Stacey gets a close-up look at life as a ‘tradwife’
IT’S A THOUGHT-PROVOKING OPENER FOR THIS RETURNING DOCUMENTARY SERIES
OBEY your husband, don’t talk too much, look beautiful, dress a certain way and do all the housework.
It sounds like something from an advice leaflet for 1950s housewives – and certainly doesn’t sound like fun.
“I can’t think of anything worse than being a tradwife,” says Stacey Dooley, speaking on behalf of a nation of appalled women.
This is the return of the series that sees the documentary maker spend a weekend with various unique families.
In this series she’ll be a house guest with everyone from an eco-warrior family living on a remote Hebridean island to an Orthodox Jewish couple with nine children.
This time she’s staying with the Sediles, where Lillian is a member of the growing community of ‘tradwives’ – she has rejected all career ambitions to become an archetypal housewife.
“It’s almost like our family is a business and he is the CEO,” says Lillian of husband Felipe.
Lillian, who has two masters degrees, homeschools two children, looks after their baby, takes care of the house – while looking glamorous – and makes sure dinner is always on the table on time. Felipe makes all the decisions.
“I find those beliefs wildly outdated,” says Stacey, who joins the couple as they renew their vows (to include the word ‘obey’) and baptise their third child.
Stacey has lots of questions: Is Lillian happy? Has she been brainwashed? Is this sticking two fingers up at feminism?
But the thought-provoking weekend also makes Stacey, who is unmarried with no kids and devoted to her career, think about her own life choices.