde tradwife trend draws as many fans as it does haters. Some admire these bloggers' femininity and their choice to focus on their families. Others argue that these women portray outdated gender roles and are effectively making themselves prisoners in their own homes. Other critics say that the lifestyle depicted is unrealistic and unattainable for most. Being a tradwife influencer on social media is itself a full-time job for those who are successful enough to monetize their output.

The media-politics intersection

Some also question whether the promotion of this kind of domestic idyll is part of a culture war that serves certain political ends. According to sociologist Viktoria Rösch, tradwives are part of a broader discussion about gender roles and how we want to live as a society.

Even if they don't see themselves as political, their portrayal of a specific gender order makes them a useful tool for far-right groups, Rösch adds. Tradwives tend to blame modern feminism for the struggles women face today, such as balancing career and family. This reinforces far-right ideas about the family and gender roles, Rösch tells DW.

Germany's far-right party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), typically known for its conservative stance on family and gender issues, has seen a rise in support among women. The anti-immigrant, Euroskeptic party, labelled "suspected far-right extremist" in Germany, currently leads opinion polls in several states in the country's east. Support for the AfD is driven primarily by men. Nevertheless 15% of women in Germany in the 30 to 44 age group support the AfD, a 2024 poll by the German broadcasting company RTL found.

The AfD has used imagery in their campaigns that reflects ideas also promoted - even if unconsciously - by tradwives. For instance, an AfD Instagram post compares "modern feminists" to "traditional women" through the use of negative stereotypes such as attractiveness, career choices and values.