“Tradwife” influencers and other online trends seen as pressuring women into particular care roles are to be challenged as part of a Government-funded awareness campaign.

Tradwife influencers have grown in popularity in recent years and often promote traditional gender roles for women as homemakers and carers.

Nara Smith, a tradwife influencer with 4.9 million followers on Instagram alone, shares content of her making bread, looking after kids and gardening.

So-called 'manosphere' influencers are male content creators who often promote misogynistic language and attitudes towards women. Influencer Andrew Tate was known for his content, prior to being charged with rape, human trafficking and forming an organised crime group to sexually exploit women.

Tradwives

This week, the Department of Children and Equality published an action plan explaining how the Government will roll out initiatives to improve gender equality up to 2028.

The government is putting in place a national strategy to try and tackle the influence of online trends seen to be pressuring women into “particular care roles”. This will include a “public awareness campaign” to run next year on shared caring responsibilities between men and women.

On Newstalk Breakfast, Ellen Coyne, political correspondent with the Irish Times says the government is trying to "change the outlook and beliefs of the youth of the entire nation."

"This is something that is coming through with a younger generation. A lot of us would have assumed that generations become more progressive as they go on.

"That this idea of a woman's place only being in the home was something that was kind of resigned to the past, but that doesn't seem to be the case based on online trends."

"The government's concern seems to come from [the fact that] they are worried that this content will prevent women from pursuing particular career paths and economic opportunities.

"So it seems that their worry is that this could be something that could suppress or repress female participation in the workforce."

It is not yet known how the government plans to roll out this campaign, but Ms. Coyne believes that from looking at previous campaigns, they could use radio, TV and online advertising.

"They are going to also include information on the various family leave schemes that you can claim from the government, any social welfare schemes that might be available for somebody who needs  to take time off to care.

"It will also focus on non-family and non-family situations where care is provided."

The Department of Education stated that it will also encourage youth services “to provide training in digital literacy to their members, in particular in the identification of disinformation and misinformation online”.

Schools will also be encouraged to review their uniforms to “provide gender equality education and education environments that directly counter patriarchal gender norms, including restrictive masculinities”.

The National Strategy for Women and Girls is running from 2025 to 2030.