25 (non-Bravo) real life housewives who are pretty badass

SANTA MONICA, CA – FEBRUARY 21: Actor Dax Shepard (L) and host Kristen Bell attends the 2015 Film Independent Spirit Awards at Santa Monica Beach on February 21, 2015 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Housewife doesn’t mean what it used it. These 25 real life housewives are just all around badasses — at home and at work.

In recent years, the word housewife has become synonymous with swilling wine, crying in public and hocking fit tea on social media. But long before Bravo was making “housewife” a dirty word, the 25 real life housewives on this list were taking on the world, all the while taking care of their own lives and family. There’s nothing more badass than that. You may not want to call them housewives, but we’re going for it. Reclaiming what was, and will always be, ours.

The ladies on this list definitely do not perform the contemporary trope of what we know as a housewife, and they certainly shouldn’t be reduced to some cultural stereotype. They are working hard at “having it all,” even though that’s a pretty gross way to characterize what they are doing in both their professional and private lives.

These 25 real life housewives take care of their families, make incredible contributions to the greater good, work tirelessly for the advancement of equality, and are just all around incredible badasses. They might not ever appear on Bravo, however hard we cross our fingers, but they are the real superstars.