Women aren’t opting out of ambition; they’re being priced out of it.

Hannah Neeleman wakes up before the sun. She milks her cows. She bakes bread from scratch. Somewhere in between, she teaches dance to some of her nine children.

She trained at Juilliard and was on her way to a career in New York ballet. Then she married young, moved to the mountains and became, instead, the internet’s most-watched wife.

She now has 20 million followers across Instagram and TikTok and is the reigning face of #tradwife, a term used to describe women who choose more traditional gender roles, leaving paid work to focus on cooking and child-rearing.

If you haven’t yet heard of the term, you may know some of its relatives. 

There’s soft life, with more than a billion views. It describes women stepping away from hustle culture and choosing more rest and less pressure. There are also lazy girl jobs, roles that pay reasonably well, nothing spectacular, but don’t demand long hours or constant ambition.

I’ve spent the last seven years mentoring young women in business. Recently, I spoke to one of my mentees, who’s a few years into her career. She’s really sharp and doing very well for herself.

When we talked about these trends, however, she admitted that she watches the videos and often thinks about stepping back. Not to another job. Just … back. Fewer meetings and a role that leaves her alone after 6 p.m.

The standard read on all of this is that we’ve travelled back to some time in the 1950s or 60s.

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