A homemaker is a person whose prime occupation is to care for their family and/or home; the term is originally an Americanism, and while it has entered mainstream English, it is not in common usage outside the U.S. Finding a term to describe the modern man or woman who has left the paid workforce to care for their family is problematic. The term homemaker is used in preference to either housewife or househusband because it is inclusive, defines the role in terms of activities, rather than relation to another, and is independent of marital status. The terms (informal) stay-at-home mom and stay-at-home dad are also used, particularly if the person views their central role as caring for children. The euphemistic term "domestic engineer" has gone out of favor, being seen by some as satirical, as if to give a sense of mock dignity to a role held in low esteem by the speaker or writer. Likewise, the term "housekeeper" has come to describe hired cleaning help, and is no longer used—other than in a derogatory way—to describe homemaking. None of these terms adequately convey the diversity of activities an individual homemaker might choose to pursue, such as volunteer work, small-scale farming, education, religious ministry, political involvement, homeschooling, etc.

Traditionally the role of "homemaker" has been filled predominantly by women. Even to this day, homemaking is perceived by most societies as the "natural" role for women. In recent years there has been some political and societal backlash against feminist criticism on traditional roles for women. This backlash may be attributed to the recent decades' progress of the feminist movement and its implications on society, and may be compared to the backlash that took place in post II World War America. The backlash could be seen, at least in part, in both the increasing prominence of "professional" homemakers such as Martha Stewart, and a rise in religious conservatism which views traditional roles as being conducive to the stability of the traditional family unit and the people therein. However, homemaking is not always a lifetime commitment: many homemakers, for economic or personal reasons, return to the workplace