Imagine an athlete doing his best to improve abilities, training at his maximum and doing even extra sessions to improve his skills and at the end not being able to make the team. Or picture yourself studying four hours a day during the whole semester for English class and getting a C, or even worst failing the class.
How do you think you will feel? I could assure that you would feel really frustrated. Just think of any other similar example and you will find that the result will always be the same that we as humans need recognition of our good work in order to keep ourselves motivated.In the article “Why I want a wife” Judy Brady tries to give some credits to her duties as well as the duties of all those women, mothers and wives, that because of the machismo society in which they lived they did not get the recognition they deserved. Brady uses a sarcastic and ironic paper in which she explains why she wants a wife.
Basically she describes a man’s idealistic wife, “A wife that will take care of my physical needs a wife that will take care of the details of my social life a wife sensitive to my sexual needs a wife who won’t complain about wife’s duties” (Brady, pgs. 7-58).Trough out the whole writing we perceive her complete disappointment with the poor treat waives get from their husbands. They treat them as if they were inferior beings or property of theirs.
We have two good examples of this. The first one is when she says ” I want a wife who will remain sexually faithful to me And I want a wife who understands that my sexual needs may entail more than strict adherence to monogamy” (pg. 56). The other example would be when she says that if she finds a more suitable wife than the present one, she wants the liberty to replace her.
In my opinion, I would say that women not only deserve to be recognized as a very important group inside society, but that they have this right. Their duties, it doesn’t matter if are outside or inside the home, are just as valuable as any job performed by any man. As Alex Diamond said “there is not a more beautiful job than that of a wife when it is performed properly” (Personal interview, 15 September 1999). This is true.
If a family is closely examined we will find that its center is the wife. She is the one who takes care of the children, keeps the house clean, prepares the meals, etc.In simpler words she is the soul of the house. Because of this her job should not be overlooked, as many times occurs.
For those men who consider that a wife is someone inferior, they should think twice before getting married. Marriage is a great responsibility. Both parts should put all their effort into it to make it work. And if any of the parts is expecting the other to put a greater deal of work, the marriage will surely fail.
Juliana Senior agreed with this idea. She said “marriage needs team work.In order to keep it going it’s necessary the full cooperation of both the wife and the husband” (Personal interview, 15 September 1999). But men are not the only responsible for marriage failures.
Many times women get married with the wrong guy; guys that do not treat them right. This foments and increases the number of waives that are badly treated. Now that we are entering a new millennium we should put apart this childish game of sexual barriers and focus in how capable and valuable each individual is depending in nothing more than their own effort.
