Homely has different connotations to different persons. But perhaps the popular one is a few or all of the following – that the girl shouldn’t be “too” beautiful, should know how to do the household chores, should be able to take care of old parents (of the boy, of course!) with love, shouldn’t be too fashionable/modern, doesn’t talk/mingle freely with other men she comes across, doesn’t perhaps have too many desires(!), doesn’t make too many demands on her husband, doesn’t of course drink/smoke, brings up children in a proper Indian way. Having said that please note that not all men think alike. And of late many of them do want their wives to take up a career (reasons doesn’t matter!). And also understand that career opportunities for women are very less compared to men and women comprise just 15% of the urban corporate workforce. They can have a career mostly in capital cities. But when we talk about matrimonial sites they have representation from all over India of which the city folk are very minor percentage. Obviously the women living in small towns/ villages can’t hope to have a meaningful career in their chosen domain and the men folk from those small towns/villages also aren’t open to girls having a career for traditional reasons. Majority of them don’t find the “need” for a girl to have a career too. Homely means someone who will make a house into home and take care of every member of house by giving unconditional love.
Will have her own career plans but knows how to balance between home and work. Will knows her limits and will always think about family before taking any actions or getting into any activity. Will always make sure because of her activities her family is not disturbed. Hence the clamour for “homely” women.