WTF is Happening to Gen-Z Women?
Suffragettes, Feminists, and Trad Wives. It's A Lot.
In July of 1972 Democratic Convention in Miami was electrified by promise of change. The stage was filled with gladiators demanding equality, autonomy, and Constitutional recognition. The women, the great granddaughters of Suffragettes, had come ready for battle.
The Year (Some) Women Refused To STFU
America, bruised and battered in the wake of the tumultuous 1960s, was watching a contentious Democratic Primary unfold. Until California when George McGovern emerged as the presumptive nominee. The Liberal Icon came armed with a stockpile feminists ready to face what they saw as - at best - Nixon’s indifference toward inequality.
But McGovern’s support of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and his trepidation about legalizing abortion would equally cost him. McGovern tried and failed to straddle the line. Democrats can’t make that mistake again in 2024. There’s too much at stake.
Fifty-two years ago women poured their souls into the fray, striving to rewrite their destinies. But of course, no good fight is without its foes, and soon the backlash emerged—a conservative army of men and women banded together in an attempt to “preserve the essence of womanhood.” Not so surprisingly, the anti-equality movement was led by women. Women like Phyllis Schlafly who travelled the nation in search of building her own empire by telling other women they should produce free labor at home.
“The equal rights amendment will take away the right of a wife to be supported by her husband in a home provided by her husband and the right to have her husband support her minor children.” - Phyllis Schlafly, Attorney, Author, & Anti-Equality Architect
The Year (Some) Women Pretended To STFU
Now fast forward five decades. Here come the #TradWives. These young women, like the women who came before them, have monetized fear of equality. This time on social media. Just a quick search on TikTok, well give you hours of content declaring things like: “Being a trad wife is my ultimate flex,” spinning yarn and rolling homemade biscuits. And, like the women who came before them, Trad Wives are making a pretty penny building a career on minimizing women who have careers.
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For example, Nara Pellman, who is famous for her luxurious life including doting on her children with her homemade cereal, can pull in around $200,000 off one TikTok post. We aren’t witnessing a movement to empower women to return to the home, we are witnessing a retreat into the gilded cage of the conspicuous leisure class.
For some Trad Wives, the crash will be brutal.
It’s an ironically disingenuous ride and it’s one we saw in the 1920s and again in the 1970s. If history tells us anything, you can be sure those gleaming aprons strings can quickly turn into could shackles forged by nostalgia and patriarchy.
Frying Bacon or Baking Biscuits
Trad Wife choices aren’t without controversy. They’ve sparked debates about the very essence of feminism. For Trad Wives, it’s about safety, submission, and servitude. For some, it is also about cash and lots of it. Who knows if they actually get to keep any of that cash or if they are required to hand it over to the man of the house, however, Money with Katie makes an interesting connect between how Trad Wives present themselves on TikTok and Instagram versus LinkedIn. Apparently, some Trad Wives want to (demurely) run their empire.
If the 1972 women’s rights movement was born from the depths of despair and stagnation, the Trad Wife movement of 2024 serves as a fever dream that romanticizes 1950s America. We ignore the very real reasons that lead the women of 1952 to give rise to the women of 1972 at our peril. We ignore the harrowing battles fought in the halls of Congress and the smoky corners of dimly lit cafes where feminists plotted their coup against systems designed to keep them tethered to the home - Even abusive ones- at our peril.