A wife is the female spouse to her husband, bound by the institution of marriage. When a couple ties the knots they are pronounced as man and wife. This term is used to refer to a woman until she ends her marriage seeking a legal divorce. A wife is called a widow upon the death of her spouse. The rituals and customs that a wife has to abide by usually vary across culture, caste and religion.
In many eastern countries the role of a traditional wife in a family was that of a homemaker. This was primarily due to the society structure and other social inequalities between men and women. This has pretty much changed over the past few centuries and today, wife and man both enjoy an equal position in the society. These days, wives prefer to be pursuing a career of their own instead of being a dependent to their legal spouses
