[disclaimer: I’m a Sakura fan. Not an SS/NS/NH shipper. I’m merely speaking as a fan of her from the moment she’s been introduced.]
That is also one of my issues with Sakura being shown a housewife. I mean, read chapter 700 again. Being the main character, Naruto was given of course a lot of panels. Panels and pages with him and his son, and panels and pages with him at work. Here’s his last panel, apart from that very last page of that chapter:
And then we have Sasuke traveling, perhaps on a mission or looking for someone (perhaps hunting down Orochimaru and Kabuto), because unless he really doesn’t care about Sakura and their daughter or he still has issues with himself that he doesn’t allow anyone else to help him with, even Sakura, why else was he always away? Take note Sasuke had a whole page, and he’s on his own, doing something that hints at maybe a future important event. Here’s his last panel:
And then we have Sakura, the medical justu-specilalist kunoichi who fully supported Naruto’s aspiration to become Hokage. She barely had a page to herself (only two panels WHAT THE FUCK), and she shares it with her kid. Her last panel?
There is nothing wrong with cleaning the house, but like I said above, it left a bad note for her character. Why isn’t she doing something more significant? Like she could be reading medical journals at home (yes she’s cleaning shelves full of books, but what are the assurances that some if not many of them were hers and related to medical practice and not her daughter’s since apparently her glasses signify that she’s ‘smart’ and how else could you typically and conveniently show a person is intelligent? Yep, books), or she could be at the hospital when her daughter visited her. At least those would give us more information about her other than having a kid and an always away husband boyfriend (didn’t see any ring on any of Sakura’s fingers). And she wasn’t even given the chance to make up excuses explain to her daughter why her dad is always away.
Being a housewife isn’t bad. That’s a career in itself. Living on your own can be a struggle in itself (I know that very well; I’ve gone on some days cooking rice and buying fucking gravy to eat it with. Aaah the good old college days…) Imagine balancing budget and cleaning and looking after other people who live with you.
But you see, you have to also look at the culture the manga came from. Based on what I learned from my Japanese language classes and Japanese Studies class (I took them about five, four years ago), the same way Japanese guys strive to get into big universities like TouDai to get great jobs, some to many Japanese women strive to go there as well because it has a higher chance of getting a husband who has a great job with high pay.
Once these women graduate, they go on to work. This case seem to happen more on OLs— once they marry or have kids, they stop working and stay at home. It’s traditional in Japan for the women to stay at home and take care of the kids (and even the husband’s old parents if they’re living with them) and the house. Apparently it’s a rare case for a married woman who has kids to continue on working full time. If ever they return to work, it’s only part-time or freelance or they have a shop that’s near their home, because only those things could allow the housewife to still have time for her kids and house.
You may argue— “ehhhh you took those classes ages ago, that might be not the same now!”
True. The youth of today’s Japan might not think the same. But you also have to remember Kishimoto’s age and what he grew up with and influenced him. Also look at Naruto’s contemporaries and latest shounen (and shoujo) manga. How many of the characters’ mothers are housewives? Why portray them as that? If their mothers are working full time, how do the characters feel about them? Just by observing all those manga you can get a glimpse of prevalent culture/tradition. Who’s to say Kishimoto is not following along the same trend, whether consciously or not?
Last of all, you have to remember how he had last shown the females of Konoha+Temari+Mei+Karui.
