{"id":1328,"date":"2026-02-20T09:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T09:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/02\/20\/2026-02-20-are-tradwives-trad\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:10:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:10:54","slug":"2026-02-20-are-tradwives-trad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/02\/20\/2026-02-20-are-tradwives-trad\/","title":{"rendered":"Are \u2018tradwives\u2019\u00a0trad?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Madison Fossa<\/a> · Contributing Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
\u2014 ESQUIRE<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since 2020, the \u201ctradwife\u201d trend has overtaken the internet. Wives and mothers dress in floor length sundresses, holding babies with one hand while kneading sourdough with the other. According to their own testimonies, these women seek to emulate wives of centuries past as they work solely in their homes, not the corporate world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe that stay-at-home-moms can be incredible godly examples, and that our culture has lost respect for women who prioritize their husbands and children as the Bible calls them to. However, the tradwife movement is novel and reactionary, which is important to remember when considering if the trend can be considered traditional at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Carl Trueman, a renowned author and professor of Biblical & Theological Studies here at Grove City College, explained that the new movement violates tradition at two main levels, namely the separation of work and home life and the division of labor between men and women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you were to go back to the Middle Ages or even the early modern period, you simply wouldn\u2019t have the dramatic distinction between work inside the home and work outside of the home,\u201d Trueman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tradwife lifestyle that social media portrays today is a reaction to a justified frustration that conservatives feel towards a culture that has largely demonized women prioritizing family above all else. I believe movements advocating the destruction of biblical wives and motherhood are wrong and need to be reacted against. However, is the modern tradwife trend the way to do so?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Trueman pointed out, \u201cmerely doing the exact opposite of something that (is) wrong is not necessarily the right thing \u2026 the key (is) to realize that the tradwife is not explicitly taught in scripture as a phenomenon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The historical context and reactionary nature of the tradwife movement are important to consider, as are the ironies that abound within the trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the trending tradwife content, from sourdough recipes to cleaning montages, is filmed, edited and uploaded to social media. Traditionally, women did not film and broadcast their chores. Traditionally, they were unpaid for their efforts, before TikTok subsidized videos. Traditionally, these tasks were done not out of luxury for views, but out of necessity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTradwife is preformed \u2026 using a very, very modern form of media,\u201d Trueman explained. \u201cIf there ever had been such thing as a tradwife, she would not have the time or the interest in preforming her role for anyone other than her husband, probably.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another blatantly ironic and untraditional aspect of the tradwife movement is monetized domesticity. In her Institute for Family Studies article \u201cWhat Trad Wives are Selling is Not Traditional Motherhood,\u201d Ashley McGuire wrote that tradwives \u201care social media influencers making money for their content. They have monetized their domestic life \u2026 (which) makes them earners by definition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, what concerns me the most about the movement are the aspects of faith that are commonly associated with being a tradwife. As a Christian woman, I believe that serving in the home and caring for a husband and children are the primary responsibilities of a wife. However, I do not believe that the Bible commands women to wrangle chickens, grow their own vegetables or make all their children\u2019s clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though these practices are not sinful by any means, treating an influencer\u2019s lifestyle as gospel is dangerous territory for Christian living. Influencers have a knack for making extremely difficult tasks look easy in a 30 second TikTok video; after all, they will likely be compensated for their efforts later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not all women have the means to live out any trend to its fullest extent, including the modern tradwife phenomenon. However, all women can still follow the commands given to them in the Bible, instead of on the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make no mistake: There are expectations of women (and men) within the home. Rather than prioritizing the performative experience that influencers present on screen, married women should be completely devoted to their natural obligations towards their husbands and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the heart of being a woman \u2026 of being a human being \u2026 is understanding the natural relations that you have and the natural obligations that they bring,\u201d Trueman said. \u201cAnd they might look different in different contexts (or) in different places \u2026 but it\u2019s not a performance that brings attention to me or myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A married woman\u2019s natural relations and obligations are first to her husband, and then her children. This is the truly traditional, biblical mindset when viewing Christian family life. In different contexts and for different families, the way in which a wife or mother fulfills these obligations will vary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some, homeschooling the kids, growing food and staying home will be the best way to follow God\u2019s commandment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For others, fulfilling this call may take the form of a job outside the home or teaching children at church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biblical commands set before women may be fulfilled without following the online aesthetic provided by the tradwife label. Ultimately, the tradwife lifestyle is curated by content creators who are paid to live that way. Instead of looking to TikTok for wisdom on how to be the ideal wife and mother, Christian women should turn to the Bible and ensure that their heart posture is not only traditional, but God-honoring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since 2020, the \u201ctradwife\u201d trend has overtaken the internet. Wives and mothers dress in floor length sundresses, holding babies with one hand while kneading sourdough with the other. According to their own<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":[47,104,29],"class_list":["post-1328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions","tag-issue-2026-02-20","tag-madison-fossa","tag-perspectives"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-02-20-20-are-tradwives-trad-1.jpg",1280,853,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-02-20-20-are-tradwives-trad-1.jpg",150,100,false],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-02-20-20-are-tradwives-trad-1.jpg",300,200,false],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-02-20-20-are-tradwives-trad-1.jpg",768,512,false],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-02-20-20-are-tradwives-trad-1.jpg",1024,682,false],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-02-20-20-are-tradwives-trad-1.jpg",1280,853,false],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/09\/2026-02-20-20-are-tradwives-trad-1.jpg",1280,853,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Since 2020, the \u201ctradwife\u201d trend has overtaken the internet. Wives and mothers dress in floor length sundresses, holding babies with one hand while kneading sourdough with the other. According to their own","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1328"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1738,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1328\/revisions\/1738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}