There’s truth in the age-old saying – ‘Women are from Venus and men are from Mars’. Not only do men and women communicate differently, their needs are vastly different too! Knowing what your wife needs and meeting those needs can help increase the intimacy between the both of you and strengthen your marriage.
While every marriage is different, marriage expert Dr Willard Harley states that there are five general needs that men and women seek in marriage. According to him, the top five needs of men are sexual fulfilment, recreational companionship, an attractive spouse, domestic support, and admiration. For women, they need affection, conversation, honesty and openness, financial commitment, and family commitment.
In this article, TOUCH Family Life shares more on the needs of women, and how important it is for spouses to meet each other’s needs.
- Affection
Most women view affection as a symbol of security, protection and approval. Affection can be expressed in many ways such as holding hands, kisses, cards, hugs, phonecalls etc.
- Conversation
Women need quality two-way conversations especially with their husbands to share their feelings and inner thoughts. Having conversations with their husbands help wives to feel connected in their marriage. Husbands can be intentional in having conversations with their wives by putting aside time, newspapers and mobile phones to catch up with each other every evening.
- Honesty and Openness
Total trust of her husband is one of a wife’s needs as it provides her with a sense of security. If a husband fails to share an open and honest communication with his wife, she will lose her sense of security and trust in him, and grow further away from him in their marriage.
- Financial Commitment
A woman needs to know that her husband is pulling his weight and offering financial support and security to the family. Regardless of how successful she is in her own career, a wife desires for her husband to earn enough for her to feel adequately supported.
- Family Commitment
Just as how men want their wives to be the support they can count on at home, women need their husbands to be committed to their children, family and home. Most women desire to see their husbands’ strong commitment to family life which is not overshadowed by work or other factors.
Husbands, are you meeting your wife’s needs? And ladies, you too can help your husband to meet your needs by engaging him in conversation and being honest with what would make you happy. After all, it takes two hands to clap. With effective communication and mutual understanding, your relationship can be enhanced with your marriage being a highly satisfying journey for the both of you.
Interested in equipping yourself with useful handles to strengthen your family? Check out our family life education talks and workshops here!
Facing problems in your marriage? TOUCH Family is here to help. Contact us at 6709 8400 or [email protected] to find out about our counselling services.
TOUCH Family aims to deliver impact to the community by building strong and fulfilling families, and promoting the well-being of individuals and families in need. It impacts 12,500 families and individuals each year through family-based services and programmes, and strives to provide a holistic integrated service to serve the needs of every person and family at every stage of their lives.