51吃瓜

While 鈥淢ake America Great Again鈥� (MAGA) represents a catchy and effective campaign slogan, the unanswered question has always been 鈥� when is 鈥淎gain鈥�?  For many MAGA supporters, 鈥淎gain鈥� was a time when society was hierarchical, whites sat atop that hierarchy, and women knew their place, which, as even social activists would say, was in the kitchen and in the bedroom.

The myth of the 鈥渢raditional family鈥� and the attack on support programs

There is nothing new about the 鈥渞eturn to traditional roles鈥� narrative being promoted by MAGA acolytes. This administration is linking an outdated ideology of 鈥渨omen鈥檚 place is in the home鈥� with allegedly pro-family rhetoric. Rather than protecting and elevating the well-being of women and their families, Trump Republicans are or eliminating domestic federal and state programs that support families and the people (mostly women) who care for families. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and the Child Care and Development Fund, to name a few.聽

Old myths about women and families, once thoroughly debunked, have roared back into circulation. The myth of the superiority of MAGA鈥檚 version of family 鈥� as a White, two-generation, nuclear structure, headed by a well-employed man with his stay-at-home wife, in their first and only marriage, with their own biological children in their own suburban home 鈥� was, in fact, only a reality for about 50% of the US population in the post-war era of the 1950s.

Excluded from this glossy vision of marital and parental bliss were families of color, families without wealth, families with working mothers, families headed by single parents, families with adopted children, stepfamilies, single adults, LGBTQ+ parent families, immigrant families, and on and on. 

These real families do not match the sanitized version of families falsely heralded as traditional. However, real people in real families are dealing with income inequality, domestic violence, legal uncertainty, identity issues, compromised health care and an uncertain future. A common struggle for real families is accommodating both breadwinning and caregiving. Women are at the heart of this struggle. Women have been both the emotional laborers in families, and 鈥� for the majority of families who are not wealthy and white, but who vary by race, class, national origin and sexuality 鈥� they have also been responsible for their family鈥檚 financial well-being.

Family life is far more complex than the platitudes offered by religious and cultural traditionalists. The caring labor that goes into creating, maintaining, extending, supporting and mourning family members is as fraught with tension as it is engulfed by love. Yet, our society denigrates the work of caring labor and has into our laws, public policies and political dialogue that caregiving is 鈥渨omen鈥檚 unpaid work.鈥� At best, women are put on a pedestal but are valued only for their nurturing natures. At worst, women鈥檚 caring labor is rendered invisible, unacknowledged and unpaid.

The rise of misogynistic ideology among conservatives

Underlying the Republican assault on programs valuing families is a growing ideology of misogyny among conservatives, particularly among young Republican males. As Helen Lewis notes in article, 鈥淭he Men Who Want Women to be Quiet,鈥� what was anonymously shared in chat rooms and frat houses about the evils of feminism is now openly shared via books, podcasts and interviews by many prominent men, e.g., Senator Josh Hawley, political commentator Tucker Carlson and deceased political activist Charlie Kirk.聽

Biblical references to the subservient supporting role of the wife, the appeals by MAGA brethren to 鈥渕an up鈥� 鈥� a message that resonates with young males 鈥� the 鈥渟uper bro鈥� rhetoric of the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, and Vice President JD Vance鈥檚 erroneous attribution that working women caused a decline in fertility, support a narrative that women鈥檚 heightened role in society has contributed to a cultural decline that can only be remedied by a return to traditional hierarchical family structures.

Part of the false narrative about traditional families and women鈥檚 nurturing roles is the dismissive conviction that women are naturally strong, thus excusing the lack of institutional and structural supports offered to them and their families. Certainly, generations of women who have made 鈥渁 way out of no way鈥� have demonstrated resilience and strength in the face of adversity, but over time, the accumulation of structural oppression and enforced marginalization takes a toll.

As the Trump administration scuttles essential aid programs that support countless families in our country and around the world, there is the underlying assumption that families (women) will naturally take care of their own. But no matter how resilient women are, an individualistic solution is not the answer. Socially responsible, inclusive and justice-oriented programs are a human need that governments must support at all scales 鈥� local, state and national. In reality, we are all responsible for one another鈥� women and men.  Democracy must be gender neutral and empathic to those families carrying a larger burden.

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The views expressed in this article are the author鈥檚 own and do not necessarily reflect 51吃瓜鈥檚 editorial policy.