Imagine someone asks a woman about their job:
What's your job ma'am?
She has no job and works as a mother and keeps home. What is the common term to such a profession in modern AmE?
She can say:
a – I'm a housewife.
b – I'm a homemaker.
As far as I know, the word housewife is not very pleasant to be heard by a woman. Instead they prefer to be called "homemaker". Hence, 'b' should work better here. Do you confirm it?
If not, what a native would call such a woman?
Best Answer
I'm under the impression that homemaker has been gaining traction in recent decades, partly because some find housewife to be a mildly offensive term. (That viewpoint is not universally held; you can probably also find some who are offended by the fact that others find the word offensive.)
When the word housewife was coming out of vogue in some circles, a common refrain was: Don't call me a housewife – I'm not married to my house!
In any case, this subject has been addressed in blogs and other online forums; I thought this blog and this discussion on StraightDope gave some viewpoints that might be of interest to the learner.
TL;DR: I think homemaker is probably the "safer" alternative nowadays, but it's good to remember that not every stay-at-home mom abhors the term housewife.