To be a man should be easy!

It’s not easy to be a man is a cliché I have been made to internalize since childhood but going forward, I have come to realize that it was one of the many ways the men have employed to stay ahead of the women pack. At least it used to be true in the past but I think times have changed and it has ceased to apply.

In times past, women were housewives or helped out with family businesses and were mostly

excused because of their biological make up. Women take time off to breed babies, take time off during menstrual periods since most are characterized by sicknesses. They also take time off to take care of the house which in itself is a full time job; bathing two or more children at least twice a day, bathing and taking care of themselves to still look attractive and youthful for the men, do all the family laundry, make sure there is always food, patch every torn garment there is, make sure their men are sexually satisfied every time their libido requires to be attended to, keep the house clean and orderly and the list is endless.

In view of the foregoing it could also be argued that providence for the house exclusively became a man’s job. A man makes sure even against all odds that his family is well fed, they have a roof that wont leak which also dodouble as a chimney, a place to sleep, has to ensure that there is enough food for the household and solely responsible for their protection against any harm. The man is compelled to be the hero of the family, to take good decisions whose benefits will inure to the family’s benefit and the list again is exhaustive.

Fast forwarded to now and nothing has really changed except a subtle agitation in the women folk to really have a feel of what manhood feels like – acting and feeling like men, thus usurping most of their roles. Even though it smacks of pulling leverage, most women are now working in one form or the other to contribute in the upkeep of the house or to at least fend for themselves which used to be the preserve of the men. Most women are now educated and appreciably intelligent and are helping their husbands/men build empires.

And in spite of some limitations in their famed “what men can do, women can do better” mantra, which some of them like to brandish at every instance, it can be argued out that women work like their male counterparts and are exposed to every danger like everyone else. Their tendency to be damned by irresponsible men who are not men enough to take care of their own children and the crudeness they are exposed to when ruthless men rape them has even made them more endangered than the mythic Dinosaurs.

Aside the natural forces women have to face on every day basis, they also face discrimination in all forms. It is a known fact that women are harassed, intimidated and exploited for sex at work places and even at Churches. They are also beaten, abused, assaulted and subjected to all kinds of ordeal by men. It is also notable how the womenfolk are relegated to the back of the burner except for the new breed who would not allow these gender cards to be played in their faces – the Feminists.

Whereas, men are preferred than their female counterparts when it comes to employment, they are also faced with a glass ceiling that does not allow them to really climb the career ladder or rise to higher positions in their various endeavors - and while they are still being tagged as weak, panic-stricken, impatient in some cases, their mortality rate still stands higher than that of their male counterparts but I am yet to really hear them coin anything like being a woman is herculean or a curse.

So my question which has become the thrust of this write-up is, if women go through all of these things just to be accepted as women of good standing, why then would their male counterparts be shouting from the rooftops with Chinese megaphones reminding everybody how difficult it is to be a man? Is it to court the sympathy of the womenfolk who already have a lot on their plates?

In the face of all these oddities, methinks being a man is the easiest. I also think being a man should comparatively be easier because while at it, they don’t have to periodically bleed amidst agonizing pains in the middle of a meeting. Men also have an array of jobs to choose from that is why until now, when a woman ventures into a male dominated field, their profession is preceded by their gender such as Female Driver, Female Carpenter, Female Electrician, Female Boss et al.

Finally, I think it is time for the men to look at the positive sides of their gender and count themselves blessed by not pathetically clinging on to the cliché “to be a man is not easy” because I maintain that being a man should be easy by all means necessary at least while society is still patriarchal.

 writer tweets @vilejah