Feminism has ‘warped’ into a system that only views women as successful when they are wholly independent ‘aggressive career girls,’ according to author, Alena Kate Pettitt.

The founder of The Darling Academy and member of the ‘Traditional Housewife’ movement has said that women should “submit to their husbands and spoil them like it’s 1959.”

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, she said the Traditional Housewife movement is about choice.

“We have very traditional family values at heart and see our domain - our nest - as our business,” she said.

“So, we put as much effort into running our home as we would in the workplace. That is why we call ourselves traditional really. It is just to define that we take ourselves and our roles really seriously.

“I became one because I always wanted to be one. Sadly, I grew up in a generation where that didn’t seem possible and I know I am not alone in that.”

Darling Academy founder Alena Kate Pettitt. Image: Instagram

She said it is “absolutely” possible to be a stay-at-home wife and a feminist.

“The very grassroots of feminism were about a woman being able to be independent of choice and being able to create her own destiny,” she said.

“Somewhere along the line, it has gotten warped into women absolutely being wholly independent and everything else falls by the wayside, even when you have children.

“Why has that been twisted in recent years? I do think we need to have a bit of an analysis on that and I think this is also why a lot of women are turning away from feminism which is what I am seeing a lot of at the moment – because feminism now only defines you as an aggressive career girl, which is really sad.”

Submission

Mrs Pettitt said her call for women to submit to their husbands is a biblical idea and accused critics of twisting the idea into something it is not.

“There are a lot of Christian families who kind of live this lifestyle,” she said.

“We take it from the biblical perspective which means that the wife does submit to her husband – but her husband submits to God and loves his wife like Jesus loved the Church.

“So, if you don’t have a biblical understanding, then you will just look at the word submission and freak out. It is just been something that has been taken and twisted and made into a monster.”

“Trapped in the workplace”

She said she is constantly contacted by women who would love to stay-at-home rather than focus on their careers – but are prevented from doing so by modern society.

“We used to say women were trapped in the home but many women are now trapped in the workplace because unfortunately, the cost of living is so high, they can’t afford to stay at home,” she said.

“Then, add to that the pressure of societal expectation and what their peers might say or think – because so many of us get asked, ‘oh when are you going to go back to work,’ after you have had a baby.

 

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“I get emails all the time. I actually had a couple this week, with people returning to work finally, you know, because things are opening back up again.

“These women are very sad because they have had a taste of what it is like in the pandemic to be around their children and finally enjoy their home and for it not to feel like such a chore that they have to fill in after working hours.”

She said much of the backlash she experiences online for her views is generally from single women and those who are very career-minded.

“It is almost like a societal cultural thing that we think we have to go out to work to be considered successful or feel successful in life,” she said. “But people measure their success in different ways.”