“The Model Husband” is the first of seven clearly identifiable articles published by Fanny Fern in the Olive Branch. The articles cheekily and sarcastically describe how the ideal husband should act according to the wives. In doing so, she shows how much women have to go out of their way for men and what a patriarchal society it was. She implicitly criticizes men for how selfishly they live their life without regarding the wife’s comfort. One exemplary passage is, "He never leaves his trousers, drawers, shoes, etc., on the floor, when he goes to bed, for his wife to break her neck over, in the dark, if the baby wakes and needs a does of Paregoric. If the children in the next room scream in the night, he don't expect his wife to take an air-bath to find out what is the matter. He has been known to wear Mrs. Smith's night-cap in bed, to make the baby think he is its mother." The humorous adaptation shows how women of the era were weighed down by the demands of caring for a child and how little men did to help. Women were simply expected to take over these familial and household tasks, while the men carried none of the burden. They used gender roles as leverage against any pleas for help, as it was simply not right to step outside of gender roles in this time. It is clear that women in this time regarded this balance as unfair since it is addressed in sources like these. Fern was considered bold to bring these matters up, but it was works like these that acted as catalysts for societal change. Fern wrote these articles about 4 years before Ruth Hall, which calls for even more radical change. It calls for economic autonomy for women in a male-dominated economy, whereas in The Model Husband, the wife is still subservient and dependent on the husband.