She doesn’t want a wife literally. The main examples given in the story highlight the author’s sarcasm. Brady says that she wants a wife who will work and send her to school so that she would not have to work as hard while working to become more economically independent. While it is worthy of respect to have a man want to become more economically independent, it is just as worthy of disrespect that he would expect the woman to work to support the family by herself during the time it takes to do this. Irony in this situation is that while he wants to better his family, said husband wants to burden it (Watrous).
Judy Syfers's satirical essay “I Want A Wife” intertwines sarcasm and irony to persuade the general public of the unreasonable demands that husbands place on their wives