I used to work in a field where I sold life insurance. My company did a study of what it would cost to replace all the work that a homemaker did for their family. Came out to around $40,000 + (depending on cost of living adjustments). This was over 10 years ago...so add inflation to that number.Pretty much being a homemaker is a full time job so a woman like that should be take. Care of.
Now, a widow/er can certainly offset some of that with their own efforts, but then you also start to quickly lose out as time spent doing that is time NOT spent earning money at their job.