With a full face of make-up and a glamorous dress, Lillian did the vacuuming and made sure dinner was ready on time.
I don’t think I have ever achieved any of these things. And if my husband told me off because dinner was late? Well… let’s just say he’d be left hungry and full of regret and self-loathing.
“I can’t think of anything worse than being a tradwife,” said Stacey Dooley, speaking on behalf of a nation of appalled women.
This was Monday’s episode of Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over on W, on which the documentary maker spends a weekend with unique families.
Stacey was staying with Lillian and her husband Felipe - Lillian is a member of the growing community of tradwives who brand feminism “ugly”.
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Despite having two masters degrees, Lillian has rejected all career ambitions to become an archetypal housewife.
And she’s delighted about it. Honestly. “It’s almost like our family is a business and he is the CEO,” smiled the mum-of-three, revealing a perfect set of teeth.
“You are encouraged to work on looking beautiful as you submit and obey your husband.” Excuse me, what?
Lillian had some advice too: smile, be a good listener, try not to talk too much, never speak over your husband and never deny your husband.
“I find those beliefs wildly outdated,” said Stacey, who was excellent at asking incredibly blunt questions about everything from expectations and feminism to sex and money.
“Is Felipe a misogynistic lunatic?” she asked his mate, in front of him. “He has his moments,” came the awkward reply.
Lillian, who was wildly excited about her Christmas gift of a tumble dryer, gets an allowance but Felipe insists she is allowed opinions.
“Although the buck stops with me,” he added, sanding a plank of wood. Gender stereotyping alive and well in this household.
"Felipe, unfortunately, didn’t come across too well from the moment he mocked Stacey’s trademark gold hoop earrings, although it was quite amusing.
“God, he hates the hoops,” said Stacey, wondering if Lillian had been brainwashed.
Lillian insisted that she’s actually enlightened, and wishes she’d realised earlier that if she basically agrees with everything Felipe says, they won’t argue.
But credit to Stacey, who is unmarried with no kids and devoted to her career.
She did her best to understand their point of view, noting that the tradwives she met seemed happy.
“They all seem to be saying, ‘It feels better being a good mum than having a good career’. I can’t ignore that,” she said.
Stacey also acknowledged that these are grown women, entitled to make their own choices. But as she waved goodbye to this image of a 1950s family, we all knew this was two fingers up to feminism that should be left in the past.
