Judy Brady "I Want a Wife" Question #6

Michelle Horner
Blog Post Week 3
6/1/07

When first reading this essay, an image of an advertisement for a vacuum cleaner with a 1950s style housewife showing how much easier it makes her life popped into my head. This essay made me stop to think about what life was like in the early 1970s as compared to what it is like now. Thinking about the current times, I think that times have changed and so have marital roles, but wholly, Brady is not too far off. As far as the time that Brady was living in, I think that “allowing for some serious playfulness” (Barnet 118) she was accurate in her assessment of the wifely duties.

This essay inspired me to spark up a conversation with my mother, a 1971 high school graduate, on the issue of marital roles of the past. She, at first, she was upset by the essay, claiming that a woman should stand up for herself. After explaining to her the time period that the essay was written in she was, for the most part, in agreement. She explained to me that, while she was growing up, her mother was rarely home because she worked outside of the home. When my grandma would return home, she was always busy keeping up the house, laundry, dinner, etc. My grandpa, when not working, was doing leisurely activities such as playing golf or watching television. She also explained to me what my step aunt and uncle did to maintain an income and allow them each to have a college education. My aunt stayed home with the children and worked while my uncle attended college and once he was done, the roles switched. I think their example demonstrates the change that came with the rise of feminism.

The marital roles have changed since the 1970s; however, I don’t think that they have changed as drastically as we may have hoped for. Women are going to college and creating careers for themselves more now than they have in the past. This has caused the rise in age of childbearing but, it has also caused an increase of males helping in the household. More men are accepting the “position” of a stay at home dad while they allow their wives to enhance their education or career. While my mom and I were discussing the current status of wives, we concluded that not much has changed. Women are taking on more responsibilities than ever before, yet keeping many of their original duties. Wives are now having a career instead of just working a job, there are also more duties involved with keeping up with the children and the house. It is not uncommon for a child to be a participant in various sports and have to go from school to dinner to practice and then keep up with chores and homework afterwards. Some children are so busy they don’t have time to help with chores leaving more for the parents to do. While men are helping out more and more around the house, women are taking on more and more opportunities.

Overall, I think that Brady did a good job poking fun, yet in a serious way, of the various tasks that wives are expected to accomplish. I think that times have changed, but only to create more duties for the wife with new, yet minimal, help from the husband.