A good wife is someone who thinks she has done everything right: raising the kids, being there for the husband, being home, trying to do it all.

Margulies frames “a good wife” not as an objective standard but as an internalized checklist: childcare, emotional support for a spouse, domestic presence, and the attempt to “do it all.” The phrasing suggests a critique of the cultural script that measures women’s worth through exhaustive, often conflicting roles. By emphasizing “thinks she has done everything right,” the quote highlights how approval is frequently sought through self-surveillance and perfectionism rather than mutual partnership or shared labor. Its significance lies in exposing the pressure to meet idealized expectations—and the quiet anxiety that even total effort may still be judged insufficient.