i want a wife judy brady essay

Judy Brady's Legendary Feminist Satire, "I Want a Wife"

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One of the best-remembered pieces from the premiere issue of Ms . magazine is “I Want a Wife.” Judy Brady’s (then Judy Syfers) tongue-in-cheek essay explained in one page what all too many men had taken for granted about “housewives.”

What Does a Wife Do?

“I Want a Wife” was a humorous piece that also made a serious point: Women who played the role of “wife” did many helpful things for husbands and usually children without anyone realizing. Even less, it wasn't acknowledged that these “wife’s tasks” could have been done by someone who wasn’t a wife, such as a man.

“I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up after my children, a wife who will pick up after me."

The desired wife tasks included:

• Work to support us so I can go back to school
• Take care of the children, including feeding them and nurturing them, keeping them clean, taking care of their clothes, taking care of their schooling and social life
• Keep track of doctor and dentist appointments
• Keep my house clean and pick up after me
• See to it that my personal things are where I can find them when I need them
• Take care of the babysitting arrangements
• Be sensitive to my sexual needs
• But do not demand attention when I am not in the mood
• Do not bother me with complaints about a wife’s duties

The essay fleshed out these duties and listed others. The point, of course, was that housewives were expected to do all these things, but no one ever expected a man to be capable of these tasks. The underlying question of the essay was “Why?”

Striking Satire

At the time, “I Want a Wife” had the humorous effect of surprising the reader because a woman was the one asking for a wife. Decades before gay marriage became a commonly discussed subject, there was only one person who had a wife: a privileged male husband. But, as the essay famously concluded, “who wouldn’t want a wife?”

Judy Brady was inspired to write her famous piece at a feminist consciousness-raising session . She was complaining about the issue when someone said, “Why don’t you write about it?” She went home and did so, completing the essay within a few hours.

Before it was printed in Ms ., “I Want a Wife” was first delivered aloud in San Francisco on Aug 26, 1970. Judy (Syfers) Brady read the piece at a rally celebrating the 50 th anniversary of women’s right to vote in the U.S. , obtained in 1920. The rally packed a huge crowd into Union Square; hecklers stood near the stage as "I Want a Wife" was read.

Lasting Fame

Since “I Want a Wife” appeared in Ms ., the essay has become legendary in feminist circles. In 1990, Ms . reprinted the piece. It is still read and discussed in women’s studies classes and mentioned in blogs and news media. It is often used as an example of satire and humor in the feminist movement .

Judy Brady later became involved in other social justice causes, crediting her time in the feminist movement with being foundational for her later work.

Echoes of the Past: The Supportive Role of Wives

Judy Brady does not mention knowing an essay by Anna Garlin Spencer from much earlier in the 20th century, and may not have known it, but this echo from the so-called first wave of feminism shows that the ideas in "I Want a Wife" were in the minds of other women, too, 

In "The Drama of the Woman Genius" (collected in Woman's Share in Social Culture ), Spencer addresses women's chances for achievement the supportive role that wives had played for many famous men, and how many famous women, including Harriet Beecher Stowe , had the responsibility for childcare and housekeeping as well as writing or other work. Spencer writes, “A successful woman preacher was once asked what special obstacles have you met as a woman in the ministry? Not one, she answered, except the lack of a minister's wife.”

Edited and with additional content by  Jone Johnson Lewis

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clock This article was published more than  3 years ago

‘Why I Want a Wife’: The overwhelmed working mom who pined for a wife 50 years ago

A half-century ago, thousands of women’s liberation movement supporters packed into San Francisco’s Union Square. They joined about 100,000 more in cities across the country on Aug. 26, 1970, celebrating the 50th anniversary of women’s suffrage in a protest called the Women’s Strike for Equality . It was in that public space, during the first major demonstration of the modern women’s movement, that the world first heard activist Judy Brady Syfers publicly long for a wife.

“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,” the housewife from San Francisco read into the microphone, her hands shaking during her first time ever speaking in front of a crowd.

“I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up after me,” she stated, appealing to all housewives around the country whose husbands took them for granted.

“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,” said Brady Syfers, who was married to a professor at nearby San Francisco State.

“I was terrified,” Brady Syfers recalled in a 2007 NPR radio interview. “There were lots of hecklers — up near the stage I can remember hearing them as I read, which only egged me on.”

When she finished her list of sometimes sarcastic, sometimes funny, but very realistic demands, the crowd of women roared as they recognized themselves in her words. The short satire was mentioned in television, radio and newspaper reports about the demonstration across the country, she said in a 2005 taped interview with her daughter, Maia Syfers.

A mother's letter, a son's choice and the incredible moment women won the right to vote

After that exhilarating moment, the essay went on to define the women’s movement of the 1970s. It resurfaces often as a feminist classic — a treatise about an imbalance between the sexes that still resonates today as the country marks the 100th anniversary of suffrage.

Earlier this year, as parents struggled to home-school their children during the pandemic, the New York Times commissioned a poll by Morning Consult on the division of labor between couples. Nearly half of fathers with children younger than 12 said they were devoting more time to educating their kids than their spouses, but just 3 percent of women agreed with that assessment.

Fifty years ago, “Why I Want a Wife” started simply as a housewife’s complaints about the lack of recognition for women’s work.

In 1968, Brady Syfers was a faculty wife with two small children. The end of that year her husband got involved with a strike at his university, San Francisco State, that called for creating a Black and ethnic studies department at the majority White school.

Brady Syfers opened up her house as a fundraising headquarters for the strike . Week after week, she organized, fed and worked with the student and faculty strikers, from 7 in the morning until late into the night. For the first time in her life, Brady Syfers was politically active, and she loved it.

“It was exhilarating to be involved in something outside the four walls of my home,” she said in the NPR interview.

When the strike ended five months later — the longest student-led strike in U.S. higher education history — the Black Student Union had a meeting celebrating its win and to thank participants who worked on the strike. Her husband, James Syfers, was given a note of special thanks for raising money. But Brady Syfers was never mentioned.

Feeling angry and unappreciated, “I decided it was time for me to look for the women’s movement,” she said in the 2005 interview.

She found a nearby women’s consciousness-raising group at San Francisco’s Glide Memorial Church, where she met Pam Allen, now known as Chude Allen.

“When I first met Judy, she described herself as a disenfranchised and fired housewife,” Allen said in a phone interview. “She was angry.”

The more Brady Syfers began examining her role in society, the angrier she became. It wasn’t just being overlooked during the student strike. She had faced sexism her whole life.

During college at the University of Iowa, she studied painting and was quite talented, according to Maia Syfers. That’s where she met James Syfers, her future husband. After earning a BFA, she wanted to pursue a master’s degree. To do so, she had to go before a committee who would recommend her to further her studies. At the meeting, the all-male committee told her that she had the talent but that there wasn’t much purpose in going for a master’s — because no university would hire a woman.

She was devastated, her daughter said.

In consciousness-raising meetings at Glide, Brady Syfers began to describe what Betty Friedan’s pioneering book, “ The Feminine Mystique ,” called “the problem that has no name.”

“I was an isolated housewife who had never worked outside the house, and I was badly depressed, miserable and confused about it,” Brady Syfers said in 2007. “I had no idea why I was so depressed.”

Except for “The Feminine Mystique,” Brady Syfers said there was no language in the late 1960s to talk about female unhappiness.

“If you wanted to know anything about women, you went to the Ladies’ Home Journal. That’s all there was,” she said in 2007.

She explained that nothing was written for, by and about women’s collective experience — their history, their psychology, their daily lives. In 1969, the three-year-old National Organization for Women was still considered a small group, Brady Syfers said in 2005.

The bra-burning feminist trope started at Miss America. Except, that’s not what really happened.

The women’s movement of the early 1970s “was an outgrowth of the civil rights movement,” she said. “But it was very much kind of sub rosa. And of course, it was treated scathingly by men and the media.”

Consciousness-raising groups were mocked by men, but Brady Syfers said the sessions were defiant political acts.

Women around the country were pooling personal experiences to create a social, historical analysis of women’s condition. It was a revolution in thinking, she said. Soon a whole women’s press movement publishing feminist pamphlets and underground newspapers exploded around the country, led by the radical Redstockings group in New York.

It was at a consciousness-raising group that Brady Syfers began listing her grievances about the strains of being a housewife. As she talked, the list grew longer and longer until finally someone in the group challenged her to write it down.

So she went home and started writing. Two hours later, she had finished “Why I Want a Wife.” She presented it at the next group meeting, and members applauded. Brady Syfers was thrilled with the response.

“Why I Want a Wife” was first published in a Bay-area feminist underground newspaper called “Tooth and Nail,” according to Allen. The essay began being reprinted in other feminist underground presses across the country during 1970 and 1971.

Meanwhile, in New York activist Gloria Steinem and a group of feminists including Letty Cotton Pogrebin began collecting stories to include in a national magazine to unite and give voice to women’s liberation followers across the nation. In December 1971, the inaugural issue of Ms. Magazine appeared as an insert in New York magazine. That issue included “Why I Want a Wife.”

“We reprinted it so more readers could have the laughter and wisdom that comes from reversing unequal roles,” Steinem wrote in an email.

“I wish it weren’t still relevant but even though many marriages have become more equal, Judy’s words live on,” Steinem said.

“It had a seismic impact,” Pogrebin said in a phone interview. “It didn’t exaggerate what sex roles were all about. Women were expected to do it all.”

Pogrebin pointed out that the theme of “Why I Want a Wife,” which was changed to “I Want a Wife” in Ms., matched the cover of the inaugural issue, which showed a multi-handed Hindu goddess as a housewife juggling more tasks than were humanly possible.

After its publication in Ms., “Why I Want a Wife” became known around the world. “My mother always kind of joked a little bit about ‘Why I Want a Wife,’ because it became so popular,” Syfers said. “It’s paid royalties every year since it was published in Ms. and hundreds of books.”

Brady Syfers ended up getting a divorce years later and reverted to her original name, Judy Brady. She remained an activist in San Francisco the rest of her life, fighting for the rights of women, the disabled and breast cancer survivors. In May 2017, she died at age 80 and a memorial service at the Women’s Building in San Francisco celebrated her life of activism, Maia Syfers said.

“She was proud of ‘Why I Want a Wife,” but I think she was surprised at how iconic it became. She said it came right from her gut.”

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I Want a Wife, The Wife Drought – 1970s feminism still rings true

PhD candidate, UNSW Sydney

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Isobelle Barrett Meyering does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Three years ago Annabel Crabb argued on ABC’s The Drum that a lack of wives is what really holds back women in the Australian workforce. She jokingly suggested that what was needed was a “wife quota”.

When my partner sent me a link to her column, I was more than pleased. Was he volunteering to be one of those men who would help fill the shortage? As a historian of 1970s feminism, I was also somewhat bemused.

Crabb’s article reminded me of a classic work of the American women’s movement written more than 40 years ago.

Judy Syfers’ short essay, I Want a Wife , was based on a speech Syfers (now Brady) delivered on August 26 1970 at a rally in San Francisco to mark the 50th anniversary of American women’s suffrage.

Syfers was a housewife, mother of two and recent recruit to the Californian women’s movement. Her essay began with a moment of revelation:

Not too long ago a male friend of mine appeared on the scene fresh from a recent divorce.

Conveniently, his child was now living with his ex-wife and, free of parental obligations, he was on the lookout for a new wife. And so came Syfers’ moment of recognition:

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.

Syfers’ essay became an instant feminist classic. It was reproduced in Notes from the Third Year (1971), an important anthology of feminist works edited by New York activists Anne Koedt and Shulamith Firestone.

It also featured in the preview issue of the popular feminist magazine, Ms., which sold out in eight days after it was released on 20 December 1971.

And 40 years later, here was Crabb making much the same point. Since then, Crabb has gone on to write The Wife Drought , released in late September. Filled with personal anecdotes of juggling three kids and a career many would envy, the book is witty, heartfelt and informed by the latest research.

With her common touch and broad appeal, Crabb has made a timely contribution to the work-life debate.

But when I finally sat down to read The Wife Drought last week I was not so much bemused as bewildered to discover that it too contained not a single reference to I Want a Wife. Most reviewers of the book likewise seemed oblivious to the connection.

Only feminist stalwart Wendy McCarthy, one of the founding members of the New South Wales branch of the Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) in 1972, seemed to know about Syfers’ article. Reviewing The Wife Drought for Anne Summers Reports, she reminisced over reading I Want a Wife for the first time.

Of all the articles in the original edition of Ms., it was “the piece that spoke to me”, McCarthy explained.

I was pregnant with my third child and working out the logistics of being wife, mother, teacher and community activist. Dear God, I needed a wife.

Writing in October this year, McCarthy found Crabb’s book “as loveable” as Syfers’ article, if “eerily scary that so little and yet so much has changed”.

If, like me, she was slightly perturbed that Syfers’ article seems to have been forgotten, she didn’t say so. To set the record straight, this is what Syfers had to say in 1971.

Like Crabb, Syfers set out to expose the taken for granted status of women’s work in the home. She set her sights not only on the invisibility of housework and childcare, but on the emotional and sexual labour of wives. Written in the early years of women’s liberation, the article was more scathing in its tone than The Wife Drought.

Husbands, it implied, were selfish, lazy and ungrateful. They were self-absorbed and altogether uninterested in their own children. To take just a few examples:

I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up after my children, a wife who will pick up after me … I want a wife who will take care of the details of my social life … When I meet people at school that I like and want to entertain, I want a wife who will have the house clean, will prepare a special meal, serve it to me and my friends, and not interrupt when I talk about things that interest me and my friends … I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs, a wife who makes love passionately and eagerly when I feel like it, a wife who makes sure that I am satisfied. And, of course, I want a wife who will not demand sexual attention when I am not in the mood for it …

The list of demands was relentless.

And the final punch line?

Wives, Syfers warned, were replaceable.

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.

I Want a Wife was a cutting piece of satire and the depiction of men was far from flattering.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that Syfers’ piece has been since overlooked. The failure to make a connection between Syfers’ article and Crabb’s The Wife Drought is symptomatic of a wider pattern in popular debate about feminism.

It reflects a tendency to forget past feminisms or, worse, misrepresent them – what historian Natasha Campo describes as the process of “re-remembering” feminism.

Tracing Australian media views of feminism from 1980 onwards, Campo has shown how key tenets of 1970s feminism have been misconstrued.

Feminists were blamed for telling women that they could “have it all” – a claim, as Campo points out, that was more a product of British journalist Shirley Conran’s bestseller Superwoman (1975) than of the organised women’s movement.

Ideas such as equal parenting, which had long been espoused by feminists, came to be presented as “new” solutions.

To her credit, Crabb is much more fair-minded in her treatment of past feminisms. For the most part, she refrains from blaming previous generations for the challenges now faced by women who seek to combine work and family. She also brings a historical sensibility to her work, examining past obstacles to gender equality such as the marriage bar in the public service, which remained in place federally until 1966.

Nonetheless, there is a missed opportunity here to link current dilemmas with those illuminated by feminists like Syfers in the 1970s. The parallel between Crabb’s The Wife Drought and Syfers’ I Want a Wife is a poignant reminder that the insights of 1970s feminism still have much to offer those concerned about gender inequality.

Some ideas may now be outdated and some may be outlandish. But many, like Syfers’ I Want a Wife, continue to ring true today.

Who knows what other feminist ideas might be overdue for a comeback?

• Annabel Crabb

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Family Issues in “I Want a Wife” by Judy Brady Essay (Article Review)

List at least 10 vocabularies that you are interested in or hardly understand, summary of the article, the hardest paragraph to understand.

What is the article about?

The article is about family issues. It resembles soap operas.

What is the style of the article?

The style of writing was descriptive writing. I think so because it focused on describing the character (wife). It was also poetic and the desirable wife was described in detail.

What is the tone of the article?

The tone of the article was depressing. This is so because the author seems to be in deep thought and facing serious difficulties that lead her to consider getting a ‘wife’.

The vocabularies included nurturant, hours, d’oeuvres, rambling, replenish, clutter, liberty, intellectual, adherence, and monogamy.

In the first paragraph, the author clarified that she was a wife and a mother. In the second paragraph, she talks of a man she met recently. The man had been recently divorced and was looking for another wife. This is where the thought of having a wife came to the author. In the third paragraph, the author explained the reasons why she needed a wife. She was thinking of furthering her studies and becoming financially stable. She also needed a wife that would take care of the children’s needs. This individual had to ensure that the children were well fed and clothed. The children’s social needs also had to be addressed.

In the fourth paragraph, the author argued that she needed a wife that would take care of her physical needs. The individual had to do her house chores, ensure that her clothes were clean, ironed, and mended, cook her meals, and do the shopping. She also needed that person who would go on vacation with her family and take care of them whenever they need. In the fifth paragraph, the author explained that she needed a wife who would simply work and not complain about her duties. She also needed to be a good listener so that she would listen to her as she presents her issues.

In the sixth paragraph, the author needed a wife who would take care of her social life. This included taking care of her children as she went to meet her friends. She was also to attend to the visitors that came visiting. In the seventh paragraph, the author expressed her desire to have a wife that would take care of her sexual needs. The wife had to be faithful and understanding. In the eighth paragraph, the author elaborates that she needs the freedom to exchange the wife for any other suitable one. In the ninth paragraph, she expects the wife to quit working when she clears school. The wife would take care of all duties. Finally, she wonders who would not want a wife.

What kind of reader do you think the author was writing for?

I think the author was writing mainly to young single mothers. This is so because she talks of a wife and a mother. From the way she presents her ideas, she appears to be a single mother since she was thinking of a recently divorced man and empathized with him. She seems to be going through the same thing the man is going through. The struggles of a single mother seem to be highlighted in detail. These include the responsibilities of raising children and the need to get space that would allow her to do other things besides taking care of her children. She feels like her social life has been affected since she does not have adequate time with her friends.

Do you agree or disagree with the author’s opinion? What does the author want to inform us? Do you think the author is trying to convince the reader to do or feel something?

I agreed with some of the author’s ideas but disagreed with the one to do with seeking sexual fulfillment from the wife and demanding freedom to replace the wife for another. This is a persuasive article since the author is trying to convince the reader to feel something. The author is trying to convince the readers about the importance of having a wife. She does this by presenting an argument while establishing facts to support it. She was trying to convince the reader to agree with her judgment and to adopt her way of thinking about women in her situation. It is a persuasive essay since it was quite convincing. She was confident in putting across her ideas and values.

The author also tried to persuade the reader to adopt her way of thinking by writing from the reader’s perspective. This way, she was able to catch the reader’s attention. She finished by asking why anyone would not want to have a wife. This highlights that the values placed for a wife were those that anyone would want to have. Surely, anyone would want to have such a wife – who would do all you want her to do but at the same time give you the space that you need.

The hardest paragraph to understand was the ninth one. This is because she seems to be talking about two different people when referring to the wife. She says that she wants a wife who will take care of her wife’s duties.

I Want a Wife. Judy Brady.

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Judy Brady’s “I Want a Wife” as Feminist Manifesto

Judy Brady’s I Want a Wife is a feminist manifesto that dissects the early 1970s’ social stereotypes about the role of women in marriage and motherhood. Using rhetorical language, she paints a rather impressive new perspective of the seemingly familiar and clichéd picture of a married woman. Her essay is a pure satire that represents an unpleasant aspect of the society’s ubiquitous consumer behavior towards women and their value. With a brilliant and humorous writing, Brady uncovers a cultural misconception of woman’s main role in life. Moreover, she decides to condemn the men’s opinion on the matter, ultimately persuading both men and women to notice the heavy toll of masculine privileges. The author intends to make a deep impact on society’s view of gender roles and how unjustly the responsibilities are divided. Throughout her essay, Brady uses numerous rhetorical strategies to achieve these goals. The mocking and humorous tone of the essay illustrates author’s heartfelt beliefs that the social issue of gender unfairness truly exists. She strives to leave a lasting impact engraved in her readers’ minds to ponder on every time the topic comes up in their future conversations.

It is clear that Brady tells her audience right away her position on the matter by stating “I belong to that classification of people known as wives” as her opening line (1). She hooks her readers, using emotions and sympathy to take over her desired audience’s attention without hesitation. After her second statement “And, not altogether incidentally, I am a mother” (1), the obviousness of the stereotype that Brady is now pointing out rises into the question, calling to the women who do not wish to uphold that standard. Of course, a man has the right to have children, acidly comments Brady, and his wife must obey his wish – she is his property, after all. From there on, she describes rather harshly all the reasons why she would like to have a wife. The author recalls each of the particular expectations placed on women in general and gives the mocking impression that these specific responsibilities are the only purpose in life for any woman. It almost feels like to the reader that Brady agrees with men on how a proper wife should behave.

However, the reader only needs to follow the author a little further to understand that she, in fact, despises masculine point of view. Using simple statements and almost Aristotelian logic, Brady depicts the conflict behind the sorority’s roles in society: how demanding yet self-degrading they are becoming. The author lists women’s responsibilities somewhat sporadically, apparently out of order of importance. Her list ranges from emphasizing maternal responsibilities, outlining mandatory housewife chores, to the sexual life expectations men place on the married women, without structuring it. Respectively, this leads to a “ranting” impression of her essay, which reflects the author’s point of view. However, what Brady truly seeks to achieve is for her male readers to constantly read this phrase and see how ridiculous their demands are. The author ends her essay with a rhetorical yet deep question “My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?” (2) that asks the reader to reflect on the answer. This awareness is the glue that holds her whole argument together. Finally, a potentially life-changing paragraph concludes the essay, calling the readers to analyze not only the society’s rotten view on the women’s value, but their own judgement on the matter, too.

Works Cited

Brady, Judy. I Want a Wife , Ms. Magazine, 1972, pp. 1–2.

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Rhetoric Analysis “I Want a Wife” by Judy Brady

• Rhetoric Analysis “I Want a…

Judy Brady’s essay  I Want a Wife  generally applies several anecdotes to explore the demands of being a wife and gender roles and expectations. Speaking from her own experience, Brady is bitter about how demanding being a wife is and how the same demands are not expected of men. Overall, Brady’s concern is that the imbalance between gender roles and exaggerated expectations leaves women disadvantaged, hence emphasizing gender inequality within families and in society.

Brady applies satire to address the burdens of being a wife and make her argument compelling to evoke engagement in the audience. Besides, the author’s style and article’s structure combine ethos, pathos, and logos to address the overall theme of female suppression in society. Therefore, the author successfully appeals to the readers’ emotions, reason, and values, which garners sympathy for the author and women, especially when gender equality, women empowerment or suffrage, and the civil rights movement were a priority for society.

The author appeals to pathos to persuade the reader by purposely evoking sympathy and making them feel what the author feels about women being overburdened. Brady uses personal experience and a satirical tone to discuss the exaggerated expectations society expects from wives. The author’s concern is motivated by how easy it is for men to move into new marriages because they do not bear the same burdens and responsibilities as women.

Brady writes, “Not too long ago a male friend of mine appeared on the scene fresh from a recent divorce. He had one child, who is, of course, with his ex-wife. He is looking for another wife” (Brady). The male friend’s situation makes Brady realize that men expect so much from wives as the family’s support system, who have to take care of children, address familial needs, manage the household, and support the husband to achieve his dreams. The societal expectation of a wife to multitask and be indispensable to the man and the family is the source of Brady’s frustration, inviting the audience to see things from her point of view by appealing to pathos throughout the essay. 

Brady also appeals to logic by appealing to the reader’s sense of reason particularly by providing facts. The examples the author provides are suitable for the overall argument and fit perfectly in the 1970s when the article was written. Men and society have various perspectives on the roles and responsibilities of wives even if the expectations suppress women more than men. Brady argues that marriage transforms men and women differently and the transformation disfavors the latter more. Women must take care of household duties, seek opinions from their husbands, fulfill all needs, be available and supportive, and be responsible wives.

The 1970s saw much of the women’s rights movement’s efforts and marches focus on pushing for gender equality in universities and workplaces. Feminists specifically sought more hospitable spaces for women and created more policies to create equal opportunities and ban sexual harassment.  I Want a Wife  contributed to the women’s suffrage protests in this period, although on a different front. The author’s realistic demands resonated with many women and defined the women’s movement as a feminist classic that highlighted gender imbalance, a problem that persists today.

Furthermore, the author appeals to credibility by tapping into the readers’ ideologies and values, especially dignity for all, feminism, and equality. Brady explores the various roles in different sectors in the essay but maintains the words “I want a wife” for each to highlight the sarcasm and humor to maintain the essay’s overall objective to sensitize the audience about female suppression. In the introduction, Brady uses her personal experience to get the audience to understand her general argument and to make her feelings about the issue known. In paragraph one Brady lists the maternal roles of a wife, including being an excellent nurturant, organizing the children’s social life, and addressing the children’s health needs, among others.

The second paragraph addresses the wife’s domestic roles, like cleaning the house, keeping clothes clean, ironing grocery shopping, and relieving her husband’s stress and pain. The third paragraph explores the wife’s mechanical responsibilities, where she has to understand and explain her husband’s difficulties and type papers the husband writes. In paragraph 4, Brady explains the social roles and expectations, including playing hostess to her husband’s friends, meeting the man’s acquaintances, and not interrupting conversations.

The sixth paragraph explores the wife’s sexual responsibilities, such as sexually satisfying the man, birth control, and remaining faithful. Lastly, Brady discusses the woman’s disposable or replaceable role in case the husband wants a new partner, including raising the children independently (Brady). The structure allows Brady to explore women as unequal partners in marriage and contribute extensively to the female suppression theme. 

In conclusion, Brady combines personal experience, logic, and values to discuss a prevalent societal issue in I Want a Wife. Throughout history, society has laid out gender roles and expectations that favor men and suppress women. I Want a Wife is among feminists and women’s suffrage efforts to achieve gender equality and female empowerment. The essay, therefore, achieves the author’s overall objective of enlightening the audience about female suppression within the marriage scope and persuading them to see from her point of view to incentivize sympathy.

Brady, Judy. “Why I want a wife.”  75 Readings: An Anthology  (1972): 325-327.

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I Want a Wife Judy Brady Analysis

This essay will analyze Judy Brady’s essay “I Want a Wife,” which highlights the expectations placed on wives and the gender roles prevalent in society. It will discuss the essay’s use of irony and its effectiveness in critiquing societal norms. The piece will also explore the historical context of the essay and its relevance to contemporary discussions on gender equality and feminism. You can also find more related free essay samples at PapersOwl about Child.

How it works

This “I Want A Wife” by Judy Brady analysis will seek to dissect the author’s meaning, opinion, and true purpose by looking at the meaning, purpose and audience, method and structure, and language present throughout the piece.

• 2 Purpose and Audience
• 3 Method and Structure
• According to Brady, the definition of a wife is a woman who supports her spouse physically and emotionally and takes care of the children and household. A woman who lives to care for her husband and her children.

The wife also displays behaviors that are expected of her; for example, when the spouse decides to bring people that he likes from school to his house, the house must be impeccable. The wife also must cook for his guests and serve them. When they are invited to go somewhere, the wife must figure out the babysitting arrangements. The wife is also expected to take care of the children and the spouse’s physical needs, for example, consistently keeping the house clean and his clothes perfectly “ironed, mended, and replaced when needed.” She also must know how to cook and cook well, and while he is studying, she plans a menu, then she needs to prepare the meal and clean up after her children and her husband. Another activity the wife is responsible for is when the spouse wants to take a family vacation; she shall continue to care for and pamper him the way she does at home. He also wants his wife to never complain about her wifely duties and to always listen to him. Meaning that she cannot give her opinion about her wifely duties because they are her responsibility.

• On the other hand, the spouse’s only responsibility is to go to school and study. The wife takes care of everything else. He would not even write his own papers because he wants his wife to do that. He wants to be able to go to school and not have to worry about anything at home because his wife physically, emotionally, and financially supports him.
• Based on the context of Brady’s essay, “nurturant” means that the wife is very loving and affectionate with her children, that she always took the best care of them. Hors d’oeuvres are served before the entrée, in the form of an appetizer, with anything you would like, such as cheese and crackers. The husband wanted the wife to prepare this and be attentive to their guests, always have an ashtray, make sure their wine glasses are never empty, and most importantly, ensure that they feel comfortable.

Purpose and Audience

• The reasoning behind Brady writing this essay was not to explain a wife’s duties, nor complain about her situation, or attack men and society for having this attitude towards women. It is to show to her audience that the responsibilities the wife has and the particular way she must behave is not right, and the way society sees wives and how they should be, is not fair. Men’s views on how a wife should behave has changed over the years. When this essay was published, every man saw a wife this way. She is the one who has to do everything the man says, and she has no opinion and no way out. Fortunately, this has all changed, and Brady wrote this to show how sexist society was and how their point of view on women was extremely incorrect.
• The definition of a wife that Brady gives his audience is not realistic, nor is it fair. It is not realistic because society does not see a wife this way anymore. Women are now treated as equally to men. In paragraph 3, Brady says, “I would like to go back to school so that I can become economically independent, support myself, and if need be, support those dependent upon me.” This states that the wife needs to support him while he goes to school, and he wants to go to school to support himself, and maybe his wife and his children, if he wants to. Brady, in paragraph 3, also says that “My wife must arrange to miss time at work and not lose her job. It may mean a small cut in my wife’s income from time to time, but I guess I can tolerate that. Needless to say, my wife will arrange and pay for the care of the children while my wife is working.” This quote emphasizes that the wife must put her job at risk, so her husband can go to school. The wife needs to also arrange and pay for the care of the children.
• This essay was written based on female roles in society. Women should not be the ones responsible for all of the cooking, cleaning, and child care. Men should also participate and help the wife with everything. In paragraph 4, Brady says, “I want a wife who will keep my house clean, a wife who will pick up after my children, a wife who will pick up after me.” This highlights that women are the ones who do the work around the house, while men just sit and watch. Brady wrote this essay for social and economic background because she wants society’s point of view on women to change. Society should not view women as servants to their husbands.
• This essay is very realistic, fair, and irrelevant to present times. It is realistic because when society saw women as unequal, they expected these responsibilities and behaviors from them. They expected wives to only care for their children and for the husband to take care of his physical needs and his social life. It is fair to men because they do not have to worry about cooking or cleaning. They do not have to worry about nurturing children or any of the other little arrangements that the women take care of. It benefits men for women to do all the work. This is not relevant to present times because society has grown and, thankfully, does not see women this way anymore.

Method and Structure

• Many men have different points of view on how women should be treated in their households. Some men, they are in a marriage because it benefits them in their personal ways, and they take their wife for granted. However, on the other hand, some men are in a marriage because they want to be because they appreciate their wife. Brady uses definition to achieve her purpose by using repetition of the words “I want a wife” in her essay. This shapes her ideas and highlights her thesis at the end of the passage.
• A wife has many responsibilities; she must cook and clean and prepare her children, and she must do the same for her husband, take care of his social life, his physical and emotional needs, and the finances, A wife is taken for granted. Really, a wife should be the other half of her husband and have the same responsibilities as a man, being able to work and maintain the household, as well as her husband.
• The introduction serves as a point of view for the audience to understand the way she feels and why she feels that way. It is classified into a group, specifically wives. Paragraph 1 shows this. Paragraph 2 confirms Brady’s definition because the wife must work and send the husband to school, and then needs to take care of his physical needs, then his social life, then his sexual needs. The question at the end of the introduction relates to the question at the end of the essay because the first question says, “Why do I want a wife?” Then throughout the essay, she demonstrates the qualities a wife is supposed to have and all the things a wife is supposed to do. At the end of the essay, she says, “Who wouldn’t want a wife?” The second question emphasizes all the things a wife must go through and all the things she must do, she takes care of everything, and the spouse does not have to worry about anything. A wife is often taken for granted.
• The author classifies the different things a wife must do to fulfill her husband’s needs, and she separates them into categories. Paragraph 4 is an example of a category because it says, “I want a wife who will keep my house clean. A wife who will keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended, and replaced.” This highlights the duties and responsibilities of a wife. Another example of a category is paragraph 7, “I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs, a wife who makes love passionately and eagerly when I feel like it, a wife who makes sure that I am satisfied.” This emphasizes another duty a wife must fulfill to make her husband happy. Different classifications help develop the argument that women should not be looked upon like a servant to men. Women deserve more than how society and men view them.
• Brady uses a sarcastic tone throughout her essay to humorously exaggerate the wants and desires a husband dreams of from his wife. For example, in paragraph 3, Brady says, “I want a wife to keep track of the children’s doctor and dentist appointments. And to keep track of mine, too.” in paragraph 4, Brady says, “I want a wife who will keep my house clean.” Brady lists these things that a wife “should do” to indicate that saying “I want a wife”, is much more simplistic than actually being one.
• Brady repeats “I want a wife” in almost every sentence to make a point about female stereotypes and mocks men and society’s unrealistic expectations for women. This stylistic device conveys that the person who wants a wife does not want to worry about any little arrangements like doctor or dentist appointments for their children, and they do not want to deal with cooking and cleaning. They would rather have a wife to do that for them. Therefore Brady argues that women are treated unfairly in marriages, it is wrong, and women should not belong under the power of men. This fits in with Brady’s main idea and purpose because it shows the mistreatment and misconception of wives. Her purpose was to encourage action and stand up for themselves.
• Brady never substituted the personal pronoun “she” for “my wife” because Brady does not want a wife; she states that a wife needs to cook and clean and care for her husband and her children and that a wife needs to handle her husband’s physical, social, and financial arrangements; these things are her responsibility as a wife. In paragraph 3, Brady repeats “my wife” instead of replacing it with “she,” “Needless to say, and my wife will arrange and pay for the care of the children while my wife is working.” The effect of the repetition of the word “my wife” in the same sentences adds emphasis to the end. This changes the meaning of “my wife” from an independent person to the author’s object.
• Brady uses expressions such as “of course” and “needless to say” in paragraph 3 because these expressions illustrate the mocking tone that makes it obvious that the men, along with society, are motivated by self-interest by using the “obvious” factor of things. These modifiers sprinkle the essay with satirical edginess and contain underlying criticisms about men’s view on the common wife. It also highlights the duties that Brady believes should not be immediately expected of a wife.

I Want a Wife conveys that women should not be confined to traditional gender roles and must be granted equal rights and respect as men. The author contends that women are equally competent in handling household chores, but they deserve the opportunity to pursue a career and achieve their goals.

Judy Brady masterfully utilizes various rhetorical techniques in her essay “I Want a Wife”. Employing irony, sarcasm, and wit, she effectively communicates her message. Additionally, she skillfully incorporates hyperbole and understatement to emphasize her points. Through her direct and articulate writing style, she successfully conveys her message with clarity and precision.

Judy’s central argument in her essay is that the current education system is inadequate in preparing students for their future. According to her, the system is excessively focused on imparting knowledge rather than teaching students essential skills such as critical thinking and problem-solving. She firmly advocates for a reformation of the education system to better equip students for the challenges that await them.

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How Gun Violence Spread Across One American City

Columbus, Ohio, had only about 100 homicides a year. Then came a pandemic surge. With more guns and looser laws, can the city find its way back to the old normal?

In Columbus, 41 percent of residents lived within a quarter mile of a fatal shooting between 2020 and 2023, compared to 28 percent before the pandemic. Credit...

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By Shaila Dewan and Robert Gebeloff

Photographs by Sylvia Jarrus

Shaila Dewan reviewed police reports and court transcripts, and visited the scenes of a dozen fatal shootings in Columbus. Robert Gebeloff analyzed the geographic pattern of more than 120,000 gun homicides in America between 2016 and 2023.

• May 20, 2024

The sequence of events that led to the killing of Jason Keys was so confounding that friends and family did not quite believe it until they saw the video evidence played in court.

Mr. Keys and his wife, Charae Williams Keys, were getting into their car after a Father’s Day visit in 2021 with her grandparents in a leafy neighborhood near Walnut Hill Park in Columbus, Ohio. A 72-year-old neighbor carrying a rifle accosted them in the belief, he later told the police, that Mr. Keys had let the air out of his daughter’s tires and poisoned his lawn.

Mr. Keys, who was carrying a pistol in his waistband, and his father-in-law tried to disarm the man, knocking him to the ground, while another relative ran back inside to get a .22 rifle. While Ms. Keys ducked behind the car to call 911, she heard multiple gunshots. She emerged to find her husband mortally wounded.

It took a moment for everyone to realize that the shots had come from a fourth gun across the street. Elias Smith, a 24-year-old ex-Marine, had stepped to his front door with a so-called ghost gun, an AR-style rifle that Mr. Smith had assembled from parts ordered online. Within seconds, he opened fire, hitting Mr. Keys five times.

“What are you shooting for?” a relative of Mr. Keys can be heard asking on surveillance video that captured parts of the incident.

Mr. Smith answered, “I don’t know.”

It was an encounter emblematic of gun violence in America today, a dispute that might not have turned deadly but for firearms in increasingly easy reach. And it was an episode that exemplified a striking spread in fatal shootings nationwide since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 — a period in which Americans have purchased more guns, the Supreme Court has made them harder to regulate, and many states, including Ohio, have loosened restrictions on firearms.

The block, on the far east side of Columbus, had been a haven, with little if any gun violence. That kind of peace was what had drawn Ms. Keys’s grandparents to the area decades earlier, luring them from the center of the city to what promised to be a safer place to raise their family.

And then, nearly 30 years after they had settled into a ranch house on Walnut Hill Park Drive, a burst of gunfire would take the life of Mr. Keys and with it, the neighborhood’s sense of security.

A New York Times analysis of fatal shootings across the country found that as the toll of gun violence rose during the pandemic, the carnage expanded its boundaries as well. Though gun violence remains highly concentrated, more than 47 million Americans lived within a five-minute walk of a fatal shooting between 2020 and 2023, up from 39 million over the prior four-year period. In Columbus, 41 percent of residents lived within a quarter mile of a fatal shooting, compared to 28 percent before the pandemic.

The same spread of gun violence seen in Columbus took place in other cities large and small. In Atlanta , 58 percent of residents lived near a fatal shooting during the pandemic years, up from 36 percent in the four years before 2020. In Minneapolis , half of its residents were exposed, up from a third. In Portland, Ore ., it was nearly a quarter-million residents, up from 100,000.

Every day, across the country, there are dozens of deadly shootings that mostly do not rise to the level of national news, but still rend the fabric of a family, a block, a neighborhood and, in the aggregate, American life.

Anthony Pierson, a veteran prosecutor in Columbus, said that before Covid-19, he knew which neighborhoods to avoid. “Now it feels like really, no neighborhood is safe.”

Columbus has seen shootings at public parks and graduation parties, a children’s clothing shop, a Dairy Queen, a dollar store and an upscale nightlife district called the Short North. At a water gun fight celebrating the start of summer, some people brought out real guns, killing a 17-year-old girl with a college scholarship. In 2021, the number of killings spiked to 207, unfathomable in a city where most years saw closer to 100. Last year, there were 149.

In Columbus, as elsewhere, the carnage has been marked by the involvement of conspicuously young people. Last June, two Columbus boys, 14 and 16, were charged in the shooting death of a girl in eighth grade. In August, a 13-year-old was arrested after a 15-year-old football player was killed near a Lululemon store at a popular shopping plaza.

Columbus, a city considered so typically American that fast-food chains use it as a test market, is far from alone in its troubles. In New Mexico last September, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency for Albuquerque after shootings claimed the lives of an 11-year-old, a 5-year-old and a woman who confronted a group of teenagers in her stolen car. Louisville, Ky., calculated that gun homicides were costing the city $104 million a year in law enforcement, medical care and lost tax revenue.

Even though the tide of shootings and killings that washed across the country with the pandemic began to ebb last year, the improvement was uneven. Columbus closed out 2023 with more homicides than the year before — as did Dallas, Topeka, Kan., Memphis and Washington.

There is optimism that 2024 is going to be better in Columbus, which has seen homicide numbers fall dramatically so far this year, with 36 as of last week, compared with 70 in the same period the year before. Gun violence nationwide is still higher than it was before the pandemic: The number of fatal shootings in the first quarter of 2024 was 13 percent higher than it was in the same period in 2019, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

In 2022, Mayor Andrew Ginther declared gun violence a public health crisis, placing it on a par with Covid-19. Covid is no longer an emergency, but it exposed large societal rifts and left psychological scars. Gun violence may follow the same path: Even as it recedes, neighborhoods like the one near Walnut Hill Park may never feel as secure as they once did.

Some criminologists say there is no reason to think that homicides cannot fall back to the relatively low levels seen in the 20 years before the pandemic — except perhaps that there are far more guns and far fewer limits on them.

Adonis, a 14-year-old in Columbus whose life was upended by the pandemic, is skeptical. “The government, or whatever, already let too many guns go around the whole entire city,” he said. “They should have been stopping this when they had the chance to. I feel like it’s too late now.”

For more than a decade, the Ohio legislature had been scaling back gun regulations. In 2006, lawmakers pre-empted cities from passing their own gun statutes. In 2014, they rescinded a ban on high-capacity magazines.

Then, in 2019, a gunman in Dayton used one to fire 41 rounds in under 30 seconds, killing nine people and wounding 17.

The outcry that followed prompted Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, to promise changes that included expanded background checks and a “red flag” law allowing for the temporary removal of guns from people deemed dangerous to themselves or others. The proposals went nowhere.

Instead, in 2020 the state enacted a “stand your ground” law supported by gun rights organizations, expanding established limits on when a shooting can be deemed self-defense.

In 2022, Ohio lawmakers allowed school boards to arm teachers who completed 24 hours of training, eliminated permit and training requirements for concealed weapons, and barred cities from prohibiting gun sales during riots.

Proponents of expansive gun rights argue that increased regulation only makes it harder for lawful buyers to obtain guns for legitimate reasons, and that criminals will always find ways to skirt stricter laws.

In Ohio, Republican supporters of the permit-less carry bill said that there was little difference between openly carrying a gun, which Ohioans are permitted to do, and concealing that same weapon.

“Killers, rapists, kidnappers and other violent criminals don’t obey this law anyway,” said state Representatives Tom Brinkman and Kris Jordan, the bill’s sponsors, in their written testimony.

Facing a mounting body count in 2021 and 2022, Columbus tried to test the state ban on local lawmaking. The city enacted legislation requiring guns to be safely stored around children and banning high-capacity magazines. But the measures were stalled by court challenges, one by the state attorney general, a Republican, and the other by private citizens. Columbus, in turn, has challenged the 2023 state law that prohibits cities from halting the sale of guns and ammunition during riots.

“I feel like at times we have one or two arms tied behind our back trying to fight gun violence,” said Mayor Ginther, a Democrat who just began his third term. “And it can be very frustrating because the people are angry. They want more to be done.”

Guns have become a feature of life for Adonis and his friend Jason, who are both in eighth grade. “We see them every single day,” Adonis said. “But at this point, it don’t even faze us.”

Adonis and Jason described how their life had changed dramatically since the onset of the pandemic. “When we were younger it was like, you can walk out and do anything, like it’s fun outside,” Jason said. “Now you walk out, you got to be worried about getting shot.”

Both boys, whom The Times is identifying only by their first names, had agreed to an interview to talk about their friend Tauron Durham, a music-loving, witty 13-year-old who had been fatally shot in December. But the conversation ranged widely, hinting at some of the reasons violence has spread among young people.

The boys said that boredom and lack of supervision during the pandemic had given rise to a wave of Kia Boys, or children as young as 10 or 11 who learned to steal Kias and Hyundais by watching how-to videos. Stolen cars gave youths, even those well below legal driving age, the means to travel beyond their own neighborhoods. In Columbus, auto thefts more than doubled between 2019 and 2023, and stolen cars have been involved in a host of dangerous incidents, including high-speed chases and drive-by shootings.

Cars also became a focus for break-ins, with thieves increasingly finding handguns among their spoils. Between 2017 and 2021, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says, more than a million guns were reported stolen from private individuals nationally. Stolen guns in Columbus might be had for as little as $50, according to law enforcement officials.

“Before, you could knock on the door of your neighbor and get some weed,” said Jené Patrick, a member of Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children, an anti-violence group. “That’s how you get guns now. It’s that easy.”

Though Jason and Adonis said they were spending less time on the streets, their Instagram feeds are still full of images of children posing with handguns, as well as R.I.P. posts for gun victims. One of the boys’ handles includes the initials “F.T.O.,” a profane swipe at their “opps,” or rivals.

Back-and-forth dissing on social media is common but dangerous, sometimes leading to retaliation in real life. Because of that threat, Jason and Adonis explained, people carry guns to protect themselves. “And,” Jason added, “just to show off.”

Social media, of course, knows no geographic boundaries, and people who are miles apart can feud while unwittingly posting clues to their whereabouts.

“Almost any case I have that’s a murder, aggravated robbery, felonious assault with a shooting, when we get the phone dumps there’s stuff with them posing with guns or threatening to do harm to people. It’s a constant,” said Euripides Chimbidis, a prosecutor who handles juvenile cases in Columbus. “In my view, they’re putting themselves at risk, making other kids want to come after them.”

As gun violence intensified and spread in Columbus, communities long plagued by violence got far worse. Tre’Von Dickson, 15 and living on the east side of the city near the Barnett Recreation Center, personally knew almost two dozen people who had been killed, according to his mother, Shawna Brady.

Tre’Von was home on April 20, 2021, when, after a day of virtual classes, he arranged by text to have marijuana delivered to the apartment.

When a minivan pulled up outside with the pot, Tre’Von ventured out to collect it. Within seconds the driver, another 15-year-old, shot at him, a witness told the police. Tre’Von pulled out a revolver and returned fire, the witness said. The other teen was hit in the leg, while Tre’Von was hit twice in the chest, bleeding to death while his cousin rushed him to a hospital.

The other teen, who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in juvenile court, has maintained, through his lawyer, that he acted in self-defense. Ms. Brady insists her son could not have been the aggressor. But Ms. Brady, who cares for mental health patients, admits that she knew that Tre’Von had a gun. “I work a lot — I work around the clock, and he was my protector,” she said. “He protected the house.”

If she had it to do over, she said, she would not have allowed it.

“We see this all the time,” said Malissa Thomas-St.Clair, a middle-school teacher who, in August 2020, learned that one of her former students, a 14-year-old, had shot and killed his 2-year-old nephew while playing with a revolver. With an anguished post on Facebook, she founded the Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children.

The organization has made parental accountability a key part of its message, Ms. Thomas-St.Clair said, in part because the attitude that the “man” of the family should be armed, even if he is still a child, is not uncommon.

“Every one of us has a story of if there was better accountability within our parenting, then maybe some decisions of our children would have been different,” she said. Ms. Thomas-St.Clair’s own adult son was fatally stabbed in 2013, while trying to collect on a drug debt.

In their matching camo outfits, members of the Mothers of Murdered Columbus Children have become visible supporters of the city’s efforts to combat gun violence. Columbus has tried a host of strategies, including gun buybacks, youth programs, increased funding for domestic violence shelters and more detectives devoted to shootings.

The sharp decline in homicides this year is an encouraging sign, but officials say they are up against a tidal wave of guns.

In 2020, there were 11.3 million guns manufactured in the United States for domestic consumption, more than twice the number produced in 2010, according to the A.T.F. There are also signs that more guns are vanishing from the legal market.

Between 2017 and 2021, the percentage of guns recovered from crimes that had been purchased within the previous year steadily increased, according to A.T.F. data. A short “time to crime” can indicate an illegal straw purchase intended to evade background checks, minimum age laws and other safeguards.

Walnut Hill Park Drive still has its broad front lawns, backyard play forts and late-model pickups parked in circular drives. But much has changed on the block since Father’s Day in 2021.

Ms. Keys’s grandparents, Verna and Cordell Williams, caught Covid-19 and died three months after their grandson-in-law was killed.

Elias Smith, the former Marine who shot Mr. Keys, no longer lives in his mother’s basement — he is serving 15 years to life for murder. His trial included evidence that he had both P.T.S.D. and a traumatic brain injury.

Robert Thomas, the neighbor who instigated the episode with his rifle, was acquitted of an involuntary manslaughter charge but convicted of aggravated menacing. He was placed on house arrest at his daughter’s home and ordered to stay away from the block.

Ms. Keys, who was wounded by shrapnel in the shooting that killed her husband, is still recovering both physically and mentally. She and her husband had both known victims of gun violence. That was one reason they lived in a high-security apartment complex, went to work, went to church and tried to “stay out of the way,” she said. It was not enough.

“Now we have people walking around who are just ticking time bombs,” Ms. Keys said. “I’ve done everything in my power to keep me from violence, but it’s chasing me.”

Shaila Dewan covers criminal justice — policing, courts and prisons — across the country. She has been a journalist for 25 years. More about Shaila Dewan

Robert Gebeloff is a data journalist for The Times, using data analysis to augment traditional reporting. More about Robert Gebeloff

Gun Violence in America

The Pandemic’s Effect: The footprint of gun violence  in the United States expanded during the pandemic , as shootings worsened in already suffering neighborhoods and killings spread to new places.

A Ravaged City : Columbus, Ohio, had only about 100 homicides a year — then came a pandemic surge. With more guns and looser laws, can the city find its way back to the old normal ?

Guns in Schools: Tennessee lawmakers passed a bill to allow teachers  and other school staff members to carry concealed handguns on school campuses.

Background Checks Expansion: The Biden administration approved the broadest expansion of federal background checks in decades  to regulate a fast-growing shadow market that has fueled gun violence.

A Grieving Mother’s Hope: Katy Dieckhaus, whose daughter was killed in the 2023 Covent School mass shooting in Nashville, is pleading for compromise with those who see gun rights as sacred .

The Emotional Toll: We asked Times readers how the threat of gun violence has affected the way they lead their lives. Here’s what they told us .

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — I Want a Wife — Review of Judy Brady’s Article, I Want a Wife

Review of Judy Brady’s Article, I Want a Wife

• Categories: I Want a Wife Traditional Family Roles

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Published: Feb 12, 2019

Words: 1303 | Pages: 3 | 7 min read

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