Nechomo, thanks for your really insightful posts on the subject – how refreshing!
Logician – being a housewife is an important full time job. Like being a lawyer, a doctor, a plumber, a bricklayer or anything else. Some of these jobs require more brain use and some less. Even a bricklayer or plumber can go home after a long hard day of mixing cement or unclogging sewers and read Plato and study Latin but at the end of the day, being a plumber is not an intellectually stimulating vocation.
Same for being a housewife. It is an important role that is the right job for some people and not the right job for others. One reason (among many) someone may not want to be a housewife is because she wants a job where she will need to use her mind as a part of her job on a continuous and regular basis. Housewife does not offer these opportunities.
Like Nechomo said, each person should really do what fits them taking their whole picture into account. Just like I would not recommend that anyone become a doctor ONLY for the money but rather I will suggest looking at many other factors, most importantly what is it you WANT to do, i would also not recommend that a woman become a housewife just because she is a married orthodox jewish woman with a family.
While i believe a family that can have a housewife has many advantages over families that do not, each woman must make an independent choice (after reviewing the TOTAL picture).