Notice that what she describes here is the man's perspective - men in those days seem to have wanted (expected?) a wife to make their lives more pleasant, but not to interfere with any serious matters. Women were to be seen and not heard, generally with no say in matters of business, finance, politics, etc. So having a wife who is pleasant but uninformed would be a good thing. No where, though, does she say that this is the case for women - just that they would do well to make men think that it is!