Male and Female Relations in Virginia Woolf’s Essay

Lily is also very much a product of society, yet she has new ideas for the role of women and produces one answer to the problems of gender power. Besides providing these examples of patriarchy, To The Lighthouse examines the tenacity of human relationships in general, producing a novel with twists, turns, problems, and perhaps a solution. Mrs. Ramsey is the perfect, patriarchal woman. She scarcely has an identity of her own. Her life is geared towards men: If he put implicit faith in her, nothing should hurt him; however deep he buried himself or climbed high, not for a second should he find himself without her. So boasting of her capacity to surround and protect, there was scarcely a shell of herself left for her to know herself by. (Woolf, Lighthouse 38). Identity is a strong desire in all humanity, yet in a patriarchal society it has been denied to women. Women who are owned by men are mere possessions, having no control over themselves and no way to develop their own personalities. Mrs. Ramsey needs people about her at all times because she has nothing internalized. She must create herself through other people. She is always bouncing off someone else, preferably a male who has power, yet needs her to keep that power. By gaining acceptance and love form those in power, Mrs. Ramsey creates a shadow of a self. Woolf says, â€Å"Not as oneself did one find rest ever, in her experience. Losing personality, one lost the fret, the furry , the stir† (Lighthouse 63). When alone Mrs. Ramsey must lose her personality because it is a show, a created essence which takes work to maintain. A symbol of this is apparent when Mrs. Ramsey covers the skull in her children’s room. She covers the reality with a veil, much like all men and women cover their true identity in order to play the role patriarchal society has given to them. Mrs. Ramsey even avoids looking at her own face in the mirror. Is it possible that she would not even recognize herself? I think, yes, because she does not have a fixed identity. She does not know who she is or what she really looks like. She must change in every situation, with every different man she is expected to support. Mrs. Ramsey supports these men in her life because that is the only way she can create an identity. Woolf suggests that even this support may be false. Of course it is false, because Mrs. Ramsey has no other choice. She cannot lose herself in her work like a man. Her work is to make men feel superior and this is ingrained in her mind. Of her husband we are told that, â€Å"She was not good enough to tie his shoe strings, she felt† (Woolf, Lighthouse 32). In spite of the power of men, To The Lighthouse suggests that many men feel sterile. Perhaps men are psychologically sterilized by power. Patriarchal men can form no equal relationships with women because they must always defend themselves. They cannot admit an equal into their life for fear of losing power. This could be why Mrs. Ramsey pitied men, â€Å"She pitied men always as if they lacked something. Women never, as if they had something† (Woolf, Lighthouse 85). The sense of sterility in men’s minds may also come form the biological fact that women are the childbearers. Nature has, in defiance of patriarchy, given women the central role in childbearing. At most, men are equals when it comes to having children. It seems as if Mr. Ramsey tries to disprove his sterility by having eight children. The fact remains, men are expendable when it comes to child bearing, and therefore they need to defend against this perpetual encroachment upon their power. The one man who is productive is Mr. Carmichael. It is interesting to note that he does not allow Mrs. Ramsey to support him. He refuses her and seems somewhat scared of perhaps falling back into the trap of patriarchal roles. Woolf tells us that Mr. Carmichael shrinks form Mrs. Ramsey and that, â€Å"she felt him wince. He did not trust her† (Lighthouse 40). Mr. Carmichael is productive because he does shrink away form Mrs. Ramsey and the sterilization that comes with the patriarchal relationships of men and women. Ms. Ramsey’s state of submission leads her to develop her power in other areas. Woolf suggests in fact, â€Å"that all this desire of hers to give, to help, was vanity. For her own self-satisfaction was it that she wished so instinctively to help, to give† (Lighthouse 41). Here Woolf implies that desire to give is a sort of vanity, a vanity that is control. Woolf also points out that, â€Å"Wishing to dominate, wishing to interfere, making people do what she wished. That was the charge against her, and she thought it most unjust† (Lighthouse 57). Of course Mrs. Ramsey should want to dominate in some arena. Men deny her control of her own life, so she reverts to subtle manipulation of others. John Stuart Mill states in The Subjection of Women, â€Å"[Women’s] power often gives her what she has no right to, but does not enable her to assert her own rights† (155). The power that Mrs. Ramsey cultivates is a perverted power created through the repression of their natural tendencies. She has no control over herself and therefore will try to control others, whom she really has no business trying to dominate. Mill also says of feelings: Women are schooled into suppressing them in their most natural and most healthy direction, but the internal principle remains, in a different outward form. An active and energetic mind, if denied liberty, will seek for power: refused the command of itself, it will assert its personality by attempting to control others. (213) When Mrs. Ramsey encourages Paul and Minta to marry, it is uncertain whether the union ever would have come about without her influence. The marriage does not succeed, not in the way Mrs. Ramsey would have envisioned. Her wish to dominate hurts others and herself. Eventually the struggle and lack of identity seem to cause Mrs. Ramsey’s death. She has to deal with all of the motional problems of family and friends, and she also deals with the day to day running of the household. Mills observes of married women, â€Å"she takes not only her fair share, but usually the larger share, of the bodily and mental exertion required by their joint existence† (164). Ramsey does not deal with the trivialities of family life, and goes into a rage at the expenses of running the house. Mrs. Ramsey had given. Giving, g iving, giving, she had died† (Woolf, Lighthouse 149). Mr. Ramsey portrays the evils of patriarchy on men. Women are not the only ones who are hurt. Mills says, â€Å"this power seeks out and evokes the latent germs of selfishness in the remotest corners of [men’s] nature† (153). Mr. Ramsey is extremely selfish. He belittles not only women , but also himself with the idea that he needs someone to praise him in order to be worthy. He is the empowerment one, but can only keep the power through the inferiority of others. Perhaps this need for superiority is also the cause of his raging attitude. Woolf’s description of Professor von X in A Room of One’s Own seems frighteningly accurate for Mr. Ramsey, â€Å"the professor was made to look very angry and ugly in my sketch, as he wrote his great book upon the mental, moral and physical inferiority of women† (Woolf 31). Both the professor and Mr. Ramsey are angry and must, in order to gain power through patriarchy, keep women in their inferior position. Woolf makes this point on power division very apparent in Mr. Ramsey’s worry about how good his books are. He is not satisfied with pleasing himself; he must be better than others to retain power. This power causes his isolation and psychological sterility. Woolf writes that, â€Å"the fatal sterility of the male plunged itself, like a beak of brass, barren and bare. He wanted sympathy† (Lighthouse 37). Woolf shows here one important fallacy inherent in the patriarchal system. It is odd that men believe in the inferiority of women, yet they rely on those inferior women to give them praise and sympathy. However, Mill observes that, â€Å"There is nothing which men so easily learn as this self-worship: all privileged persons, and all privileged classes, have had it† (158). Not only does Mr. Ramsey learn this self-worship, he has followers. Mrs. Ramsey and all women must kneel at his alter. His contemporaries and future intellectuals must admire his work. Even young men, like Charles Tansley, want to model themselves after Mr. Ramsey. Perhaps these young men only see the superior position of the patriarchal man; they certainly do not understand the implications of the sterility and anger that go with power. The many general comments about human relationships in Woolf’s novel point out the frailty and questionable nature of love and friendship in a patriarchal society. Woolf writes, â€Å"How then did it work out, all this? How did one judge people, think of them? How did one add up this and that and conclude that it was liking one felt, or disliking† (Lighthouse 24). Here Woolf highlights the almost ambiguous nature of liking. Any human trait may evoke many different emotions in people. Physical factors, such as distance, may also influence relationships. If a loved one is far away, a person may forget that loved one and let love or liking die a natural death. For Woolf, therefore, human relationships are rather inadequate. They are changing, and Woolf notes, â€Å"self-seeking, at best† (Lighthouse 42). Perhaps if the characters had more stable and defined self-identities, their relationships would be more true, without that self-seeking goal. Lily is also a product of the patriarchal society, yet she struggles to break out of the role assigned to her by men. Why she does this is not clear. She is an artist, and maybe she feels more deeply or sees more clearly than other women. Woolf seems to point out that women artists have difficult time in patriarchal society. In A Room of One’s Own, Woolf asks of women artists, â€Å"who shall measure the heat and violence of the poet’s heart when caught and tangled in a woman’s body? † (50). Lily is also taking care of her father, so probably her mother is dead. Maybe her mother has been dead for a long while, and Lily has had no submissive role model. Perhaps she just sees what this role does to women. Lily loves Mrs. Ramsey and it must hurt her to know Mrs. Ramsey has no self and must cater to men. In any case, Lily thinks often and deeply about the roles of men and women. Not only does Lily notice that Victorian, patriarchal society hurts Mrs. Ramsey, but she also notices that it negatively affects Mr. Ramsey. Lily thinks, â€Å"Could one help noticing that habits grew on him? Eccentricities, weaknesses perhaps? It was astonishing that a man of intellect could stoop as low as he did — but that was too harsh of a phrase — could depend so much as he did upon other people’s praise† (Woolf, Lighthouse 23). In a patriarchal society, the influence of men on women and women on men is a vicious circle. Lily tries to escape this game, yet time and time again she is drawn in, especially when she is around Mrs. Ramsey. Lily lies and is insincere in her attempts to placate the men around her. Lily, however, realizes her deceit and the harm it causes. She resists the male/ female role game and wonders, â€Å"But how would it be †¦ f neither of us did either of these things? † (Woolf, Lighthouse 91). When she is drawn in and lies, Lily only strengthens her resolve to resist this pressure in the future. She realizes the importance of relations and how these narrow, gender roles create false identities Woolf’s narrator underscores the fact that, â€Å"She had d one the usual trick — been nice. She would never know him. He would never know her† (Lighthouse 92). The difference in Lily is that she does have an identity. She does have work in her art. Lily does not need to be around other people because she is someone. She does not need to be externally created; she is real. With her unique identity, Lily is allowed unique ideas on relationships. She sees how men respond to Mrs. Ramsey, that the love men gave was to an idea or ideal, â€Å"love that never attempted to clutch its object; but, like the love which mathematicians bear their symbols, or poets their phrases† (Woolf, Lighthouse 47). Men loved this symbol of patriarchy. Mrs. Ramsey is to the patriarchal man what a symbol is to a mathematician or a phrase is to a poet. She is a symbol to men; men could not love Mrs. Ramsey as an individual because she does not exist. In her art, Lily creates what she herself sees, a representation of life through her own eyes. Lily is struck with the need to move her tree to the center of her painting. Lily thinks, â€Å"she need not marry, thank Heaven: she need not undergo that degradation. She was saved from that dilution. She would move the tree rather more to the middle: (Woolf, Lighthouse 102). Lily will not â€Å"dilute† herself by joining with a man. Lily decides to be autonomous, as Woolf tells us that, â€Å"she would move the tree to the middle, and need never marry anybody, and she had felt an enormous exultation† (Lighthouse 176). Moving the tree symbolizes the oneness of Lily. She is not going to be united with a man. She is going to keep her identity and fix it in the middle of her painting, her representation of life. Still, Lily feels the urge to comfort Mr. Ramsey after Mrs. Ramsey had died. She decides to give him what she can because, as a woman, she fees guilt about causing his need. In order for patriarchy to perpetuate, women have been brainwashed and inundated with the belief that they re placed on earth to support men. If a woman ever tries to rebel against patriarchy, the guilt is inevitable. Lily thinks of Mr. Ramsey’s pleas for sympathy, † A woman, she had provoked this horror; a woman, she should have known how to deal with it† (Woolf, Lighthouse 152). But Lily, in her strength, overcomes the guilt and refuses to play the game f patriarchy, and Mr. Ramsey cannot play the game alone. Lily and Mr. Ramsey’s relationship may be uncomfortable, but it certainly is an improvement for male/female relationships. Lily notes that she has, â€Å"reduced their relationship to something neutral, without that element of sex in it which made his manner to Minta so gallant, almost gay† (Woolf, Lighthouse 170). Perhaps the discomfort is caused by the breaking of tradition, the lace of power on Mr. Ramsey’s part and the empowerment of Lily. After denying Mr. Ramsey comfort, when he is sailing to the lighthouse, Lily thinks, â€Å"Whatever she had wanted to give him, when he left her that morning, she had given him at last† (Woolf, Lighthouse). Lily has given Mr. Ramsey the freedom from patriarchy. She did not let him fall into the trap of making a woman praise him. Without that false worship, Mr. Ramsey will be forced to develop his identity based on reality, and Lily and all women will be forced to develop an identity separated from men. With these thoughts, Lily is able to secure her own identity by drawing a line in the center of her painting, and secure her own identity by drawing a line in the center of her painting and secure her personality in life. To The Lighthouse offers this look at human relationships with a promise of bettering those relations through change. Even today there are strong remnants of patriarchy dominating society. Men consistently climb higher in management and receive higher pay for equal jobs. This novel shows both men and women suffering and struggling with societal roles.

Research Paper on Office Etiquette

Midterm Research Paper on Office Etiquette BUSI 472 Organizational Ethics Dr. Jack Brown, Professor Bill Williams Stop University April 17, 2010 As I get close to graduation, I think more about the skills I've developed here at Liberty University which one of most important skills is respect and consideration for coworkers. Office etiquette fosters leadership, quality of your business and enhances your career. Without proper office etiquette, you risk your image, limit your potential, and jeopardize relationships, which are fundamental to business success. Office etiquette is formally perceived as good manners, business executives have found that office etiquette enhances their success because it differentiates them in an aggressive market. Good office etiquette will allow you to be confident in a variety of situations. Before going any further in the discussion of the importance of office etiquette we should clarify the question. â€Å"What exactly is office etiquette? † This question can differ from person to person because of the perception of what office etiquette is. After reading the text I have come to the conclusion that office etiquette is about how to conducting yourself respectfully and courteously in your office. Some things to come up with that people overlook when it comes office etiquette. The first impression is probably the most important, because you are the ambassador of your office. You always should act professionally and honestly, wearing appropriate office attire, and being neat, clean and as conservative as the office requires. The attributes of office etiquette and good manners is to be respected and courteous at all times and everybody, good office etiquette is easily achieved with a little forethought and in practice.

Positive Links Hope and Hapiness

As I read the article â€Å"Positive Links Hope and Happiness† by Jerry Lopper, my minds starts to wonder. What am I thinking about? I am wondering about the word â€Å"Hope. † I always say this to myself: without hope there would not be life. The article is about the function of hope in happiness, how hope and optimism are related, and how hope can determine academic success. In addition, the article also states that hope can be learned. Psychologist researchers study the role of hope in happiness. The psychologist researchers find out that it is very important and it adds a lot of aspects to people wellbeing. I agree with the author; many times when I feel sad, it is like my body cannot function. I remember one day, my mom left to go to America. I and my sisters were very sad. Often times, I would wonder if I will ever see her again. I had no hope and that took a toile on my life. First, I started cutting class at school. After, I started getting in a lot of trouble in my neighborhood. If I had had hope, maybe those things would have never happened to me. In the article, Mr. Lopper says hope and optimism are slightly different. Optimism perspective focuses on the positive in life. On the other hand, hope focuses on specific things in life. Mr. Lopper states that they are co-related with happiness. Mr. Lopper also states that famous motivational writer by the name of Dale Carnegie, identified that â€Å"most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. † I like those words, listening to it motivates me. I am going to achieve all my goals even if it seems impossible. One of my goals is to be a doctor. Even though at this very moment, it seems impossible; I know I can do it. I am going to have high measures of hope. In the article it says, people with high measure of hope have the ability to endure twice as much pain than people without hope. The good thing about hope, it can be learned. In a small study done by Ohio state university, the study places participants in a therapy session. They teach the participants skills that they believe are similar to hope. When participants are compared with people that are not in a therapy group, they possess significant measures of self-esteem, life meaning and anxiety. In conclusion, all of life challenges can be overcome if you have hope. I am going to leave this with people; without hope there is no life.

Week-5 Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week-5 - Case Study Example In Islamic religion, it is easy to exploit this form of sympathy among the faithful and turn them into extremists who fight other countries primarily for religious disparity, not oppression2. The first attribute of sacred terrorism is that the act is sacramental. The brutal acts against nonbelievers are allowed by the religion despite the religion denouncing violence. Therefore, the terrorist acting on religious imperatives are not bound by moral constrains. The final characteristic is that the perpetrators of these acts view themselves as outsiders seeking the overhaul of a bad system. This is contrary to secular terrorists that regard themselves as a system that need overhaul3. The above characteristics are linked to Jewish groups, Christian white supremacist groups, and cults. The group alienates themselves from the system they seek to destroy based on religious imperatives. Additionally, they view their actions as sacred despite leading to enormous destruction and bloodshed. Characteristics that exist among the Islamic terrorist are replicated in the three groups mentioned

Evaluate the potential effectiveness of ECB's monetary policy decision Essay

Evaluate the potential effectiveness of ECB's monetary policy decision on the recent quantitative easing programme within the Rurozone economy - Essay Example le tend to borrow less thus decreasing consumption of goods and services in the market as the income in household decreases, this reduces the rate of demand of goods and services making unemployment a major issue as people are retrenched and companies do not employ people (Tenreyro, 2008). This in turn affects the GDP of the country negatively. This paper focuses on the Eurozone and the effects of the Quantitative Easing policy introduced by the European Central Bank. The Eurozone is a term used to refer to all the countries that use the Euro as their means of trade within Europe. It compromises of 17 countries which are Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Finland, Spain, Slovenia, Portugal, Slovakia, Italy, Malta, Cyprus, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Estonia, Greece and Ireland (Gunyà ©, 2004), each with very different economies. Some are developed while others are struggling to find their place in the market making it very difficult to have a one size policy that’s fits all. Some countries like Germany do have a stronger economy (Anderson, 2012) compared to others like Greece that have a developing or not very well established economy. These countries within the Eurozone like all other countries have their central bank named the European Central bank which was established in 1998 to regulate prices of commodities espe cially equities through making monetary policies for countries within the Eurozone (Dominguez, 2006). The first monetary policy effected by the Euro zone in 2008 (Erà §etin, 2014) leading to a euro crisis as the ECB increased the rates of borrowing making achieving loans for financiers of firms or clients very difficult (Ciro, 2013). This lead to fewer consumption of goods and services by consumers that affected the demand curve as consumption reduced which eventually lead to inflation. This ended up affecting the rate of the currency the Euro as domestically produced goods became more expensive than the imports also affecting inflation, unemployment

Discuss Augustines understanding of the relation between human loves Essay

Discuss Augustines understanding of the relation between human loves and the love of God, with particular focus on his experience of the death of his friend (described in Book IV of the Confessions) - Essay Example He emphasized loving the earthling and the immortal was same. God resided in the very heart of humans which stirred love. â€Å"Self love and love of others coincide with love of God when inserted into the ordered hierarchy of loves† (Cavadini and Fitzgerald, 29) Augustine opposed self love and termed it as evil, which misguides humans taking them in the opposite direction of the eternal power. For him human existence was a struggle where one copes with sin and salvation. The triumph over salvation could be achieved only through divine grace. For Augustine the concept of proper love was always directed to God as he believed that the very thought of love was incited by God himself. â€Å"All we can do is to love God, who is love, for God’s sake.†(Boeve, Schrijvers, Stoker and Vroom, 279) Loving fellow human beings in the right spirit was equal to loving God with full dedication of soul, heart and mind. Augustine implied the desire to find one’s inner self was synonym to the desire of attaining proximity with the Almighty. Yearning to love one’s fellow being was equal to the desire to love God. Augustine’s theory of love was inspired by Neo-Platonist tradition which encouraged the thought that love was a creation of God in which human participation was very essential for the welfare of humanity. God was the ultimate finishing point and love provided the path to reach that goal. â€Å"The ultimate vocation of the Christian then is grow in his or her relationship to God. The self must learn how to abandon itself for the sake of participating more and more in God’s love.† (Boeve, Schrijvers, Stoker and Vroom, 279) This understanding of love is called kenotic view. Augustine perceived love as the rescue boat which transports the fallen human beings to God’s grace. The underline of this thought was the relation shared between a human and God was a central relation,

Public Finance(please pick a topic) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Public Finance(please pick a topic) - Essay Example High government levels manage broad tax bases preeminently. In case the subnational governments become essential suppliers of goods and services, higher level jurisdictions are supposed to share a given amount of their incomes with these subnational governments. This enables bridging the gap between incomes and spending organized locally (Wildasin, 123). When budgets are supposed to be balanced, various constraints might result in subnational spending. According to Wildasin (125), the first constraint is the capacity of income rising of these subnational governments becomes limited. The second limitation is the occurrence of horizontal and vertical income sharing. Tax effectiveness grounds determine the optimal size of these subnational governments. The conformations of subnational incomes play a vital role in determining autonomy level over the expenditure management that the subnational governments enjoy. For example, mobilization of the local revenue is enhanced when essential tax bases are controlled by the subnational governments. This enables these governments to take legitimacy over using these resources and managing them to their needs and preferences (Wildasin, 126). Subnational governments are expected to reduce their spending management autonomy when there is reliance on revenue sharing, used in financing subnational spending that can be vertical or horizontal. In addition, fiscal decentralization may be more than delegation (Wildasin, 128). Additionally, subnational governments turn out to be spending agents of higher government levels that have inadequate decision making autonomy over the ways public funds are used up. The advantage of distribution in expenditure management is increased accountability and transparency in service delivery. This is by bringing the spending done by the public sector nearer the taxpayers. Wildasin (130) states that policy making autonomy over shared incomes enables

Lessening Secondhand Smoke on Children Research Paper - 3

Lessening Secondhand Smoke on Children - Research Paper Example entable deaths around the world and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke has some adverse effects on the people adoption of strategies to reduce this form of some would include the following interventions. Creating smoking bans and restrictions within certain places. This would involve the implementation of policies and regulations which are aimed at limiting or controlling the use of tobacco within designated areas. These approaches are strongly effective based on the scientific evidence regarding exposure to ETS. This also has some effects on reducing the amount of smoke within the environment since some people become deterred from smoking. Conducting community education among the parents and teachers about the relevance of reducing smoking. This will be undertaken in seeking to create awareness on the various individuals, including children, regarding the positive outcomes of reduced smoking. The education intervention with motivate individuals to modify their smoking behaviours in the effort to reduce the ETS. Tobacco use initiation is described as the behaviours by individuals, who were non-smokers to begin smoking. Different intervention can be undertaken to reduce their initiation and they include the following. Increasing the price of tobacco products – this is a legislative measure which seeks to increase the prices so that people become deterred from using these products. Although there are various factors which affect the possibility of people smoking, the cost factors plays a fundamental role to this effect since people must consider their costs. Mass media campaigns – these can be combined within other interventions, like education to the general public. These campaigns are focused at providing information to the general public regarding the importance of living a tobacco free lifestyle. Formative research must be undertaken in order to determine the message which will be delivered in these campaigns and determine the target population for

Project Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 5

Project Management - Essay Example Enterprise holdings has positioned itself as one of the leading transport companies in the world but is facing increasing competition. This calls for constantly enhancing the capacity of its workforce so that they can deliver quality services that exceed the customer’s expectations and overcome the challenges in the transport industry. Objectives The following objectives will guide the project team in achieving the mission of this this project and ultimately contributing to the success of Enterprise holdings at different phases of the project implementation cycle: 1. To review and evaluate current training in the Northwest. 2. To develop and expand the training initiative to all branches of Enterprise holdings in the United Kingdom. 3. To develop an effective training curriculum and training programmes to be used by Enterprise holdings in the United Kingdom. 4. To train all Enterprise holdings staff on emerging trends in the transport industry. While these are the pre-set obje ctives, the successful implementation of the project could also lead to other unforeseen objectives and benefits. Stakeholder analysis A project of this magnitude requires the participation of qualified personnel from outside the company with the necessary expertise and experience. ... Participating in monitoring and evaluating the success of the employee training program. Trainers Developing the training content as well as facilitating the training of employees Enterprise holdings Provision of training venues and equipment as well as financing the training exercise. Professionals in the transport industry Identification of aspects of emerging trends and practises in the industry that the staff need to be trained on. Employees To identify areas where they need to be trained on and to attend the training sessions. Project coordinator Leading the project team in planning, implementing and monitoring the training exercise. Also documents and reports on project activities. External monitoring and evaluation expert In collaboration with the project team, he will assist in determining if the objectives of the project have been met and making recommendations on areas that may require additional training. All the identified stakeholders will be contacted in time and will b e engaged in developing the implementation plan for the project. Measuring success Regular assessments will be made to know if the project is on course to achieving its goals. A combination of tools and techniques such as observation check list, questionnaires and interview guides will be used in determining the success of the program. The success of the employee training programs will be measured through a monitoring and evaluation exercise at different stages of the project. This will make it necessary for appropriate modifications to be made on the project implementation if it is determined that the project is not on course to achieving its goals and

Launching Brazilian Carnival Coffee in the USA Term Paper

Launching Brazilian Carnival Coffee in the USA - Term Paper Example Talking in more broader terms, it can be said that from the benefits point of view, right from the early days of this decade, there has been a tremendous boom in technology with the evolution and widespread diffusion of internet connectivity which has significantly helped in the process of eliminating the difference arising from geographical barriers as well as regional time differences. This has automatically led to the rise in competition in various market places around the world, since the countries have become easily available to operate and work with, because of the high level of secured connectivity provided through the usage of various technological devices connected through the internet. On the challenge perspective, it can be said that due to the ease of access to various countries around the globe, business organizations of various countries around the world are focusing on the process of expanding their business processes around the world and thereby achieve significant gr owth in the business process. Talking in that particular aspect, it can be said that the increasing interest of various multinational organizations around the world to enter in newer markets which provides significant growth potential in future is resulting to the opening of various markets by the process of lowering of interest rates, which is helping in attracting foreign investments in the emerging and newer markets. This factor along with various other economical, social and physical factors which are focused in the process of attracting investments is playing a direct role in the rise of challenges for operating in new environments and markets. While talking about entering new markets, it can be said that there is a culture factor that plays a major role in the process of determining the probability of success for a product in a particular market. Talking from the culture point of view, it can be said that as a result of the prolonged economic crisis of the West, which continue s to hamper the economic prospects of US by the process of slowing of demand of products and services, the population of the US is focusing on working overtime as well as balancing multiple jobs in an attempt to manage their cost expenses as well as maintain their lifestyle in these challenging times (*). As a natural fact, the population of US is highly dependent on a stimulating drink, which will help them in giving more output, and thereby will be ability to increase individual productivity. From the statistical aspect, it can be said that the US has a population of over 313,000,000 (Cia.gov, 2012). Talking in terms of defining coffee consumption trends in the US, it can be said that over 50% of the entire population of US are dependent on some variants of coffee, which makes up an essential part of their daily life (Harvard School of Public Health, 2009). The coffee consumption in the US has increased over 7% on a year on year basis in the year 2012 (ncausa.org b, 2012). Apart f rom the realization of the various health related benefits that coffee consumers gets, the increase in coffee consumption in the US market can be further attached to the process of increased coffee intake of coffee consumers belonging to the Hispanic communities of the US (ncausa a.org, 2012). Analyzing the country in terms of customs laws that will be applicable for the purpose of importing and international sourcing of coffee in the US, it can

Health Care Careers Diagram and Summary Essay Example for Free

Health Care Careers Diagram and Summary Essay The role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in healthcare has become one of the main lifelines in the industry. The CIO is the most important person within an organization in regards to the collecting, organization, monitoring and securing of data. The CIO is a critical member of the executive leadership team. Charged with developing the organization’s strategy, he or she is responsible for leading the IT staff and ensuring overall compliance with all regulatory requirements. The CIO is also responsible for keeping up-to-date with the latest technology trends as well as threats and being able to adapt the organization’s strategy to mitigate those threats. The CIO also facilities and drives change within the organization (Glaser Williams, 2010). The CIO is responsible for establishing and maintaining many key relationships within an organization’s leadership team. They work to provide valuable input that helps shape the entire organization’s vision and path to success. The CIO reports consistently on the progress and development of all information technology (IT) projects, issues, and tasks. â€Å"They are the brain of the business-body, monitoring and regulating all the data that passes through. Without CIOs, a healthcare company would collapse under the weight of unprocessed information.† (Becoming a Healthcare CIO (Chief Information Officer), 2012) The CIO focuses on updating and optimizing existing systems while utilizing new systems effectively and efficiently. They are also responsible for updating and maintaining capabilities, strengthening policies and reworking procedures on a daily basis. The CIO is the front line of defense for protecting the organization against fraud and abuse, as well as securing all electronic patient health information (ePHI). The role of the CIO has evolved as the health care industry has faced changes with the dependency on  information technology. Figure 1. Chief Information Officer’s responsibilities within a health care organization. As shown in Figure 1, a health care CIO faces many challenges on a day-to-day basis. These challenges are in the form of maintaining existing systems, optimizing new systems, and protecting PHI. The role of the CIO will continue to evolve as the health care system changes and the dependency and regulations surrounding the role of information technology increase. References Becoming a Healthcare CIO (Chief Information Officer). (2012). Retrieved from HealthcareAdministration.com: http://www.healthcareadministration.com/becoming-a-healthcare-cio-chief-information-officer/ Glaser, J. P., Williams, R. B. (2010). The Definitive Evolution of the Role of the CIO. Journal of Healthcare Information management, 21(1), 9-11. Retrieved from http://www.himss.org/files/HIMSSorg/content/files/03_column_Leadership.pdf

English poet Essay Example for Free

English poet Essay William Shakespeare was baptised in 26 April, 1564 and died in 23 April, 1616. He was an English poet and playwright, widely known as the greatest writer in the English language. He is often called Englands national poet. His surviving works consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor and writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeares private life survived, such matters as his physical appearance, sexuality, religion, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others. Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies (romances).Romeo and Juliet is the famous romantic tragedy of sexually charged adolescence, love, and death. Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the 19th century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeares genius, and the Victorians worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw.

Arabs And Islam In The Mass Media Media Essay

Arabs And Islam In The Mass Media Media Essay The perception of Arabs and Islam throughout history has been influenced by the political elite, the mass media and the Hollywood film industry. .Arabs and Muslims have always been represented as one in popular discourse when in fact the majority of Muslims are not of Arab background. This paper will demonstrate the stereotypes and generalisation by examining Hollywood films in the 20th century. Juan Cole a professor of modern Middle East and South Asian history says I think Anti-Arab racism profiling has become respectable. Islam has always been a contentious issue brought up by the media often linked with terrorism, extremism and the widespread notion that conflict between the Arab Muslims and the West is inevitable. These stereotypes and generalisations have been around for the many centuries in particular throughout the 20th century in the Western world through one of the main drivers which is visual media. According to a poll completed by the Washington Post in 2006, forty-six percent of Americans have a negative view of Islam; these statistics are higher than the polls that were held in 2001 after the events of September 11. In the same article the Washington Post mentions that conservative and liberal experts believe that the attitudes created towards Islam are fuelled in part by political statements and media reports that focus almost solely on the actions of Muslim extremists. In the West, mainstream media does not provide an accurate representation of Muslims that represents their ethnic, racial, cultural and national diversity. It means that a majority of the Western world do not understand the multi cultural and diversity of the Muslims due to what they see in the films and the mass media. Michael France the Vice President of government relations for the Conservative Heritage Foundation states that Political leaders do not help the problem by sometimes using language that links all Muslims with extremists. In his quote he acknowledges the fact there is a problem, this problem is a result of what people see in the media of Arabs and Islam. There is a tendency in the media to focus on one aspect of Islam. Consequently, when the only representation of Muslims in the mass media is as terrorists or extremists, and there is minimal focus on the lives of the ordinary mainstream Muslims, consumers of the media begin to shape their opinions of Islam and Muslims through extremism and terrorism. Similarly the Middle East, Islam and Arabs are all characterised as one and not distinguished. It is very problematic to view and understand a vast and complex region such as the Middle East through such a selected and distorted guise. It takes away the humanity and diversity of millions of ordinary people living decent and humane lives. These unrealistic representations also have the ability to put fear in people, causing all Muslims and all Arabs, irrespective of their reli gion, to be perceived as threats. There has been a consistent pattern of Arab stereotypes throughout the 20th century. These stereotypes are mainly conveyed through cinema. Hollywood has a tendency of projecting those of Middle Eastern appearance as villains and associate them with certain stereotypes. These stereotypes include the oil rich Arabs who are too dumb to know the value of money and are trying to buy chunks of America, exotic woman wearing see through dresses belly dancing, the magic flying carpet and one of the most common stereotypes which is the Arab terrorist that hates America. Yet, despite these perceptions that are revealed within the films they are also far extended to cartoons that are created for the younger viewers. A great example of this is Aladdin (1992), directed by John Musker  and  Ron Clements. The film was seen by millions of viewers world wide. In this film they have recycled every stereotype that goes back to the start of film that was originally inspired by the arts of the Orient. The opening seen of Aladdin, being with a song which contain the lyrics Oh, I come from a land, a faraway place, Where the caravan camels roam, were they cut of your ears, if they dont like your face, its barbaric, but hey its home. For a film that is specifically aimed towards the younger generations, this dialogue is not only inappropriate but discriminates against all Arabs in general. In comparison if such vile words was to be directed towards another kind it would be deemed unacceptable by society. Carl Ernst, Chair of religion studies at the University of North Carolina quoted In the movies Arabs are the equivalent of Hollywood Indians. Out of every film ever made in the 20th century, nearly 25% of them have demeaned and generalised Arabs as being all the same and as just one thing. This reflects on the preconceived notion of the Western worlds perception of Arabs that is widely held. Furthermore, political views have also been expressed in many films such as the 1996 film Cast a Giant Shadow (1996) directed by Melville Shavelson where one of the main characters refers to the state of Israel and quotes Now here is a country surrounded by 5 Arab nations ready to shove them in the Mediterranean, no guns, no tanks, no nothing, people fighting with their bare hands for little piece of desert. Another famous movie Death before dishonour (1982) directed by Terry Leonard, Palestinian terrorists, invade a house and in cold blood slaughters an Israeli family. His film has scenes of American soldiers being kidnapped and horrifically tortured by Palestinian terrorists, and mobs of Arab protestors with beards and head turbans outside the American embassy burning the American flag. The film company Cannon, created by two Israeli producers Gholam and Globus in their 20 years at least 30 of their films vilifies all things Arab, in particular Palestinians. Many political policies and propaganda are reflected through cinema. Jack Valenti who was the president of the Motion Picture Association of America for 38 years said that Washington and Hollywood sprung from the same DNA. To solidify the connections between politics and Hollywood all that is needed is to look at many of the Hollywood films which state produced in cooperation with the department of defence. We see all these things that demonise and stereotypes Arabs and Muslims as being this one thing and the generalisation of one quarter of the worlds population. Bruce Lawrence a professor of Religion at Duke University says the media is still representing Muslim images as that of forty years ago when the majority of Muslims were Arabs. When people think of the Middle East many people are inclined to have a pre-conceived notion of what kind of people live their, their beliefs and culture without having been there or studied them or even know someone from there. The Western world seems to look at the Middle East through a camera that distorts the actual reality of those places and those people. They have an unrealistic representation formed by the media and popular culture that tends to form stereotypical views and prevent cross-cultural understanding. Perceptions of any race or ethnicity can affect decisions regarding them. This is evident due to the impact of peoples opinions. The way people think and form their opinions can be significantly influenced by what they see in the mass media. The opinions that people have had on certain events and affairs in the past and present have greatly impacted the outcomes. During the Vietnam War, America was in Vietnam as an authority but the general public opinion of the Americans was incomplete disagreement with the government. This eventually resulted in Americas withdrawal from Vietnam. Public opinion has proven itself to have been the cause of many significant and vital decisions made throughout the worlds history till present. The main reason that these perceptions are so effective especially in the case of Arabs and Muslims is a result of the twenty two Arab nations that have allowed themselves to be orientalised and to have continued with the way they are depicted by the West of them all being alike. This is due to the fact that they are in need of Americas support so they are not going to be criticising the West or engage themselves in proper dialogue anytime soon. In that respect the Arabs keep themselves in a way that collectively fulfils the kinds of representations that most westerners have in their minds about them which strengthens all these generalisations and stereotypes within Western societies and seem to people to be the truth about Arabs and Islam. Causes of these perspectives that we receive from the mass media also come down to the difficulties in receiving different perspectives from different news sources when they are owned by a small minority of individually owned giant corporations. T he major corporations in America own eighty percent of the television sector of the media. Viacom owns CBS, NBC owns Electric; Walt Disney owns ABC and News Corporation owns the Fox Broadcasting Company. These small amounts of major corporations have turned the media in to a monopolistic industry and as a result the majority of Americans are receiving limited views and perceptions. The stereotypes and generalisation of any race and ethnicity is very problematic especially in the case of Arab countries where a major proportion of the international key issues throughout the 20th century have revolved around them and their influences. Its the consistency of these stereotypes and perceptions of Arabs and Islam throughout history that has made these stereotypes so harmful. People are capable of subconsciously believing in them which manipulates the way that they perceive Arabs and Islam.

Germany and Outbreak of WWI Essay -- History World War I

Throughout time wars have ended with the defeat of one force and the victory of another, those on the side of defeat almost always being held accountable for the destruction these wars produce. This is undoubtedly the case with post WWI Germany, burdened with defeat and forced to sign the treaty of Versailles, thus taking responsibility for the war. Although blamed for the war, it is still a highly controversial question between historians if the Germans were truly responsible for WWI. However when studying the actions of Germany as a nation and its leaders in the years leading up to the war, one can see it is quite accurate to say Germany was responsible for the outbreak of World War One. Germany had been creating tensions since the days of Bismarck's alliances, and so when Kaiser Wilhelm ascended to the throne in 1888 and wanted to make Germany a great world power and have â€Å"a place in the sun† adopting a policy of ‘weltpolitik’1, German creation of pre-wa r tensions and advocacy of a war drove the rest of Europe into WWI with them in 1914. The nation of Germany can be held largely accountable for the outbreak of WWI solely because they laid the foundation for this war long before a world war was in view. Throughout the years leading up to the war, Germany's actions contributed to the tensions that would eventually erupt in war. By the year 1914, the countries of Europe had established such alliances with each other so that to ensure any conflict between two countries would result in a collective conflict involving all the great powers of Europe. This extensive alliance system would not have even been conceived if Germany had not initiated it; â€Å"The division of Europe into two armed camps took place by slow stages over a perio... ...: Britain, Germany, and the coming of the Great War. New York: Random House, 1991.226 10Morrow, John Howard. The Great War an imperial history. London: Routledge, 2004. 27. 11"First World War.com - Primary Documents - Germany's 'Blank Cheque' to Austria-Hungary, 6 July 1914." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 19 Nov. 2010 . 12Marshall, S. L. A. World War I. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. 35. 13Tucker, Spencer, and Priscilla Mary. Roberts. World War I: encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2005. 15. 14Morrow, John Howard. The Great War an imperial history. London: Routledge, 2004. 27 15"First World War.com - Feature Articles - The Causes of World War One." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. 19 Nov. 2010 .

Essay --

Table of Contents Page TITLE PAGE i APPROVAL SHEET ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY iii RECOMMENDATION FOR ON-THE-JOB-TRAINING iv ACKNOWLEDGMENT v Chapter 1 : Company Background 1.1 History 1 1.2 Vision 2 1.3 Mission 3 1.4 Ministry Goals 3 1.5 Organizational Structure 4 1.6 Functions of the officers 5 1.7 Related Industries 6 1.8 Location Map 6 Chapter 2 : Narration of Experiences 2.1 Practicum Orientation 7 2.2 Overall Program Objective 7 2.3 Importance of Job Training 8 2.4 Training Benefits 8 2.5 Practicum Experience 9 2.6 Scope of Work 11 2.7 Objectives of Work to be Accomplished 12 Chapter 3 : Evaluation of Practicum Experiences 3.1 Insight gained from all phases of OJT 13 3.2Problems Encountered 13 3.3 Solutions Offered 14 3.4 Recommendation 14 3.5 Conclusion 14 Chapter 4 : Detailed Weekly Reports 1- Activity 1 15 2- Activity 2 16 3- Activity 3 17 4- Activity 4 18 Appendices Endorsement Letter Application Letter Acceptance Letter Certificate of Completion .. ...urs Tuesday 5/11/2013 Normal Duties in Controlling and Analyzing in Budget. 7 Hours Wednesday 6/11/2013 Normal Duties in Controlling and Analyzing in Budget. 7 Hours Thursday 7/11/2013 Staff assistant in the Controlling and Analyzing in Budget. 6:30 Hours Sunday 10/11/2013 Staff assistant in the Controlling and Analyzing in Budget. 7 Hours Activity 4 10/11/2013 to 18/11/2013 Day Date Daily Accomplishments Working Hours Sunday 10/11/2013 Staff assistant in the Controlling and Analyzing in Budget. 7 Hours Monday 11/11/2013 Normal Duties in Controlling and Analyzing in Budget. 7 Hours Tuesday 12/11/2013 Filing new-old Documents+ Budget Insert in the system. 7 Hours Sunday 17/11/2013 Normal Duties in Controlling and Analyzing in Budget. 7 Hours Monday 18/11/2013 Staff assistant in the Controlling and Analyzing in Budget. 7 Hours

Black Like Me: A Cultural Book Report :: Black Like Me Essays

John Howard Griffin was a journalist and a professional on race issues. After publication, he became a leading advocate in the Civil Rights Movement and did much to promote awareness of the racial situation sand pass legislature. He was middle aged and living in Mansfield, Texas at the time of publication in 1960. His desire to know if Southern whites were racist against the Negro population of the Deep South, or if they really judged people based on the individual's personality as they said. Because of this he felt that they had encouraged him to cross the color line and write Black Like Me. Plot:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Black Like Me is the story of a man named John Howard Griffin, who underwent a series of medical treatments to change his skin color temporarily to black; a transformation that was complete when John Howard Griffin shaved off his hair, and looking in the mirror, saw a bald, middle-aged black man. The reason he does this is for an experiment to see how racism was in the Deep South from personal experience. From November 6th to December 14th in the early 60's, he hitchhiked, walked, and rode through Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia. After three weeks in the Deep South as a black man John Howard Griffin produced a journal covering his change into the black race, his travels and experiences in the South, the shift back into white society, and the reaction of those he knew prior his experience. The book was published and released. The reaction on the society differed in great ammounts. Characterization:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Howard Griffin is the main character in the story. Throughout the story, this person displayed many qualities. He showed determination because he was bound and determined to become a black man so he could expose the truth about the Deep South and how racist they were. He also showed courage, for being able to pull through and do the things he did, such as become a whole new person of another race and going into dangerous territory where he knew he wasn't really welcomed. He also displayed a sense of dignity, because after he was done with this experiment, he was threatened several times and even burned in effigy in his hometown, but he still maintained his ground as long as he could. And last, but not least, he showed us a sense of hope, because no matter what, even in the darkest times, he would still keep at least a small bit of hope in him. Black Like Me: A Cultural Book Report :: Black Like Me Essays John Howard Griffin was a journalist and a professional on race issues. After publication, he became a leading advocate in the Civil Rights Movement and did much to promote awareness of the racial situation sand pass legislature. He was middle aged and living in Mansfield, Texas at the time of publication in 1960. His desire to know if Southern whites were racist against the Negro population of the Deep South, or if they really judged people based on the individual's personality as they said. Because of this he felt that they had encouraged him to cross the color line and write Black Like Me. Plot:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Black Like Me is the story of a man named John Howard Griffin, who underwent a series of medical treatments to change his skin color temporarily to black; a transformation that was complete when John Howard Griffin shaved off his hair, and looking in the mirror, saw a bald, middle-aged black man. The reason he does this is for an experiment to see how racism was in the Deep South from personal experience. From November 6th to December 14th in the early 60's, he hitchhiked, walked, and rode through Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia. After three weeks in the Deep South as a black man John Howard Griffin produced a journal covering his change into the black race, his travels and experiences in the South, the shift back into white society, and the reaction of those he knew prior his experience. The book was published and released. The reaction on the society differed in great ammounts. Characterization:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  John Howard Griffin is the main character in the story. Throughout the story, this person displayed many qualities. He showed determination because he was bound and determined to become a black man so he could expose the truth about the Deep South and how racist they were. He also showed courage, for being able to pull through and do the things he did, such as become a whole new person of another race and going into dangerous territory where he knew he wasn't really welcomed. He also displayed a sense of dignity, because after he was done with this experiment, he was threatened several times and even burned in effigy in his hometown, but he still maintained his ground as long as he could. And last, but not least, he showed us a sense of hope, because no matter what, even in the darkest times, he would still keep at least a small bit of hope in him.

Case Management Essay

Workflow, Business Process Management and the management of Unstructured Documents Plethora of unstructured documents such as text documents, spreadsheets, images, XML components, videos, podcasts, email messages that exists around in a large enterprise and it represents the enterprise’s information assets. The problem is that in today’s competitive environment there is an ever increasing generation and use of unstructured electronic documents. It has become highly imperative that there has to be an enterprise wide lifecycle management of these documents which can enable the workers to access the documents in a relative business context. Many product companies and experts dealing in the area of content management and business process management have proposed that a semantic relation is to be derived between documents and business domain. Thus, the semantic network that eventually gets formed will result in efficient search and filtering of these unstructured documents. Types of data: Structured and unstructured data People use and create unstructured data on daily basis. Although they may not be aware, people create, store, retrieve unstructured data in the form of emails, word documents, excel spreadsheets and other forms. The unstructured content has no data type as such so it requires human intervention to tag the data with some relevant keywords and meta tags so that it can be read by machines and applications. Structured data is also being used by people and such data is easily managed by technology being allowed for querying and reporting as the data type is predetermined and relationships are explicit. There are two categories of unstructured data: 1) Bitmap Objects: Images, videos, audio and other non-language based files 2) Textual Objects: Word documents, Spreadsheets, Emails and other written or printed language documents Most of these object types can’t be tapped easily to extract relevant information by technology or methodology as technology today can only address textual objects. With the advent of technologies like Enterprise Content Management (ECM), it has become possible to address unstructured data. Data mining and other analysis tools exist to query and analyze structured data. However, the challenge remains in bringing both the worlds of structured and unstructured data together. Once when they are brought together is when the most value can be derived and gained but this is where the highest level of challenge exists. Few challenges are listed below: 1) Irrespective of having the data in a word document format it may not be consumable from a semantic level perspective 2) A compatible technology may not be able to give insight in to the context of the information unless it is read 3) The way we interpret is largely subjective Organizational Challenges Today the organizations are inherently complex in structure and the departments are loosely connected while they work in isolation. They only come together when there is a need which leads to an internally disconnected approach. These large organizations need to be responsive to the customer and market needs. In order to be responsive they need to be agile and flexible when it comes to leveraging their matrix management structure as a whole. This can pose some long term as well as short term challenges. The path to overcome these challenges is to have follow business process which entail the entire organizations. In most organizations, wherever the business processes exist they tend to be isolated to a specific department and are usually manual. This leads to manifestation of various management and operational challenges. Some of the consequences that come up due to these challenges are listed below: 1) Due to inaccurate and untimely information generated as a result of isolated units of an organization, it becomes difficult for management and employees to take correct decisions 2) As information may not be aligned to business context or a business process it may lead to inconsistent decisions 3) Broken or incomplete workflows lead to generation of inconsistent and poor information 4) IT systems may act as inhibitors even if they support business processes when they lack system integration that would hide a single view of the information 5) Strict business rules, policies and procedures can lead to delay in fetching important information Organization and business process alignment These hurdles and challenges which the organization faces are due to factors such as inflexible procedures, legacy infrastructure, orthodox management which include: 1) Manual approach even when business processes and frameworks exist 2) IT enablers found in departments and functional silos making information sharing and gathering labour intensive and tedious 3) IT and other infrastructure is maintained centrally which may not provide quick solutions and service to meet the requirement of internal users 4) As organization is dependent on vendors or contractors for maintenance, support and development of IT and other infrastructure it raises issues of managing changes by themselves. Organizations need to orient themselves around process rather than functionally. They have the necessary infrastructure and technology in place but the challenge is to align all of it together using business processes. Aligning the organization to business processes and automating the same will help in solving decision making bottlenecks and will integrate functions, departments, core systems to deliver measurable business value. As of now most of the organizations, have IT infrastructure which comprise of applications that address each department separately. These departments may have business processes that cater to the purpose of the department specific function but this may lead to creation of unstructured and structured data in isolation from other departments defeating the purpose of one goal of the organization. Due to lack of integration between department’s applications and business processes it leads to creation of islands of redundant information for each department. Knowing that there is duplicate information across various applications residing in various departments there will be multiple points of integration which makes it even more complicated. There is a requirement of point to point integration to resolve this. This increases business risk, delivery costs and it becomes even more important to retain existing talent who can handle the data and information well. IT challenge On drilling down, the problem of not being able to use unstructured data along with structured data semantically whilst the data is specific to each department’s function and not business process of the organization is a challenge for the IT support department of organizations. Integration of silo applications and automated business processes across departments with respect to the overall business context pose many intricacies which makes it is a very challenging and a costly exercise for the IT function. Few of the reasons are listed below: 1) Laborious task to integrate a variety of business processes and applications 2) Changes in particular to each function may become difficult to replicate across the organization each time 3) Data across functions can’t be normalized due to existence of data in multiple format 4) Data inconsistencies due to unavailability of an information master leads to dependency on data stored on spreadsheets These kind of challenges have typically no end so a comprehensive solution has to be worked out which is robust and serves the goal of the organization by delivering value flawlessly. Workflow Model, Business Process Management (BPM) and Enterprise Content Management (ECM) It is Workflow Automation and a Business Process Management System that will solve the business and technical problems that have been described in this paper so far. A workflow model is automation or a semi-automation of business processes. On the other hand Business Process Management is a method for managing the workflow model while continuously evaluating its performance and closing the feedback loop. Business processes form the nervous system of an organization or an enterprise. Business Process Management (BPM) is a discipline that empowers an organization to analyze, automate, re-design, streamline, monitor and improve business process while providing end to end visibility and control from technology to people. An organization has numerous business processes which take place every now and then. They may be simple or complex and may rely on unstructured data. For e. g. Banks have a business process to process the fresh loans application, local retailer has a business process to order new inventory and more. Business processes are the means which enable people, system and information to work simultaneously in order to meet organizations’ goals. However, it is not as easy as it sounds. Consider an example where in an insurance company the claim officials need digital photos to process a claim, customer representative need customer records and statements, accounts personnel need invoice approvals to disburse the required amount. To address such multi dimensional situation companies are resorting to capabilities of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) which is Business Process Management (BPM) to integrate, optimize, and automate processes and information. This solution enables organizations to make timely and accurate decisions. Together BPM and ECM businesses are able to deal with explosion of business related content which in turn helps them in becoming nimble and agile. Primarily, there are three changes that drive the need for businesses to become nimble and agile. They are: 1) Creation of islands of business relevant content internal and external to the organization 2) High maintenance cost of information created and stored by disparate sources 3) Incremental strain on IT to meet core business requirements while driving process innovation In response to these needs ECM and BPM enable organizations with the following: 1) Empower all employees to develop process centric solution 2) Quickly synchronize information from disparate internal as well external data sources 3) Couple processes and content to meet business requirements Businesses today need to use the content that is available across the business processes rather than letting it remain restricted under applications specific to a department or a function. Holistically, the content needs to be put to use for a greater benefit and a better ROI. Management of Unstructured Documents ECM has become one of the major software category post consolidation of various solutions like Document Management, Document Imaging, Web Content Management, Digital Asset Management while collaborating with BPM. It shouldn’t be treated as only a software category but can be primarily looked at as a strategy to manage all unstructured information – images, web content, media assets and records. Secondly, its job is to ensure that the content is put to use by the business users as per the business processes. The ECM solutions available today are built to support today’s dynamic requirements of the organization. They are scalable and high on performance when it comes to handling islands of new content and information with respect to complex business processes. Their design is such that they can integrate any kind of unstructured information with business processes and provide features such as process modelling, analytic capabilities, simulation and activity monitoring. They are also capable to handle process exceptions and can respond to demands for content from associates or customers. It is deduced that ECM as a technology and as a strategy enable information management professionals to manage the unstructured information in the organization to reduce risk, improve productivity in order to bring customer delight. Market Overview Organizations are increasingly adopting ECM to manage the increasing volume and growing diversity of unstructured content which now represents around 80% of the information residing in the enterprise. The opportunity identified is to devote similar rigor to unstructured data as being given to structured data. The market for ECM registered a double digit growth between the year 2004 to 2007 but it slowed down to single digit in 2008 primarily due to recessionary conditions. As per data gathered by Gartner, around $3. 3bn was collected as license and maintenance revenue for ECM. The ECM market has forecasted compounded annual growth rate of 9. 5% through till 2013. It is expected that the revenue generated from ECM markets worldwide would exceed $5. 1bn by 2013. The ECM market has seen major consolidation between the periods of 2003 to 2007. Large players such as IBM, Oracle, EMC have been acquiring companies to capitalize in this space. For example, EMC went on spree acquiring Legato, Document, Captiva and Document Sciences. Autonomy acquired Interwoven and Open Text purchased Vignette to become the largest independent vendors in this space competing directly with Microsoft’s Sharepoint. Market Drivers In spite of the recession which forced businesses to refrain from technology spending, the ECM market remained insulated from it for the following reasons: 1) Increase in volume and complexity of content is the reason for concern and investments in ECM henceforth 2) Pricing pressure from open-source vendors stimulating higher demand 3) It targets the overall ROI of the organization As there is a need to manage risks that come along with tonnes of paper and vast variety of digital content, a focus has been brought on governance and content rationalization. Vendors are addressing this by providing different stakeholders or customers with products that serve their purpose while keeping in mind the overall business processes of the organization. Recognizing this focus area many enterprises have become conscious about the lifecycle, access management, availability and cost of the content. There has been a slowdown in the ECM market due to the recessionary climate as it made the decision makers cautious about investments. In a research conducted by Gartner it was noticed that during this period companies have started looking for a thorough business case and ROI justifications for any kind of technology expenditure. However this could also turn out to be positive for the ECM market as these are the times when the organizations will realize the benefits of ECM solutions and frameworks. Conclusion Business Process Management and Workflow are not about moving documents across departments. It is about aligning businesses to their core processes and they provide the catalyst to exploit knowledge base to provide improved customer service. Thus, help in delivering measurable bottom line benefits in variety of business cases. List of References Toby Bell, Karen M. Shegda, Mark R. Gilbert, Kenneth Chin, Mick MacComascaigh. ( October, 2009), Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management http://www. gartner. com/technology/media-products/reprints/microsoft/vol10/article3/article3.html, Gartner Hakan Akbas (August 2009), Consolidation in the Enterprise Content Management Industry – Who Will Be Next – Autonomy or Open Text? http://www. cmswire. com/cms/enterprise-cms/consolidation-in-the-enterprise-content-management-industry-who-will-be-next-autonomy-or-open-text-part-i-005174. php, Cmswire Icon Resources and technologies ( 2007), Document/Business Process Management http://www. iconresources. com/new/irt_bps. html Hinnerk Brugmann, ConSense: Management of unstructured Documents using semantic Meta-Information http://www.wi2. uni-erlangen. de/index. php? id=consense PNMSOFT, Sequence and Sharepoint, http://www. pnmsoft. com/sharepoint_workflow_integration. aspx PNMSOFT, SEQUENCE BPM & workflow software platform, http://www. pnmsoft. com/sequence_bpm_workflow. aspx Rivet Logic Corporation (October 2008), Enterprise Content Management 2. 0: The Case for an Open Source Approach http://viewer. bitpipe. com/viewer/viewDocument. do? accessId=12186060, Bitpipe Research Kyle McNabb (March 2008), Enterprise Content Management http://www. forrester.com/rb/Research/topic_overview_enterprise_content_management/q/id/40327/t/2, Forrester Research Ann All (March 2010), Case Management Is Step Forward in BPM Evolution , http://www. itbusinessedge. com/cm/community/features/interviews/blog/case-management-is-step-forward-in-bpm-evolution/? cs=39882&page=2 Strategy Partners (2003), Business Process Management and Workflow, http://www. aiim. org. uk/download_files/aiimuserguides/5_BPM_and_Workflow. pdf, AIIM International – ECM Association Barclay T. Blair (October 2004), An Enterprise Content Management Primer, The Information Management Journal

How Women Are Portrayed in Media Essay

Common female stereotypes found in the media have a powerful influence over how society views women and how women view themselves. What is the media portrayal of women today and how does this impact how young girls perceive themselves? With programs such as The Bachelor and Flavor of Love showing a dozen women competing for the attention of one man, often using their sexuality, magazine ads displaying a half-naked female body to sell a fragrance or cosmetic product, and television commercials highlighting a woman’s thigh and butt to sell sneakers, it may be difficult for society not to be influenced by the overwhelming message to objectify women. Negative Female Stereotypes Female stereotypes in the media tend to undervalue women as a whole, and diminish them to sexual objects and passive human beings. According to research done by Children Now, a national organization trying to make children a public priority, 38% of female characters found in video games are wearing revealing clothing, 23% are showing cleavage. Magazine ads show a dismembered female body, with parts, instead of the whole, a practice that according to media activist, Jean Kilbourne, turns women into objects. Disney movies, from Beauty and The Beast to Aladdin show slender, unrealistically curvaceous, and quite vulnerable young women, who are dependent on male figures for strength and survival, not their own sense of empowerment. Media stereotyping of women as objects and helpless beings creates very low expectation for society’s girls. When a woman is in a position of power, such as the rare female boss portrayed in The Proposal with Sandra Bullock, or Disclosure with Demi Moore, she tends to be a cold-hearted, detached career woman with sociopathic tendencies. This sends the message that a powerful woman sacrifices a healthy relationship, family, and possibly even her sanity to be extremely successful at her career. For the young girl who dreams to run a company, or become a famous journalist, astronaut, or scientist, the media does not provide enough models for her to look to for encouragement and inspiration. Positive Female Stereotypes Despite the many negative female stereotypes found in movies, television, and advertisements, there are positive examples of intelligent, empowered young girls and women as well. These characters can serve as role models for girls  who are looking for female characters to exemplify. Lisa Simpson from the popular cartoon sitcom, The Simpsons is a classic example of a positive female stereotype. An intelligent and gifted girl, this character thinks for herself and sticks to her ideals, traits that young girls should be able to find in the media. In the TV series Doctor Who, The Eleventh Doctor is accompanied by two female characters, Amy Pond and River Song, through space and time. They portray themselves as highly intelligent and display emotionally strong traits such as the ability to overcome traumatic events, strong sense of self-preservation, resourcefulness and faith in their own strength. Dora the Explorer is an inquisitive, adventurous young seven-year old girl, who is not only a positive female character, but one of the few minority heroes or heroines of children’s television. A conscious effort on the part of the media can offer much to the dreams and self-worth of society’s girls How the Media’s Portrayal of Women Impacts Girls The media’s portrayal of women affects the self-image of girls dramatically. Concepts of beauty and personality are found in movies, magazines, and video games; as long as there are enough positive examples, young girls can be free to be themselves. When there are not, the pressure is to be thin, physically attractive, and pleasing in order to be likable and popular. According to the National Institute on Media and the Family, studies have found that the media’s focus on body image and submissive female stereotypes has affected children’s thinking. For example, in television comedies it was found that thin women were both praised more and less likely to be made fun of by male characters. In commercials directed at young girls, half mentioned physical attractiveness. As a result of these and other similar trends, both boys and girls describe female characters as â€Å"domestic, interested in boys, and concerned with appearances.† Both young girls and teenagers are increasingly concerned with their weight and unhappy with their bodies. Stereotypes in the media inevitably affect our culture, especially the young. As Susan Fiske, professor of Psychology at Princeton University and researcher of stereotyping and discrimination, says, â€Å"stereotyping exerts control or power over people, pressuring them to conform; therefore, stereotyping maintains the status quo.† To help combat the influence of negative female stereotypes in the media, and therefore  help not only girls, but all of society transcend these limiting expectations, it is important to expose our children to positive role models and to let young girls know just how amazing they are and always will be. Sources: â€Å"Media and Girls.† (Media Awareness Network). â€Å"Sex and Relationships in the Media.† (Media Awareness Network). Durik, Amanda and Janet Shibley Hyde. â€Å"Psychology of Women and Gender in the 21st Century.† (University of Wisconsin). â€Å"Media’s Effect on Girls: Body Image and Gender Identity.† (National Institute on Media and the Family). The role of media is crucial to the issue of violence against women, both in terms of how media cover (and often distort) the issue, and how media may be used as a tool to help activists and governments raise awareness and implement programs on this issue, according to Rina Jimenez David, a long-time journalist and women’s rights activist from the Philippines. Rina, who was interviewed by Marà ­a Suà ¡rez on FIRE’s first Internet Broadcast at the Beijing +5 women’s conference in New York writes a column called â€Å"At Large† for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and is an activist and national chair of a women’s political p arty called â€Å"Philipinas Advance.† â€Å"Many women have said that the media coverage (of rape or other violence) was like a second assault all over again, because of their insensitivity in using pictures, publishing names, and other violations of privacy,† said Rina. â€Å"And the way they portray violence reinforces stereotypes, when they focus on the appearance of the victims, especially if they are young, attractive, or are questioning the way they were dressed.† FIRE is producing live daily Webcasts June 4-9 in New York during the UN Special Session of the Beijing +5 Conference on Women, which has attracted over 10,000 women activists, journalists and government delegates. The daily programs in Spanish and English focus on the role of media in relation to each of the 12 critical areas of concern of the Beijing Platform for Action. The first program focused on violence against women. In addition to describing how media tend to portray women who are victims of violence, Rina talked about her efforts as an activist to raise awareness of this issue among journalists, especially those of the younger generation. Specifically, Rina described a series of workshops conducted by the Center for Media Freedom and  Responsibility in the Philippines. The 3-day session included a gender sensitivity workshop, and also talks by women activists on issues of concern to women, including one by Rina about violence against women. â€Å"I believe we really reached about 400 journalists,† said Rina, â€Å"because at the end we asked them about the impact, and the men especially had their eyes opened to the situation of women, and said they were going to try and be more sensitive.† Rina noted that the young journalists seemed to be the most receptive to these ideas. During the live FIRE Webcast, Rina also noted how critical it was to have violence against women recognized as a violation of women’s human rights at the U.N. World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993. The Beijing Platform for Action, now being discussed at the Special Session of the UN General Assembly recognizes more forms of violence. â€Å"In the past it was only military rape and state torture (that were recognized), whereas the Beijing Platform for Action was a landmark by including domestic violence, rape, and sexual harassment.† Before 1995, such violations against women â€Å"were often not recognized due to culture or tradition.† Rina described new laws and actions related to violence against women in countries in the Asian Pacific region, which have been enacted since the IV World Conference on Women in Beijing 1995, when governments committed themselves to implementing the Platform for Action . For example, in Japan, there was not even a term for â€Å"sexual harassment† in the language, whereas recently legislation was passed there to prohibit this violation of women’s human rights. Likewise, Rina noted that in the Philippines there is a new sexual harassment law, although it is somewhat narrow, and a domestic violence bill is pending in Parliament. Rina noted that a big accomplishment of the UN Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993 was to have â€Å"fundamental rights† of a person recognized, regardless of country or culture, which opened the door for the recognition of women’s rights as universal human rights. â€Å"It was only recently those women’s rights as human rights were recognized,† said Rina, whereas in the past many of these rights such as violence against women â€Å"were violated with impunity under the guise of culture and religion.† Women in media in the Philippines: from stereotype to liberation. Abstract PIP: The success of women in the Philippine print and electronic media is contrasted with the negative image in which they are presented in mass media such as television, radio, comics, tabloids and magazines. Philippine women began entering journalism early in the century, becoming established in the female oriented press by the 1960s. As the repression of the Marcos regime intensified, women journalists excelled in writing vanguard pieces, using allusion, allegory, indirection or metaphor, interviewing prisoners, founding alternative newspapers and even initiating the successful boycott of the 3 major crony papers when Aquino was killed. The participation of women in television journalism is parallel, but more limited due to the nature of the medium. Women’s cultural role as multi-track organizers of family, finance and work is credited for this success. Dozens of names with titles and paper names are cited, as well as tabulated in an appendix. In contrast, women’s image in the popular publications and electronic media is that of sex object, victim, ideal submissive wife-mother, or gracious lady shows little evidence of improving. This deleterious, backward and inaccurate image is likely due to all-male ownership, management and profit motive of these popular, vernacular mass media. — The pressure on women to look and behave in certain ways is deeply ingrained into our culture. It is often easy to overlook the impact that culture has on how we feel about ourselves and bodies. Watching TV, reading magazines, newspapers, or surfing the internet it is all we see are airbrushed images of perfect bodies of women. Images of female bodies are everywhere. Women and their body parts sell everything from food to cars. As humans we absorb relentless message that beauty is the norm and the standards of beauty are being imposed on women. April 30, Monday — â€Å"Muslim Women in the New York Times 1980-2011: Liberalism, Feminism and Racism,† is a conference looking at examples of articles, photography and headlines in The New York Times that portray Muslim women in stereotypical and negative ways. Research will be presented by professors, doctoral students and recent graduates of the University of California, Davis. A complete conference schedule is available at:  http://sjoseph.ucdavis.edu/media-project/muslim-women-in-the-new-york-times-1980-2011-liberalism-feminism-and-racism. This event is free and open to the public. UC Davis Conference Center, Ballroom A (across from the Mondavi Center) on the UC Davis campus. Suad Joseph, founding director of the UC Davis Middle East/South Asia Studies Program and a professor of anthropology and women and gender studies, graduate students and recent graduates counted by hand and used computer-generated word counts of key words used in articles about Arab and Muslim Americans. They found systematic misrepresentation of Arabs, Arab Americans, Muslim Americans and Islam. The misrepresentation focused on Muslim women and the â€Å"veil.† The conference is co-sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Anthropology, Middle East/South Asia Studies Program and the Women and Gender Studies Program. The project is funded by the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, UC Berkeley. The center was founded in 2001 to better apply technologies to research throughout the UC system. Funding also was provided by the University of California Center for New Racial Studies (a multicampus, interdisciplinary program). The portrayal of women in Asian scary movies — The shift away from the â€Å"submissive, helpless, damsel in distress† character in scary movies is beginning to take place across the globe as well. Trencansky talks about how women are beginning to be portrayed as stronger more dominant characters that aggressively fight against whoever is haunting them instead of waiting for a man to save her. Two Asian movies, Shutter (which was adapted into an American film) and Alone embody dominant female characters, just like in Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. Shutter was about a couple who notice that strange images keep appearing in the pictures that they take; the main female character determinedly goes on a discovery to find out what these strange images mean and comes to discover that it is actually the image of a ghost. After a lot of digging, she finds out that the ghost who is haunting them is a girl that her husband and some of his friends had harassed and murdered a few years ago. This woman is a portrayal of the â€Å"Final Girl† who actively solves the problem and prevents  this ghost from further haunting them. She is clearly a female who has â€Å"refused her assigned subordinate role† (68) by leaving her husband after she realizes what he has done and he is sent away to a mental institute. The woman who is haunting them, however, embodies a more submissive role as she is subject to harassment by three strong men. She comes back to haunt them because of this, proving that ghosts are psychologically disturbed. Women and the media in South Asia. Abstract PIP: This article gives a brief overview of women’s access to journalism and communication training, status of women in the media, their needs for development of skills, and portrayal of women in the media, in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. 5 authors from those countries contributed sections subdivided into each of these subheadings. In India, women have access to training, but their positions in the media are limited. They are often falsely stereotyped, sensationalized or exploited, or totally absent. In Sri Lanka, however, women are closer to being equal to men, in terms of training, hiring and employment, although they tend to work in women’s periodicals. Women are shown in most of the advertisements, and are generally portrayed as perpetually in pursuit of glamour, food, clothes and cosmetics. Media in Nepal are comparatively new; for example, television is only 1 year old. Therefore, opportunities for women are few, and men dominate the hierarchy. Women are portrayed in the media negatively or sensationally, and used extensively in commercials. Women’s position in Pakistan is limited in the cities by purdah and in rural areas by the feudal heritage, in which women are chattel. A minority of women are enrolled in journalism schools employed in the media: those are excelling. Women are often idealized, abused or caricatured as interested only in consumption. Women have recently entered the journalism profession in Bangladesh, now totalling 24 women. Mores do not permit women to work at night or on outside assignments. The media are liberal in Bangladesh, airing news about dowry abuse and female oppression openly. In most of the countries, women tend to work only until marriage, or afterward are limited by domestic duties. — The Unrealistic Portrayal of Women in the Media: Beauty and Body There are many levels of influence in our society and media plays a major role in dispensing influential images to us. Media comes in many forms, television, radio, newspapers, movies, and advertisements. The media is so intertwined in our lives that we do not truly comprehend on a conscious level how much influence it really has over us. Some of the images and messages we see and hear can be both positive and negative. More often than not, we are exposed to images that are so unrealistic and unattainable by the average person that we become discontented with our lives and ourselves. Images of luxury homes, cars, glamorous clothes, and glamorous body images make us more self-conscious of how we live and how we look. Based on the above observations and the information I have researched on this topic, the media has an incredible influence over the perceptions we have of ourselves. Historically, women have been more susceptible to stereotyping and marginalization than men. The history o f a woman’s ‘usefulness’ basically began with being a sexual plaything, a mother, and a caretaker. Prior to the 20th century, men saw women as people without a voice, caretakers of the family, or just objects of sexual desire. Although we have recognized the many talents of women through the decades of the past century, we still have much further to evolve in our thinking. I believe most women would like to be thought of as equals in our society, but we are too preoccupied with them being sexual objects. Advertisements have women selling everything from food to cars. We continue to see that women are the focus of most advertisements and the biggest selling point for the product being sold. At the same time, men continue to be the strong, handsome leader in both our families and our society as portrayed in the media images. Although there have been many strides, the stereotypes have remained consistent whereas the women are the sexual objects and the men are the decision makers in our society. There has been a consistent theme throughout the centuries where women have been thought of as the ‘lesser’ sex. They have always been thought to have lesser intelligence than men do. It was only in the early 1900’s that women were able to have a voice in our political elections with the right to vote. Unfortunately, the marginalization of women continues but is being exploited through a different venue – the media. The images portrayed in the past 30  years especially have been promoting the use of diets, exercise, and cosmetics for women to look and feel young. Aging, especially for women, has become a negative in our society. The media has perpetuated a society of unattainable goals for most women. The media industry as a whole is a multibillion dollar industry, and the fact that women are constantly being told that they need to look better, feeds into the bottom line of these industries selling the perfect image. It is a lose-lose situation for the American female. While women spend endless dollars on trying to perfect themselves, the companies that create the fantasy of the ideal female body, just keep getting richer. I believe women should be accepted for whom and what they are without trying to fit into some ideal that a male dominated corporation has created to expand their profit margins. Unfortunately, we as a society have bought into what the media have been selling and there seems to be no turning back. By focusing on the issues that have arisen from these media images and damage it has caused our female population, in particular our youth, it helps us learn about ourselves as a society and as a human race. This helps us to understand our expectations for one another, in a society where looks and image have become the most important part of the human existence. In learning about ourselves and examining these expectations, we examine the flaws within the society we have developed. We are all responsible for the effect that the media has on our young people, because not enough is being done to deter the false images that are being portrayed. Women more often than men are expected to live up to these media images of perfection. There are more diet ads for women than men both on television and in magazines. Celebrities are even contributing to the false images we see and hear by participating in makeup and diet advertising. We need to be more aware of the media messages being absorbed by our society with regard to body image. Unfortunately, as long as people are buying, the corporations will continue to sell their ideal body images to the public. We need to take a hard look at the fact that we, as a society, are enabling these corporations to dictate the ideal female image by buying into their perceptions. This leads to a female youth that is dissatisfied with her body, has low self-esteem, and in some cases develop eating disorders. We continue to walk a very dangerous path in our culture, where the female youth are the most vulnerable in defining their self-image and self-worth. These images of thinness continue to represent what the masses prefer to see when viewing television and magazine advertisements. This is what the advertisers claim sells products and so far it seems to work. If we could start thinking about what is reality as a collective society, then maybe we can also accept that reality without constantly trying to change it. These types of media images only perpetuate more insecurity as opposed to positive images about oneself. We need to accept people for how they look, no matter what they look like without trying to live up to some unrealistic image in the media. — Portrayal or Betrayal? How the media depicts women and girls NEW YORK – When Jan Floyd-Douglass decided to buy a new car, she bypassed suitable models from many different companies – and then wrote to tell them why. â€Å"I wrote to eight manufacturers saying, ‘I love your car but I didn’t buy it because I don’t like your advertisements because they demean women,'† said Ms. Floyd-Douglass. She told the story during a panel discussion titled â€Å"Portrayal or Betrayal: How the Media Depicts Women and Girls,† which was held 3 March 2010 at the UN offices of the Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­ International Community. The event was one of dozens of side events planned in conjunction with the annual session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, held 1-12 March 2010, which this year examined progress made for women since the 1995 Beijing conference. As a contribution to this theme, the panel sought to consider how images in the media – whether television, movies, or advertising – affect the way women are perceived and treated. Ms. Floyd-Douglass was joined by Michael Karlberg, an associate professor of communications at Western Washington University, and Sarah Kasule of the Mother’s Union in Uganda. The panel was moderated by Baroness Joyce Could, chair of the UK Women’s National Commission. Baroness Gould opened by noting that several recent studies have shown that images that objectify or demean women are now more widely used in the media than ever. Moreover, she said, those studies show that such â€Å"sexualized† images have an unhealthy impact on the psychological development of young girls – and on young boys. â€Å"It gives a very disturbing perception to girls and young women,† she said. â€Å"For girls, it is about being told they need to be more attractive to men. And for boys, it is about looking upon girls as sexual objects.† Dr. Karlberg  said this trend in the media is a result of both individual choices and institutional forces. â€Å"On one hand,† he said, â€Å"people everywhere are choosing to consume media that feeds base appetites that we have inherited from our animal nature. On the other hand, media institutions have been constructed in ways that purposefully stimulate, reinforce, and exploit these base appetites.† The result, he said, is a â€Å"feedback cycle† that has created a media environment that is â€Å"unjust, unhealthy, and unsustainable.† Dr. Karlberg said efforts to address the problem must consider the structure of media institutions. â€Å"The assumption is that the media is just another commodity,† he said. â€Å"But the media is not just another commodity. It is a process that facilitates democratic deliberations. It is a process that creates culture.† Part of the problem, he said, is that the media’s real product is not content but the delivery of an audience to advertisers. The result is that the media strives to manufacture audiences in the cheapest way possible. Media junk food â€Å"The cheapest way to manufacture audience is through a high sex, high violence, high conflict content. It doesn’t take talent or research or investigative journalism. Yet it stimulates the appetites, much the same way that a high salt, high sugar, and high fat junk food diet does.† Dr. Karlberg, who is a Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­, also discussed efforts the Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­ community has undertaken to offer moral education for children and young people, which he said can help to counter the ill effects of exposure to sexualized or violent images. â€Å"Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­s, like people everywhere, are struggling to raise and educate children,† he said. â€Å"They are trying to do this in a way that cultivates their inherent nobility, that releases their spiritual potential, and that helps them recognize the deep sources of purpose, meaning, and happiness in life. â€Å"Such spiritual education can be a very important factor in making children less susceptible to messages in their media environment. It is also a very important factor in making children more likely to make thoughtful choices about media consumption as they grow older,† said Dr. Karlberg. Ms. Floyd-Douglass said she considered her effort to write to various automobile manufacturers that use sexualized images of women in their advertising as one among many weapons in the battle against the problem of such images. Like the other panellists, she noted that such  images are so commonplace as to seem innocuous. Parents, she said, should explain the existence of such images to their children – and make efforts to counter their harmful effects. â€Å"We have to question stereotypes in the media. We have to laugh at them. â€Å"My message is, if we don’t actually do anything about this, we are complicit in it,† she said. Ms. Kasule said the problem is not confined to western countries. â€Å"In the African context, much of the time, the way women are depicted in the media is quite negative,† she said. â€Å"They are depicted as symbols of sex. Or as something to do with making men comfortable, or giving care.† There are some counter trends to the problem, she added. She described a national television project in Uganda that gives free air time for women to talk about things that matter to them and noted that educational levels for women and girls are rising. â€Å"There are many programs for girls to read and write. This is important because they will be able to access information, to access media reports, and then they can respond,† said Ms. Kasule. Media Portrayal of Women is Harmful BY CAITLIN CARTER The media’s portrayal of women and men is harmful to everyone, and college students are not exempt. Women are the more obvious victims of the misuse of sexuality. Advertisements on television, the Internet, and in magazines all over America use female sexuality to sell their products. Breasts, legs, and alluring faces sell beer, furniture, energy drinks, and even the woman’s sexuality itself. Women in sitcoms and reality television shows, such as â€Å"America’s Next Top Model,† represent a body type that very few women possess. According to the documentary â€Å"Killing Us Softly,† the average person spends three years of their life watching television commercials. Still, many people view themselves as unaffected. We see the effects every day. Recently, Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer underwent a â€Å"makeover,† from average child to sexed-up preteen. Have you noticed that within our lifetime, music videos have become more and more like cheap porn? Young adults reading Cosmopolitan or Seventeen may think they’re just learning about work-outs and skin care, but the subliminal message remains: meet this standard, or constantly be less than what you should be. This urgency is clearly evident in the ever-rising rates of eating disorders, and the level  of naivety and interest in them. Tons of feminists give lectures, write books, and make movies on the effect of female sexuality on women, but the topic of how the male sex in the media effects men is often blatantly ignored. Of course, the presence of women in the media is dominant, but this does not mean that sexualized men do not exist, nor that men don’t feel the pressure. Ever heard a friend voice a deep concern over his scrawniness? Have you been to Goolrick and seen the hordes of men lifting weights on any given day? Men see the huge Abercrombie ads, with almost naked, sweaty, built men – and they also see women drooling over them; just as women see men with Sports Illustrated calendars. As college students, many feel the pressure to look better than their best every time they go out on the weekend, and even when they’re only going to class, or to the Nest for a late-night snack. Although the media seems to be spiralling out of control, there is one thing that we can control: how much we internalize the messages it feeds us. Generate conversations with your family, your friends, co-workers or classmates. By simply raising the awareness of ourselves and others, we can realize that the image of the â€Å"ideal† woman or man is nearly impossible to achieve. If no one is immune to this never-ending craze for perfection and if everyone feels the pressures and angst to fit the desired role, is it really right for us to judge one another on the very issues we worry about ourselves? We can build each other up higher than these images can tear us down- a compliment goes a long way. Caitlin Carter is a junior. — Women And Negative Stereotypes: An End Before A Start By Divya Bhargava 06 July, 2009 Countercurrents.org We may be reluctant to believe that discrimination against individuals because of their sex, race, age, sexual orientation or health status still exist in institutions in most countries. We also may not want to accept the fact that sexual violence is common in all culture, that women are victims of rape, battering and sexual harassment each day, despite legislation  prohibiting such violence, common policing, workplace policies, counselling and training programs exist. Yet this is the reality for most women. The fact that individuals are likely to think of man when they hear a word surgeon illustrates how we all hold beliefs, attitudes, the stereotype that influence our perception of the world around us. Which sex do you associate with elementary school teacher? With model? With engineer? Most individuals still indicates that elementary school teachers are female, models are female, and engineers are male. Individuals also mark the occupation if they believe the sex of the person performing this job is typical. Stereotypes refer to individuals cognitions that typically do not correspond to reality. A stereotype is a picture in the head not an accurate mirror of the real world. Stereotypes occur when individuals are classifieds by others as having something in common because they are members of a particular group or category of people. Gender stereotypes are a psychological process which illustrates structured sets of beliefs about the personal attributes of men and women. An awareness of the contents of gender role stereotypes begins in the preschool years and is rather well-developed by the time children enter first grade. Parents are among the more important socializing agents for children in shaping values, beliefs and behaviours related to gender. Furthermore knowing the sex of the baby conjures up all kinds of personality characteristics and physical attributes even when these factors are not present in the child. Parents communicate their stereotypes to children in numerous ways. Boys are given building blocks, sports equipment and model vehicles. Girls, on the other hand, are encouraged to play with dolls, dolls houses and miniature household appliances. Cultural images of women:- Culture ideas, symbols, norms and values play a significant role in the creation of women images and the differentiation of gender roles. The purpose of the present article is to understand the images of femininity in Indian society from ancient to modern times. India, a heterogeneous society, presents conflicting women images. The normative model image of Indian womanhood has displayed remarkable consistency. Images of women have not remained static and have undergone numerous changes. However, certain basic models have widespread acceptance. Various cultural images of women:- Pativrata- unconditional devotion to husband, Glorified Motherhood, Bharat  Mata Image. First at the societal plane, the perception of different categories of women is distinctly shaped/conditioned by the popularly accepted female images/stereotypes. Secondly, at the interpersonal level within the family situation, these images frequently impinge in a variety of ways. Indian girls grow up with deep rooted sense of fear and insecurity which not only restricts their social mobility in the mundane day to day life but also often psychologically cripples them to face the hardships of life in general and resist gender based discrimination in particular. These gender dichotomies, flowing almost directly from the popular images fostered most significantly, these images in most Indian families. Thirdly, and perhaps most significantly, these images leave a deep imprint upon women’s self-perception. Women in Advertisement:- Advertising has been a prime target of attack and scrutiny. The basic explanation for the critical focus on sex role portrayal in advertising lies in the close relationship, which exists between advertising, the consumer goods industry and the crucial economic role of women as consumers. Generally it is shown in advertisement a woman’s goal in life is to attract and attain a man:-women are shown in advertising as always young and attractive. They are frequently depicted as sexual objects. Women in advertisements are restricted to the home and isolated from other women outside home, man is her favourite companion. Domesticity is the second role of two dimensional image of femininity in advertising. Sex Stereotyping in the Media:- Far more dangerous than the overtly obscene advertisements are the sexual stereotypes that are found in different media. The Indian version of sex stereotyping would have all women behaving like mythological sita and savitri- docile, submissive, sacrificing, sentimental, superstitious, and incapable of rational action, their primary duty being wives, companions and devoted mothers. Films are the largest disseminators of stereotyped images. They have a package formula for women: the latter are shown as traditional, truly Indian women, who are devoted, son producing wives etc. so far women’s protests and criticisms have not had much effect on the commercial Hindi film industry. Television also perpetuates sex stereotypes. In it’s a  woman’s world all that has happened is that the traditional sitas and savitris have given way gracefully to an alien creature who is new role model for the Indian woman who has the best of both worlds, is economically independent, progressive, ambitious and very very feminine. What is being peddled here is grotesque caricatured western lifestyle which is quite far removed from the average Indian woman’s struggle to survive totally negating and never questioning her reality. Even though 60% of women are involved in agriculture, radio programmes for the rural areas are only directed to men. Women’s programmes almost never discuss technology, banking facilities, new laws or any such issues. Consequences of Negative Stereotype and sexism for the individual:- Society suppresses the choices of males and females through cultural tyranny. The socialization process forces males and females into behavioural modes, personality characteristics, and occupational roles deemed appropriate by society. Most important, these constraints bring about system that is biased in favour of males. Men have the opportunity to develop their talents while women may only within a severely limited range. The consequences are as follows:- Relative Powerlessness of Women, Limited Range of Occupations for Women, Loss of Academic Potential for Women, Lack of Respect for Women’s Abilities, Low Self-esteem among Women, Trials of the Aging Women. Women Studies:- Research interests in women have not only gained momentum since, 1970, but the stance and areas of researches have also significantly changed. Women’s position has worsened considerably in almost every sphere with the exception of some gains in education and employment for middle class women. What is worst, there has been growing violence against women. Women’s studies can be classified into 5 broad categories:- Studies on Women’s Problems, Studies on Changing Status of Women, Studies on Different Aspects of Women’s Life, Studies on Women’s Organization and Movements in India, Studies on Conceptual, Ideological and Methodological Issue Involved in Research on Women. Given the various waves of women’s studies, it would be in order to demonstrate the specific concerned of researchers in social, economic and political dimensions. In the social dimension, a large numbers of factors  were emphasized as the cause of women’s subordination a nd low status in society. The marriage and family found utmost attention, for; the private sphere has been considered as one of the root causes of women’s problems. The abhorrent customs that attracted attention of scholars are infanticide, prostitution, purdah, dowry and divorce. These studies examined the legislations made towards eradication of these evils and highlighted their shortcomings in tackling the problems. Education of women is another popular theme, studies directed towards the status of rural women’s education- both formal and non-formal, revealed very disturbing trends. The illiteracy is more rampant among women than among men. The women have been prey to various constraints in pursuing their education, for, many girls act as surrogate mothers, share household responsibilities at an early age, assume other sex roles, and confront parent’s apathy or reluctance resulting in drop out of many girls from schools. While it was expected that education will give more employment to women, it is creating more unemployment among married women graduates as compared to women as a whole. Without providing any alternative, women’s education was found eroding the traditional parental ties. Health problems of women are another area which attracted attention of scholars. The studies reported the poor health condition of women due to poor access to health services and lack of nutritional diet. In the economic dimension, three themes have attracted attention of scholars; women’s employment, their participation in development, and impact of technology on them. In the political dimension it has been summarized that women suffer from powerlessness. Women laws in India:- 1. Constitution of India 1950 2. Penal Laws 3. Family Laws 4. Labour Laws 5. Human Rights and Women Legal Aid 6. Domestic Violence Act 2005 7. The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956 8. Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971 9. Hindu Succession Act 1956 and Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act 2005 10. Special Marriage Act 1955 11. Child Marriage Act 1929 12. Hindu’s Widow Remarriage Act 1865 13. Custody of child- Hindu, Muslim, Parsi and Christian Laws 14. Adoption of child- Hindu, Muslim, Parsi and Christian Laws 15. Maintence- Hindu, Muslim, Parsi and Christian Laws 16. Guardianship- Hindu, Muslim, Parsi and Christian Laws Conclusion:- In summary, then, the preceding analysis of some of the selected socio-demographic, legal, educational, economic, political and socio-cultural indicators on the situation of women reveals that even after four decades of assiduous effort women’s condition continues to be miserable and they still confront immense problems in all these domains of life. However, recent international and national spectacular developments have turned the attitude of society towards women and women’s perception of their own situation. Consequent upon these efforts and development, a spate of women’s studies in different directions were made which inter alia raised new question on Women Question. References:- Studies By:- 1 .Ashmore, 1998 2. Deaux and Kite, 1993 3. Doyle and Paludi, 1998 4. Heyman and Legare, 2004 5. Indian Past, 10.7.1988 6. Forum Against Oppression Of Women In The Media Committee, New Delhi 7. Women’s Organization In Bombay (1985), Patna Conference (1988) 8. Krithi (1985) 9. Bhasin K. and Agarwal B. eds. 1984 10. Quotation in the Feminine Gender by Bibekananda Das and L.N. Dash (pg. 154-159) 11. Neera Desai – Women Studies in India Divya Bhargava is a law student in Bangalore