My mother didn't work for most of my childhood. She had four girls, of which I was the youngest. The few places she did work, when I was a baby, was part time at the Jewish day care center, because she could keep an eye on me there while she kept an eye on everyone else. Once I was in elementary school, she occasionally worked as a substitute teacher, but the demands of having three teenagers and a baby meant that it was a rare thing.
That was not so before she was married. My mother took a rather different route in life - she started out in college, decided she didn't like it, quit, and then joined a convent as a postulate.
Then she decided she didn't like that either, and joined the Army. (Her reasoning was: If you're going to get treated like a private, you might as well get paid for it.)
More than a stay at home mom... my mother wore combat boots.