Displaced Homemaker

Definition: Displaced homemaker describes someone who has been out of the workforce for years, usually raising a family and managing a household and its chores during those years. The homemaker becomes displaced when for some reason – most often divorce, a spouse’s death or a reduction in household income – she must re-enter the workforce.

Tish Sommers, chair of the National Organization for Women Task Force on Older Women during the 1970s, is usually credited with coining the phrase displaced homemaker to describe the many women who had been previously relegated to the home during the 20th century. Now, they were facing economic and psychological obstacles as they went back to work. The term displaced homemaker became widespread during the late 1970s as many states passed legislation and opened women’s centers that focused on the issues facing homemakers who returned to work.