housemother vs woman

housemother and woman both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
housemother	Yes	No	No	No
woman	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, woman is a hypernym of housemother; that is, woman is a word with a broader meaning than housemother:

Other hypernyms of housemother include chaperon, chaperone, adult female.

housemother (noun)	woman (noun)
a woman employed as a chaperon in a residence for young people	women as a class
	an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
	a female person who plays a significant role (wife or mistress or girlfriend) in the life of a particular man