My mother was a housewife all her life. She married and thought her role was to keep the house, make the food, do everything for her husband and her children. She was absolutely loyal and devoted all her life.
I grew up thinking this was what women did! I stayed at home with my children and kept the house as she had done. But unlike her, I felt trapped and unfulfilled, and we never had any money because I wasn't working. When my father died, my mother was left on her own. Her children had grown up and left home so now she had nothing, and it was too late to train for a career or get a job. That meant she'd done nothing outside the home, never travelled, never seen the world, didn't even have a wide circle of friends.
It made me think I didn't want to follow suit, I began retraining when my children were in their teens and went out to work. I have done things my mother never did, travelled the world, gained my independence - which I love - and have had what I think is a more interesting life. However, it killed my marriage because my DH was also old fashioned in his ideas and didn't want a modern partnership with his wife....so sadly we divorced.
I am now facing retirement, as is my ex. Extraordinarily, he has remarried to a young thing half his age....and guess what, she is young, naïve, has never had a job and is happy to potter about at home running round him.
Each to their own.....