Debunking Housewife Stereotypes: You Don’t Have to be Submissive to be a Housewife

It is not a surprise that the idea of being a housewife is something that is rejected by many women in 21st Century America, especially when housewives are stereotyped as being submissive. 

When I do a Google search for ‘submissive definition’ this is what comes up: 

Ready to conform to the authority or will of others; meekly obedient or passive. 

I appreciate that being submissive is also a personal preference where someone is dominant and someone is submissive for the sake of eroticism, but that is not what I am writing about. 

Now, while I love my husband and want to do my best to take care of him and our home, I absolutely do not ‘conform to his authority or will’ nor am I ‘meekly obedient or passive.’ Likewise, I do not argue with my husband over every little issue just to prove that I am not submissive.  

Being a wife is not a lesser position, neither is being a housewife. 

What Being a Housewife Means to Me

Being a housewife isn’t a job, it’s an act of love: 

A paid job has hours, a starting time, and a quitting time.

A housewife doesn’t have set hours.

A housewife has work and all the work she does is an act of love for her husband, her family, her home, and herself. 

The more I hear women refer to homemaking as a job, the more it sounds to me like it’s no different than a job outside the home – and homemaking is totally not like a job outside the home:

• I don’t commute anywhere
• I create my own routine that works best for me
• I don’t take a break when I’m told to take a break
• I don’t wear a uniform or office attire
• I don’t share a bathroom with anyone other than my husband
• I don’t put up with bosses, co-workers, customers, or clients
• I don’t sit through mandatory meetings
• I don’t wear a mask
• I don’t give my all to people who don’t love me

I get to focus my attention on making my home awesome for my husband, myself, and our cats. 

What does being a housewife mean to you?

Share your thoughts in the comments!