The theme of Judy Brady’s I Want a Wife
In Judy Brady’s I Want a Wife, the author talks about all the responsibilities you fulfill as a wife and mother, and then how you want someone to do the housework. She wants a wife because She wants to be independent.
The writer is not happy with what she is doing as a wife. She takes care of her children, does household chores, and takes care of her husband. Her speaker wants to have more time for herself and become an independent woman. Her desire for women comes after her recently divorced friend of hers listed everything a woman needs to do for him. She laments that she is expected to cook, clean, look after children, and please her husband in romantic ways. She doesn’t want to do that anymore and wants to live a life with a wife of her own. When she gets tired of this woman, she starts looking for a new woman who will take over all the duties of her previous woman.
Brady’s essays use satire, irony, and hyperbole to draw attention to these issues and call for changes in societal expectations and gender roles.
Summary of Judy Brady’s I Want a Wife
I Want a Wife is a 1971 essay by Judy Brady for Feminist magazine. This essay is a satirical and sarcastic commentary on society’s expectations of women, especially regarding marriage and domestic responsibilities.
In her essay, Brady lists various responsibilities and duties that women typically perform, such as cooking, cleaning, and childcare. She further argues that while men are expected to have wives who tend to those needs, women are similarly not expected to have husbands who care for them. It uses it to highlight the double standards and inequalities that exist in society’s expectations of men and women.
Throughout her essays, Brady uses a combination of humor, sarcasm and hyperbole to get her point across. For example, she writes that she wants a woman who “takes care of her physical needs” and “keep her house clean” so she can “focus on her studies and career development.” She also wrote that she wanted a woman who “served my social needs” and “kept me up to date on current affairs” while at the same time being “attractive and a good conversationalist.”
In conclusion, the essay argues that society’s expectations of men and women are different and that the traditional roles of men and women are often unfair and unjust. , helped raise awareness of the problems women faced in the 1970s, such as the expectation that women should be in charge of household chores and the lack of opportunities women faced in the job market. It continues to be read and researched and makes a strong call for gender equality and a fair division of household chores.
Issue of Gender Inequality in I Want a Wife
A key issue that Judy Brady raises in her essay I Want a Wife is gender inequality and what society expects of men and women. While women grapple with the expectation that they should have wives to take care of their own needs and do household chores, women are likewise not expected to have husbands to take care of themselves.
Brady also highlights the lack of opportunities for women in the workforce and the societal expectation that women should be responsible for household chores.She expects men to share household responsibilities equally. I wonder why it is not and why women are not given the same opportunities as men in the world of work.
In summary, the main issues Brady raises in her essay are gender inequality and social expectations placed on men and women, and how these expectations translate into lack of opportunities and unequal distribution of work at home.
Important questions of “I Want a Wife”
1. Why are social expectations and gender roles so unequal, that men are expected to have wives who meet their needs and take care of the housework, while women are expected to have husbands who look after them? Aren’t we equally expected to have
2. Why is it that a woman is expected to do all the household chores and take care of her husband and children, but a man is not expected to do the same?
3. How do these societal expectations and gender roles contribute to lack of opportunities and unequal distribution of work at home?
4. Why aren’t women getting the same opportunities as men in the world of work and society?
5. How these societal expectations and gender roles affect the lives of men and women, and how we can change that for the betterment of society.