Coming now to the controversial Trad Wives trend on social media.

Stay at Home Mothers who are amassing big followings by posting about their, quote, traditional lives. Here's my Nightline co-anchor, Juju Chang. Trad Wives, living Tread lives. Ivy VanDucon is a self-proclaimed traditional wife.

I recommend getting ready, doing some makeup, putting on a cute outfit before you see your husband. My brand is embracing motherhood and enjoying motherhood.

If you've been on social media, you've probably seen the hashtag, Beautiful Women, cooking, cleaning, and embracing life as stay-at-home moms. These glossy, gorgeous videos showcasing life seemingly plucked out of history.

The definition of a trad wife is not merely someone who stays at home, but who romanticizes it in a retro-nostalgic way, where we are looking back not only to the way things worked in the '50s, but the values that families had in the '50s.

The unofficial queen of the Trad Wife movement, Nara Smith, the 22-year-old former model and mother of three, followed by millions. Other TikTok stars like Estee Williams also proudly tagging their content. It's a trend launching think pieces and op-eds all around the world.

There's a new generation, though, of young women.

They are proudly embracing this label of Trad Wife.

This Trad Wife, I guess, is a Gen Z thing.

I'm sorry, 50 years ago was not a place I ever wanted to be back. Exactly. But there could be more at work here. A recent study found that Trad Wife content on less regulated platforms like YouTube and X, formerly known as Twitter, could steer social media users down the rabbit hole of radical far-right content and misinformation, something podcasters and YouTubers are picking up on. Whether TradWife intend to or not, their politics serve as a starting point for alt-right radicalization. But as the trend rises, American women are trying to avoid a new culture war pitting moms who work against the moms who choose to stay home.

I think for a lot of women, work is not necessary. It's a preference.

What do you say to the commenters who say you're setting women back 50 years?

I just disagree completely.

Do you ever get criticized for being a working mom?

On social media, there's a lot of criticism of who's raising your kids right now.

The trend recently hit a boiling point after Kansas City State Chief's kicker, Harrison Butker, said this in a commencement speech last month. I think it is you, the women who have had the most diabolical lies told to you.

I loved what he had to say about motherhood. I didn't really find an issue with it at all.

But how does that work in a modern society where more than 56% of American women are in the workforce, significantly more than in 1950?

It's such a simple little toy, but it's really educational.

Ivy says she always wanted to be mom.

So this is just one piece.

So when you were in college studying broadcast journalism, did you have a dream job?

I've always wanted to be a mom, to be honest with you. And that doesn't even sound like your classic dream job. But I did just want a family.

Now mom to two When she gets older, she juggles snack time and craft time with content creation. What does being a child wife mean to you?

Obviously, just a traditional wife. I think a lot of people, unfortunately, have this negative view of the way people used to live. I was really close with my grandma and with both my grandmothers and even my great grandmother, and they were just the coolest women. When I hear homemaker, when I hear a traditional woman, I think of really amazing women. The Chad wife lifestyle is sold as one that is relaxing and beautiful for the people who participate in it and for the husbands and the families who benefit from it. It is a vision of a lifestyle that is not really attainable.

Nowadays, it's often a privilege to have a single income sustaining an entire family. Government statistics show more than half of all US households, 54% have two incomes. That's more than double the number from 1955. Not to mention more than 80% of all single parents are moms. There's an economic impact, and that giving up that financial independence is actually putting not just you, but your kids' future at risk.

Obviously, I have a degree. I have things I could do. Women like me have thought about that, and we know that things can I don't know if I'm going to go wrong. The pros for me outweigh the cons, and the reward outweighs the risks.

And yet, research shows as women get older, they bear a heavier financial burden, especially after death or divorce. The average age of widowhood is 59 years old, but women, on average, live decades longer. Ivy says she and her husband choose this life knowing the financial sacrifices.

I will make a list at the beginning of the week of what we're having for dinner. The list is based on the ads from the grocery stores around here. It's all electronic, so I have all my grocery apps. It takes so much time and so much planning. I feel like I do a good job of pretending like I have new things, but it's all thrift stores. It's all Facebook marketplace. This is like Goodwill. My other dresses are Goodwill.

I do not call myself a trad wife. I call myself a classic wife, really a classic mom.

For Abby Roth, social media has allowed her to share her more conservative views, including strong opinions on the roles of men and women.

Men are definitely in a position to protect and make sure that mom can do what she needs to do so the kids get nurtured. That's the thing that really breaks my heart, is the women who would love to stay at home, but just feel like they can't, feel like they shouldn't, feel like they have too many other obligations to their potential. A little fish in there?

The Orthodox Jew and opera singer stepped away from her life on stage and often talks about the expectations women have about career and family.

A lot of women are told that they're going to find their fulfillment, and they're going to fulfill their potential through their careers. And then it's harder and harder to meet men, and then they find themselves alone, and it's hard. If you look at somebody's tombstone, that's what it's going to say. Wonderful daughter, wonderful mother, wonderful wife. It's not going to say wonderful CEO.

Like Ivy, Abby says she's not against moms who work. She understands that single moms and two income households are reality. But...

Women have always had a role economically. It just needs to be put in its proper place. I think for a lot of women, work is not necessary. It's a preference. Even though there's this narrative that being at home means you are giving up your career and giving up your dreams. When you have children, children become your dream in a lot of ways.

But many women think you don't have to choose. Dr. Karen Tang is a board qualified OB/GYN, surgeon and book author. She's also been married for nearly 20 years and is the proud working mother of three kids. Do you ever get criticized for being a working mom?

It's not just myself, but actually other women physicians that I know on social media There's a lot of criticism of who's raising your kids right now, and why did you have kids if you can't raise them? No one would say that to a man. You're a bit of a TikTok sensation. Oh, my God. I joke that I'm a geriatric TikTokeer because age-wise, I could be the mom of pretty much everyone else on TikTok. So sealing it close, like right underneath there.

As a parent, specifically a working mom, Karen worries that the trad wife trend leaves out the important and often difficult parts of parenthood.

It's almost more of an esthetic. I think a lot of people who see Trad Wives on social media know it's a little bit of a performance.

Some of the criticism of the Trad Wife movement is that it pushes women back to not just a '50s esthetic, but a '50s mindset.

That women didn't have rights. You couldn't have a credit card or a bank account. I think romanticizing this idea of going back in time but not remembering the realities is dangerous.

What do you make of the fact that when you start engaging with the Tradwives hashtag, you start getting things like misinformation and conspiracy theories on your For You page.

Exactly. It's no longer just that this is a wonderful way to choose to live your life. It's become associated with misinformation. Don't have your hands touch Absolutely.

Being so busy means Dr. Tang and her husband share the household duties. How untraditional are the gender roles in your family? I don't know. I definitely have had people tell me that I'm a full-time dad, which I think is a funny way to put it, but I take on a lot of things that I think people might assume are a woman's role sometimes. For example? I do almost all the grocery shopping, a good deal of the cooking. We get a lot of help from Karen's parents. Dads are missing out if they're not having these experiences. I think we should re examine what it means to be a man. What would you say to somebody who went on your wife's page and said, You're not a good mom? I would invite them to come and see how hard she works and how much she does. Hello. Karen says the Tradwives trend should not be Mommy Wars Part Two.

Women should have that freedom to choose. The problem is those who say that you shouldn't have a choice, that all women should do this. This is the ideal situation for everyone.

Do you consider yourself a good mom?

Oh, my God. That's a great question. And I think my initial response, I think, says so much because my honest initial response was like, I'm okay. But I think if you ask my kids, I think they would say, I'm a really good mom. So what did you do today? When it comes to feeling like my kids, that they feel supported, that they're happy, they're healthy, looking at, I revise my answer. I say, I think I'm a really great mom.

That message of choice and tolerance is one Ivy agrees with. What would you say to women who would say to you, I love my job, I love my career, and I don't love my kids any less than you do?

I would say, I believe you. And so I wouldn't even challenge that. I know that moms love their children. I think a lot of people assume that I think I'm telling everybody, You need to do this, and you need to live like me, and I'm not. But I do think a lot of women should consider it. That's my message, is that you can want this.