What is a housewife?

Married, Mother, Cooking, Cleaning and Caring for Kids. These are just a few terms that popped into mind when I thought of the word 'housewife'. Dictionary.com refers to a housewife as a married woman that manages her household, usually as her main occupation. This correlates with the traditional viewpoint of marriage in society with women as domestic homemakers and their husbands as moneymaking providers.

In today’s world, women are trying to move away from traditional marriages and receive the same marriage rights as their husbands in order to provide for their families. Giele shows this concept in her research by explaining, “the breadwinner system that had given greater privilege to males for their provider status and subordinate place to women for care of the household and children was being called in question” (395). If this is really the case than why are so many studies showing American women returning to their domestic positions?

Well, I know that my family portrayed this dynamic because right out of college my mom worked as a teacher, but after her marriage to my father and giving birth to my sister and I, she quit her job to be a full time mother. Many women do this in order to devote time to their children (6). My dad was making enough money to support us, so why should my mom work? It wasn’t until my parents had three more kids and all of us were in school that my mom even thought about going back to work. But this was not something she seemed excited to be doing. It was as if being dependent on my father for so long made her not want to be independent.

Giele's article relates well to this idea because it says that most women in a traditional marriage have more happiness in their marriage. I think the reason for this may be that from my perception most women place their happiness in other people. For example, when the husband is happy because he feels he is providing for the family (aka the wife is not working) the wife is happy. Housewives sacrifice much of their personal wants so their kids and husband are happy, but seeing them happy is what ultimately makes a mother happy as well. Being a housewife is like a job in itself, which may be why many women in today’s society are moving back towards the patriarchal marriage, but images in the media can also influence the way that people act and can be one of the overarching factors in moving away from empowering relationships that would create equality between men and women.