a modern day privilege
It truly is a "recent" thing
IMO... Prior to WWII most women were expected to take care of the home
AND contribute to the farm or other work. The exception being those wives of the upper class who took care of the home by directing/telling the servants what they wanted done.
IMO... media was somewhat responsible for the portrayal of women as purely "housewives". If you watch TV a lot you see this in the Andy Griffith and Dennis the Menace shows as examples of this.
My family is examples of this. My mother worked when she was 20 or so (Just after WWII) but once she married, she became a "housewife". The society norm at the time was that married women stayed at home while the husband provided (through work) for the family unit. IIRC, this began to change in the late 1960's and women of all marital status' working outside the home accelerated rapidly in the 1970's - 1980's as the need for two incomes became the norm.
In many cases, what didn't change was the expectation that these (now employed) women were also responsible for maintaining the home (aka housework).
