The traditional roles of a housewife have changed over the last 50 years.
The roles of a housewife, more commonly called a homemaker, have orientated primarily around domestic tasks. A housewife concerns herself with various home-keeping work like raising the children, preparing meals and cleaning the house. However, the traditional roles reserved for a housewife have changed since the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Gender roles are changing, with more husbands contributing to housework and the raising of children.
Child-rearing
The raising of children has traditionally been viewed as the role of a housewife. While the husband worked during the day, a housewife would feed, clothe, bathe, entertain and teach their children. Once the child is old enough to attend preschool or kindergarten parents, may be inclined to send him to school, reducing the required time for child-rearing. A housewife may also be responsible to pick up children from school and drive them to extracurricular activities like sports.
Housekeeping
Another role of a housewife is maintaining the upkeep of the house. Tasks like cleaning, washing the dishes, doing the laundry, ironing clothes, dusting, keeping the fridge and pantry stocked and going grocery shopping if need be are all completed by a housewife. Ensuring that the house is tidy, clean and nicely decorated has traditionally be attributed to the housewife, though this expectation has lessened.
Preparing Meals
Besides purchasing food, the other major role of a housewife is to prepare the meals for the family. Dinner in particularly is a meal that has traditionally be prepared by the housewife for her husband after he returns home from work. In some households a husband's lunch also is made by the housewife. As most families in the United States have two working parents, meal preparation no longer is solely the task of the wife, as more families eat out.
Changing Gender Roles
Traditional gender roles have changed. The roles of a housewife aren't as clear as they were 50 years ago, as of 2011. The study "The Role of Househusband and Housewife as Perceived by a College Population" by Diane Wentworth and Robert Chell in 2000 revealed that women generally questioned the current structure of household roles. The replacement of the term housewife with the politically correct term "homemaker" is another indication of the changing gender roles, as more men are choosing to stay home and be more involved in the raising of their children.
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