by Lucie Shores

Created on: October 28, 2008   Last Updated: January 13, 2010

Over the last century the term 'housewife', has come and gone, but since the fifties, it has been elevated, trashed, scorned, marketed, technologized and eulogized, leaving us in a quandary as to the current status of anyone who has willingly chosen to become what is, essentially a homemaker. 

If one has the ability to redefine this enigmatic, and ultimately crucial thread within the tapestry of human endeavor as a clutch of smaller skills under the heading of "domestic engineer" we tend to consider new claims. In that light we would be remiss if we left out any of the following: economist, event planner, child-care expert, chef, project manager, chauffeur, teacher, researcher, parent, leader, activist, and on and on.

Conversely, when the home-maker's duties are divided into manageable chunks and assigned to various service sectors, the integrity of the role is certainly diminshed. The effect of one person who must consistently cross many boundaries on a daily basis, results in a wholistic and healthy integration of tasks, skills, knowledge, and access to resources that hasn't been known professionally since the Rennaisance.  Along with those abilities, one develops a wealth of behavioral understanding that can only be described as encyclopedic in breadth and rich beyond compare in nature.

In the urban dictionary, "domestic engineer" is still defined as a term for a housewife or stay at home mom, (or dad). In the Mirriam Webster Dictionary there are two definitions for the same, i.e. housewife. 1. a woman who stays home to raise children and 2. a pocket-size container for small articles. (Elsewhere that definition is expanded to explain housewife came from "hussuff' in reference to the kit taken to sea by sailors). This simplistic sort of understanding invites misrepresentation by supporters and detractors of evey ilk.

Obviously these definitions originated in some ancient time before anyone had raised the standard of equality for women as well as the awareness of what the role of a domestic engineer entails. One way to understand the importance of the role is to compare careers in terms of pay, time allottment, education needed, experience gained. How is caring for and growing a home and family regarded? Does it hold as much excitement or is it imbued with as much weight as, say, the investment banker's office, the researcher's laboratory or the bullfighter's ring? Scanning the charts for a career in domestic engineering, one comes up relatively empty, except for the multitude of cleaning services vying for the bottom of the pay-scale through various lists, engines and domestic service providers. To put it succinctly, the importance of the job of "domestic engineer" has yet to be realized within the context of American life.

The work of a domestic engineer cannot be overstated when it comes to the integrity of the family and the life of the community as a whole. And though it has often been painstakingly redefined, the essential importance of "domestic engineer" is only beginning to be honored in our culture. It's no wonder, since the skills needed to accomplish the diversity of functions required encompass more skill, knowledge and understanding any other single field.  

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