It was a woman in Minnesota who clarified this shift for me. She pointed out that her mother called herself a housewife. She, on the other hand, called herself a stay-at-home mom. The change in nomenclature reflects the shift in cultural emphasis: the pressures on women have gone from keeping an immaculate house to being an irreproachable mom.
I would’ve pointed out the wife vs mom bit. One has house, the other home, which doesn’t seem to me a big difference. But point still makes sense. Time has shifted from housework to parenting for many women.
