Homemaker is a mainly American term which may refer either to:


The term homemaker is preferred by some to housewife or househusband because it is inclusive, defines the role in terms of activities, rather than relation to another or gender, and is independent of marital status. The terms stay-at-home mom and stay-at-home dad are also used, particularly if the person views his or her central role as caring for children. The euphemistic term "domestic engineer" has gone out of favor, being seen by some as satirical, as if to give a sense of mock dignity to a role held in low esteem by the speaker. Likewise, the term "housekeeper" has come to describe hired cleaning help, and is no longer used—other than in a derogatory way—to describe homemaking.



United States

According to the 2000 Census (table QT-P26), roughly half of all married couple families are dual-income, with both husband and wife working. In just under a quarter of families, only the husband worked. In 6.4% of families, only the wife worked.

Multicultural norms


United Kingdom

The term "homemaker" is not used in the United Kingdom. Housewife is the preferred term in the UK and many other English speaking countries, and househusband is commonly used to refer to a male stay-at-home partner.


The Indian word "Grihast" or "Grihasta" perhaps comes closest to describing the entire gamut of activities and roles undertaken by the householder or homemaker. Grihast / Grihasta is the Sanskrit word for "Householder" or "Homemaker". Grih is the Sanskrit root for House or Home. Grihasta and Grihast are derivatives of this root.

The head of the family is the Griha Swami and his wife is the Griha Swamini. They form one unit and live in the state called Grihastashram or family system and together they nurture the family and help its members (both young and old) through the travails of life. They are a homemaker team. The woman who increments the family tree and protects the procreated wealth of the family is described as the Grihalakshmi (the wealth of the house) and Grihashoba (the glory of the house). The elders of the family are known as Grihshreshta. The husband or wife may engage in countless other activities which may be social, religious, political or economic in nature for the ultimate welfare of the family and society. However, their unified status as a householder or homemaker is the nucleus from within which they operate in society. This 'status', as homemakers, anchors them in society and provides meaning to their activities within the social, religious, political and economic framework of their world.






Homemakers are usually financially dependent on members of the household who are employed; however, people working full-time (particularly under "at-will employment" arrangements) benefit from the unwaged work provided by the homemaker; otherwise the performance of such work (child care, cooking, housecleaning, teaching, transporting, etc) in his or her absence would cost money. As of May 2007, the average annual salary of a homemaker in the U.S, if correlated to the total cost of outsourcing each element of his or her work to an external contractor, would be approximately $138,000. Working mothers would earn $85,876 annually for the "mom job" portion of their work, in addition to their actual "work job" salary.

Formal education

In previous decades, there were a large amount of mandatory courses for young women to learn the skills of homemaking. In high school, courses included cooking, nutrition, home economics, family and consumer science and food and cooking hygiene. Today, these courses have been mostly abolished, and many modern women would be more likely to explore resources on the topic of child development and managing children's behavior.

Male role in homemaking



  1. Disappearance of the types of white-collar jobs that men had been traditionally trained for. A great many laid-off middle-aged men have become essentially unemployable, thereby causing a role reversal for economic reasons.
  2. Women are progressing into higher paying jobs. There are now financial ramifications in deciding which parent is to become the stay-at-home parent. In cases where the woman is the higher-paid parent, it makes more economic sense for her to continue to work while the man stays home.

Depending on the country or region in which a stay-at-home dad lives, he might find more or less social support for his decision. In some regions where traditional roles prevail, a stay-at-home dad might be shunned by stay-at-home mom peer groups. In order to find support for their choice, these men have created and joined many support networks.

However, despite the gains in acceptance of the role of househusband, there are still many men who are trying to find acceptance in this role.

One 2002 study suggested stay-at-home dads may face a higher risk of heart disease. The reasons for the alleged health risk, however, are not specified.

Modern mothers



Feminist critique



See also


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