Why I Want a Wife

     In Judy Brady's essay "Why I want a Wife" (1972) she states that she would like to have a wife that would do everything for her (Brady).  The author mentions all the chores and tasks that she would give to her wife to do.  The author wrote this essay in order to demonstrate that the job of a housewife is not only full-time, but is a round-the-clock job.  The author wrote this essay for all wives,
especially those of which feel over-worked and under-appreciated.

     When I first started reading this essay, I smiled because, I have said something very similar one day to my husband when I was discussing with him my dislike for cleaning the bathrooms.  Even though I love a spotless bathroom, I hate the actual work that it takes to make it spotless, and so I made a remark about how I wished that I had a wife to clean the bathrooms for me, like my husband does.  I think all wives have a chore that they wish they could assign to someone else.  However, as I continued reading this essay, I noticed that there was really no responsibility that she wanted to keep for herself.  If her point was to show how unsupportive her own husband was to helping her around the house and with the children, the author only demonstrated her desire to treat someone else the way she feels her husband is treating her.  The description the author gives as a perfect "wife" sounded more like she was describing a maid or Wonder Woman.  I was also left wondering if the author, in thinking about all her responsibilities actually appreciated her husband for working hard and keeping a job, making the money that pays the bills, groceries,etc, and allowing her to be able to stay home with the children without having to leave them in the care of others. 

     Brady uses a lot of sarcastic remarks, and her background as a prominent feminist shines through, as she  makes her claim that she, as a wife, does everthing pertaining to housework and raising the children, while portraying her husband to be selfish and unsupportive..  for example, "I want a wife to make sure my children eat properly and are clean." (107), and in her statement that she(Brady) wants a wife that will take the children to the park and the zoo (108) which suggests that her husband never assists her with resposibilities with the children nor does he join his family on outings and that he leaves all the responsibility to his wife.  The statement the author makes about wanting to have the liberty to replace her wife with another one(109) also demonstrates the selfishness of the husband.