Homemakers and Social Security

Homemakers are persons of either sex, who are engaged in household duties in their own home and who are not economically active within the terms of the International Labour Organization's (ILO) definition-that is, work carried out for income, wages, or salary. The term homemaker is not gender specific. A trend (especially in Western societies) during the late 20th century is that increasing numbers of men are adopting the role of a homemaker. A large majority of homemakers are still women, possibly because traditionally homemaking has been seen to be “women's work.” Recently, many feminists have criticized the institution, claiming that by having the husband as the only financial supporter the wife is entrenched in economic subordination.

Feminists confirm that homemaking should not be gender specific. ...