How about a domestic engineer?

I have nothing against the term “housewife”, but I personally use the term “homemaker” as it has a more positive connotation. In this politically correct society, I think we get too carried away with the smallest things.

Salam,

The term unfortunatly carries a negative connotation these days…home management definitely takes a great deal of work and responsibility and some people don’t realize this.

The astonishing rate at which the price of oil and food have increased and continues to increase , being a “house-wife” seems to be a term of the by-gone times.

One wonders whether men , by and large, can still financially sustain a house-hold alone.

Salaam ‘Alaikum

Among my friends, we say (or write) SAHM — or stay at home mother. I like homemaker though too, as it includes women who do not have children.

How about the following:

1.For Americans - Secretary of Homeland Security.

2.For Canadians - Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

3. For Brits - Home Secretary

4. For most people - Ministry of Interior

5. For Italians - The Don

Khadija Bajee,

I agree with you.

I think the problem is not with the “words” we use but with the meanings they imply. You can change the words but the meanings will still be there i.e. call her housewife or something else, the fact that “she” is at home may still be looked down upon.

So what should be worked on is the meanings; not the words.

And before we get into such discussions, it may be worth re-defining the frame of the discussion.

I think homemaker might be the best, since it includes both those with children and those without. What does everyone think? According to Wikipedia though it’s an American term, do people outside America use the word?

I definitely don’t like domestic engineer (I hope that was a joke)…

Assalamu Alaikum,

I prefer the term homemaker also. And any defence and support for the wife to stay at home whether a mother yet or not is good, I feel.

salaam,

My friend who takes care of my daughter is just a ‘housewife’, and one of the Women looked at her up and down and told her - Oh, so your just a housewife? I said - Yeah, She does your work and mine combined.
Amazing lady huh? I think if you called her homemaker, it would not remove the negativity. In this day and age, people measure men and women by what they produce materially - particularly money. They do not value men or women who may contribute to the nurturing of the community. So if a man was working as a Shepherd, the job that many of the Prophets held, people would probably say - oh, so your just a shepherd? Or how many would be comfortable saying, my father is a sanitation engineer (takes away our garbage)?

Our perceptions are what need changing I think. We need to change how we value people and not look down on others who may not have lucrative money making positions but work very hard behind the scenes doing valuable work - be they men or women.

The term best to use is Family Caretaker. Many Women do not take care of homes, but moreso families, be it her husband or husband and kids, etc.

To remove the negativity - there was an intersting point raised by Habib Ali Al Jifri in his youtube videos on Futuwwa. Something along the lines is it futuwwa to prove to others, or to prove to yourself?

wasalaam,
Fedwa

Brilliant post! The term housewife has taken on a negative connotation because of a shift in values. These days women are expected to function more like men which they would not be doing by staying at home.

It seems that is the cause of the less-than-savory connotation. It’s therefore likely only a matter of time before whatever new catch word is adopted takes on the same negative stain.

So housewife works just fine in my book. Besides all the alternatives I’ve heard so far seem either clumsy or contrived or both.

Radical feminism at its best.

There is no problem in using this term. Women belong in their home and defining them with term which reflects that is not demeaning, rather it’s accurate from a shari’a stand point.

In my opinion, wife should be called as “Boss”. In a healthy relationship, the women would be running the household like a boss would be running his department or company. We should know each others strength and start from that.

In reality the term does not have any meaning except what we perceive. If we look down on women who take care of the household, whatever term is used, it won’t make us look at them differently. So, I would first ask us to change our own perspective.

@Imran — I agree “Boss” maybe the best title. Referring to women as such only reinforces the fact that their place is home and they rule that place.

I find the term “House wife” very honorable, though I admit it wasn’t how I felt about it in the past.
I find doing my job here at SP easier than maintaining a house, and I admire all these selfless women who wake up every day to put their families first.
In Egypt, where I come from, being a House Wife is regarded with utmost respect and sometimes envy. At the end of the day, the house wife is indeed the boss, who can claim they don’t enjoy “bossing”!

Ok i was forced to post today so here we go.

I totally agree with Br Qays. As the shift in peoples values in the world are an ongoing change and whatever we choose to use will ’slowly but surely’ have the same negative connotation as ‘housewife’.

What ever word we choose to use doesn’t matter its the way we define or understand the meaning behind it.

as sallamu alaikum

inshaa Allah this reaches all in the best of states

May Allah give you good in this life and the next.

I think many have lost sight of the great honor and respect due our mothers. The name shouldn’t be the focus look at what many of our wives are doing. I for one could never keep everything together my wife does. Very rarely does my wife leave me at home with all the kids its to much for me to handle (7 kids).Our wives should have a sense of pride to stay home and raise her children regardless which name one uses

as the sister has replied its out view of the word house-wife has become negative, not the job itself. so in my view in an islamic sese this isnot a negative word its a negative word to the rest of the world,as as most of us on here are from the rest of the world (ie not muslim world) then were caught up with this negative image of the word

As-salamu alaykum,

We like the term “boss” as well. However the point sister Fadwa made is what we have heard from our teachers. Namely, why is rearing a believing child, with a heart capable of knowing Allah like no other creature can, less valuable than participating in the work force in an industrial age that has ruined the environment?

Even if she were not to have children, why is maintaining the space in which believers pray, recite Quran, make dhikr, take shelter, eat, drink and dress such that they can worship Allah in safety and good health unimportant?

When we see the stations in the hereafter of ladies who have done this for Allah during these few days in this dunya, many of us with other occupations will envy them.

Salam,

Alhamdullilah, Sheikh Abdul-Kareem Yahya remindeds of something very important…May Allah raise the ranks of the “homemakers” in the Hereafter. Ameen.

What is interesting to me, is that in my local community we are told that women should not work. I am a current graduate student and planning on inshaAllah to be a prof if possible. Though I think being a homemaker is very honorable and I admire my friends who are in this role, I myself also want to teach. Being told by the community that this isn’t Islamic (without backing it up with Qur’an or hadeeth, mind you) can be discouraging…

I think that ‘housewife’ can be interpreted in many different ways. Speakers of various English dialects such as a middle class person from London, a farmer from Alabama, and a bilingual Spanish speaker from Los Angeles might all have a different take on what ‘housewife’ means to them. I do not think there is anything inherently degrading about this term, but the people who use ‘housewife’ negatively and have a negative view towards women who stay at home are not likely to change their attitudes just because a more politically correct term is being used. I think that the use of these terms goes back to the intention of the person saying them and the general impression that most people would have since they have the potential to be used either respectfully or negatively.

Assalamu Alaikum,

I think this term also depends on race. If a woman is white and lives in the suburbs, she’ll be perceived as “privileged”. But if she is black, she’ll probably be stereotyped.