Gender Stereotypes
There is a stereotype that men are generally lazy. This is true in most cases and in several communities, because men have a chauvinistic nature. Some men believe that they are above women in almost everything. Although this may hold water in a few instances, the fact remains that all people are equal despite of their gender. However, this belief has in turn created a notion that has spread among the male gender in many societies and greatly contributed to the perceived laziness in men as men do not want to do work and leave most of the duties to women (Brownmiller 92).
A section of men, especially in the American society, believe that they cannot do certain duties. Such work has been associated to women and so they feel that if they attempt to lay a finger on them it would make them look inferior. For instance, most men avoid domestic chores such as cooking meals, doing laundry or even cleaning up the house. For them, it is the belief rather than the inability to do the work that prevents them from giving a helping hand. In the absence of somebody else who can do the work, such as cooking, for instance, this kind of men would instead settle for fast foods in the stores or even go without food at all. Besides, laziness causes some men to be totally irresponsible.
As in the case of failure to even do their own laundry, such men end up being very untidy. They keep on changing clothes and when their wardrobes run out of clean ones, they opt for repeating to wear dirty ones that they had already worn before. This may become a habit and such lazy men are always having foul smell and body odor (Cahn and June 101). Some other men are naturally lazy not only because they were born in families that love to work, but also because they have grown up with a mentality that they should not work. Such men were likely spoilt kids. Their parents employed nannies to do all the house chores even after they were old enough to do most of the work themselves.
Men like that can hardly make up their own bed when they wake up in the morning, clean up their rooms or even arrange items neatly. Instead, their beds are never straightened, rooms shabby and dirty too. It is hard to convince them either that they should take up responsibility without picking a quarrel. Hence, people tend to find lazy men unsociable for their bad temper (MacKinnon 23).Another fact that shows that men are lazy is that some men always want to be in control of the house from the couch.
They issue orders to their wives and children to do things that they can do themselves. They are often sending one person or another on an errand like taking clothes to the laundry, something they can do themselves on their way to work, or getting some groceries from the streets. A close study of such men would reveal that, as kids, they grew up with a mentality of always wanting to be in control like their fathers. To them, anyone who fails to follow their orders is very disrespectful and that hurts their ego (Brownmiller 30). Procrastinating is another character of lazy men.
Everyone procrastinates, but lazy men have formed a habit of postponing dutiees to a later time without a good reason. They put their selfish interests before very important work that needs to be accomplished in time. These men will always defend themselves by giving excuses for evading work. Instead, they will promise to do the work at a particular date or time in the near future without commitment. This is very disappointing of lazy men as they delay others who would be relying on them for their contributions and helping hand (Cahn and June 101). The fact that men are lazy, therefore, cannot be disputed.
However, this is just a general stereotype. The truth is that not all men are lazy except for some. The modern time man needs to be all round. He should, apart from his job, be involved in other duties as well as domestic chores in order to support their families. This could be by giving their wives a helping hand with certain chores like cleaning, washing clothes or even dishes. Changing the babies’ nappies once in a while could go a long way in helping the baby’s mothers or the nannies occasionally.
Offering to drive the kids to school in the morning on their way to work is another way that I could use to relieve their wives of too much work (Brownmiller 42).In conclusion, men would in turn earn a lot of respect if they all changed their perspectives about certain duties. Women would start viewing them as responsible people who can be depended upon. Then the perceived notion that men are generally lazy would slowly fade away with time. Essentially, it is time to men to rise up to the occasion and become more responsible.
