Housewives

China
In imperial China (excluding periods of the Tang dynasty when women had higher status in society), women were bound to homemaking by the doctrines of Confucianism and cultural norms. Generally, female children did not attend school, and therefore spent days following their mothers and female relatives in household chores (ex. cooking and cleaning), which would assist them after their marriages. In most cases, the husband was alive and able to work, so the wife was almost always forbidden to take a job and mainly spent her days at home or doing other domestic tasks. As Confucianism spread across East Asia, this social norm was also observed in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.
After the founding of the Republic of China in 1911, these norms were gradually loosened and many women were able to enter the workforce. Shortly thereafter, a growing number of females began to be able to attend schools; China's literacy rate rose to 85% for females in just a few years time. Starting with the rule of the People's Republic of China in 1949, all women were freed from compulsory family roles. During the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, some women were required by the government to do heavy work that they were not physically suited for. This policy was later abolished.
In modern China, housewives are no longer as common, especially in the largest cities and other urban areas. Nearly all women work simply because one person's income is insufficient to support the family, a decision made easier by the fact that it is common for Chinese grandparents to watch after their grandchildren before they are old enough to go to school or are very young. Nonetheless, the number of Chinese housewives has been steadily rising in recent years as China's economy expands.