Why is the modern day housewife WITHOUT kids de-valued?

Let me clarify a few things for those of you who find fault in a woman 'choosing' to become a housewife without children. During my first four years of marriage, my husband worked like a slave as a low wage earner without vacation time to achieve his career goals through educational pursuits. During that time, I worked 40+hours per week and my husband and I were only able to take one true weeklong vacation. In our early 30s, neither of us entered the marriage with children. I owned (and still own) a condo and my husband lived me, contributing financially because our situation required two incomes. Now, our financial situation has changed. We moved to a new location because my husband completed his education and accepted a lucrative job offer. We purchased a new home, evaluated our 'new' financial situation and mutually decided that he would work 'outside' the home while I work 'inside' the home. I am now 35 years old and given our newly acquired financial ability to travel as well as my husband's first life opportunity to travel 7+weeks per year due to his generous vacation package, we are taking full advantage of our situation. Because my husband's income places us in a very high tax break, which will be MY tax bracket should I ever decide to 'work' outside the home, we prefer to waive what would be left of the 'extra income' I may earn after Uncle Sam takes a chunk and travel for two years prior to having children. I have been home for a year and I am shocked by comments from family and friends alike who seem so envious of our current situation that they find it difficult to abstain from making negative comments about my current status as a stay at home wife without children. Let me add, I went to college. I earned my degree and them some, with 7 years of college under my belt. If my husband's work situation were to change, I would be the first in line to aggressively pursue employment outside of the home rather than the first in the welfare line. It's almost laughable to read some posts written by people who dub housewives with or without children as lazy, gold-digger, hoes and the like in the discussion panels pertaining to this issue. I would appreciate an intelligent response to my question, particularly from those who oppose my perspective and can validly defend their perspective. Thanks for reading...