I recently read a devotional from Marriage Today. The devotion identified the three greatest needs of a wife.
1) Financial Security – A husband needs to make his wife feel safe and that he will always provide for her needs.
2) Nonsexual Touch/Affection – A husband needs to ensure that nonsexual touch is a common experience.
3) Leadership – A husband who is a loving initiator of the home, children, finances, etc…
I believe that these characteristics are loving expressions of husband’s who love their wives sacrificially. The following information is not a rebuttal to the devotion but an expansion on these ideals to better represent home life in our cultural setting.
Financial security – Working wives/mothers represent the majority of households. Women want their husbands to prioritize the needs of the family above his expenditures on personal hobbies, interests, or activities. Women are more predisposed on spending higher percentages of income on children/home (Viviana A. Zelizer, professor of sociology at Princeton University, is the author of “The Social Meaning of Money” and “Economic Lives: How Culture Shapes the Economy.”).
Nonsexual Touch/Affection – Along with nonsexual touch, wives desire their husbands to participate in the planning of date nights and securing childcare so that date nights are not the sole responsibility of wives to make it all happen.
Leadership – Women also want husbands to ask their opinions before initiating decisions or setting direction in matters that affect family life. Women also want husbands to value time away from her parenting and household responsibilities. Fathers have almost three hours a week more leisure time than moms do 28 hours vs. 25 (Men vs. women: How much time spent on kids, job, chores? USA Today).
These expressions of sacrificial love will bless marriages and family life.