Fighting Inequality with Less Bloodshed Than Medea

   Judy Grady's "I Want a Wife" features many stereotypes that are not as present in modern times, as they were in the 1970's when this essay was composed. Despite the topics of the essay being outdated in some cases, there are still admirable traits present in the work. The first of these admirable traits are Grady's attempts to shed light on the inequality the women of the 1970's faced. The social stereotypes that women could only stay at home or tend to household matters had been built upon by many societies from the centuries beforehand. While the technologies and times were changing around these women, they were still faced with these archaic practices. It took the words and actions of women like Judy Grady to show how unjust the social practices were, and force change among them. The other trait of Grady's work that I found especially admirable was Grady's use of an ironic first person narrative to paint the unjust social structure. Grady putting herself in the place of those who attempt to keep the lifestyles full of inequality in place, allows Grady to bring the severity and reality of the situation to those who denied it. Grady's use of first person narration combined with irony left, as well as her acknowledgement of the need for women's rights, allowed "I Want a Wife" to deliver a message of the need for equality directly to those who still believed in the old-fashioned treatments of women.

   While Judy Grady's work had admirable aspects, it also contain point of views that I could not agree with. Specifically, the idea that all men treat women in this specific fashion and the condescending tone in which Grady delivers her message. The belief that all people, regardless of their gender behave the same, is completely incorrect. The compiling of many people is an incorrect way of addressing a problem, and could be detrimental to creating the solution. Furthermore, the way in which Grady addresses the people who are accidentally included into her target audience is quite condescending, which does not help move the emotions of the wrongfully accused to support the ideas of Grady. The approach Grady would have had to of taken to take my admiration completely would have been either specifically calling out the spouses who behave in this manner, or speaking to those who do not commit these offenses in a less degrading manner. 

   "I Want a Wife" relates to Medea in a few different points. First off, Grady speaks of the struggles of women. The struggles of women are one of the major themes in Medea with Medea facing an unwarranted divorce and the family fallout that will follow. These struggles are not necessarily due to the fault of women, but the world antagonizing them by strict stereotypes and giving an unbalanced amount of power to the men. Regardless, these struggles are both depicted in Grady's and Euripides's works. Another similarity in the works is the belief that the women will take the children, and just accept the wishes of the man from a divorce. Medea is to be exiled and to take her children with her after Jason decides to marry the princess. This punishment is nearly identical to what Grady describes will happen to women after divorces in the 1970's. These similarities both show how until the late 1990's to early 2000's women faced similar disadvantages in different cultures and times.