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10[[quoteright:300:[[VideoGame/BioShock2 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/barbara_johnson.jpg]]]]
11
12->''"The love for her husband is deep\
13She would often do things for her husband\
14Without ever asking him anything in return\
15or even expecting him to know what she has done for him\
16However, long she has been married to her husband,\
17she treats him with respect and tenderness\
18And she always dresses herself neatly and pleasantly,\
19but never extravagantly, nor vulnerable, nor Gucci or Versace\
20My kind of women, housewives."''
21-->-- "Housewife/The Conversation" by Daan
22
23Housewife is a term used to describe a married woman who stays at home to personally raise her children and take care of their needs. This is often the "traditional" role of women--at least until her children (assuming she has any) are old enough to be in school for most of the day (usually once they start preschool or Kindergarten). "Homemaker" is a mainly American gender-neutral synonym for either spouse doing this--"stay-at-home mom" is another term, but a housewife and stay-at-home mom aren't always the same thing.
24
25She's often a stock character in {{Dom Com}}s who can generally be identified by being in the kitchen and lovingly counseling her children because she is TheHeart of the family. There will probably be reference to her doing laundry, grocery shopping, [[FeminineWomenCanCook cooking]], [[LivingInAFurnitureStore household cleaning]], chauffeuring, managing the family finances, [[TextileWorkIsFeminine sewing]], and bugging her husband for {{Jewelry}} and [[PrettyInMink a mink coat]]. Her children and husband usually appreciate what she does. And of course, since BeautyEqualsGoodness and MenAreStrongWomenArePretty, she will ''never'' slack off on her looks, no matter ''what'' her busy schedule may demand. Her hair is always perfectly done, she never has any blemishes, unwanted hair, or wrinkles, and she will often be wearing a dress, high-heeled shoes, and pearls for even the most mundane tasks. And no matter what, she never becomes tired or stressed, even when [[ParentingTheHusband she's the only one keeping the household together]].
26
27When a CloseKnitCommunity is the setting for FreeRangeChildren, she is part of why it is safe -- any child who comes to her door stands a good chance of getting support, help, a sympathetic ear, or maybe just a cookie. With a good man at her side, she's far from a case of MeeknessIsWeakness.
28
29Sometimes crosses with ExtremeDoormat, which is culturally neutral and describes someone who lets everyone 'walk all over them'.
30
31Naturally, this is ''far'' less common in newer (ie. 1970's onward) works than in older works. However, the archetype is still used often enough that it has not yet become a DiscreditedTrope. It is also, at least, TruthInTelevision if the woman decides to be a stay-at-home mom.
32
33Compare YamatoNadeshiko (a Japanese cultural ideal where a woman runs the household with a gentle expertise and touch of iron), {{Househusband}} (when a man takes the role of homemaker, much to the utter surprise of pretty much everyone in popular media).
34
35Usually the wife of the Standard50sFather, and mother of the GirlNextDoor and TheAllAmericanBoy. In more modern stories, she may be the wife of the BumblingDad, who spends all her days not only taking care of the house and kids but ParentingTheHusband as well.
36
37'''Important Note''': Just staying at home alone does not make a character a Housewife. If her interest in staying at home doesn't include homemaking and/or children but living off her spouse's paycheck to enjoy a life of luxury, she's NOT a housewife, she's a GoldDigger.
38
39----
40!!Examples:
41
42[[foldercontrol]]
43
44[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
45%%* Mitsy Nohara and Penny's mom from ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'', both show the depressing nature of the job.
46* [[spoiler: Miyako Inoue]], at the DistantFinale of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'', is stated to be one. She's possibly more like Izumi below, of course, given that she has her Digimon help her with the kids.
47* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'':
48** Chi Chi after she became OvershadowedByAwesome. When not cooking for her husband and sons, she's [[HenpeckedHusband scolding Goku for always leaving to save the world]] and [[EducationMama Gohan for not studying]] ([[KidHero because he too is off to save the world]]).
49** Bulma's mother is also a housewife.
50** Videl becomes one at the end of the series when she and Gohan are married and have a 4-year-old daughter, Pan.
51* Izumi Curtis of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' loves declaring that she is "A housewife!" whenever someone asks who she is. She usually says that in between beating the living shit out of the (''canon'') best elite foot soldiers in the story, effortlessly taking down borderline immortal creatures (homunculi) that can regenerate (one of them is the size of a tank, incidentally) and invading a bar filled with multiple chimeras, trained fighters, and a homunculus just so she can chew out her student.
52-->Chapter 95: "When someone asks 'who' I am, I always say, 'a house-wife.' That's the polite response... But just for today, I feel like showing off a little. I'M AN ALCHEMIST!"
53%%* Jennifer "Miko" Shibuya from ''Literature/KyoKaraMaoh''
54* Hortense Cazerne in ''Literature/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes'' is a good example as she manages the household perfectly even as her husband shuttles their family constantly throughout the far reaches of the galaxy due to his work assignments. Yang Wen-li even joked that she is in fact the true master of the Cazerne household.
55%%** Her Imperial counterpart, Evangeline Mittermeyer, also qualifies albeit to a lesser extent.
56* During ''Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaVivid'', the title character finally decided to [[RetiredBadass temporarily rest her wings]] [[HeroicRROD to recover from her injuries]] and has taken up this role to raise Vivio, with Fate as the working wife [[MarriedToTheJob who is usually away from home]]. Led to a scene where newcomer Einhart mistakes her for an ordinary housewife, causing much snickering from everyone else.
57%%* Many female characters in ''Manga/{{Monster}}'', notably Mrs. Fortner.
58* Several of the mothers in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' are portrayed this way. Not all are civilians though. For example, Shikamaru's mother Yoshino is confirmed to be a retired chunin and Sasuke's mother Mikoto was also a ninja.
59%%* Fujiwara Touko in NatsumeYuujinchou.
60* Delia Ketchum of ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' takes care of the household while her son is off adventuring and her husband is... [[DisappearedDad somewhere]] [[AmbiguouslyAbsentParent unknown.]] She always reminds him to change his underwear.
61* Kasumi Tendo of ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' after her mother's demise, despite not being married she maintains the Tendo household.
62* ''Anime/WeddingPeach'': The love angels have frequent fantasies about being this for Yangiba, and their fights over it is the series' longest RunningGag.
63* In ''Manga/ItsToughBeingNeeko'', Neeko assumes that one of her old friends is a {{NEET}} like her, since the friend in question confirms that she doesn't have a job, isn't in school and isn't taking part in training. It turns out that the friend got married and now is a stay-at-home wife.
64[[/folder]]
65
66[[folder:Comic Books]]
67* In ''ComicBook/SunnyvilleStories'', the mothers of both protagonists, Rusty and Samantha, are housewives.
68[[/folder]]
69
70[[folder:Comic Strips]]
71* Every family-oriented comic strip is covered by this trope, although some housewives eventually found jobs outside of the house.
72** ''ComicStrip/Blondie1930'': She was an archetypical example, doing all the cooking and cleaning until she got her own catering business.
73** ''ComicStrip/HiAndLois'': Lois at first before she became a real estate agent.
74** ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': The mother gave up her career to raise Calvin. She sometimes wonders if she made the right choice. Calvin's dad references that both were working when she got pregnant. According to him, her job was demanding and toiling. Calvin assumed that she ended up quitting; in fact, she got used to it, which was why she was better suited to stay at home and look after him, much to Calvin's surprise and annoyance.
75** ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'': Andy has a part-time job as a newspaper columnist, but she's mainly a housewife.
76** ''ComicStrip/BabyBlues'': Wanda even cried when they asked her to go back to work in one of the early strips. In today's strips, she still has mixed feelings about it, and in the AnimatedAdaptation's final episode, she wanted to go back to work, only to [[spoiler:change her mind again and go back to taking care of Zoe, leaving the Nap Nook business to Melinda.]]
77** Alice Mitchell in ''Comicstrip/DennisTheMenaceUS''.
78** ''ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse'' was initially a {{Deconstruction}}, with Elly Patterson struggling to balance her relationships with her husband and children with her desire to be more than a wife and mother. While it was played more straight over the years, it didn’t shy away from how difficult it was.
79* This trope is true of many comic strips before the 1970s. Often because they were aimed at children and were expected to show good social values to the young audience. And, of course, in those days divorce was a social taboo.
80** ''ComicBook/JoZetteAndJocko'', where Jo and Zette's mother is a housewife who is mostly seen at home while their father goes out to work. Her role is mostly reduced to worrying about the children. Even Creator/{{Herge}}, who drew the comic strip felt the series didn't allow him much creative freedom. Every time he sent the children out on an adventure, he had to work the parents in there somewhere. After only five albums he gave up and returned to ComicBook/{{Tintin}}, who at least is family free and could do whatever he wanted.
81** ''ComicStrip/QuickAndFlupke'': Another series drawn by Hergé where Quick and Flupke's mothers are both housewives, whose roles consist of nothing else but them cooking, cleaning, and shopping.
82** ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske'': Suske and Wiske have an adoptive relative, Tante Sidonia (''Aunt Sidonia'') who does all the chores a normal mother would do. Yet she doesn't stay at home when the children go on an adventure but comes along with them. Creator/WillyVandersteen, creator of the comic strip, gave the children an aunt instead of a real mother, because ''real parents would never allow their children to go on adventure''.
83** ''ComicStrip/{{Nero}}'': Madam Nero, Nero's wife and Madam Pheip, the wife of Meneer Pheip are traditional housewives in the sense that they do all kinds of domestic activities. Yet Madam Pheip is a bit more outgoing and willing to go on an adventure when her children or Nero and his friends are in danger.
84** ''ComicBook/{{Jommeke}}'': Jommeke's mother and Filiberke's mother are both housewives who do traditional kitchen-and-household activities and always stay at home.
85** ComicBook/DeKiekeboes: Charlotte, Kiekeboe's wife, is still a housewife, but her role has changed over the years. She sometimes takes part-time jobs outside the house, which allow her to have adventures of her own.
86** ''ComicBook/TomPoes'': Doddeltje, Olivier B. Bommel's love interest whom he eventually marries, is a caring and admiring wife. She takes the role of housewife but seeing that Bommel is a noble man who is rich her domestic activities are not that dominant.
87** ''ComicBook/BillyAndBuddy'': Boule's mother is a traditional housewife and most of the gags don't put her in the forefront.
88** ''ComicBook/JanJansEnDeKinderen'': Jans is a housewife, but as the decades went on she too started working outside the house. At a certain point, she switched jobs with her husband. He stays at home and takes care of the children, while she works.
89** ''ComicBook/LePetitSpirou'': Spirou's mother is a traditional housewife and only plays a minor role in the series as cast member.
90** ''ComicBook/{{Urbanus}}'': Eufrazie is a very docile and devoted housewife, whose main activity seems to be cleaning the Virgin Maria statue on the cupboard. She does get involved in the adventures, however, and has been known to protest when her BerserkButton is pushed.
91[[/folder]]
92
93[[folder:Fan Works]]
94* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' initially suggests that Marie Danvers is the ExtremeDoormat version [[BadassFamily (unlike her family)]], being married to a [[StepfordSmiler variation]] on the Standard50sFather with [[FantasyForbiddingFather certain]] [[StayInTheKitchen values]] that their [[ActionGirl daughter]], Carol, rebels against, and the second child, [[ShrinkingViolet Stevie]], suffers under (the youngest child, [[TheAllAmericanBoy Joe Junior]], is fine). However, this comes from [[UnreliableNarrator Carol]]. Marie has significant HiddenDepths - and they're more alike than she wants to admit. Short version: she became one, after a career as a nurse, because [[RefusalOfTheCall she wanted to "make good" rather than fight evil]] because of seeing what it did to people (her [[LadyOfWar mother's]] self-admitted ParentalNeglect didn't help). They reconciled, but fear driven by Carol's ActionGirl tendencies meant she started repeating her mother's mistakes. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone She realises this,]] apologises to Carol, explaining her past, and [[SoProudOfYou resolving to be proud of her]].
95** [[MamaBear Threatening her kids is also a]] ''[[MamaBear very]]'' [[MamaBear bad idea]] - as is [[AbusiveParents emotionally abusing them]], once she clocks to it. When she finds out from Alison that her husband [[spoiler: wanted Harry to MindRape Carol into a ProperLady, which nearly got him lobotomised]], she all but kicks him out, never letting him near their children unless she's around, while Alison gets him KickedUpstairs (and out of state) to facilitate this. According to Alison, this was actually considerably more merciful than what would have happened if she'd found out directly, heavily implying that she would have killed him.
96* [[Franchise/StarTrek Federation Law]] deliberately [[InvokedTrope Invokes]] this trope (crossed with {{Househusband}}) in ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/7845760/chapters/17913511 Jim Kirk, Unwilling Housewife Extraordinaire]]'', ensuring all romantic entanglements consist of 'one working unit and one homemaking unit' in the name of maximising physical and mental health. All Starfleet officers have to declare a marriage within five years of promotion, if you aren't married by that point then any current romantic entanglement will be formalised as a marriage, and if you're unattached you'll end up in an ArrangedMarriage. And if you happen to be the younger partner in your new marriage, then [[StayInTheKitchen tough luck]]. Given that captaincy is Kirk's first, best destiny and Spock just [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy wants his beloved to be happy]], it's not a great situation, and, given that the Federation is at war, forcing half the population out of work is acknowledged InUniverse as being an incredibly stupid decision. [[DeconstructedTrope It's also pointed out that the reason that Vulcan is far more advanced than Earth is because they actually let both halves of a relationship contribute to society in a meaningful way rather than enforcing an outdated regulation that very few people appear to support.]]
97* Subverted in ''Fanfic/MyHuntsmanAcademia''. Inko Midoriya stayed home in Mountain Glenn to take care of her son Izuku, but she also works as a nurse at a local hospital.
98* Zig-zagged in ''Fanfic/NeitherABirdNorAPlaneItsDeku''. Inko stays home to take care of Izuku while her husband works overseas, but she's considering going back into fashion designing now that Izuku is a teenager and attending U.A.
99* ''[[Fanfic/AfterTheJungleSeries After the Jungle]]'' (by Creator/Flowerprincess11):
100** Downplayed for Helga Shortman (née Pataki) who, as an adult, is a world-renowned poet/novelist/short story writer working for Wright & Tate Publishing--but Helga's able to work primarily from home and only ever goes into W&T when it's truly necessary. When she's not working on any poems, novels, or short stories, she's taking care of her kids (at least until they're old enough to start school) and doing cooking and housework.
101** Pattie Berman (née Smith) was this as well, as least until her and Harold's four kids were old enough to be in school for most of the day.
102* Gray Ghost in ''Fanfic/ManehattansLoneGuardian'' identifies herself as a "humble housewife", being the one available for her children while her husband is out working. It is also implied that she handles most of the chores at their apartment herself, but she delegates any cooking to her husband, Ocean Guard, and her daughter, Ebony, on account of her own skills in that area being utterly abysmal.
103[[/folder]]
104
105[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
106* In ''Film/ChristmasInConnecticut'' Elizabeth pretends to be this, writing magazine articles in the persona of a Martha Stewart-style homemaker who tends to her husband and baby, knitting sweaters, cooking gourmet meals, etc. She is actually an unmarried New York sophisticate who doesn't know how to cook. She has to MaintainTheLie when her publisher, who is not in on the scam, invites himself to her nonexistent farm for Christmas.
107* Nell [=McLaughlin=], mother of Alison Lohman's character in ''Film/{{Flicka}}'' is the Wyoming horse ranch homemaker with all the domesticity and at least as much guts as the sitcom wives.
108* In ''Film/LoveAndBasketball'', Monica's mother Camille stays at home and doesn't approve of her daughter's interest in basketball. This is a source of conflict for them because Monica thinks of her mother as an ExtremeDoormat and Camille doesn't understand Monica.
109* ''Film/MonOncle'': Madame Arpel is an absurd parody of one. She's polishing her husband's car as he's driving it out the driveway. She serves her husband lunch, then makes him move to another table about eight feet away so she can serve coffee.
110* ''Film/OneFootInHeaven'' (1941) is a pretty good example of how this trope used to be portrayed and how it comes off to a 21st-century viewer. Hope Spence is the loving and supportive wife of a Protestant minister who is tending to his flock in early 20th-century Iowa. In 1941, the character of Hope was no doubt meant to be an inspiring example of a virtuous wife who supports her husband. To a 21st-century viewer, however, Mrs. Spence comes off as an ExtremeDoormat. William makes her leave her family and come with him to the U.S., he tells her that she can't redecorate the dingy parsonage they move into because the parishioners won't like it, he tells her she can't dress nice because that might outshine the other ladies in the congregation, he tells her they have to go hungry because advertising for his wedding services is "too commercial", he refuses the much cushier posting in California that she wanted him to take, he disregards her wishes about naming their third child, and he forces her to leave for another crappy district just when things have been fixed up nicely in their Iowa home. At no point in the film does William ask her about any of these life choices; he tells her, and she obeys.
111* ''Film/OurMissBrooks'', the [[TheMovie cinematic]] [[GrandFinale finale]] of the series of the same name: Miss Brooks, a teacher, wants to marry fellow teacher Mr. Boynton and become a full-time housewife and mother. [[spoiler:Miss Brooks and Mr. Boynton marry at the end of the film, living HappilyEverAfter]].
112* Deconstructed, like so much else, in ''Film/{{Pleasantville}}''. Betty is supposed to be the epitome of this trope in-universe, but once she learns about sex from Jennifer, it begins a transformation of her character.
113* A dark example in the FilmNoir ''Film/TheRecklessMoment'': In order to keep the facade of a perfect family, Lucia Harper covers up her daughter's AccidentalMurder, but things are complicated even more when she's blackmailed. This blackmail shows how powerless even a wealthy woman was during The40s and The50s. It's painfully obvious that not only is her family [[UngratefulBastard ungrateful]], but that she's trapped in a role that she dislikes.
114* ''Film/{{Repast}}'': Deconstructed. Michiyo despairs a life of cooking and cleaning and keeping house, feeling trapped, feeling like a slave, wishing she could go back home and get a job.
115-->"I had hopes and dreams before. Where have they gone?"
116* The 1995 film ''Film/{{Safe|1995}}'' is about a housewife who develops multiple chemical sensitivity disorder.
117* ''Film/{{Salesman}}'', being a documentary about door-to-door salesmen made in 1966, shows the salesmen talking most often with housewives, who are often tending to children while the salesmen go through their pitch.
118* ''Film/ASpecialDay'': Yep, a dark example, set in patriarchal [[UsefulNotes/FascistItaly 1938 Italy]]. Antoinietta leads a rather grim existence as a quasi-slave, waiting on her husband and six kids. In one scene, she cringes when looking at all the wreckage they've left behind in the morning. In another scene, her dirtbag husband uses the skirt of her dress to dry his hands.
119-->'''Antoinietta''': Try blowing your nose on it too.
120* A dark example in ''Film/AWomanUnderTheInfluence'', where the pressures of being a housewife have driven Mabel literally insane. She loves her children, but Nick is a mean and shouty husband and Nick's mother, who lives with the family, loathes Mabel. The house is badly overcrowded, with Nick and Mabel sleeping in a fold-out couch bed. Eventually she has a complete mental breakdown and has to go to an insane asylum.
121[[/folder]]
122
123[[folder:Literature]]
124* Some Christian groups hold to the idea of the "[[Literature/BookOfProverbs Proverbs 31 woman]]" as the ideal wife, based on [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Proverbs 31]] from ''Literature/TheBible''. Far from being a doormat, this woman is strong, wise, industrious, respectable, and fully capable of managing the affairs of the household, and her husband (an important government official) boasts about her to his friends and colleagues. Also, unlike more traditional examples of this trope, she does not remain solely within the private sphere. She runs a textile business, teaches Torah, and purchases a vineyard. (Yet many people seem to forget that she is a businesswoman as well as a wife and mother.)
125* Celie from ''Literature/TheColorPurple'' ends up early on as a housewife of an abusive Mr. [[spoiler: Albert]], taking care of kids who don't even accept her at first. [[TheWoobie Woobie]] ensued.
126* Dilly in ''Literature/{{Cookie}}'' is a deconstruction of the housewife. Her husband treats her more like a servant, constantly criticises everything she does and she has no real hobbies or interests outside the home. Dilly's daughter Beauty mentions that her dad made Dilly quit her job when they got married, saying her job now was to keep house whilst he worked, thus leaving her completely dependent on him. [[spoiler: In the end, Dilly leaves her husband and gets a job as a breakfast chef and cleaner at a bed-and-breakfast, using her domestic skills as a housewife to earn her own money]].
127* Charity Carpenter from ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' is a stay-at-home mom for a total of seven kids while [[ThePaladin her husband]] is off fighting evil. However you should [[MamaBear never touch her kids.]] When the villains of one book took her oldest she suited up with a near armory in the back of her minivan and invaded the nevernever to get her daughter back.
128* Ethyne of ''Literature/TheGirlWhoDrankTheMoon'' is beautiful, charming, well-liked by local law enforcement (so she can defy orders of the Council), a creative crafter around the house, a skilled cook, a productive herbalist, and devoted to her husband Antain.
129* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Molly Weasley is the homemaker of the Weasley family but she's also an ApronMatron. One would have to be badass to run a household with so many children and especially so when two of those children are TricksterTwins.
130* Jill Churchill's ''Jane Jeffry'' is a stay-at-home mom who ends up being involved in one mystery after another, much to the chagrin of her cop boyfriend.
131%%* The heroine of ''Literature/SpecialCircumstances'' is shown as this. Given the action focus of the series, it's not prominently on display, but it does show some in subtle ways.
132* ''Literature/TheStepfordWives'' (both the book and the movie) is about aspiring photographer Joanna Eberhart moving to the town of Stepford with her husband and kids and getting freaked out that all the wives are idyllic housewives who only care about cooking and cleaning [[spoiler: because they've all been replaced by robot doubles]].
133* ''Literature/WhenWomenWereDragons'': Alex's mother tries to be a paragon of domesticity. Her house gleams, she and her children are impeccably dressed, and she serves homecooked dinners promptly at 6:15. But there are still signs of her pre-marriage passions: she continues to study the mathematics of knots and becomes obsessed with gardening to the point where she lets her housekeeping standards slide.
134* ''Literature/YouDontOwnMe'':
135** Cynthia was a stay-at-home parent, taking care of Martin and the house while Robert worked. Cynthia enjoyed being a housewife and especially loved being there for her son full-time. Unfortunately, Cynthia's own positive experience has led her to assume that it should be this way for all women; she criticises her daughter-in-law because she struggled with being a stay-at-home-mother and she is derisive of Kendra's decision to go back to work, claiming she never spends time with the children (this is blatantly untrue, as Kendra does spend quality time with her children when she's off work and they don't appear to be suffering because of it).
136** Subverted with Kendra; she decided to give up her career and become a housewife after her son was born because she couldn't cope at work, but she soon found she couldn't cope at home either, to the point her husband Martin hired a live-in nanny to care for their children despite Kendra being unemployed. Kendra says she later realised she had post-partum depression, with Martin's [[DomesticAbuse emotional abuse]] and [[NoSympathy lack of sympathy]] doing nothing to improve her mental health. After her husband died, Kendra got help for her condition and although she could afford not to work because of her late husband's trust fund, she chose to get employment because she likes working.
137[[/folder]]
138
139[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
140* ''Series/SeventhHeaven'''s Annie Camden studied everything from art to business and economics for the express purpose of running a household.
141* Edith Bunker on ''Series/AllInTheFamily'' is a housewife. Later on, though, she gets hired part-time at the retirement home where she's been volunteering.
142* Samantha Stephens from ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'' is a housewife.
143* ''Series/BigLove'' centers around a man with ''three'' housewives, and three houses on the same block for them to keep up.
144%%* Diane Coupland from ''Bless This House''.
145* Amy Matthews of ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' acts every bit the domestic one, doing all the cooking and cleaning, from the beginning usually letting us forget about her real estate career in the first season.
146* In ''Series/TheBradyBunch'', Carol Brady shared this role with their full-time housekeeper, Alice. Alice did most of the actual housework, but both of them were in-house dispensers of comfort, empathy, and good advice.
147* In ''Series/{{Butterflies}}'', Ria Parkinson is a housewife to a dentist in private practice who is able to afford a cleaning lady to keep house for them. It is also understood that Ria is not [[LethalChef the world's greatest cook]]. She therefore has time to brood and get dissatisfied with her life.
148%%* Occurs in ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' with Phoebe and a magic ring, directly referencing [[Series/{{Bewitched}} Samantha]] above.
149* [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The main cast]] of ''Series/DesperateHousewives'' (at least originally; later on most of them hold down full-time jobs, leaving this as something of an ArtifactTitle).
150* ''Series/TheDonnaReedShow'' focuses on the housewife of the Stone family, Donna, who holds the family together and is an active member of her community. There was even an episode where Donna explains how women who are "just" housewives actually do many jobs requiring special skills -- nutritionist, nurse, therapist, etc.
151* Debra Barone in ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'' goes through the whole spectrum from domestic martyr to unappreciated shrieking harridan.
152* Jean Weir from ''Series/FreaksAndGeeks'' is an ordinary Midwestern housewife in the 1980s. Patient, loving, wearing cardigans and straight skirts, devoted to her family. The series explores her dissatisfaction with her husband's cranky behavior and wanting to do more, her children growing up, and also shows that the Weir parents have an active sex life.
153* On ''Series/GoodGirlsRevolt'' most of the researchers at News of the World are expected by those around them to become housewives once they get married. Cindy’s husband especially wants her to stay home and raise a family, and Bea asks Jane why she’s still at News of the World and not married yet.
154* Genderflipped in ''Series/HannahMontana'' of all places where Robbie Ray does a fair share of the home-making duties.
155* Marion from ''Series/HappyDays'' is a 1950s housewife with coiffed hair and full skirts and aprons.
156* ''Series/{{Hightown}}'': In Season 3 Ray says Renee is now one, as she's stuck at home caring for their baby and her son. She isn't happy with her situation. It results in her secretly beginning work again at the strip club (although not stripping) to get out of the house.
157* Alice Kramden from ''Series/TheHoneymooners'' is a housewife, albeit a working-class city flavor rather than a suburban or small-town one.
158* Lucy Ricardo from ''Series/ILoveLucy'' is a housewife, starting in the city in a middle-class apartment building and then moving to suburban Connecticut. Her episodes revolve around her wanting to get out of her role and star in Ricky's show.
159* Rosemary from ''Series/InsideGeorgeWebley'' believes a woman's place is in the home, and happily cooks and cleans for George. "Brief Encounter" reveals she doesn't even think women should ''drive!''
160* June Cleaver on ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver'' is the archetypal television example. Setting the standard with well-tailored dresses and suits with pearls and heels.
161* Betty Draper on ''Series/MadMen'' is a ruthless and meticulous deconstruction of this trope. Exploring how she enjoys the fruits of the image of the archetypal perfect suburban housewife but is miserably married to the philandering and distant Don and is ambivalent about her motherhood, to the point of abuse.
162* Peggy Bundy from ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' is a subversion of the typical sitcom housewife. She sits around all day watching television and eating bonbons while her husband slaves away at a job he hates.
163%%* Mum from ''Series/OnTheBuses''
164* ''Series/OurMissBrooks'':
165** Martha Conklin is a housewife.
166** Miss Brooks' SeriesGoal is to marry fellow teacher Mr. Boynton. In several episodes (i.e. "The Wrong Mrs. Boyton") it is made explicit that Miss Brooks wants to become a full-time housewife and mother.
167* ''Series/MrsAmerica'' centers on the struggle between the Feminist Movement and the Right Wing counter-movement led by Phyllis Schlafly in the 1970s. Most of the feminist main characters want nothing to do with the [[ObnoxiousEntitledHousewife shrill]], sheltered, pampered MoralGuardians of the counter-movement, with Betty Friedan (writer of ''The Feminine Mystique'' where it questioned society's StayInTheKitchen mentality) and Jill Ruckelshaus (a former housewife, now political wonk in the Republican party) trying to make some connection but failing. It's somewhat subverted with the conservative housewives as most of their scenes take them outside the home where [[{{Hypocrite}} they go lobby legislators and protest that women's place is in the home and stagnate the progression of women's rights]], especially with Phyllis who is a political lobbyist who calls herself "a housewife" despite the fact most of the domestic labor is undertaken by two maids and her OldMaid sister-in-law. The series ends with [[spoiler: Phyllis being denied a Cabinet position with Ronald Reagan and despondently peeling and coring apples for dinner in her kitchen while wearing an apron over her pearls and crisp suit]].
168* This is actually the exception rather than the rule on ''Series/TheRealHousewives''; most of the Real Housewives are not real housewives. In fact, Atlanta's Porsha got some flak from the rest of the cast about the fact that she didn't work, as did Miami's Lisa.
169* Series/{{Roseanne}} threw this image out the window and replaced it with something much closer to reality. They even lampshaded the differences on a clip show hosted by Roseanne and a committee of TV moms who had come to "set her straight."
170** Though Roseanne often ''[[InformedAbility described]]'' herself as a housewife, and did do the majority of the actual house''work'', she was never a stay-at-home mom. In fact, she worked more consistently than her nominal "breadwinner" husband.
171* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'':
172** Martha Kent can generally be [[FeminineWomenCanCook found in the kitchen]] especially in seasons one and three and part of two when she's not working for Lionel or running the Talon.
173** In "[[Recap/SmallvilleS09E14Persuasion Persuasion]]", Clark temporarily gains a CompellingVoice and he unwittingly controls [[Characters/SupermanLoisLane Lois]] when he wishes for a "traditional relationship". Which makes her [[QuittingToGetMarried quit her job]], dress up as a housewife with a StayInTheKitchen attitude, and ''[[CordonBleughChef trying]]'' to cook for him. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Clark is baffled and horrified]] - and not just at the cooking. Suffice it to say, BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor.
174* ''Series/StrangerThings'': On the surface, Karen Wheeler is a typical 1980s suburban middle-class housewife and stay-at-home mother. But as the series progresses, it’s clear that she’s fairly unhappy in her role, and in the third season, it’s all but said that she tried to pursue a career, but was knocked down by sexism. She encourages her teenage daughter Nancy to follow her dreams and not give up on her story.
175* Played with in ''Series/That70sShow'': Eric's mother Kitty acts VERY much like one, but she's actually got a job outside the house as a nurse. Later on when Red loses his job and she has to work full time she nearly cracks when she finds out Red and Eric still expect her to do all the cooking and cleaning anyways.
176* ''Series/WhyWomenKill'', like Marc Cherry's [[Series/DesperateHousewives previous show]], focuses on women and the role of housewife as it translates to their eras and marriages.
177** In the 1963 storyline of season 1, Beth Ann Stanton is the picture-perfect 1960s housewife in a bouncy hairdo, full skirts, pearls, and proper vocabulary. She cleans and maintains the Pasadena mansion [[HighSchoolSweethearts she and her husband]] Rob live in, even moving several unpacked boxes to the attic as she clears them out day by day. [[spoiler:After finding out her husband has been cheating on her, befriending the mistress (who turns out to have become pregnant because of him), and finding out he gaslit her about the reasons for their young daughter's death, she decides to get him killed.]]
178** In the 2019 storyline of season 1, Jade (as part of a throuple) is more of a "Housepartner" as she does housewifely duties after moving in with her lover Taylor Harding and her lover's husband Eli Cohen (Taylor and Eli have an open marriage). She is a more MsFanservice version of the role. [[spoiler:She turns out to be a serial killer.]]
179** Alma Filcott in season 2 is a 1940s dowdy housewife who takes pride in her homemaking skills and her small garden, hardly doing much to update her own wardrobe or hairstyle, and wanting friends from the local garden club. [[spoiler:She commits murder to stay in.]]
180[[/folder]]
181
182[[folder:Music]]
183* Belgian rock artist Daan released a hit single named ''Housewife'' in 2004, featuring both an instrumental version and a B-side named ''Housewife/The Conversation'' in which he has a conversation with a woman praising the virtues of housewives in a tongue in cheek way, naming them ''housewives, my kind of woman.'
184* Music/FaithHill's "I Can't Do That Anymore," is about a housewife who feels constrained by the role she's been pigeon-holed into, and longs for something more.
185-->''I keep the checkbook balanced\
186I decorate your palace\
187You know I used to think that\
188You were king\
189Somewhere down deep I know\
190You really love me\
191But you can't see that what we have's not all I needed''
192[[/folder]]
193
194[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
195* GLOW had a tag team called the Housewives, Arlene and Phyllis. Their backstory was they turned to wrestling after their husbands left them. They would come to the ring wearing bathrobes, curlers in their hair, mud masks on their faces (to hide that they were the same two girls who played the Heavy Metal Sisters), and carrying mops and buckets. They would often get disqualified for using their mops on their opponents.
196[[/folder]]
197
198[[folder:Roleplay]]
199* Jacob's mother from ''Roleplay/DawnOfANewAgeOldportBlues'', who quit her job after he was born in order to attend to him and the house full-time. As a dark twist on the trope, she forces all her expectations on him to an [[AbusiveParents abusive]] level, while her working husband remains oblivious to the emotional trauma that his son receives.
200[[/folder]]
201
202[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
203* The ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' 3rd edition supplement ''GURPS Villains'' has a character, Deborah Williams, who uses the stereotypes of the housewife in 1950s America as a [[StepfordSmiler mask]] to hide the fact that she's a MadScientist working to uncover the secrets of an alien spacecraft which crashed in her backyard.
204* The very dark ''TabletopGame/{{KULT}}'' once suggested this as a playable character -- looks straight, but spends her time reading old tomes about how to summon {{eldritch abomination}}s.
205* The [[LivingDollCollector Melissidae bloodline]] from ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' sometimes invoke this role to hide their undead activities behind the facade of being loving wives living in small houses with white picket fences caring for their nuclear families. [[spoiler:The housewives are usually absolutely inhumanly insane, and their loving "families" are actually made up of kidnapped strangers who were tortured, brainwashed, and subjugated to the Melissidae's screaming hive mind to the point where they lost their sentience and began acting as mindless drones to their new queens, living and dying by their whims]]. Yikes!
206[[/folder]]
207
208[[folder:Video Games]]
209* Sheila Beamish of ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfWillyBeamish'' is one in the vein of Peg Bundy mentioned above, with nearly as tacky of a fashion sense. The narrator often presents her homemaking skills in a snarky light when you examine things around the Beamish home.
210* Barbara Johnson a.k.a. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Housewife]] (pictured above), one of the playable characters from ''VideoGame/BioShock2: Multiplayer''. She is described as "a dutiful housewife and an attentive mother" but with "[[StepfordSmiler a familiar and nagging sense that there must be something more]]." Since ''VideoGame/BioShock'' is an {{Action|Game}} and SurvivalHorror series, [[FromBadToWorse things don't get any better for her]]. Once she's chosen to be a [[TestedOnHumans product tester]] by a company called Sinclair Solutions she grabs her [[FryingPanofDoom frying pan]] and starts rampaging on the battlefield. As she gets more and more addicted to [[PsychoSerum ADAM]] she loses her grip on reality and starts hallucinating that the warzone is her household and that the [[CreepyChild Little Sister]] is her daughter. In the end, she acts in ways no typical housewife would.
211* ''VideoGame/Fallout3'':
212** Linda Smith is a housewife and mother living with her loving husband Jack and son Junior in Andale, Virginia. The twist? They are a perfectly normal-looking family... living in a nuclear wasteland. Also: [[spoiler: they're an inbred CannibalClan along with their neighbors/siblings the Wilsons]].
213** Brailee Ewers of Arefu [[PlayingWithATrope shows shades]] of this, though it's [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} mostly in her head]].
214---> "Why yes, let me give you one of my old-fashioned chocolate chip cookies. Enjoy!"
215* ''VideoGame/FateExtra'': Playable Caster (aka [[spoiler:Tamamo-no-Mae]]) has [[DoubleEntendre a dirty mouth]] and can be [[BeneathTheMask scary at times]], but she still carries herself in this manner and her desire to be a good wife is as genuine as it gets.
216* Saki from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild''. She stays at home to take care of her son Tulin while her husband Teba is out preparing to fight Vah Medoh. She's later seen doing some grocery shopping when the two of them go practice archery together at the Flight Range.
217* Several minor [=NPCs=] from ''VideoGame/Persona4'' are housewives who talk about various things, from cooking for their in-laws to the latest gossip. The Temperance Social Link focuses on Eri Minami, a young housewife who's struggling to connect with her stepson- with her husband away, her son at daycare, and no friends in town, Eri is bored and lonely most days.
218* An odd example: In the "Milkman Conspiracy" level of ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' there are a number of G-men who "disguise" themselves as normal people by carrying an item specific to their supposed profession. One house contains three G-men brandishing rolling pins and talking disjointedly about pies and their neglectful husbands, apparently pretending to be housewives.
219* Vanilla the Rabbit from the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series, first introduced in the ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Advance|Trilogy}} 2'' although her husband (if she has one) has never been seen. She lets her daughter Cream [[FreeRangeChildren accompany Sonic on his adventures]] with little issue. If she's involved with the game's story, [[SatelliteFamilyMember it's usually because Cream is also present]].
220* Mistel from ''VideoGame/YggdraUnion'' always claims to be one, but although she does all the housework for her grandfather, she's not actually married -- her fiance ran off on her before the start of the game. She's very proud of her domestic skills, and they do not stop her from kicking massive amounts of enemy ass.
221[[/folder]]
222
223%%[[folder:Webcomics]]
224%%* Most likely Nanase's mother, from ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive''.
225%%* Hala River from ''IrregularElis'' is a good example, but a bit special.
226%%* In ''Webcomic/RobottoJukujo'' ,
227%%** [[http://www.nemomanga.com/homepage/c1p13/ Robot Mom]]
228%%* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'',
229%%** Fuchsia's [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2009-11-05 transformation]]
230%%** [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2012-07-01 One option offered Monique.]]
231%%[[/folder]]
232
233[[folder:Web Originals]]
234* Web animation ''Don't Feed The Humans'' is about an assortment of people abducted at various places and times to become exhibits in an alien zoo; June is the archetypical American housewife from The50s.
235[[/folder]]
236
237[[folder:Western Animation]]
238* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' Francine Smith is a housewife, as befitting a family whose patriarch seems to be stuck in the 1950s.
239%%* Mom from ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken''
240* Dexter's mom from ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory''. She seemed to have little characterization outside of her housework, though it's implied at least a few times she was a lot more rebellious in her youth. She is almost never seen without [[LimitedWardrobe her plain housedress, yellow rubber gloves, and an apron]].
241* DependingOnTheWriter, Mrs. Turner (or "Timmy Turner's Mom") from ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' is either a stay-at-home mother or a real estate agent. And sometimes a spy. One Magazine/NickelodeonMagazine comic also depicted her as a florist.
242-->'''Mrs. Turner:''' ''(at her dead garden)'' EVERYTHING I TOUCH DIES!!\
243''[nearby characters back away from her]''
244* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Lois Griffin is a stay-at-home mother and housewife who also does some piano lessons from home to supplement the family income. One episode has a feminist who belittles her for being a housewife, to which Lois stands up for herself saying a woman has the right to choose to be one.
245* Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble from ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'', doing the cooking, cleaning, taking care of the children and their husbands, but averted in the 1980s series ''The Flintstone Comedy Show'', where Wilma and Betty work as newspaper reporters for the ''Daily Granite''. Also averted in the 1990s TV movies, where it's revealed that they eventually started their own catering business.
246* ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'': Jane Jetson. She doesn't even really need to do much to tend house, given her RayGunGothic housecleaning technology.
247* Parodied with Jimmy's mother Judy on ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutronBoyGenius''. She takes all the housewife tropes (baking, cleaning, manicuring the lawn) up to eleven, and this is even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] on at least one occasion ("To think I step out for two measly days and you replace me with some psycho robot with a hideous 1950s hairdo!"). It's also made crystal clear that she's where Jimmy gets his brains and that neither he nor Hugh (who himself looks like a Standard50sFather but subverts this by being an imbecilic ManChild) can survive without her.
248* ''WesternAnimation/MotherUp'': Several characters implicitly have this role, but Sarah is the one who most strongly fits the "traditional homemaker whose life revolves around her husband and child."
249* Diane "Didi" Kropotkin Kerpackter-Pickles from ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'', after she quits her part-time schoolteacher position from the earlier seasons.
250* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Marge Simpson is a superhuman housewife. It's one of her only real characterizations. Various episodes have her occasionally try out a new career, but it never lasts to the end of the episode and she returns to her housewife role.
251[[/folder]]
252----
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