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'Tradwife' who believes women should 'submit' to husbands and 'spoil them like it's 1959'

Living
 Alena Kate Pettitt spent her 20s working in a high-flying marketing job in London (Photo: Mirror)

Alena Kate Pettitt spent her 20s working in a high-flying marketing job in London, going out with friends and trying to climb the career ladder.

But now, she says she's the "CEO of my own company, which is essentially my household" after changing everything to become a housewife and mother.

She spends her days cooking, cleaning and keeping her home in order to make sure everything is perfect for her husband - using an allowance he gives her every month.

And she's even set up The Darling Academy, offering courses for others who hope to become the perfect British housewife.

She told the BBC: "It's harnessing the best about what made Britain great during that time where you could leave your front door open and know that you were safe, and you knew your neighbours in the street.

"We can have that again, things are changing so fast. We don't even know the identity of our country anymore."

Alena is part of a new movement known as Tradwives, a group of women who opt to live a more traditional life with traditional male and female roles.

She's written a number of articles with titles including Your husband should always come first, Ladylike ways to deal with sneezes and sniffles and How to be elegant in the morning.

 But now, she says she's the "CEO of my own company, which is essentially my household" (Photo: Mirror)

Speaking on her YouTube channel, she says: "I'm completely empowered. People think that being a submissive, if you want to use that word, traditional housewife at home, we're you know, not very smart, or weak, or have no value. But actually we're incredible switched on.

"It's empowering to say I don't want part of the modern narrative that says that you are less than if you stay home.

"We're incredibly undervalued. Think about it, did you not want your mum there? Did you not want a traditional wholesome supportive loving environment to be brought up in? I'm not saying that anything other than that isn't but it's the model way and it's beautiful to be able to live it.

"Don't make us feel like we're not worthy of staying at home. We're raising the next generation of people who are going to be making policies that affect your future.

"It's an incredibly worthwhile job."

 "I just felt like I was born to be a mother and a wife," she says (Photo: Mirror)

Alena says her "rebellion" against modern life started when she met her husband.

Speaking about when she was growing up in the 90s, she told the BBC: "The culture at the time was anything but what I enjoyed and it definitely made me feel like an outsider.

"It was all kind of, let's fight the boys and go out and be independent and break glass ceilings. But I just felt like I was born to be a mother and a wife.

"What I really related to were the old shows of the 1950s and 60s.

"I grew up in a single-parent household. My mum had to go out to work. The home became this huge burden on her and I suppose at that point in time I probably identified that I didn't want that same life.

"The rebellion really came when I met my husband, and he being very traditional as well I think he just identified that.

"He said, 'I know that you want a man to look after you and to make you feel secure' and he offered himself as that person.

"As soon as that happened, I was just like, finally someone sees it. Finally I can be myself and I don't have to hide who I am anymore."

"It's almost like the fairytale came true."

 "My view on feminism is that it's about choices," Alena adds. (Photo: Mirror)

Alena spent her 20s working in London, saying she felt TV shows and media persuaded her that working was 'liberating' and women should "follow their sexual desires".

After joining social media she discovered an "underground movement" of women who felt the same pull to a more traditional life.

Speaking about the label Tradwife, she said: "With the Tradwife movement a lot of people want to label you as something, you know. Something that you might not have even thought of.

"Someone even said about 'this type of housewife was promoted by the Third Reich', and it's like, was it really?

"My view on feminism is that it's about choices. To say you can go into the working world and compete with men and you're not allowed to stay at home - to me is taking a choice away."

Should husbands be consulted when hiring a househelp?

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