Housewife is fine. It's the modern devaluing of it that's not.
^ And I'm glad to see so many MNers defending the role; it's not something I expected from a feminist board. How times have changed!
Maybe it's because I had such strong female role models in my mother and grandmother who drummed into me and my sisters that we should always strive to have an equal partner, and a career to support ourselves,...
This makes me believe that, contrary to your claims of not being concerned about the role itself, you do actually see it as a lesser role than that of workplace career.
But it's not. And we have to be watchful that we don't replace the old stereotypes of what a woman should do to be worthy, with new ones, ie, have a career.
My mother was a very early feminist in a "third world" country, a leader, outspoken, breaking boundaries for women. Probably the first woman in the country to divorce her husband and be a single mother. She worked from the time I was a small baby and I hated it. This was in the early 50's, so for me, the main role model was exactly the 50's style housewife that you deplore: the mother of my best friend as a teenager.
This woman was a loving, caring, generous person who always had food on the table, treats for kids, played with us, talked to us, had endless time for us. You went into her house, and it felt like home; it had a beating heart -- so unlike the dry, empty place I lived in with my mother! I can't remember my mother ever once cooking a meal for me. I felt lonely, abandoned. When I was very small, we lived with my grandmother and aunt and mum brought home the money, suporting us all, so she actually had the role od "husband" in a traditional familiy.
She always talked down about women who stayed home "among the pots and pans" and perhaps in the tradition of teenagers everywhere who rebel against their parents, I decided then and there what when and if I had children, I would stay home "among the pots and pans" if at all possible.
My role model was exactly that 50's housewife mother of my friend; who by the way was an extremely strong woman, the centre of her home, and her husband knew it and always conceded to her; he was a shadow of her. There was no question, who ruled the roost in that home, but she did it gently, caringly.
Also let's not forget that 50's housewives in Europe were exceedingly stalwart and of extraordinary calibre, having lived through the war. I hate it when they are denigrated, looked upon as doormats. I have every respect for these women, regardless of their occupation.
(In spite of what I said above, my mother was extraordinary in her own right and I have every respect for the life she lived and what she achieved. She just was not a very good mother, and probably should not have had a child. Though she did love me in her own way, which amounted to spoiling me.)