Tradwife vs. Breadwinner: I've Lived Both Lives and Here's What You Need to Know

I played into both the housewife and the girlboss regimes.
I tried both.

Social media trends come and go, but few have had the consistently polarizing holding power of the tradwife. You've seen them—Ballerina Farms and her ilk with their millions of followers, homemade sourdough, and inexplicably clean children.

It's oddly charming to watch these girls my daughter's age cosplay their first few years as tradwives online. But it's also dangerous to romanticize a lifestyle that comes with very real, long-term vulnerabilities they haven't experienced yet.

I'm a 47-year-old retired tradwife who's lived the entire 25-year journey. While they're showcasing year 1-3 of their tradwife experience, I've completed the full saga—a decade as a traditional housewife in Canada AND fifteen years as the family breadwinner in Los Angeles.

With nearly 50% of marriages ending in divorce, where will these Instagram-famous tradwives be if they're traded in for a second wife after a decade out of the workforce? That's not a question that gets asked amid the sourdough tutorials.