housewife

A housewife (also known as a homekeeper) is a woman whose work is running or managing her family's home—caring for her children; buying, cooking, and storing food for the family; buying goods that the family needs in everyday life; housekeeping and maintaining the home; and making clothes for the family—and who is not employed outside the home. A housewife may also be called a stay-at-home mother and a househusband may be called a "male homemaker" or stay-at-home father.
Webster's Dictionary describes a housewife as a married woman who is in charge of her household. The British Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (1901) defined a housewife as: "the mistress of a household; a female domestic manager; a pocket sewing kit". A small sewing kit is sometimes called a "housewife" or "hussif".Throughout history, women have usually worked for pay, either by contributing to farming and other family-owned businesses or working for other employers. Housewives were common in developed countries only for a few decades during the middle of the 20th century.

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