Tag Archives: Why I Want a Wife

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Judy Syfers’ “Why I Want a Wife”

In this essay, Judy Syfers humorously writes about what is expected of wives by their husbands. She expresses her dissatisfaction with the stereotyping of the expectations of a wife in society. For example, the last line in her essay is, “My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?” The sarcasm that she uses here shows her frustration with the social norms of the role of a wife.

Throughout her essay, she explains why she herself would want a wife. She would want one because a wife would conveniently take care of her wants and needs without any questions or opposition. Near the end of the essay, her argument gets more intense when she states that she would want a wife that would be solely responsible for any children so she can be free to do what she wishes. She also states that she wants the freedom to easily replace a wife with another if she isn’t satisfied. The way the author approaches her argument shows her anger towards the idea of treating a wife as though she has no personal opinions and has the sole role of looking after the husband and the children.

I’ve noticed that the essay was written in 1971 which was during the Feminist Movement in the 1960s and 1970s. It was a time when women started fighting for equal rights as men and I believe that this essay was written to get the point across that women aren’t a convenient babysitter to keep around and that they shouldn’t be treated as if they do not have any other purposes other than completing the traditional tasks of a wife. She also implied that she would want the same rights as men to go to school and have a job instead of being tied down to housework and babysitting.

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Why I want a Wife by Judy Syfers

In Judy Syfers’ piece of work, Syfers takes a very humorous approach in describing all the roles and responsibilities that come along with being a wife. Judy Syfers describes all the reasons why she would want a wife and the desires she hopes for the wife to fulfill. Although the list seems quite unrealistic and lengthy, wives generally tend to do all of the roles Syfers wishes for.

Judy Syfers’ work can seen as very sarcastic and humorous as she is just labeling all wives as the same kind of person with the same life. She is plainly describing how a “conventional marriage” is supposed to function. But really, there is no real answer to what a “conventional marriage” should be defined as.

It is actually very interesting to see how all of the reasons in which makers Judy Syfers wish for a wife, in reality are just the daily jobs a wife accomplishes. Judy Syfers uses a whole four paragraphs of her piece of work to just list out the to-do’s for her “wife”. Syfers is showing how this enormous to-do list can actually be taken for granted when someone is labeled as “wife”.