Housewife

Australia
November 5, 2008 3:44am CST
I was thinking... and suddenly I found the word housewife to be very odd. Why housewife? What if you're not anyone's wife? Or can you only be a housewife when you're married? And what about househusbands? Why don't we call unemployed men who clean their house househusbands? I want answers!!
1 response
@angelia286 (2029)
• Singapore
5 Nov 08
Lol, blame it all on the conventional mindsets of the ones who invented the English language. Well, perhapes in the past where women and men are not of equal status, this word was coined by some "smart" person.
1 person likes this
• Singapore
10 Nov 08
And the 'smart' person defines the roles of the females and the males. In the past, females are not expected to work, but are expected to stay at home, get pregnant, do the housework. The man are the ones who are supposed to go out, make money and support the wife. That is how the word house - wife comes about. It simply means a housebound wife. But of course, in today's time and generation, the mindsets of people are ever changing. Gone are the days whereby woman can just stay at home and not work. Rather, woman of today are holding dual roles of working as well as lookiing after the family. It is just that nobody else is smart enough to coin the word househusband and have it officially written into the dictionary. But trust me, majority of the people around the world is using that word AS a slang form of language. Well, hopefully I have answered your question! Well, take care and happy mylotting!!