According to Medea, when women can satisfy the wants and needs of their husbands, their "lives are admired." This could mean that others literally admire the events of their lives – that they find their life a wonderful way to live – or that others consider their lives valuable in service to their husbands. Thus, women's lives are only valuable when their husbands are satisfied. This happens in part because a woman has no companion apart from her husband. While the husband “has friends, companions of his age”, the wife only has the husband for company. So when a woman's husband leaves her, she finds herself alone facing the cruelty of a society that has abandoned her. With a world of people looking down on her for not satisfying her husband, a woman therefore has no reason to live a lonely and miserable life. Perhaps this is why Medea believes "it is better [for a woman] to die" than to face the repercussions of her husband's departure. Unfortunately, Medea believes that such problems exist even if the wife leaves her husband. Now let's consider this in context. Women sell themselves for dowry to get married, their husbands have complete control over them and can manipulate them, but women have no power.