The Women of the Real Housewives of New York City

Bravo's The Real Housewives of New York City wrapped this week. The show follows five socialites (well four and a wannabe) through their work, love and family lives. This was the first season for The Real Housewives of New York City. Bravo came up with the idea after the success of The Real Housewives of Orange County.

Jill, who married into socialite status by tying the knot with the fabric king of New York, is the center of the show as she was the one who knew all of the other housewives. She also has the strongest New York accent of the bunch. Ramona is the immature and wild one. Her honest attitude starts arguments and creates riffs with the other housewives. Alex is the wannabe, she is far from a millionaire and openly admits to trying to climb the social ladder with her husband. Countess Luann is the only true housewives of the bunch but instead of working the countess does a lot of charity work. Bethenny was born into her socialite status and comes off as a true New Yorker with her tough girl attitude. She is an organic chef and is able to support herself. Far from a housewife, Bethenny is not even married.

Bravo's show, although seemingly simple, has brought up a lot of old questions. Such as, what defines a housewife and is that a title women can be proud of? Modern Feminists thought that housewives were a detriment to women's rights. The belief was that housewives weren't using their full potential and were acting as men wanted them to act, not as they wished. The women on The Real Housewives of New York City all have their own jobs and, as far as I can tell, their own maids. So why would they allow Bravo to title them "housewives"?

Postmodern feminists, a group I consider myself part of, would tell these women that is acceptable to be housewives, in fact it is preferable if that is what the want to be. If women choose to stay home and work then they should be allowed to do just that without being stereotyped. The only problem postmodern feminists would have with housewives is the term "housewives" since it should be a position open to anyone and gender and marital status should not play a role in your job.

I would describe the women of The Real Housewives of New York as strong and independent and women that care about status and titles. So I can only conclude that they enjoy the classification of housewife. For them, housewife must imply a status of not needing to work for money which none of the five women do.