Preview

Judy Bradys "I Want a Wife"

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1401 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Judy Bradys "I Want a Wife"
ENG 1113-2
February 27th, 2012
Essay

Men or Women: Who’s the Head of the Family

In Judy Brady’s “I Want a Wife” she talks about the tasks of a desired wife. There are certain things and duties required for a housewife to do. Brady describes all the helpful things done for a husband and children without even realizing all the responsibility and what she is doing. No one ever acknowledges that things done by a wife can be done by someone who was not a wife, but instead a man. Judy realizes she supports her husband so he can go back to school. She keeps the house clean. She has to be sensitive to the needs of a man in general. There have been many studies about gender roles in a marriage. The wife seems to do a lot. Women feel sometimes they do too much. Married couples should be able to work together. Sometime when the wife does everything it puts a constraint on the marriage. A marriage not only needs to survive, but thrive. In a marriage a husband and wife should be able share the same roles as needed. Society has a perceived notion of this. Everything today in a marriage should be able to be shifted back and forth as needed. This is all evidence that a marriage should be between two people who are willing to share all family responsibilities. It is a married couple’s responsibility to take control of any major problems they may have prior to marriage if possible. Research has shown that when men change roles in the family, there are many challenges for them. There seems to be many issues and problems when the man in the family shows the father involvement Fineman (17). For many years society did not know much about the changing of gender roles in a family. The husband should be able to do anything when needed. Statistics show that the effects of a fathers’ involvement with their children can sometimes cause angry reactions Kefalas (845). This can lead to divorce at times. Based on the evidence that spousal

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Brady states throughout her essay reasons why she would want a wife, making them very bold and easily understood. “I want a wife to take care of my physical needs.”(525) and “I want a wife who will keep my clothes cleaned, ironed, and mended…” (525) are just a couple of reasons Brady gives for wanting a wife. Women in the 70s were often looked at as almost subhuman, making them stand up and speak for themselves. Brady clearly does not want a wife of her own, but is merely trying to make a bold statement to readers of this magazine. In doing so, she is trying to help the reader understand how hard a wife works and how easily they are taken for granted.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    To be a father is not hard, but rather to act like a father needs time to demonstrate that. The father is the main source of income and dominant provider of the family. He settles on the significant family choices together with mother and with the assistance of different individuals. This is the customary part of the father. Fathers and moms have novel contrasts that make them have distinctive child rearing parts, that when joined, give the most far reaching model to help the child grow effectively. Consequently, kids require both parents to help them build up the skills to help them assemble fruitful social relations, take part in dependable conduct, build up the confidence and abilities to be effective in school and to wind up…

    • 1200 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Once upon a time, the role of a wife was only to cook, clean, and care. Without a doubt, changes have occurred and women entered the workforce. Nowadays, due to the expensive cost of living and/or the unreasonable number of single parent mothers, it is a must work to help provide for their families. This is where the double shift comes into play because they are still expected to cook, clean, and care, even if there is help around-the man.…

    • 925 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    summery

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “I want a wife”. This is Judy Brady’s phrase implied in her popular famine essay “why I want a wife”. Judy Brady 1937 was born in San Francisco and earned a B.F.A. from the University of Iowa in 1962. Brady's a feminist, a political and environmental activist—especially having to do with cancer-related issues, and a freelance writer. She's edited both Women and Cancer (1990) and One in Three: Women with Cancer Confront an Epidemic (1991). Brady's work has also appeared in periodicals such as Greenpeace Magazine and The Women's Review of Books. Her classic satirical essay "Why I Want a Wife" was first published in the first issue of Ms. Magazine in 1972 and reprinted as "Why I [Still] Want a Wife" in Ms. in 1990. Judy essay “Why I want a wife” explain the expectation of women from men in marriage. Brady mentions double standards for wives at 1971 in a sarcastic way and she also used figurative language like description which catches the reader’s attention.…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I Want a Wife

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “I belong to that classification of people know as wives. I am A Wife. And, not altogether incidentally, I am a mother.” Judy Brady’s opening statement to “I Want a Wife,’. With that opening statement it shows she’s speaking off experience. The purpose of “I Want a Wife,” is to let the world know what a woman has to deal with as a wife, also to get men to realize the overbearing task they expected from a their wife, which is not fair. Hoping they have sympathy and learn to treat them as an equal.…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I want a wife

    • 533 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In Judy Syfers-Brady essay “I Want a Wife,” she is explaining why she would what an ideal wife for herself. She starts explaining that the ideal wife will work, cook, clean, watches the kids, puts the husband through school and give pleasures to the husband when he wants. Everyone wants someone to do all things for them. She goes on to list all the specific things she would want from a wife for her children which include keeping up with the their doctor appointments, washing the children’s clothes and keep them mended at all times, tend to their school for events and plays and to also make sure they have adequate social life with their peers. This is the ideal wife every man dreams of. She continues on to say that she wants a wife herself so that she could go to school and further her education. I do not agree that she wants a wife because in my opinion, a husband and wife should take turns doing the house chores, tending to the children and working. They made a commitment to one another to always be there and help each other out no matter what circumstances they are put in.…

    • 533 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The role of mothers on children discern on how to best support their children and observe their mood and moral deeper. They are more affection, inner feelings, sharing and an unique unconditional love from nature that cannot compare to others. On the other hand, fathers in general, provide physical protection to their children, playing more and spending time together. Their role is to raise their kids, educate them and take care of the basic needs of the house (Difference Between, 2011). However, both mothers and fathers play crucial roles in a child’s development providing them values and cultural opportunities.…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Judy understands how these women feel because she is both a wife and mother- she knows what is expected of them. She lists the jobs required to be done by the wife such as “take care of my children” or “take care of the details of my social life” (229) going into greater depth of each duty. Throughout her article you get a sense of humor. By going into great detail of the jobs, Brady shows her knowledge expressing that she has experienced this first hand- the audience begins to emotionally connect with Brady, since they are in similar situations. After listing job after job Brady asked “My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?” (230) sarcastically making her point, allowing the audience to feel the unfair justice against women. The readers now begin to realise that the responsibilities are distributed unevenly, and the wife deserves to also work a job, go to school, and share the typical duties a wife with her husband. Brady tells of her friend who is recently out of a divorce, describing how he left his child with the mother while he searches for a new wife. Brady realises that she wants a “wife”, someone to help her do her job: “As I thought about him I was ironing one evening, it suddenly occurred to me that I, too, would like to have a wife” (229). The situation she talks about is obscured, yet she wishes that she could have a wife. She does not literally want a wife,…

    • 1130 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Men Now and Then

    • 673 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Men’s contributions to the present day family has increased, Men are now being more supportive in helping out in family duties, substantially lessening the burden on women. They make the mess and so they have began to do help in cleaning it up also men have exceeded the amount of time they spend with their children: “fathers in two-parent households now spend more time with co-resident children. There has been a division of labor where even men go to do grocery shopping and get dinner ready until the wife comes home. All these trends are likely to continue families for the foreseeable future. According to national opinion polls, the belief in gender equality within continues to gain acceptance among both men and…

    • 673 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Role of Men

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The traditional roles of men and women were established to ensure the power of the head of household. Historically speaking, that head of household was always male. But the rapidly developing world has brought about many changes into the traditional roles of both men and women. We have been socialized to expect men to be brave, industrious and domineering, whereas women have been expected to be submissive, timid and nurturing. Nowadays, however, women do not have to rely on their husbands anymore to provide a financial support for the home and in many cases they become breadwinners and head of the home themselves. Thus, these changes have resulted in male losing his image and ego as the dominant gender in society.…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Muslim culture

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The responsibility for providing for the family is on the husband, while the responsibility to care for the house and raising the children is on the wife. These are the main priorities, but cooperation between the husband and the wife is required and highly recommended.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    I want a wife

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I thoroughly enjoyed reading the essay “I Want a Wife” by Judy Brady. I thought it was so interesting how she shared her feelings on a woman’s role in society by writing her thoughts in the form of a sarcastic and yet compelling essay. She was able to make her feelings very clear without writing in a format similar to a research paper, listing off the unfairnesses of the lives of housewives. Also, I felt that the style in which she wrote this essay was especially good because she was able to list her grievances in a way that did not offend women who, perhaps, might enjoy their domestic lifestyle.…

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Are fathers necessary for children’s well-being? It is long debatable on the involvement on a parent’s role in a child’s life. As many women choose to have children without a man, one question remains; does a child need to involvement of a man in their life? Parenting should be an equal responsibility with the involvement of both a man and a woman.…

    • 1175 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Wife

    • 1392 Words
    • 6 Pages

    1. Well in every relationship you need n even balance of roles. The wife or spouse will not to everything to keep your relationship alive, you both would need to do something equally o that everything is run smoothly and effectively.…

    • 1392 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Back in the day the men would be the one to take care and provide for the whole family. That's why I say traditional roles, like the women to be the one to stay home, have changed in today's society. In today's world it's not that big of an issue either cause people's outlook on things have changed and there's not really a right thing to do or a wrong one. The time period on things makes major changes to a lot of things because people learn and find new ways for things to work out. Another thing that changes a lot is the expectations. They might not be met or aren't as high as they usually are meant to be. That's why a father being the one to stay at home while the wife goes out to work isn't looked bad upon…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays