Aim. It is emphasized that contemporary marriages, as compared to those that were common in the past (based on the dominance of the husband over his wife), have a more difficult task to perform, which is to solve the problem of cooperation in the development of new patterns of mutual relations. They face the necessity of developing a new allocating of family roles. The aim of the article is to describe the role model of an “ideal wife”; obstacles (and their causes) in fulfilling the requirements of the role of the “perfect wife” by contemporary women (tension in the role); fulfilled and unfulfilled expectations of wives towards their husbands and their abilities to communicate the expectations to their partners. Methods. Desk research (including official data and available research results) as well as the Author’s own research results (based on a sample consisting of married women, selection of the sample – snowball strategy, research tool – questionnaire interview). Results. The analyses made give an overview of the existing challenges and dilemmas in fulfilling the requirements of the role of the “ideal wife” by contemporary married women. First of all, the excess of duties (related to the role of a housewife, babysitter, or mother and insufficient involvement of the husband in the work of the household), and lack of time – these factors disrupt the role of a wife. Respondents share common beliefs concerning the most desirable personality traits of a “perfect wife”. The results show overlapping of the traditional and the contemporary role models of wife, with the advantage of the former. Conclusions. The results of analyses prompt us to ask a question about what to do so that contemporary spouses have more opportunities to spend time together (the so-called “time for two”). They also remind us of the importance of marital communication in building a sense of happiness in marriage.