Written Essays On Topics Such As Abortion, Union Organizing,

England Magazine. In 1973 the Feminist Press issued a reprint of the 1899 version. Both

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.

In Judy Brady’s essay, “I Want a Wife,” she examines why she would like to have a wife. Brady believes that a wife performs all house chores and the husband does nothing, but to expect the wife to do everything for him. Brady tries to persuade the reader to look at a husband viewpoint of what a wife should be. The essay was written during the early 1960’s, during the second wave of the feminist movement in America. Brady is pushed by certain reasons to write, “I Want a Wife” to show the humanist humor.

Throughout this article Brady uses ethos, logos, and pathos to illustrate her opinion that the wife does too much in a family. Brady connects with her audience by relating to what was expected of them back in the 1970’s. She states reasons to why she wants a wife and lists what she says a wife would do for her. Lastly, Brady connects emotionally to her audience by

she heads out to endeavor to get the arrangement for her own particular self. At the point when Tom finds her dead,

In paragraphs one and two, the author introduces herself and gives her explanation and reasoning for wanting a wife. Brady demonstrates her credibility in these paragraphs. “I belong to that classification of people known as wives. I am A Wife. And, not altogether incidentally, I am a mother.” Brady introduces herself as A Wife and a mother, showing her empirical knowledge. The author then capitalizes “A Wife” because she wants to emphasize and argue that she is a wife, not a servant or any other job description. By capitalizing these words she is showing that wives are no longer looked at as people, but as objects or as a type of job. She then begins to explain how she came about wanting a wife. “Not too long ago a male friend of mine appeared on the scene fresh from a recent divorce...He is looking for another wife. As I thought about him while I was ironing one evening, it suddenly occurred to me that I, too, would like to have a wife.” She employs irony thourgh this statement. Of course, she was ironing or doing chores because she is A Wife, that is what they are supposed to do. She shows a short glimpse at her job title and her job description.

Also using I want a wife who…throughout the essay to show all type of job a wife does, the word “I” was also repeated to show the how selfish men is by wanting women to do all these works. One example is when It said “If by chance, I find another person more suitable as a wife than the wife I already have, I want the liberty to replace my present wife with another one. Naturally, I will expect a fresh new life; my wife will take the children and be solely responsible for them so that I am left free.” (Brady,2).

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

As aforementioned, she takes on a feminine masculine persona—she is speaking as a woman having the needs of a man, treating a wife as a different species of woman that she covets. Her tone also does not stray into something violent or passionate; she remains firm and assertive throughout. She simply states what she wants and how she plans on achieving it. This persists throughout the essay until the final line—“My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?” (Brady 10)—where she directly employs the prior point of her wryness.

The wife is at home with the kids and the husband goes to work. Women are the ones who were seen to cook, clean, and take care of everyone else. Did anyone ever wonder if women were truly happy being a housewife 24/7? That idea was one of the factors that lead for Betty Friedan to write “The Feminine Mystique”. The book was was published in 1963. She talks about how women were unsatisfied with their daily lives. In the book, she states, “Sometimes a woman would say "I feel empty somehow ... incomplete." Or she would say, "I feel as if I don't exist." The problem was that many women felt they had more to offer besides being a housewife. Women were so into their families that they don’t have time to truly think about their happiness. So where did she get this information to write the book? In the article , “Betty Friedan” by Mario Kaplan from the Jewish Women’s Archive website, it states , “In 1957, she surveyed two hundred of her Smith College classmates and found that many of them suffered from “the problem that has no name.” Betty Friedan was also a psychology student at Smith College. She was one of the first women to actually speak and write about “ the problem with no name”. She wrote an article in Good Housekeeping with the title “ Women

The United States during and after the American Revolution was wrought with tremendous societal change and massive upheaval. A new republic emerged with grandiose ideas of civil liberties coupled with intense debates on the inalienable rights of men. As intellectuals across the country debated amongst themselves naturally questions about gender began to spring about. Although the new republic proudly proclaimed that all men were created equal, some, particularly affluent women, began to question what this meant for women in particular. One individual, both a prominent writer and political activist at the time, sought to challenge these preconceived notions of what women’s role in life should be. That individual was none other than Judith Sargent Murray.

Bridgewater (2009) discusses the relevance of slavery in the pursuit of reproductive freedom. Silliman et al. (2004) in the textbook advanced the definition of reproductive rights beyond abortion. Silliman et al. (2004) was more specific in discussing the struggle and efforts of a specific group (Women of Color) in fighting through the different forms of oppression placed on their reproductive rights by the White community. Silliman et al. (2004) discussed the roles of federal population policies in encouraging racism and discrimination against black women.

During the twentieth century, both the Civil Rights and the Women’s Rights movements had a comparable ambition in mind. They both wanted to gain the rights and opportunities that others had. In this research paper my goal is to compare and contrast both movements and how they went about chasing each of their goals, and at the same time express some of my viewpoints.

In Judy Brady’s article “I Want A Wife”, she uses repetition greatly in her essay to make her point, why wouldn’t anyone want a wife. Judy Brady was born in 1937 in San Francisco and got a B.A at the University of Iowa in 1962. Brady’s article first appeared in the feminist magazine Ms., which was in Arlington County, Virginia in 1972. The author’s main idea was to show the amount of work that a wife is expected to do. She does this by strategically listing out what she looks for in a wife. She constantly says, “I want a wife”, to signify that she wants someone to do these things for her as she has done for her husband. In today’s society, the wife is seen as the caretaker and doer of all businesses, while still catering to a

Judy Brady has strong beliefs in regards to societal standards, specifically the unrealistic pressures forced upon women. Within her essay “I Want a Wife”, Brady emphasizes the ridiculousness of the extremely high standards women are expected to follow without resistance. In order to get the point across clearly, she creates a sarcastic tone through diction and repetition.