Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Oeconomicus is a Socratic dialogue by Xenophon principally about household management and agriculture. It also addresses wealth, gender roles, slavery, religion, education, and the qualities of a gentleman, drawing on conversations between Socrates, Critoboulus, and the Athenian farmer Ischomachus.
Some philologues see the Oeconomicus as the source of the word "economy." The title joins the Ancient Greek oikos, meaning home or house, with nemein, meaning management, giving the literal sense of household management.
Scholars lean toward a composition date after 362 BC, placing it late in Xenophon's life. Cicero translated the Oeconomicus into Latin, and the work gained further popularity during the Renaissance through a number of translations.
Ischomachus is an Athenian gentleman-farmer, described with the Greek term kaloskagathos, whose conversation with Socrates occupies approximately two thirds of the dialogue. He describes educating his wife in housekeeping, managing slaves, and farming methods.
Michel Foucault devoted a chapter in The History of Sexuality (published 1976-1984) to "Ischomachus' Household." He read Xenophon's depiction as a classical expression of ancient Greek ideology, in which a man's control of his emotions was reflected in his authority over his wife, slaves, and political subordinates.
Scholarly opinion is divided. Sarah Pomeroy argues that Xenophon views a wife as more than a means of reproduction, with Ischomachus treating marriage as a shared enterprise. Others read the work as misogynist and patriarchal, while some interpret Ischomachus himself as a satirical figure rather than a model to admire.