I Want A Wife, By Judy Brady

The article is about how a not perfect wife will hold back her husband and he will not do well at work. The article tells women how to be a perfect wife and what not to do. A perfect wife is “Friendly, part of her community, her primary interest is her husband, her home, and her children” (page 335). This article makes the board conclusion that if a women is not the perfect wife, her husband will not be promoted or even loss his job. Bad wives are “Complaining, domination, and wife-in-a-rut” (page 335-336). This article tells women how to behave as if every marriage is the same, it also makes it sound like if a women is anything but the perfect wife then her husband will not

Publication of books and periodical revealed to the public the problems that women endured within their homes, education, labor, and health. In a male dominant society, men premeditated what roles women should play at home. Women were perceived as weaker than men, unable to think for themselves and their opinions were view as useless. Male dominating view of a woman’s role was to have no other aspirations but to take care of her husband, family and home.

A wife’s duties in I Want a Wife are numerous, but they all boil down to the care of both the children and the husband, leaving little to no time for individual pursuits. The wife must devote her time to more domestic tasks such as sewing, cooking, cleaning, ironing, and keeping the husband’s personal items in proper order. Not only is the wife responsible for housework and caring for the children in this scenario but also must work while the husband attends school. If these duties do not coincide easily, the wife must be the one to make the effort to do it all. “I want a wife who takes care of the children when they are sick, a wife who arranges to be around when the children need special care, because, of course, I cannot miss classes at school. My wife must arrange to lose time at work and not lose the job.” The wife must do all of this without complaint while listening with rapt attention to any problems the

In an essay by Judy Brady titled “I Want a Wife”, Brady discusses the typical gender dynamics of her time period (the 1970s) and challenges them. She essentially says that women are treated like they are inferior to men and so she says that she wishes or wants someone to fulfill her duties for her just like she does for her husband. This essay shows the struggle to gain equality in this time period and also represents the thoughts that a woman in this time period might have. Not only is the meaning behind this essay significant, but the way in which Brady presents it is also significant and it amplifies and strengthens the argument. This is proven by textual evidence found in the essay itself.

When reading her article, she wants people to take action. She seems like she wants people to be aware of the topic. It seems like she wants the men who expect this from woman to feel jealous. She does this by first saying who she is. “I belong to that classification of people known as wives” [Brady1]. Then she goes on by listing the 'jobs' needed by women. After a couple of examples of 'jobs' she says, "My God, who wouldn't want a wife?" [Brady10]. This conclusion is very emotional towards the argument, and the presence of it clearly shows that women are under too much stress. Brady proves how men treat their wives is unfairly and they demand too much from them. She wants to

In “I Want a Wife” by Judy Brady, the author argues that the roles of a wife are unfair and more demanding than a husband's, thereby they are treated as lesser than a man. Brady supports her claim by first, introducing herself as a wife, showing her empirical knowledge; secondly, cataloging the unreasonable expectations of a wife; finally ending the essay with an emotional and thought-provoking statement, “My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?” Brady’s purpose is to expose the inequality between the roles of a husband and of a wife in order to show that women do not belong to men and to persuade women to take action and stand up for themselves. Based on when this essay was written and since it is about the impossible expectations of a wife, Brady was writing to feminists in the 1960s in order to rally them to create a change in the way people thought.

In Judy (Syfers) Brady’s article, “I Want a Wife”, she expresses her opinions in a satirical commentary that offers hypothetical criteria for an ideal wife, with an underlying message that deals with how people should be grateful for all of the deeds and chores that women do. Brady utilizes the strategy of

1. The writer defines the role of women in the society. She points out the extent women take to raise a family despite unemployment. She highlights that women do not need the dependency on men to fulfill their goals.

From the early 1960s through the late 1970s, the feminist movement in the United States had sought to transform the way society regarded women. At the height of the feminist movement in 1972, Judy Brady’s essay “I Want a Wife” was published in the premiere issue of the feminist Ms. magazine. Written in a satirical style, Brady intends to convince her audience to take the position of a man and the expectations he places on a wife. She effectively does this by disclosing to the audience her experience as a wife, as well as her vast background knowledge on the topic. Moreover, Brady appeals to the emotions of her audience by exaggerating the responsibilities a man expects of his wife and taking the perspective of a husband. Finally, the author uses repetition of key phrases to emphasize her idea of how men take advantage of their wives. Thus, Brady’s clever use of her own personal experience, emotions, and repetition of key phrases makes her essay strong and convincing to her audience.

Subsequently, women inherently participated in this patriarchal society. A residual effect was women were often subjected to emotion, physical, and/or mental abuse. Morally, divorce was not an option as “a good wife acts not for herself only…and not for her own gratification.” Errington argues “publicly being a wife and sustaining the marriage was women’s work.” (52). Under these circumstances, how successful a women was in fulfilling her role as a wife would prepare her for arguably the most important role for women; being a

Notoriously, the 1970’s is accredited with a famous fight for freedom and the rights of many women through the women's rights movement. This battle for equality struck the hearts of many and offered a passionate cause to fight for and like many, Judy Brady voices her opinion in an article written for Ms. Magazine, titled “ Why I Want a Wife.” She offers an inside look into what a wife’s expectations in the home life are like and gets very personal in her article. By getting so emotionally close and letting her readers take a step into her shoes, Brady uses pathos along side a sarcastic tone to provide a great text representing her emotions at such an important time in our history.

Wives are pretty spectacular aren’t they? Many women from the 70’s probably thought so, but the men? Did they appreciate what their spouses were doing for them? Some felt they didn’t. One of those women was Judy Syfers, and she decided that the only way to tell her husband, and all husbands, how underappreciated wives were was to write about it in her piece “Why I Want a Wife.” Syfers’ crafty use of irony and repetition creates her favorable, yet satirical, standpoint on why wives are so outstanding.

Women and men have had certain roles in society that were understood amongst them to be specified for their particular gender. Males were known to have the leading role as head of the house hold and the bread winner while the woman’s duty was to stay at home and take care of the house and children. While many people years ago deemed this way of life and practice to be the right and ethical thing to do, times have changed and so this kind of treatment towards a woman’s equality must be questioned. Even though times have changed, this mindset of a woman’s ability to be as good as a man has not completely gone away. In today’s society a woman contributes to the economy and her family as equally as that of a man. Therefore, women should share equal rights and opportunities as their gender counterparts.

“A man without a woman is like a fish without a bicycle” this quote perfectly describes the bias of I Want A Wife by Judy Brady. It is a fairly sarcastic piece that’s focal point is the self-indulgence of men but also has a major implication of feminism. Written during the late twentieth century, the article is appropriate to the era because although women had the right to vote they were still treated as minority. Brady demonstrates to her audience,those oblivious to stereotyping, that the expectations and stereotypes women are subjected to are outrageous and unrealistic. Brady begins her essay by stating her position in which she stands, that is when her sarcasm first comes in to play. She goes on by writing what seems to be a never-ending

Throughout history, women have been seen in many different lights. From a woman’s perspective she is strong, smart, helpful and equal to men. In the eyes of men, she is seen as the weaker being, the housewife, and the caretaker. By looking at the following pieces of writing, one can see that through the centuries, women have struggled to break out of the mold that man had put her in and make themselves known in society as important.