---
title: "Home economics"
chunk: 5/5
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_economics"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:55:23.657157+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

==== Twenty-first century ====
Today FCS is part of the broader Career Technical Education (CTE) umbrella. Career and technical education is a term applied to programs that specialize in skilled trades, applied sciences, modern technologies, and career preparation.  While traditional home economics focused on preparing women to care for a family and home, family consumer science continues to adapt its course offerings to meet the needs of students both for personal growth and professional opportunities. Students can take classes in culinary arts, education, food science, nutrition, health and wellness, interior design, child development, personal finance, textiles, apparel, and retailing. Students who take FCS classes can join the student organization Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America.
FCS and CTE courses help prepare students for careers rather than university. Also, homemaking and home economics courses have developed a negative connotation because of the negative gender bias associated with home economics courses. Despite this, homemaking is now socially acceptable for both men and women to partake in. In the United States, both men and women are expected to take care of the home, the children, and the finances. More women are pursuing higher education rather than homemaking. In 2016, 56.4% of college students were female as opposed to 34.5% in 1956. Some schools are starting to incorporate life skill courses back into their curriculum, but as a whole, home economics courses have been in major decline in the past century.
In 2012 there were only 3.5 million students enrolled in FCS secondary programs, a decrease of 38 percent over a decade. In 2020 the AAFCS estimates that there are 5 million students enrolled in FCS programs, a significant increase from past years that is still growing.

== See also ==

Consumer economics
Domestic technology
Ellen Swallow Richards
Euthenics
Family (economics)
Homemaker
Human ecology
The Secret History of Home Economics

== References ==

== Further reading ==
Apple, Rima D., and Joyce Coleman, " 'As Members of the Social Whole': A History of Social Reform as a Focus of Home Economics, 1895–1940." Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal 32.2 (2003): 104-126.
Biltekoff, Charlotte. " 'Strong men and women are not products of improper food': Domestic science and the history of eating and identity." Journal for the Study of Food and Society 6.1 (2002): 60-69. online
Dreilinger Danielle, The secret history of home economics: How trailblazing women harnessed the power of home and changed the way we live (Norton, 2021) online
Elias, Megan J. "No place like home: A survey of American home economics history." History Compass 9.1 (2011): 97-105. online
Goldstein, Carolyn M. (2012). Creating Consumers: Home Economists in Twentieth-Century America. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0807872383.
Lee, Tsz Ngong (1999). "Home Economics". In Altenbaugh, Richard J. (ed.). Historical Dictionary of American Education. Greenwood Press. pp. 175–176. ISBN 978-0313285905.
McGregor, Sue LT. "Home economics 5.0: In readiness for industry 5.0 and society 5.0." International Journal of Home Economics 17.2 (2024): 110-128. On role of AI. online
Pendergast, Donna. "The role of home economics education in the 21st century: the COVID-19 pandemic as a disruptor, accelerator, and future shaper." CEPS Journal 11.4 (2021): 13-32; worldwide coverage. online
Philippy, David, and Marco P. Vianna Franco. "Ecology and environment in home economics." in Environment and Ecology in the History of Economic Thought (Routledge, 2024) pp. 69-88.
Solomon, Barbara Miller (1985). In the Company of Educated Women. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300033144.
Tolley, Kim (2003). The Science Education of American Girls. RoutledgeFalmer. ISBN 978-0415934732.
Stage, Sarah, and Virginia Bramble Vincenti, eds. Rethinking home economics: Women and the history of a profession (Cornell University Press, 1997) online. 
Walker, Melissa (1998). "Home Economics". In Eisenmann, Linda (ed.). Historical Dictionary of Women's Education in the United States. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 201–206. ISBN 978-0313293238.
Woody, Thomas (1929). A History of Women's Education in the United States. Vol. 2 (1966 reprint ed.). Octagon Press.
Nutrition Education - Making it work By Dr. Janet Reynolds 
People and Practice: International Issues for Home Economists by Elanour Vaines, Doris Badir and Dianne Kieren 
Toward an Ideal of the Person Educated in Home Economics: An Invitation to Dialogue by Jane Thomas and Gale Smith 
Sustainable food futures: Lessons for home economics pedagogy and practice by Martin Caraher and Janet Reynolds 
Shapiro, Laura (2008). Perfection Salad. University of California Press.

== External links ==
Societies and associations

International Federation for Home Economics (IFHE)
American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences
National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences
Teachers of Home Economics Specialist Association 
Resources

"What Was Home Economics?" web pages at the Cornell University library on the history and influence of home economics
USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service Archived 2007-12-04 at the Wayback Machine
Home Economics Archive: Tradition, Research, History (HEARTH)
Family Consumer Science Lesson Plans
National Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences Education (India)
Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA)