God is pleased by wives who practice ‘respectful and pure conduct’. It may win over husbands who are non-believers (1 Peter 3:2). God delights in the ‘imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit’, it is very precious in his eyes (1 Peter 3:4). Their hope is in God, they do good and have no fear for anything that is frightening, because of their trust in God (1 Peter 3:6). The husbands are told to show honor to their wives because they are heirs with them in the grace of life (1 Peter 3:7).
Being a helper to the husband, or having a gentle and quiet spirit, does not mean the wife cannot have initiative of her own or exercise any leadership. In Proverbs 31 a portrait is painted of a wife who bought a field (verse 16), has lively trading going on (verse 24), skillfully leads her household (verse 15)