29 Interesting Housewife Facts

Published January 29, 2017Updated May 31, 2025

In ancient Greece, housewives were not fully accepted by their husband’s families until a child was conceived._[9]
In 1963, Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique. According to Friedan, the “feminine mystique” is the false idea that devoting their lives to being housewives and mothers naturally fulfilled women (at least upper middle class, white housewives)._[5]
The introduction of electric clothes washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and other appliances made housework more efficient for housewives, but it also raised the minimum standard of household cleanliness. Housewives who had cleaned the carpets once a season now were expected to constantly keep them spotlessly clean with vacuum cleaners._[3]
A housewife in the 1950s wouldn’t go to just one store, but would have to go to several shops, including the butcher, green grocer, grocer, baker, and the dairy. In many places, there would also be a fishmonger, a draper (someone who sold knitting wool), and a chemist._[8]
While sexism and inequality was rampant in the 1950s, housewives then were not downtrodden doormats but “tough and ultra-organized.” While men earned the money, housewives decided how it was spent and balanced household finances with military precision._[9]
The word “housewife” is from the early 13th century husewif, meaning “woman, usually married, in charge of a family or household.” The word “hussy” is an alteration of the word housewife and originally meant “mistress of the household.”_[6]
Some feminist historians note that the early women’s movement made the mistake of propagating contempt for all things domestic and devaluing the work of housewives._[5]

As a housewife, I feel that if the kids are still alive when my husband gets home from work, then hey, I've done my job.

- Rosanne Barr

Early in the 20th century, “housewife” was the preferred term to refer to a married woman who stayed home. But as the focus increased on efficiency and sanitation during the 1950s, a new word, “homemaker,” came into vogue. By the 1980s, the term “stay-at-home mom” became more popular._[4]
The terms “housewife” and “homemaker” connote different emphases. “Housewife emphasizes an “old-fashioned” devotion to the husband, while “homemaker” (and “stay-at-home mom”) shifts the focus onto the children._[4]
While the 1950s housewife has been idealized as bathed, perfumed, and well dressed, it was impossible for women to meet this ideal. They would have their husband’s meal ready, but it would be doubtful they would have time to wash their hair. Additionally, many housewives were also now juggling jobs of their own._[8]

The media has idealized the 1950s housewife

The TV show Desperate Housewives sparked a great interest in what it means to be a housewife, an occupation that many baby boomers devalued during the rise of the feminist movement._[11]
Women hold about half of the jobs in America, up from 32% in 1964. Women lost just one job during the Great Recession for every 2.6 jobs lost by men, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (though men are making a recovery)._[5]
Immigrants, a rising share of the next generation, are more likely to be housewives than women born in America._[11]
Housewives before the 1960s spent hours boiling laundry before putting it through a mangle. Before indoor plumbing, housewives had to carry all the water used for washing. It was back-breaking work._[8]

Laundry has always been an issue for housewives,

America is unusual because it does not grant statutory paid maternity (or paternity) leave or provide much affordable child care. While Eleanor Roosevelt recommended both many decades ago, her suggestions have largely been ignored to this day._[7]
Birth control, such as the Pill, provide young women with more control over the decision to become a housewife or to enter the workforce._[2]
One researcher notes that consumerism has relegated the housewife into a “chauffer and shopper.” Consumerism has divorced housewives from nature, from their communities, and from their creativity and ingenuity._[5]

An advertisement showing a housewife whose major role is a consumer (Tetra Pak / http://www.flickr.com/photos/tetrapak/6498149947/in/p)

Home economist Charlotte Perkins Gilman argued that housewives must be free from domestic work to do “more important things.” She proposed community kitchens, where all families in a community could eat together, communally rear a child, and provide outside services such as laundry for the family. She said professionals, not amateurs, should do housework._[5]
In the 1960s, a marketing researcher capitalized on housewives’ need to experience personal authority. He suggested that corporations should frame their products in such a way that would make a housewife feel like an expert rather than a menial worker._[5]
Some researchers note that while the industrial revolution took away a housewife’s hands-on production—such as producing clothing, soap, etc.—,housewives are still producers and what they “produce” is a healthy family._[5]
A 1960s consumer researcher discovered how to market housewives’ frustrated need for privacy. He suggested car dealerships translate this need into an opportunity to sell families a second car with slogans such as “Alone in the Car.”_[5]
Martha Stewart is credited for almost single-handedly popularizing homemaking and the role of a housewife again._[11]
Researchers note that where housewives once grew and processed a considerable amount of their own food, a few powerful multinational corporations have stepped in. For example, six companies control 98% of the world’s seed sales, four companies slaughter 81% of American beef, and four companies control 70% of American milk sales._[5]

The most popular housewife today is Betty Draper

The most popular housewife today is Betty Draper on the TV series Mad Men. Her character has created a revival of the 1950s housewife look, which is fun but also powerfully symbolic and political. Designers such as Kukhareva have reinvented the 1950s housewife style into something newly emancipated and sassy._[1]
While housewives have been devalued over time, many researchers suggest that housework is the cultural activity of constructing the “home,” the site where many of the emotions that make us most human are fostered._[5]
A marketing researcher notes, “Properly manipulated, American housewives can be given a sense of identity, purpose, creativity, self-realization, and even the sexual joy they lack—by buying things.”_[5]
The culture of professionalism of the late 19th century and the culture of consumption in the 1920s together killed off the “cult of domesticity” and led to what Betty Friedan identified in The Feminine Mystique as “the problem that has no name,” or the emptiness and devaluation of many housewives’ lives._[5]
One researcher notes that one of the achievements of the women’s liberation movement was that it became possible for women to restart their careers again after taking time off to raise children. She notes that this is the real difference between the 1950s housewife and the 21st-century housewife._[5]
In several countries, housewives are turning to social media to document their lives, and make money._[10]