You can barely open TikTok or scroll through social media feeds without running across videos promoting perfect-appearing families leading the “trad wife” lifestyle. Short for “traditional,” this trend promotes a lifestyle that never left the 1950s and has rigid gender roles for men and women.
Some women living the trad wife lifestyle appear sold on the concept of staying home to make bread and tend babies rather than return to the workforce. But they could be doing themselves a disservice should the marriage fail later.
Lifestyle encourages financial dependence
When there is a sole breadwinner who takes care of the bills, it is far too easy to slip from being a happy trad wife to a financially dependent ex-spouse. Not having their own money in the bank or a good understanding of the family’s finances puts trad wives in a very bad position if the breadwinner pulls the plug on the marriage.
Rigid roles leave little room for parity
Even though the roles trad wives play have genuine value for their spouses and children, those roles rarely generate income. That means that the man’s role can be magnified as bigger and more valuable because they earn the funds for the family to function.
Trad wives have fewer marketable skills
You could argue that trad wives are a bit like project managers on a jobsite, but trying to make those skills morph into dollar signs can be quite a challenge. Remaining out of the workforce definitely has drawbacks if you later try to enter or even re-enter to earn your own money. Your skills will likely be lacking, and you won’t be up on all the latest industry trends.
Trad wives facing divorce should learn all they can about the family laws that govern divorce cases here in North Carolina.