Seeing as this is not going to be a long article but just a rant from your regular millennial feminist, lets therefore get straight on the background to feminism and specifically the journey which the economic liberation of women has come. It is no unknown fact that feminism as a movement emerged from the struggle for gender equality advocating for women’s rights across political, social and economic spheres. The three waves of feminism arising from the 20th century to present day may have had different fronts but all came down to issues ranging from legal rights, workplace discrimination, reproductive rights in attempts to dismantle partriachial structures.
Economic liberation is a crucial aspect of feminism as financial independence helps women be able to break away from systemic of oppression and traditional gender roles. The journey that feminism has walked from the very first-time women were allowed to vote and basically exist not as subjects to men, to when women were allowed to open bank accounts and work outside the home up to present day when women are flooding previously male dominated fields, demanding and earning seats at high levels of decision making and choosing to be marriage and childfree is trulyremarkable. The fact that we were born into an era where women have rights shouldn’t make us forget the tremendous sacrifice it took the women before us.
This paper seeks to establish the direct relationship between feminism and economics necessitated by a worrying trend of women glorifying traditional gender roles confessing that it would be their lifestyle choice and that the feminist movement that ironically gave them the right to voice out their opinion did a great disservice to them. The trend features hundreds of women across the races portraying their lavish lifestyles on social media and of course giving the credit to their partners who have popularly come to be known as “provider men”. From living in the leafiest suburbs to consuming overpriced coffee and driving the swankiest SUVs, these women have become the envy of most women often comparing their lives to what they wished to have.
Whilst many women may be sold onto the idea that giving up financial independence may be good for them; we need to investigate the reasons why may lead to such a consequential proportion of the female gender to even consider giving in to the façade. It is not a secret that capitalism has been heard on the population. Women often get the shorter end of the stick having to work outside the home for a living and still taking on a disproportionate role inside the home. It is therefore not too shocking that they would want to give up one. The counter argument for women who promote the trad wife culture has always been that they have choices and that is what they have decided to do. A couple of questions arise from that, choices do not exist in a vacuum and the social wiring established by the partriachial society influences women heavily to make that choice. Shaming women for going to work whilst having children plays a big role in that. Sexual harassment as well as lack of access to opportunities comes a close second. Secondly, this choice is purely reliant on the assumption that men always have the best interest of women at heart and based on overwhelming data, that is rarely the case. Thirdly, It can be argued that being a trad wife is not really a choice, being a trad wife is contingent on someone else choosing you to be their trad wife, your acceptance of the role doesn’t equal an active choice and it is up to them to determine how long that lifestyle can go on. Being a trad wife may sound dreamy to many however, Feminism gave women getting rights to chose who they want to marry, right to vote, access to education, freedom of association, right to work and own properties to do whatever they may want to do. The opportunity cost for that choice was the trad wife privileges that we so seem to miss so much and the misplaced anger from capitalism shouldn’t make us trivialize the rights feminism afforded us.
A big concern has to be about what embracing the trad wife culture could potentially have on women in the long run. Take for instance women chose not to work and instead decide to take care of the home, what kind of values would that instill on their daughter? Would they be raised with the notion that women are only good for taking care of households, what impact does that have on the representation of women in the workforce and spaces of leadership in future? How does that affect the women who do not have the luxury of making that choice, does it hurt their employability seeing as most women opt to rely on men financially? It can be argued that as more and more women are willing to give up their rights for comfort, it becomes increasingly easy for the rights to be taken away from the rest.
The only way to neutralize this menace is to ensure that the working environment is structured to accommodate women’s special needs. Socio economic reforms need to be put in place to ensure the factors that make capitalism harder on women are addressed. Otherwise, the trad wife train might just crash us all and God forbid that happens!
By Vivian Chamcham.
