Changing Gender roles,expectations, attitudes Essay

Changing Gender roles,expectations, attitudes - Essay Example And this choice is what marks itself as progressive in how gender roles are looked upon in modern times. A friend who was a recent divorcee prompted Judy Brady to attempt to answer the question why would anyone want a wife. â€Å"I want a wife who will work and send me to school. And while I am going to school, I want a wife to take care of my children,† (Brady, p.380). The wife is necessary for the man to ensure that harmony in accordance to how he perceives it is attained as he returns to the normal routine he is accustomed to. This accounts for the necessity and the convenience of having a wife in the pursuit of consensus within a traditional household before. Brady’s characterization of the wife as exemplified in her essay â€Å"Why I want a Wife† is quite point blank and resounding of the reality of the role of women in the family as the one who nurtures and oversees the overall welfare of the family. It is still widely read today, decades after its publication because it still contains a vast degree of reality even in today’s evolved modern life. There is the paradox of the woman who becomes a wife and evidently becomes a mother, who in the process loses her independence and consequent financial stability. The career of the woman is then compromised as she is delineated to the caring of the home and in ensuring the satisfaction of her husband. That a majority of women are classified as wives and as mothers (Brady, p.380). But years after this, as showcased in Glenn Sacks article, there is now a new category wherein the fathers take over what is usually a relative female role in the home. From the commonly accepted ‘setup’ where the wife cooks as the husband goes to work, the old definition of gender roles has now become loose. More and more women are now opting to have a career simultaneous with raising a family. There is though truth to what Sacks is saying regarding the real status of