barefoot and pregnant
Kept home, dependent
Barefoot and pregnant describes a woman confined to domestic roles—homebound, dependent, and continuously bearing children.
The phrase captures a traditional or retrograde ideal of womanhood that keeps women out of public life: He wants to keep her barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.
Usually used critically or sarcastically to mock sexist attitudes.
- homemakerOne who manages a household
- stay at homeNot venture outside
- houseworkDomestic cleaning duties
- kitchen sinkBuilt-in basin for washing
- misogynyHostility toward women
sexism · childcare · patriarchy · traditionalism · feminine mystique · submission · domestic labor · apron strings · liberation · suffrage · autonomy · maternity · family life · dependency · 1950s · oppression · gender norms · second-wave feminism
barefoot and pregnantempowered
Given power to act
liberated · career woman · self-made woman · independent · self-determined
barefoot and pregnantfeminist
Gender equality proponent
suffragette · egalitarian · progressive · Gloria Steinem · Betty Friedan
pregnant, bared, baring, barely, bareness, barefooted, footed, footing, footless