A person, typically a woman, whose main responsibility is managing a household and caring for family members rather than working outside the home.
From 'home' and 'maker'—literally 'one who makes a home.' The term was popularized in the 20th century as a less patronizing alternative to 'housewife,' though debate continues about the role itself.
The shift from 'housewife' to 'homemaker' in the 1970s reflects how language struggles to describe unpaid domestic labor—we can't quite agree if it's work, identity, or lifestyle.
Homemaker became dominant in 1950s-60s marketing to replace 'housewife,' but both terms encoded women's unpaid domestic labor as primary identity while obscuring men's domestic roles and women's other contributions.
Use when describing chosen domestic work roles for any gender. Pair with recognition of equal household contributions across genders.
["domestic engineer","household manager","home operations lead"]
Women's domestic and caregiving work—from budgeting to health management—has historically been undervalued. Modern framing should acknowledge this as skilled, economically significant labor.
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