Being A Perfect Wife Just Isn't Enough

Judy Syfer's Why I Want a Wife article depicts a perfect wife who sacrifices everything to fulfill their duty as a wife. 'As I thought about him while I was ironing one evening, it suddenly occurred to me that I too, would like to have a wife. Why do I want a wife?' Everyone wants a wife because they do everything in a marriage- from being a mother and taking care of the children and running around doing errand for the household, to staying up all night, waiting for their husbands to come home from work. To be completely honest, why wouldn't anyone not want a wife??

'I want a wife who is a good nurturing attendant to my children, who arranged for their schooling, makes sure that they have an adequate social life with their peers, takes them to the park, the zoo, etc. I want a wife who takes care of the children when they are sick, a wife who arranges to be around when the children need special care, because, of course, I cannot miss classes at school'. It might have sounded selfish when the author said 'because I cannot miss classes' but that is the excuse that most men tend to use. For example, Bob was asked a few weeks in advance by his wife to look after the kids because she was attending her high school reunion. But the night before her reunion, Bob tells his wife that their is an important meeting at work that he cannot miss so therefore, his wife couldn't go to the reunion she was waiting for for months. She could have stood up for herself and convinced Bob to let her go to the reunion, but then what would happen to the kids? She can't just call in a babysitter last minute and ask them to look after the kids. If she did go to the reunion and abandoned her kids at home, what kind of a mother would she be?! Let's get real here, either way, the wife always has to support both her husband and her children, while they constantly make sacrifice after sacrifice. They don't really have a choice, but to prioritize the husband and the kids before they do for themselves. 

'If, by chance, I find another person more suitable as a wife than the wife I already have, I want the liberty to replace my present wife with another one. Naturally, I will expect a fresh, new life; my wife will take the children and be solely responsible for them so that I am left free'. So even after everything that us women do for men in a marriage, it's never good enough! No matter how much women have to sacrifice, the men are never going to appreciate it, or even realize what we give up for them. Women have to continue to live their old lifestyle, while the men get to simply create a new life with someone else. Isn't it just sad to think that we weren't good enough for those men? What kind of expectations do they expect from us? This article manifests the sad reality that since women already do most of the caring of the kids and the house, it shouldn't be much of a problem if their husbands left them. Who do they think they are? Treating women like they can be recycled or something. Personally, if it weren't for women, men would be nothing. Yes, they do bring in income for the family, but that wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the support and the cooperation of their loving wife. So my question is, what do women need to do in order to satisfy the men's everyday needs?