Former stay-at-home mom explains why so many divorced mothers are working in real estate jobs

The traditional wife trend might be rising on the internet, making waves on social media and preaching women to stay at home and do household work like raising children, cooking and more. But what happens when these stay-at-home mothers get separated from their partners? Who pays for their kids, health benefits and other bills and necessities. According to research from Motherly, more women than men gave up their jobs to stay home with their children in 2023, compared to 2022. One woman is shedding some light on this issue that is hardly addressed.

Life coach and former stay-at-home mom Meredyth Willits–who goes by @meredyth_with_a_why on TikTok–stitched her video with another video creator, Ally (@allyrooker), and shared her firsthand experience after divorcing her husband and trying to build a career for herself. Willits broke down the real reason why many mothers who have separated from their partners decide to start venture into real estate to build a career. Willits shared that after her divorce, she had no other option but to start searching for work once again. She had a decade-long gap in her resume and a four-year degree, which managed to secure her some semi-remote jobs that only paid a meager $12 an hour.

According to her, former stay-at-home moms are choosing to pursue a career in real estate because it brings in a good sum of money and they can start with little to no work experience as they get tons of flexibility. "They're stay-at-home moms for years, maybe a decade or so. They end up getting a divorce for whatever reason and they have no work history," Willits explained. "They need to make tons of money to pay for daycare. Maybe they also need the freedom to pick up their kids and take them to sports. They need to make a lot of money to support their kids and themselves and the only way to do that is to become a real estate agent."

"When I got a divorce, I had to finish my college degree — which included childcare and loans with no way to get them and my alimony payment was $300 a month, for years of working in the home and raising the children," Willits shared about her personal life. "When we got divorced, he got the rental properties, the marital home, his 401K and I had to get a job just so that I could have health benefits because you don't keep them when divorced." Stay-at-home moms who have faced similar situations know how hard it can get to find employment and care for children.

"You're blamed for not watching your kids, but you're also blamed for not getting a job — how that's supposed to happen is beyond me," Willits stated. "The thing that sucks about this is that even when you do work as a female, the household and child-rearing labor is still placed on your shoulders. You come home and have to do the home labor." Willits, who has been using social media platforms to help stay-at-home moms explore their options and opportunities if they are heading for a potential divorce, has a different description of the rise of the "trad wife" trend.

"In my opinion, the 'trad wife' situation is more about understanding that when you enter a marriage and have no intentions of working, you're putting yourself at a huge disadvantage if that marriage fails," she warns her viewers. "Protect yourself, especially if you're going to be a stay-at-home wife." Her viewers seemed to agree with her thoughtful words and left several comments to share their own struggles and stories. @penny_lynn wrote, "I was a SAHM for 12 years. I don't regret it, but my career suffered horribly and we need to talk about this huge and important side effect."

@laricebewie commented, "Prenups should work in reverse that you automatically get those benefits unless someone wants to sign them away." @headenforthams quipped, "I worked for a company that paid well for little skill. Perfect for new grads/young adults. We had so many newly divorced ex-sahm." @publicstaticmainvoid shared, "My dad quit his job every time he almost had to pay child support and used all of his GI Bill just so we couldn't have it." @quila_2023 wrote, "This makes me so sad! I was a SAHM for 12 years and lost my house too because I signed a paper while married and didn't have the $ for lawyers."

You can follow Meredyth Willits (@meredyth_with_a_why) on TikTok for more videos on careers and life coaching.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on March 14, 2024. It has since been updated.