Inequality of Women in Relation to Class, Race and Age

Inequality of Women in Relation to Class, Race and Age INTRODUCTION This subject is about the importance of women in our society and the way they contribute to its development. In the past many traditions portrayed women as being less important than men and that is why they had many restrictions such as : little right to education, they were prohibited to vote or to detain political functions, and even they were denied the chance to have a job. The only thing they were supposed to do was the children rearing and house keeping. There was no country in the world in which womens quality of life was equal to that of men according to the health status, education opportunities, employment, and political rights. And when they were employed, they were offered a job only in a restricted range of fields having a low pay and being treated with low respect. This situation was determined by sexual discrimination and harassment. They are also confronted with wage discrimination and with long hours of unpaid labor. Although some countries allowed women to vote, some still had not done so. And there were many informal obstacles that impeached women participation in political life. Almost everywhere, there were a small number of women representing the government[1]. But regarding women as mothers, they play an important role because even if men considered this an easy task, it was no as easy as it seemed. A mother had to be aware of every movement of her child, she had to offer the child healthy food and finally to give the child a good education. The first years of life are very important and they are the basis of the future man. Children were very much bound to their mothers, and their fathers, because of the lack of time were most of the time only some strangers whom they feared. The authority was detained by the father who did not only punish the children but he also had violent reactions. Nowadays things have changed radically. The Bill of Rights stipulates that all men are equal, and women are given other opportunities. They can attend school and even higher education, can vote and detain political functions, and they must have a workplace where men treat them with respect. More and more women are independent, and they place career as being one of their priorities. The role of a mother is still very important, but it is not their main occupation. It can be said that even the way they grow up their children has changed. If in the past the father was the â€Å"head† of the family, nowadays the roles are divided. It is an interesting subject to debate because it includes differences of an old society, the traces this has left and the way things have developed. 1. Feminist views 1.1 Women, Human Beings â€Å"Human beings are not by nature kings, or nobles, or courtiers, or rich. All are born naked and poor. All are subject to the miseries of life, to frustrations, to ills, to needs, to pains of every kind. Finally, all are condemned to death. That is what the human being really is.† Jean- Jacques Rousseau, Emile, Book IV[2]. Therefore a human being is either a man or a woman. There is only a distinction between â€Å"genders†. Starting from this idea it can be said that every person is constituted by certain traits, which characterize them as â€Å"human†, no matter what culture they belong to. These traits include the fact of mortality, the body needs for food and drink, shelter, mobility, the cognitive capacities, affiliation and concern for others etc. It also must be taken into consideration the premise that there is a common humanity that is recognized across the centuries and continents, and which aims to articulate a set of associated functions and abilities. The real difference that can be made consists on the forms of activity, of deeds and beings that constitute the human way of life and distinguish them from animals and plants. There are some essential things for an entity to be categorized as a person: autonomy, self-respect, sense of fulfillment and achievement. The autonomy of a person involves freedom of choice, of opinion and of any discrimination. Everyone should follow his own interior voice, interests according to their capacities. The interaction with others, the way in which one is perceived and accepted into a group plays an important role. Every person needs to belong to a certain social environment and the relationships they experience influence their way of being. 1.1.2 Self autonomy Self-respect, is an essential requirement of personhood which involves the sense of dignity, consciousness of autonomy and worth. It also involves consciousness of ones capacities and rights, and more importantly, commitment to ones responsibilities. A self-respecting person has a sober assessment of his/her place in the context of life and the world. The role as mother also develops a range of self-esteem because it gives a new sense to life. It makes a woman feel more responsible with her acts and it also provides her a different importance in society and makes her more mature in a way by becoming a â€Å"real woman† at last. Having a child can bring greater vitality, fun and humour, as providing her with a new insight into the world. In the past centuries almost all women saw the world through the male eyes, they occupied subordinate and inferior positions and were conditioned to limit their own life goals and self-esteem. But nowadays things have changed a lot and women dont need a man to survive. They can manage very well, they are independent because they have a job which can provide them the chance to buy whatever they like and to live without a mans support. Work is a vital part of everyones life, it intensifies confidence and self-esteem. It makes people, in general, feel complete. The way women look is an extra concern and influences the way they feel. They want to be beautiful and that is why they keep diets, do sport, go to spas, use expensive cosmetics, appeal to surgery and are careful what they put on them. Therefore self autonomy is guided by the principles of freedom and includes a series of civil liberties. Every person is free to make their own decisions and to center their deeds according to their necessities and free wills. An autonomous person lives in accordance with the dictates of reason, which is directly linked to morality. Autonomy is neutral, being placed between good and evil and the real challenge is to know what is the right way to follow, of course after passing some obstacles. 1.2 The eternal conflict It is well known that God first created man, and only after that He gave him a wife in order to multiply and to have ancestors. Because the man was first, he is considered to be the head of the family. But this headship does not mean that woman has no rights or that she is a second class citizen. On the contrary, God told the husband to love his wife and to become a single soul together with her. This headship issue is an issue of order, not of who is better or more important. Men and women are only different. They differ from the point of view of their physical appearance, ethics, behaviors, dispositions, needs etc. A man is not good or bad because he is a man. Similarly a woman is not good or bad simply because she is a woman. In other words all are subjected to mistakes. The respect to which women are different from men is important, namely because women can give birth to children, and men can not do it. This is one case in which â€Å"natural capacities† are concerned. Therefore women, having a special feature of motherhood, have the right to get special facilities to help them perform their duties as mothers without affecting their rights and responsibilities elsewhere. To perform this parental duty men also must be present in order to offer help when it comes to the childs education. In ethical and political theories, the family is often viewed as an inappropriate place for showing ones superiority, but a place for love, altruism and shared interests. If children see that sex difference is the occasion for different treatment, they could be affected in their personal and moral development. They are likely to learn injustice, by absorbing the messages, and by observing that their parents dont treat each other with respect. There is a need fo r attention to be paid in order to avoid that the children take as a negative example the way in which their parents behave and repeat it when they grow up. Empirical research in recent years has brought out clearly that women occupied lower positions than men in traditional economic and social arrangements. Thus there is a wide gap between mens and womens recorded and perceived economic participation. All the work women did such as rearing children, cleaning and maintaining the household, caring for the old and sick, and contributing in various ways to mens work, does not count as work, even if it is crucial for the survival. A first context related to notions of legitimacy and correctness is that of the gender inequalities. In a family, between women and men, or girls and boys these inequalities should be accepted as â€Å"natural†, by lining out an interesting contrast among different members. On the labor market, for example there should be rather a matter of position than of streakiness. Sometimes a man can be the manager, but a woman can occupy the same function too, in different contexts. To avoid the problem of conflict everyone must pursue the same objectives, as a result of which there will not be a disharmony of interests but a wish to collaborate in the best conditions. 2. Womens equality 2.1 Gender discrimination The concept of â€Å"equality† has been at the centre of any feminist movement. It was long been obvious that women, as a class, have remained in a state of subjugation and inferiority. They can be considered as an auxiliary of men, most of their duties being orientated towards their husbands who are frequently mentioned as their lord and master. In the Muslim countries, for example, women are given different rights regarding marriage, divorce, civil rights, legal status, dress code, and education. The marriage is arranged by the family together with the future husband. The future bride does not marry in the most cases from love, her wedding being a business for the rest of the family, because the man has to buy her from his father. In a case of a divorce, the children remain with their fathers and there are cases in which women are forbidden to see or visit them. It is a cruelty, because between mothers and children is a strong relationship in which the father shouldnt interf ere. They are not allowed to remain alone with a man if they are married, but men are allowed to have more than a wife. The employment of women varies over fields on Islamic laws. Even when women have the right to work and are educated, womens job opportunities are in practice unequal to those of men. They have limited opportunities to work in the private sector because they are expected to put their role in family first, which causes men to be seen as more reliable in the long term. While many work outside home in responsible positions, the law continues to treat them as minors. Specific fields of work clearly point out that women and children below 16 are restricted. The presumption is that women are less able to protect themselves, or that men are better able to resist in hard conditions of work. The status of women on testimony is disputed. Some jurists held that certain types of testimony by women will not be accepted. In other cases, the testimony of two women can equal that of one man. The reason for this disparity has been explained in various manners, including womens lack of intelligence, womens temperament and sphere of interest. In the other moderate nations there is no legal restriction regarding the right of women to employment, equal wages and protection before the law. But even in these places women can face the same â€Å"treatment† from men. But to start surpassing this mentality, and to become mens equals at the workplace and politics, women have to go beyond the humble image that was assigned to them in the past. Both men and women should accept each other. 2.2 Gender discrimination in China and Mexico Another example concerning inequality between men and women can be seen in countries such as China. The problems that women were confronted with were the same everywhere. The revolution helped to raise the status of women. The legislation like the Marriage Law of the 1950 did not only reveal the most extreme forms of female subordination and repression, such as prostitution, concubinage, selling of women and children, but it also gave women the opportunity to make their own marital decisions. Their life was no longer restricted to the home, and they joined the agricultural and industrial work forces. Education, which was denied to women in traditional China, has become more accessible. But the education system had first given priority to men, and illiterate schools had been mainly attended by female. Many companies refused to hire female graduates from universities because their parenting responsibilities may impede business. They were also permitted to enter in the area of politics. However, many of them had lower-paid and less challenging jobs,[3] the leadership positions being dominated by men. The Chinese women were told to be â€Å"free†, but they were discouraged when they expressed their opinions. Growing up in the shadow of the Chinese morality, they were becoming accustomed with a certain degree of inferiority. Many of them got used with the idea that they are not accepted on the labor market. This mentality leads them to set low standards of life. The situation of women in Mexico is almost the same, but they are not forbidden to participate in different spheres of public life. However they suffer from inequality and injustice. Statistics on education and employment reflect that even women had the same rights as men to be actively involved in all fields of activity their actual participation is limited.[4] Regarding education, 15 % of the female population is illiterate and from the rest only 38% attended a High School. Because of this issue they are denied the opportunity to work as a qualified worker. If they managed to get a job they were paid less than man for doing the same thing. The little money they got, was for the family subsistence, and except for some privileged cases, when they had been responsible for the young children even if she had an outside job. There were cases when another woman, member of the family is employed as a domestic worker who did the house keeping. Traditional women nowadays seem to accept the unjust social arrangement in which those women had lived before and take action in order to change this situation. Even if they accept the old cultural rules and respect them, they want to be independent, to work freely and to be accepted as equals to men from all points of view. Now there is no argument, no â€Å"principle of difference† for denying women the freedom to function in all fields of activity. The need to survive and the fact that men could no longer gain enough to support his family helped women to abolish the traditional division of work according to gender. Women are more educated, many of them graduated one or even two universities. There is no reasonable matter that could be invoked to justify that men are more capable than women. The government also helps widows and single mothers and the fact that they have to grow up their children it is not an impeachment to get a good paid working place. Many of them can leave their children with their close relatives who look after them without expecting any payment. Employment makes women to improve their status within the family and enables them to have a better treatment from the part of men. 2.3 Migrant women Many women from all over the world needed to move from their home countries as part of global division of labor which was underpinned by colonial exploitation. Some came as migrants in their own right, while others came as the daughters, wives and mothers of migrant men. All of them met the institutionalized racism of the state in which they had gone. They occupied some specific locations in time and space such as America, England, Italy, Germany coming from Asia and Africa. For many of women coming to these places meant their first encounter with paid work outside home, in domains such as manufacturing or in the state sector, where they were low paid. Even if they expected to have a better life, they encountered a lot of difficulties, serving an economy designed for the metropolitan centers. It was very clear that minority family workers find themselves at the periphery and part-time jobs were never for them. The life of migrant families is in many ways distinct from the life of the others. Each year migrant families travel to remote parts of the country seeking employment on the labor market to work under bad and hazardous conditions. For example those who arrived in United States were born outside it and many had and continued to have difficulties speaking English. Due to the extreme economic conditions of migrant life, children must often take a job and family responsibilities at a young age, sometimes to the detriment of school attendance. The cost of migrating is high and is common for migrants to arrive at a new destination with little or no money or food. Living conditions are cramped such as a camp housing units consisted of one small room for each family that serves for cooking, eating and sleeping. Regarding their health even minorities have the same heath problems like the others, they use fewer health services and suffer more from diseases, disabilities and an early death. Nowadays there are organizations such as MRI[5] whose mission is to advocate for the respect, protection and fulfillment of a full range of human rights of migrants around the world and to foster unity and the inclusion of migrants in all fields. 2.4 Black women Black history is very wide and during the time it has served whites as an antidote for racism indoctrination. Blacks and whites are two separate cultures, with separate traditions and diametrically opposed past experiences. Black women have been denied important implications in the history because they were profoundly affected by having to see the world through male eyes, as the majority of women did in the past, including the white women, too. They were also conditioned to limit their own life goals, being doubly victimized by scholarly neglecting and racist conceptions. Belonging to two groups which have traditionally been treated as inferiors blacks and women- they have been almost invisible. They have always been more conscious of race oppression and sex discrimination, being subjected to all the restrictions against Blacks and against women. In no area of life they havent ever been permitted to attain higher status than white females. Additionally, because of the slavery system they were sexually exploited by white men through rape or enforced sexual services. These sexual abuses, which were characteristic to the colonizers on the conquered groups, functioned actually to fasten the badge of inferiority of the slavery societies of black people. The black men were deprived of the power and right to protect their women from white men. So, the poor black women had no support, they could not rely for protection in any part. Black women had an ambiguous role in relation to white society. They were allowed to serve white families by nursing and raising white children, cleaning their houses and attending sick people. Their wages were the lowest of all including white women. Black women were also deprived of the ballot until 1920 even if poor black men could vote. But the status of black women can be seen from two different viewpoints: as members of a larger society and within their own group. When they are taken into consideration among Blacks, they had higher status within their group than white women in their society. This paradox is the direct result of white society to black one, the result of the fact that the lowest jobs in white society are reserved for black women. For black females this means that they were trained since childhood to become workers in order to survive. They knew that they had to work even they were married or single. Work to them, unlike to white women is not a liberating goal, but rather an imposed necessity for survival. More than that, they can often find a job while black men cannot do that. Black womens aim throughout history has been for the survival of her family and of her race. Until the past decade, the access to professional jobs was closed on black women due to discrimination, they were trained only for l ower position jobs or for a life of domestic work. Thus they were given smaller chances to complete their studies, than black men, who even with a college degree could hardly find a good working place because of the race discrimination. Black women showed the pride and the strength of people who had endured great oppression. This gave them a sense of their function in the world and a strong confidence in their values. Their liberation has depended on the liberation of the race and the improvement of the life of the black community. This slavery pattern was carried out a long time and only recently was abolished and Blacks were given equal rights to those of whites. But even nowadays they seem to bear the old trace of their ancestors and not everyone regards this society as one with the same opportunities. There still are some obstacles they have to surpass such as the unkindness of many white people and the difficulty to be accepted as normal. In any case it is necessary to recognize that there is a female aspect to all histories, that women were there and that their contributions were different from those of men, regardless of the color of their skin. 2.4.1 The system of slavery Slavery resisted in practice from its inception in the United States in the early 1600s to its end, in the middle of 1800s. This formed a separate and distinct culture which bound both master and slave in a complex and interdependent relationship. The slavery system was above all a labour system, designed to extract the profit of unwilling and dependent subjects. The essence of it was that the slave was legally a piece of property to be bought and sold at the masters will. He had no legal rights, could not testify in his own behalf nor bear witness against a white person. As a result to this feature, a slave was subjected to the will of his master in all circumstances and his treatment depended on the personality and economic conditions of him. Most of them lived, not on large plantation, but in small isolated agricultural units or in small farms, where they were in close daily contact with their owners. However they lived under the worst conditions, having little clothing and one pa ir of shoes that had to last them a very long period, depending on the masters will. They slept in a single room on a bad made from straw and old rags. They ate two meals a day, being provided no table; each took their own plate or a tin pan and an iron spoon and held it in the hand or on the lap. As a general rule, no lights, no firewood, no towels, no soap, no furniture were provided to them. Source material about black women as slaves did not reveal much about their lives and feelings. In general, the life of black women under slavery was in every respect more difficult and restricted than that of the men. Their work and duties were the same as that of the men, such as work on the plantation, while childbearing and childrearing fell upon them as an added burden. Their affection for their children was used as means of tying them to their masters, children being always held as hostages in case of the mothers attempted escape. The chances to escape for female slaves were fewer than those for males. There were cases in which the severe system made them to rebel and to run away, but they were caught every time, or some of them died while trying to escape. Those who survived were punished very cruelly and imposed a more severe system of terror which could keep resistance from breaking into large-scale rebellion. Thus the harsh but tolerable system was supplemented by a terroristic system of cruelty against those slaves who dared any sign of insubordination. Most runaway slaves returned voluntary, usually driven by hunger, the absence of shelter, the vast distances to be covered, their ignorance of geography, illiteracy and general lack of knowledge. The sale of those slaves was also a common mean of punishment and discipline. Slave women took part in all aspects of resistance, from rebellion to sabotage. Many of them lived with the hope that they would be free, because they were promised that if they did their job well, they would liberate at least their children. 2.4.2 Black slave families Family life was almost inexistent and blacks got married at early ages, but always with the consent of their master and mistress. Even if a black woman was pregnant she had to do the same work regardless of how she felt about it. That is why babies were not born healthy and because of the harsh conditions of life many of them died of in the first weeks of life. Those who survived were sold, because masters did not want the time of the mother be taken up by attendance upon her children. As a favor she was permitted to go to see them once a year. Parents were never consulted, having little control over their own child. Every natural and social felling was violated with indifference. Some of them were kept as a possible working force for the time when they would grow up. When they were able to work, they had to accomplish any kind of duty, no matter how difficult it might be for the poor child. There are examples when they were kept in cold entries to work for many hours, in no good con ditions. They had to finish the work without a lamp in the evening, they had no fire in the cold seasons. The tasks were often too hard for them and yet they were expected to work well with their cold fingers and standing up as if they were sitting in a comfortable place. They also had to take care of the white babies, even if they themselves were just kids. It frequently happened that relatives, among slaves were separated for weeks or months, by the husband or brother being taken by the master on journey, to attend him and his horses. When they returned, the white husband could see his wife as soon as he arrived, but the black husband had to wait until the mistress gave his wife permission to go to him. The black women could be taken with the master in their journey too and many of them pretended that they were ill, in order to avoid being sold away from her husband and children. If it happened that the slaves got sick, they did not receive medical care. Another way in which the feeling of the salves not taken into consideration and were often wounded, was by changing their names. If at the time they were brought into a family, there was another slave having the same name or if the owner did not like the name of the new comer they received another name. Many salves were grieving at having the name of their children thus changed. There had no freedom at all, because they were continuously watched. The system of espionage was the most worrying and intolerable and if they did not obey, they were whipped. An old story shows that there was a black woman who was an exemplary worker who was both feared and respected by their masters, and who by her courage imposed some restrictions upon them. She was also the smartest black woman in that particular region and whatever she did could not be done better. She could do anything. She cooked, washed, ironed, spun, nursed and labored in the field. These skills gave her a sort of independence. Other indulgent masters protected their slaves, especially women by allowing them to rest three of four weeks before and after they got birth. They were often not punished if they did not finish the task assigned to them. Then they could take the child with them, being helped by a little girl or boy who took care of the child while the mother was working. Where there was no such support, the baby was let under a tree or by the side of a fence, and the mother returned at intervals to nurse him. 2.4.3 The education of the Black communities Regarding education in the Blacks long struggle for survival, it was always a foremost goal, both as a tool for advancement an acceptance and as a means of improving life in the black community. There were Missionary groups which were engaged in effort of educating slave children. In some regions, such as the South America, slave rebellions led to a severe legislation which forbade the education of slaves. There were also some white women who continued to teach slaves to read and write. If they were caught they went to jail, but their will to help other people made this thing not so important. Separate schools for boys and girls, which were very common among white people, were a luxury for the black communities and only few of them could afford to go there. The only separate schools for both white and black girls before the Civil War provided instruction in sewing, knitting and the household skills. Despite the poverty of Blacks and the severe discriminatory restrictions which dominated their lives, they managed in the post Civil War period to send their children to school. But many of them had to do sacrifices and to endure many sufferings for the sake of sending them to schools. The reality is reflected in the way that black families raise their children as to accept work or career as a natural part of their lives. This could help black women to be better prepared for the demand of a professional career just like the majority of white women. Obviously the slow promotion of black women in a profession was due to race discrimination, both in educational preparation and access to institutions of higher education. When they were permitted to attend schools their performances were of a great value. It is not surprising that blacks, especially womens first achievement came to prominence in the cultural fields. The black female literary tradition started with the talented Phillis Wheatley[6]. Almost a hundred years later appeared some very talented novelists such as Jessie Fauset, Zora Neale Hurston etc. belonging to the Renaissance period. Theatrical and musical careers were, like other professions, restricted by race barriers. Talented black actresses were confined to play only servant roles. Twentieth-century singers were imposed some restrictions because of their race and great number of them had to leave America for Europe, to develop their talents and careers. Among these was Marian Anderson[7], who acclaimed in Europe as one of the greatest singers in the world. In no other cultural field has the black contribution been more influential than in music (spiritual, blues, jazz) and women played an integral part in this development. In the artistic and cultural fields, as in education and some professions, the long repressed black women has bought an explosion of talent and are today a dynamic force in the creation of a uniquely expressive black culture. 2.5 About womanhood Black women are human beings too and they are not guilty because they were born black. They had to suffer the insults of possessing the most depreciative elements of humanity: being black and being women. They are just as strong and weak as any other women with the same level of education, training and environment. Their liberation depended on that of the race and on the improvement of the black community. There was a great debate about colored men getting their rig Inequality of Women in Relation to Class, Race and Age Inequality of Women in Relation to Class, Race and Age INTRODUCTION This subject is about the importance of women in our society and the way they contribute to its development. In the past many traditions portrayed women as being less important than men and that is why they had many restrictions such as : little right to education, they were prohibited to vote or to detain political functions, and even they were denied the chance to have a job. The only thing they were supposed to do was the children rearing and house keeping. There was no country in the world in which womens quality of life was equal to that of men according to the health status, education opportunities, employment, and political rights. And when they were employed, they were offered a job only in a restricted range of fields having a low pay and being treated with low respect. This situation was determined by sexual discrimination and harassment. They are also confronted with wage discrimination and with long hours of unpaid labor. Although some countries allowed women to vote, some still had not done so. And there were many informal obstacles that impeached women participation in political life. Almost everywhere, there were a small number of women representing the government[1]. But regarding women as mothers, they play an important role because even if men considered this an easy task, it was no as easy as it seemed. A mother had to be aware of every movement of her child, she had to offer the child healthy food and finally to give the child a good education. The first years of life are very important and they are the basis of the future man. Children were very much bound to their mothers, and their fathers, because of the lack of time were most of the time only some strangers whom they feared. The authority was detained by the father who did not only punish the children but he also had violent reactions. Nowadays things have changed radically. The Bill of Rights stipulates that all men are equal, and women are given other opportunities. They can attend school and even higher education, can vote and detain political functions, and they must have a workplace where men treat them with respect. More and more women are independent, and they place career as being one of their priorities. The role of a mother is still very important, but it is not their main occupation. It can be said that even the way they grow up their children has changed. If in the past the father was the â€Å"head† of the family, nowadays the roles are divided. It is an interesting subject to debate because it includes differences of an old society, the traces this has left and the way things have developed. 1. Feminist views 1.1 Women, Human Beings â€Å"Human beings are not by nature kings, or nobles, or courtiers, or rich. All are born naked and poor. All are subject to the miseries of life, to frustrations, to ills, to needs, to pains of every kind. Finally, all are condemned to death. That is what the human being really is.† Jean- Jacques Rousseau, Emile, Book IV[2]. Therefore a human being is either a man or a woman. There is only a distinction between â€Å"genders†. Starting from this idea it can be said that every person is constituted by certain traits, which characterize them as â€Å"human†, no matter what culture they belong to. These traits include the fact of mortality, the body needs for food and drink, shelter, mobility, the cognitive capacities, affiliation and concern for others etc. It also must be taken into consideration the premise that there is a common humanity that is recognized across the centuries and continents, and which aims to articulate a set of associated functions and abilities. The real difference that can be made consists on the forms of activity, of deeds and beings that constitute the human way of life and distinguish them from animals and plants. There are some essential things for an entity to be categorized as a person: autonomy, self-respect, sense of fulfillment and achievement. The autonomy of a person involves freedom of choice, of opinion and of any discrimination. Everyone should follow his own interior voice, interests according to their capacities. The interaction with others, the way in which one is perceived and accepted into a group plays an important role. Every person needs to belong to a certain social environment and the relationships they experience influence their way of being. 1.1.2 Self autonomy Self-respect, is an essential requirement of personhood which involves the sense of dignity, consciousness of autonomy and worth. It also involves consciousness of ones capacities and rights, and more importantly, commitment to ones responsibilities. A self-respecting person has a sober assessment of his/her place in the context of life and the world. The role as mother also develops a range of self-esteem because it gives a new sense to life. It makes a woman feel more responsible with her acts and it also provides her a different importance in society and makes her more mature in a way by becoming a â€Å"real woman† at last. Having a child can bring greater vitality, fun and humour, as providing her with a new insight into the world. In the past centuries almost all women saw the world through the male eyes, they occupied subordinate and inferior positions and were conditioned to limit their own life goals and self-esteem. But nowadays things have changed a lot and women dont need a man to survive. They can manage very well, they are independent because they have a job which can provide them the chance to buy whatever they like and to live without a mans support. Work is a vital part of everyones life, it intensifies confidence and self-esteem. It makes people, in general, feel complete. The way women look is an extra concern and influences the way they feel. They want to be beautiful and that is why they keep diets, do sport, go to spas, use expensive cosmetics, appeal to surgery and are careful what they put on them. Therefore self autonomy is guided by the principles of freedom and includes a series of civil liberties. Every person is free to make their own decisions and to center their deeds according to their necessities and free wills. An autonomous person lives in accordance with the dictates of reason, which is directly linked to morality. Autonomy is neutral, being placed between good and evil and the real challenge is to know what is the right way to follow, of course after passing some obstacles. 1.2 The eternal conflict It is well known that God first created man, and only after that He gave him a wife in order to multiply and to have ancestors. Because the man was first, he is considered to be the head of the family. But this headship does not mean that woman has no rights or that she is a second class citizen. On the contrary, God told the husband to love his wife and to become a single soul together with her. This headship issue is an issue of order, not of who is better or more important. Men and women are only different. They differ from the point of view of their physical appearance, ethics, behaviors, dispositions, needs etc. A man is not good or bad because he is a man. Similarly a woman is not good or bad simply because she is a woman. In other words all are subjected to mistakes. The respect to which women are different from men is important, namely because women can give birth to children, and men can not do it. This is one case in which â€Å"natural capacities† are concerned. Therefore women, having a special feature of motherhood, have the right to get special facilities to help them perform their duties as mothers without affecting their rights and responsibilities elsewhere. To perform this parental duty men also must be present in order to offer help when it comes to the childs education. In ethical and political theories, the family is often viewed as an inappropriate place for showing ones superiority, but a place for love, altruism and shared interests. If children see that sex difference is the occasion for different treatment, they could be affected in their personal and moral development. They are likely to learn injustice, by absorbing the messages, and by observing that their parents dont treat each other with respect. There is a need fo r attention to be paid in order to avoid that the children take as a negative example the way in which their parents behave and repeat it when they grow up. Empirical research in recent years has brought out clearly that women occupied lower positions than men in traditional economic and social arrangements. Thus there is a wide gap between mens and womens recorded and perceived economic participation. All the work women did such as rearing children, cleaning and maintaining the household, caring for the old and sick, and contributing in various ways to mens work, does not count as work, even if it is crucial for the survival. A first context related to notions of legitimacy and correctness is that of the gender inequalities. In a family, between women and men, or girls and boys these inequalities should be accepted as â€Å"natural†, by lining out an interesting contrast among different members. On the labor market, for example there should be rather a matter of position than of streakiness. Sometimes a man can be the manager, but a woman can occupy the same function too, in different contexts. To avoid the problem of conflict everyone must pursue the same objectives, as a result of which there will not be a disharmony of interests but a wish to collaborate in the best conditions. 2. Womens equality 2.1 Gender discrimination The concept of â€Å"equality† has been at the centre of any feminist movement. It was long been obvious that women, as a class, have remained in a state of subjugation and inferiority. They can be considered as an auxiliary of men, most of their duties being orientated towards their husbands who are frequently mentioned as their lord and master. In the Muslim countries, for example, women are given different rights regarding marriage, divorce, civil rights, legal status, dress code, and education. The marriage is arranged by the family together with the future husband. The future bride does not marry in the most cases from love, her wedding being a business for the rest of the family, because the man has to buy her from his father. In a case of a divorce, the children remain with their fathers and there are cases in which women are forbidden to see or visit them. It is a cruelty, because between mothers and children is a strong relationship in which the father shouldnt interf ere. They are not allowed to remain alone with a man if they are married, but men are allowed to have more than a wife. The employment of women varies over fields on Islamic laws. Even when women have the right to work and are educated, womens job opportunities are in practice unequal to those of men. They have limited opportunities to work in the private sector because they are expected to put their role in family first, which causes men to be seen as more reliable in the long term. While many work outside home in responsible positions, the law continues to treat them as minors. Specific fields of work clearly point out that women and children below 16 are restricted. The presumption is that women are less able to protect themselves, or that men are better able to resist in hard conditions of work. The status of women on testimony is disputed. Some jurists held that certain types of testimony by women will not be accepted. In other cases, the testimony of two women can equal that of one man. The reason for this disparity has been explained in various manners, including womens lack of intelligence, womens temperament and sphere of interest. In the other moderate nations there is no legal restriction regarding the right of women to employment, equal wages and protection before the law. But even in these places women can face the same â€Å"treatment† from men. But to start surpassing this mentality, and to become mens equals at the workplace and politics, women have to go beyond the humble image that was assigned to them in the past. Both men and women should accept each other. 2.2 Gender discrimination in China and Mexico Another example concerning inequality between men and women can be seen in countries such as China. The problems that women were confronted with were the same everywhere. The revolution helped to raise the status of women. The legislation like the Marriage Law of the 1950 did not only reveal the most extreme forms of female subordination and repression, such as prostitution, concubinage, selling of women and children, but it also gave women the opportunity to make their own marital decisions. Their life was no longer restricted to the home, and they joined the agricultural and industrial work forces. Education, which was denied to women in traditional China, has become more accessible. But the education system had first given priority to men, and illiterate schools had been mainly attended by female. Many companies refused to hire female graduates from universities because their parenting responsibilities may impede business. They were also permitted to enter in the area of politics. However, many of them had lower-paid and less challenging jobs,[3] the leadership positions being dominated by men. The Chinese women were told to be â€Å"free†, but they were discouraged when they expressed their opinions. Growing up in the shadow of the Chinese morality, they were becoming accustomed with a certain degree of inferiority. Many of them got used with the idea that they are not accepted on the labor market. This mentality leads them to set low standards of life. The situation of women in Mexico is almost the same, but they are not forbidden to participate in different spheres of public life. However they suffer from inequality and injustice. Statistics on education and employment reflect that even women had the same rights as men to be actively involved in all fields of activity their actual participation is limited.[4] Regarding education, 15 % of the female population is illiterate and from the rest only 38% attended a High School. Because of this issue they are denied the opportunity to work as a qualified worker. If they managed to get a job they were paid less than man for doing the same thing. The little money they got, was for the family subsistence, and except for some privileged cases, when they had been responsible for the young children even if she had an outside job. There were cases when another woman, member of the family is employed as a domestic worker who did the house keeping. Traditional women nowadays seem to accept the unjust social arrangement in which those women had lived before and take action in order to change this situation. Even if they accept the old cultural rules and respect them, they want to be independent, to work freely and to be accepted as equals to men from all points of view. Now there is no argument, no â€Å"principle of difference† for denying women the freedom to function in all fields of activity. The need to survive and the fact that men could no longer gain enough to support his family helped women to abolish the traditional division of work according to gender. Women are more educated, many of them graduated one or even two universities. There is no reasonable matter that could be invoked to justify that men are more capable than women. The government also helps widows and single mothers and the fact that they have to grow up their children it is not an impeachment to get a good paid working place. Many of them can leave their children with their close relatives who look after them without expecting any payment. Employment makes women to improve their status within the family and enables them to have a better treatment from the part of men. 2.3 Migrant women Many women from all over the world needed to move from their home countries as part of global division of labor which was underpinned by colonial exploitation. Some came as migrants in their own right, while others came as the daughters, wives and mothers of migrant men. All of them met the institutionalized racism of the state in which they had gone. They occupied some specific locations in time and space such as America, England, Italy, Germany coming from Asia and Africa. For many of women coming to these places meant their first encounter with paid work outside home, in domains such as manufacturing or in the state sector, where they were low paid. Even if they expected to have a better life, they encountered a lot of difficulties, serving an economy designed for the metropolitan centers. It was very clear that minority family workers find themselves at the periphery and part-time jobs were never for them. The life of migrant families is in many ways distinct from the life of the others. Each year migrant families travel to remote parts of the country seeking employment on the labor market to work under bad and hazardous conditions. For example those who arrived in United States were born outside it and many had and continued to have difficulties speaking English. Due to the extreme economic conditions of migrant life, children must often take a job and family responsibilities at a young age, sometimes to the detriment of school attendance. The cost of migrating is high and is common for migrants to arrive at a new destination with little or no money or food. Living conditions are cramped such as a camp housing units consisted of one small room for each family that serves for cooking, eating and sleeping. Regarding their health even minorities have the same heath problems like the others, they use fewer health services and suffer more from diseases, disabilities and an early death. Nowadays there are organizations such as MRI[5] whose mission is to advocate for the respect, protection and fulfillment of a full range of human rights of migrants around the world and to foster unity and the inclusion of migrants in all fields. 2.4 Black women Black history is very wide and during the time it has served whites as an antidote for racism indoctrination. Blacks and whites are two separate cultures, with separate traditions and diametrically opposed past experiences. Black women have been denied important implications in the history because they were profoundly affected by having to see the world through male eyes, as the majority of women did in the past, including the white women, too. They were also conditioned to limit their own life goals, being doubly victimized by scholarly neglecting and racist conceptions. Belonging to two groups which have traditionally been treated as inferiors blacks and women- they have been almost invisible. They have always been more conscious of race oppression and sex discrimination, being subjected to all the restrictions against Blacks and against women. In no area of life they havent ever been permitted to attain higher status than white females. Additionally, because of the slavery system they were sexually exploited by white men through rape or enforced sexual services. These sexual abuses, which were characteristic to the colonizers on the conquered groups, functioned actually to fasten the badge of inferiority of the slavery societies of black people. The black men were deprived of the power and right to protect their women from white men. So, the poor black women had no support, they could not rely for protection in any part. Black women had an ambiguous role in relation to white society. They were allowed to serve white families by nursing and raising white children, cleaning their houses and attending sick people. Their wages were the lowest of all including white women. Black women were also deprived of the ballot until 1920 even if poor black men could vote. But the status of black women can be seen from two different viewpoints: as members of a larger society and within their own group. When they are taken into consideration among Blacks, they had higher status within their group than white women in their society. This paradox is the direct result of white society to black one, the result of the fact that the lowest jobs in white society are reserved for black women. For black females this means that they were trained since childhood to become workers in order to survive. They knew that they had to work even they were married or single. Work to them, unlike to white women is not a liberating goal, but rather an imposed necessity for survival. More than that, they can often find a job while black men cannot do that. Black womens aim throughout history has been for the survival of her family and of her race. Until the past decade, the access to professional jobs was closed on black women due to discrimination, they were trained only for l ower position jobs or for a life of domestic work. Thus they were given smaller chances to complete their studies, than black men, who even with a college degree could hardly find a good working place because of the race discrimination. Black women showed the pride and the strength of people who had endured great oppression. This gave them a sense of their function in the world and a strong confidence in their values. Their liberation has depended on the liberation of the race and the improvement of the life of the black community. This slavery pattern was carried out a long time and only recently was abolished and Blacks were given equal rights to those of whites. But even nowadays they seem to bear the old trace of their ancestors and not everyone regards this society as one with the same opportunities. There still are some obstacles they have to surpass such as the unkindness of many white people and the difficulty to be accepted as normal. In any case it is necessary to recognize that there is a female aspect to all histories, that women were there and that their contributions were different from those of men, regardless of the color of their skin. 2.4.1 The system of slavery Slavery resisted in practice from its inception in the United States in the early 1600s to its end, in the middle of 1800s. This formed a separate and distinct culture which bound both master and slave in a complex and interdependent relationship. The slavery system was above all a labour system, designed to extract the profit of unwilling and dependent subjects. The essence of it was that the slave was legally a piece of property to be bought and sold at the masters will. He had no legal rights, could not testify in his own behalf nor bear witness against a white person. As a result to this feature, a slave was subjected to the will of his master in all circumstances and his treatment depended on the personality and economic conditions of him. Most of them lived, not on large plantation, but in small isolated agricultural units or in small farms, where they were in close daily contact with their owners. However they lived under the worst conditions, having little clothing and one pa ir of shoes that had to last them a very long period, depending on the masters will. They slept in a single room on a bad made from straw and old rags. They ate two meals a day, being provided no table; each took their own plate or a tin pan and an iron spoon and held it in the hand or on the lap. As a general rule, no lights, no firewood, no towels, no soap, no furniture were provided to them. Source material about black women as slaves did not reveal much about their lives and feelings. In general, the life of black women under slavery was in every respect more difficult and restricted than that of the men. Their work and duties were the same as that of the men, such as work on the plantation, while childbearing and childrearing fell upon them as an added burden. Their affection for their children was used as means of tying them to their masters, children being always held as hostages in case of the mothers attempted escape. The chances to escape for female slaves were fewer than those for males. There were cases in which the severe system made them to rebel and to run away, but they were caught every time, or some of them died while trying to escape. Those who survived were punished very cruelly and imposed a more severe system of terror which could keep resistance from breaking into large-scale rebellion. Thus the harsh but tolerable system was supplemented by a terroristic system of cruelty against those slaves who dared any sign of insubordination. Most runaway slaves returned voluntary, usually driven by hunger, the absence of shelter, the vast distances to be covered, their ignorance of geography, illiteracy and general lack of knowledge. The sale of those slaves was also a common mean of punishment and discipline. Slave women took part in all aspects of resistance, from rebellion to sabotage. Many of them lived with the hope that they would be free, because they were promised that if they did their job well, they would liberate at least their children. 2.4.2 Black slave families Family life was almost inexistent and blacks got married at early ages, but always with the consent of their master and mistress. Even if a black woman was pregnant she had to do the same work regardless of how she felt about it. That is why babies were not born healthy and because of the harsh conditions of life many of them died of in the first weeks of life. Those who survived were sold, because masters did not want the time of the mother be taken up by attendance upon her children. As a favor she was permitted to go to see them once a year. Parents were never consulted, having little control over their own child. Every natural and social felling was violated with indifference. Some of them were kept as a possible working force for the time when they would grow up. When they were able to work, they had to accomplish any kind of duty, no matter how difficult it might be for the poor child. There are examples when they were kept in cold entries to work for many hours, in no good con ditions. They had to finish the work without a lamp in the evening, they had no fire in the cold seasons. The tasks were often too hard for them and yet they were expected to work well with their cold fingers and standing up as if they were sitting in a comfortable place. They also had to take care of the white babies, even if they themselves were just kids. It frequently happened that relatives, among slaves were separated for weeks or months, by the husband or brother being taken by the master on journey, to attend him and his horses. When they returned, the white husband could see his wife as soon as he arrived, but the black husband had to wait until the mistress gave his wife permission to go to him. The black women could be taken with the master in their journey too and many of them pretended that they were ill, in order to avoid being sold away from her husband and children. If it happened that the slaves got sick, they did not receive medical care. Another way in which the feeling of the salves not taken into consideration and were often wounded, was by changing their names. If at the time they were brought into a family, there was another slave having the same name or if the owner did not like the name of the new comer they received another name. Many salves were grieving at having the name of their children thus changed. There had no freedom at all, because they were continuously watched. The system of espionage was the most worrying and intolerable and if they did not obey, they were whipped. An old story shows that there was a black woman who was an exemplary worker who was both feared and respected by their masters, and who by her courage imposed some restrictions upon them. She was also the smartest black woman in that particular region and whatever she did could not be done better. She could do anything. She cooked, washed, ironed, spun, nursed and labored in the field. These skills gave her a sort of independence. Other indulgent masters protected their slaves, especially women by allowing them to rest three of four weeks before and after they got birth. They were often not punished if they did not finish the task assigned to them. Then they could take the child with them, being helped by a little girl or boy who took care of the child while the mother was working. Where there was no such support, the baby was let under a tree or by the side of a fence, and the mother returned at intervals to nurse him. 2.4.3 The education of the Black communities Regarding education in the Blacks long struggle for survival, it was always a foremost goal, both as a tool for advancement an acceptance and as a means of improving life in the black community. There were Missionary groups which were engaged in effort of educating slave children. In some regions, such as the South America, slave rebellions led to a severe legislation which forbade the education of slaves. There were also some white women who continued to teach slaves to read and write. If they were caught they went to jail, but their will to help other people made this thing not so important. Separate schools for boys and girls, which were very common among white people, were a luxury for the black communities and only few of them could afford to go there. The only separate schools for both white and black girls before the Civil War provided instruction in sewing, knitting and the household skills. Despite the poverty of Blacks and the severe discriminatory restrictions which dominated their lives, they managed in the post Civil War period to send their children to school. But many of them had to do sacrifices and to endure many sufferings for the sake of sending them to schools. The reality is reflected in the way that black families raise their children as to accept work or career as a natural part of their lives. This could help black women to be better prepared for the demand of a professional career just like the majority of white women. Obviously the slow promotion of black women in a profession was due to race discrimination, both in educational preparation and access to institutions of higher education. When they were permitted to attend schools their performances were of a great value. It is not surprising that blacks, especially womens first achievement came to prominence in the cultural fields. The black female literary tradition started with the talented Phillis Wheatley[6]. Almost a hundred years later appeared some very talented novelists such as Jessie Fauset, Zora Neale Hurston etc. belonging to the Renaissance period. Theatrical and musical careers were, like other professions, restricted by race barriers. Talented black actresses were confined to play only servant roles. Twentieth-century singers were imposed some restrictions because of their race and great number of them had to leave America for Europe, to develop their talents and careers. Among these was Marian Anderson[7], who acclaimed in Europe as one of the greatest singers in the world. In no other cultural field has the black contribution been more influential than in music (spiritual, blues, jazz) and women played an integral part in this development. In the artistic and cultural fields, as in education and some professions, the long repressed black women has bought an explosion of talent and are today a dynamic force in the creation of a uniquely expressive black culture. 2.5 About womanhood Black women are human beings too and they are not guilty because they were born black. They had to suffer the insults of possessing the most depreciative elements of humanity: being black and being women. They are just as strong and weak as any other women with the same level of education, training and environment. Their liberation depended on that of the race and on the improvement of the black community. There was a great debate about colored men getting their rig

A well run business Essay

J. B. Priestley ‘An Inspector Calls’ is a play set in 1912 in the Birling’s family dining room. It was written in 1945 and set in Brumley. It features a typical affluent upper class family who own a well run business. The play starts with a small family celebration in which the daughter, Sheila Birling, is getting engaged to Gerald (a business man of the same class). The head of the family, a very prominent opinionated man, makes several toasts to the couple and lectures them about his knowledge of the world. Everything is going cosily until an unexpected visitor turns up on the Birling family’s doorstep. It’s a very sleek, mysterious inspector. The Inspector brings news of a young girl’s suicide. The Birling Family and Gerald first deny all connections with the suicide until the inspector rigorously questions each one of them and their shameful secrets are revealed. One of the reasons why J. B. Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’ has remained popular is because there is some hope for the younger generation. During most of the play the atmosphere is depressing, drab and sad. The play is based on the inspector accusing each member of helping with the suicide of the young girl. The family all concentrate on how it’s not their fault. They try to blame it on each other and remain in a haze of selfishness. Towards the end of the play the younger generation, mostly Sheila, rise above this haze and look at the consequences. Sheila says ‘But you’re forgetting one thing; everything we said had really happened and if it didn’t end with the girl’s suicide, then lucky for us. But it might have done. ‘ Sheila rises above the dilemma and tries to turn the investigation of the inspector from a depressing and pointless conversation to a well learned lesson. During this Mr and Mrs Birling seem not to care about their harsh involvement with the girl. The younger generation care more and are deeply affected with their participation of the suicide. During ‘An Inspector Calls’ both the children argue with their parents. Eric accuses Mr Birling as ‘Not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble. ‘ Mr Birling disagrees sternly with Eric and makes a point that he has treated him more than fairly. Mr Birling argues back with ‘Your trouble is that you have been spoilt. ‘

Analysis Of The Book Opening Skinner s Box - 965 Words

Lauren Slater is the author of the 2004 book called â€Å"Opening Skinner’s Box†. In this book, Slater writes about ten important psychological studies of the 20th century and she describes the personalities of the famous researchers who conducted the experiments. The book is written in story form with the author recreating the experiments in her own way. Slater uses the experiments to get the reader thinking about important concepts such as free will, authoritarianism, conformity, and morality. She writes about controversies that surround the researchers and she also tries to track down the actual researcher or other people who can help provide more information. In the first chapter of the book, Slater writes about the work of B.F. Skinner, who is known for his contribution to behavioral psychology, specifically the concept of operant conditioning. In this paper, I will summarize some of the major points from this chapter, titled â€Å"Opening Skinner’s Boxâ₠¬  and I will also offer a critical analysis of the chapter. Slater describes how Skinner expanded on Pavlov’s findings about classical conditioning, which showed how a reflex could be conditioned to happen in response to a different stimulus (Slater 10). Skinner felt that it wasn’t just reflexes that could be conditioned but other behaviors as well. He studied animal’s behaviors after they were given a reward or consequence. His famous box studies involved him training rats to be rewarded with food in fixed-ratio schedules,Show MoreRelatedFour Main Perspectives in Psychology2425 Words   |  10 Pagesregardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and the race of his ancestors†. (Watson, 1924, p. 104) Skinner believed that the best way to understand behaviour is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences. 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How to Control Tent Caterpillars

Eastern tent caterpillars, Malacosoma americanum, build unsightly silk tents in cherry, apple, and other landscape trees during early spring. The caterpillars feed on leaves of these host trees and may cause significant defoliation if present in large numbers. They can also be a nuisance as they tend to wander when theyre ready to pupate, making themselves at home on houses and decks. Make Sure Youve Really Got Tent Caterpillars First, be sure what you have are eastern tent caterpillars  and not another similar pest. Eastern tent caterpillars appear in early spring and build their tents in the crotches of tree branches. As their name suggests, fall webworms also build tents but theirs are located at the ends of branches, forming an envelope around the foliage. Some people confuse eastern tent caterpillars with gypsy moth larvae but gypsy moths do not construct tents and they usually appear a little later in spring than tent caterpillars. Prevention and Manual Controls for Tent Caterpillars If you have a few caterpillar tents in an apple or cherry tree, dont panic. Eastern tent caterpillars rarely infest ornamental trees in large enough numbers to kill landscape plants. Because they appear in early spring and complete their life cycle by summer, most of your host trees will have time to produce more leaves after initial defoliation. Pest control may not be necessary at all, however, if the infestation is overwhelming—or you just cant stand the sight of caterpillar tents in your trees—there are some things you can do to deter the invasion. To prevent tent caterpillars, the best defense can be a good offense. In the autumn, after the leaves have fallen, scout the branches of host trees for egg masses. Prune out any you find, or scrape them from the branches and destroy them. If you do find yourself facing an invasion, knowing your enemy can be the best way to rid yourself of them. Tent caterpillars rest inside their tents after they feed so you can actually remove them manually. When you notice a large group of caterpillars in the tent, use a stick or gloved hands to pull the tent from the branches, caterpillars and all. For a large tent, try winding the silk around a stick as you pull it from the tree. To eliminate the caterpillars, simply crush them or drop them in a pan of soapy water. In the past, people often set fire to caterpillar tents. However, since the practice does more harm to the tree than the caterpillars do, it is not recommended. Biological and Chemical Controls for Tent Caterpillars Young larvae may be treated with Bacillus thuringiensis var kurstaki, or  Bt, which is applied to the foliage of infested trees. Bt is a naturally occurring form of bacteria that interferes with the caterpillars ability to digest food. After the caterpillars ingest Bt, they stop eating immediately and die within a few days. You do not need to spray the tents or the caterpillars. Late-stage caterpillars, especially those that are already migrating to pupate, cannot be treated effectively with Bt. Some contact or ingestion pesticides work on eastern tent caterpillars as well. If you feel the infestation is sufficient to require this drastic an intervention, contact a pest control specialist in your area to ensure the safety of pets and wildlife.

Plato s Theory Of Forms Essay - 1427 Words

Plato was a standout amongst the most innovative and persuasive masterminds in Western philosophy, his impact all through the historical backdrop of philosophy has been monumental. Born around 428 B.C, he researched an extensive variety of topics; however, his Theory of Forms, found in The Republic, is an essential piece of Plato s philosophy. This is the center thought behind Plato s theory of forms, from this thought he moves towards clarifying his universe of forms or ideas. While trying to give the definition to elusive universals, Plato constructs a Theory of Forms to demonstrate that the sensible universe of particulars are simple impersonations of this present reality where forms live, autonomous of thought and existing in their own metaphysical realm that can be retrieved through the mind using reason. To further explain Plato’s theory of the forms, it can essentially be portrayed as otherworldly presences which are found in an alternate world from the physical world; the realm of forms. There is only one form of everything and it exists in this world of forms, everything else is just a copy -- thoughts are impeccable, the copies are flawed. The structures themselves, as indicated by Plato, are everlasting and endless. For instance, the concept of beauty remains constant and unchanging. In its place, the be auty we see in the physical world may be superficial and be seen in colors, animals or even human beings in varying degrees of beauty; however, theseShow MoreRelatedPlato s Theory Of Forms1629 Words   |  7 Pagesfew philosophical theories are as essential as the theory of Forms. This is besides the fact that it is generally overlooked in many of Plato’s writings even though it lays the foundations to many other theories of his. The Republic is where the theory is first mentioned, followed by discussion in Phaedo and criticized in Parmenides and Timaeus thereafter. (These works will be further discussed later throughout the essay.) Plato’s theory of Forms, (sometimes referred to as the theory of Ideas) statesRead MorePlato s Theory Of The Forms1704 Words   |  7 Pages Plato’s Theory of the Forms Travis Meyer PHI 1090 Introduction to Philosophy 12/16/2015 Plato was a Greek philosopher, mathematician, and theologian who lived from 424 BC to 348 BC in Athens, Greece. Plato was born into a high class family in Greece and therefore was very active in the Athenian community since he was from a high status family. He was the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is known to be one of the bestRead MorePlato s Theory Of Forms1556 Words   |  7 PagesPlato’s theory of Forms as presented in the Phaedo. Plato has an idea that all ideas are merely abstract thoughts, and what we perceive with our senses is actually an imperfect version of these abstract thoughts. This is the basic idea of Plato’s theory of the Forms. To best illustrate the theory of the Forms to others, Plato explains his famous Allegory of the Cave. From the groundwork of the Forms, Plato goes on in Phaedo to argue the immortality of the soul. He intertwines the theory of the FormsRead MorePlato s Theory Of Form1111 Words   |  5 PagesPlato coined the term â€Å"Socratic questioning† to encourage the open discussion of philosophical theory for the purpose of improving said theory. Aristotle took advantage of the practice of Socratic questioning to inquire about Plato’s theory of Form and its explanation of causality in comparison to Aristotle’s own theories of causality and being. Aristotle criticizes Plato’s theory of Form because it only accounted for a one-dimensional explana tion of what things are made up of and what identifiesRead MoreQuestions On Plato s Theory Of The Forms1875 Words   |  8 Pagesevaluate Plato s response to the problem of the One and the Many. To do this, I will outline briefly the emergence of this problem in Greek thought in order to further understand and contextualise Plato s theory of the Forms. I shall then offer criticisms of his theory, both positive and negative, with particular regard for the ontological, epistemological, and cosmological consequences of subscribing to the Forms. I shall then conclude whether or not the metaphysical system constructed by Plato is aRead MoreThe Form Of Truth : Plato s Theory Of Knowledge893 Words   |  4 PagesProfessor Jones-Cathcart Philosophy 101 16 February 2016 The Form of Truth The physical world only has one constant - change. The human senses give an idea of the present reality. However, seeing is not believing. The perception we develop through the senses (seeing, smelling, tasting, touching, and hearing) does not consist of real truth. Real truth is not what is in front of us, but of absolute concepts and unchanging truths. Plato encouraged looking past what is directly visible in order toRead MoreThe Theory Of The Forms Figures Into Plato s / Socrates Reflections1471 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction Forms are necessary or essential properties of a particular or thing. According to Socrates, these forms have properties which give them a certain causal power. Using the concept of Forms, he systematically constructs an argument in an attempt to prove that the soul exists and must always exist. Although, his complete conception of Forms is not captured in the Phaedo, We can still use this dialectic to address his arguments. In this paper, I will attempt to describe the Forms. To do thisRead MoreSocrates s Quest Of Truth1337 Words   |  6 PagesBorn in Athens in 437 B.C, Greek philosopher Plato is one of the most powerful thinkers in history. Coming from Greek aristocracy, Plato had political ambitions as a young man and appeared to follow the family tradition. However, Socrates and his dialectical method of inquiry, which was to question and answer everything to show ignorance, soon captivated Plato. Socrates spent most of his time in the streets and marketplace of Athens, approaching people like the sophist and other powerful leadersRead MoreA Life Sketch of Plato and His Works905 Words   |  4 PagesGreek philosophers, Plato must remain the best known of all the Greeks. The original name of this Athenian aristocrat was Aristiclis, but in his school days he received the nickname Platon (meaning broad) because of his broad shoulders. Plato was born in Athens, Greece to one of the oldest and most distinguished families in the city. He lived with his mother, Perictione, and his father, Ariston (Until Ariston died.) Born in an aristocratic and rich family, Plato s childhood was indulgedRead MoreExplain the Criticisms of Platos Theory of the Forms.1584 Words   |  7 PagesPlatos theory of forms, also called his theory of ideas, states that there is another world, separate from the material world that we live in called the eternal world of forms. This world, to Plato, is more real than the one we live in. His theory is shown in his Allegory of the Cave (from The Republic, Book VII), where the prisoners only live in what they think is a real world, but really it is a shadow of reality. According to Plato, to the prisoners in the allegory and to humanity in the material

Book Review on Poor Economics Free Essays

BOOK REVIEW POOR ECONOMICS: A RADICAL RETHINKING OF THE WAY TO FIGHT GLOBAL POVERTY By: Abhijit V Banerjee Esther Duflo POOR ECONOMICS argues that so much of anti-poverty policy has failed over the years because of an inadequate understanding of poverty. The battle against poverty can be won, but it will take patience, careful thinking and a willingness to learn from evidence. Banerjee and Duflo are practical visionaries whose meticulous workoffers transformative potential for poor people anywhere, and is a vital guide to policy makers, philanthropists, activists and anyone else who cares about building a world without poverty. We will write a custom essay sample on Book Review on Poor Economics or any similar topic only for you Order Now CHAPTER 1: THINK AGAIN, AGAIN Poverty and development can sometimes feel like overwhelming issues – the scale is daunting, the problems grand. Ideology drives a lot of policies, and even the most well-intentioned ideas can get bogged down by ignorance of ground-level realities and inertia at the level of the implementer. In fact, we call these the â€Å"three I’s† – ideology, ignorance, inertia – the three main reasons policies may not work and aid is not always effective. But there’s no reason to lose hope. Incremental, real change can be made. Sometimes the change seems small, but by identifying real world success stories, facing up to real world failures, and understanding why the poor make the choices they make, we can find the right levers to push to free the poor of the hidden traps that keep them behind. CHAPTER 2: A BILLION HUNGRY PEOPLE? Jeffrey Sachs, an advisor to the United Nations and director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute, is one such expert. In books and countless speeches and television appearances, he has argued that poor countries are poor because they are hot, infertile, malaria-infested, and often landlocked; these factors, however, make it hard for them to be productive without an initial large investment to help them deal with such endemic problems. But they cannot pay for the investments precisely because they are poor — they are in what economists call a â€Å"poverty trap. † Until something is done about these problems, neither free markets nor democracy will do very much for them. The basic idea of a nutrition-based poverty trap is that there exists a critical level of nutrition, above or below which dynamic forces push people either further down into poverty and hunger or further up into better-paying jobs and higher-calorie diets. These virtuous or vicious cycles can also last over generations: early childhood under-nutrition can have long-term effects on adult success. Maternal health impacts in  utero  development. And it’s not just quantity of food – quality counts, too. Micronutrients like iodine and iron can have direct impacts on health and economic outcomes. But if nutrition is so important, why don’t people spend every available extra cent on more calories? From the look of our eighteen-country dataset, people spent their money on food†¦ and festivals, funerals, weddings, televisions, DVD players, medical emergencies, alcohol, tobacco and, well, better-tasting food. CHAPTER 3: Low-Hanging Fruit for Better (Global) Health? Every year, nine million children under five die from preventable diseases such as diarrhea and malaria. Often, the treatments for these diseases are cheap, safe, and readily available. So why don’t people pick these ‘low-hanging fruit’? Why don’t mothers vaccinate their children? Why don’t families use bednets, or buy chlorinated water? And why do they spend such large amounts of money on ineffective cure instead? There are a number of possible explanations. These can include unreliable health service delivery, price sensitivity, a lack of information or trust, time-inconsistent behavior and the simple fact that the poor may not be able to tackle big, chronic illnesses. None of these reasons explains everything in isolation. But understanding what stops the immediate spread of our ‘low-hanging fruit’ – bednets, de-worming medication, vaccines, chlorinated water – is an important step in improving global health, and may finally help to eliminate health-based poverty traps. CHAPTER 4: TOP OF THE CLASS Over the past few decades, children have flocked into the schools, but schools seem to have delivered very little: teachers and students are often absent, and learning levels are very low. Why is this happening? Is it a supply issue, where the government needs to provide children with better schools, better textbooks, better teachers and better facilities? Or is it demand, where parents would lobby for quality education if and only if there were real benefits? There seems to be a problem with both. For example, parents expect both too much and too little from the schools: government jobs for those who graduate from secondary school, and nothing for the rest. Teachers seem focused on teaching small elite, and undervalue the regular students. These expectations affect behavior and generate real world waste. But the good news is that these expectations and these real world outcomes can be changed CHAPTER 5: Pak Sudarno’s Big Family Most policy makers consider population policy to be a central part of any development program. And yet, unexpectedly, it seems that access to contraception may not be the determining factor in the poor’s fertility decisions. So how can policy makers influence population? Instead of contraception, other aspects like social norms, family dynamics, and above all, economic considerations, seem to play a key role, not only in how many children people choose to have, but how they will treat them. Discrimination against women and girls remain a central fact of the life for many poor families. Going inside the â€Å"black box† of familial decision-making – that is, understanding how and why decisions are made the way they are – is essential to predicting the real impact of any social policy aimed at influencing population. CHAPTER 6: BAREFOOT HEDGEFUND MANAGERS The poor face a huge amount of risk – a friend of ours from the world of high finance once noted that they’re like hedge fund managers. These risks can come from health shocks – like an accident – or agricultural shocks – like a drought – or any other number of unexpected crises. Often, the poor just don’t have the means to weather these shocks, and so they get pushed into poverty traps. The steps they take to protect themselves form these risks are insufficient and often costly: they choose less profitable and less risky crop, they spread themselves too thin across a great number of activities; they exchange favors with neighbors. Yet all this doesn’t always even cover large shocks. CHAPTER 7: MICROFINANCE The fact that banks are often unwilling to lend to the poor, coupled with the extremely high interest rates moneylenders charge, was a call to action for the founders of microfinance. Enforcing credit contracts involves collecting extensive information about the borrower to ensure repayment. The high cost of gathering this information makes neighborhood moneylenders the easiest source of credit. Microfinance institutions rely on their ability to keep a close check on the customer, in part by involving other borrowers who happen to know the customer: This was a recipe for enormous success, there are more than 200 million microfinance borrowers today. Many MFIs were unwilling to evaluate whether their lending programs were helping the poor. The MFIs were financially sustainable and borrowers kept coming back, which the MFIs saw as proof enough. When an Indian MFI, Spandana, was rigorously evaluated, there was clear evidence that microfinance was working. People in Spandana neighborhoods were more likely to have started a business and made large purchases. However, there were no detectable impacts on women’s empowerment, spending on education or health, or in the probability that kids would be enrolled in private schools. One of the limits of microfinance is its inflexible structure and focus on â€Å"zero default. It may not be an effective borrowing channel for entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks and will go on to set up a large business. More established businesses do not find it that much easier to get credit. In particular, they run the risk of being too large for the traditional moneylenders and microfinance agencies, but too small for the banks. We need to see the equivalent of the microfinance rev olution for small and medium firms; figured out how to do it profitably on a large scale is the next big challenge for finance in developing countries. CHAPTER 8: SAVING BRICK BY BRICK Just as with lending, banks have not found a good way to adapt their services to the poor. The administrative costs associated with managing small accounts are too high. Instead, the poor find unusual and ingenious ways to save. They buying durable goods like jewelry or new bricks for their house. Many form savings â€Å"clubs† such as the popular rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) in Africa. However, the fact that the poor have to adopt complicated and costly alternative strategies to save means that saving is harder than if they had a bank account: access to a saving accounts increases profits and consumption. With new technology and innovations like M-PESA in Kenya which allows cell phone users to send money with their phone, microsavings might become the next microfinance revolution. However, not all barriers to savings are externally imposed. The poor, like anyone else, easily give in to the temptation to spend money in the present rather than save it for the future. They have difficulty, for example, saving enough over a short season to buy fertilizer; but a program to help them buy it early increased fertilizer use. The poor may be more subject to temptations than the rich because the items they dream of may be further from their reach. Poor people who feel that they have opportunities have strong reasons to cut down on â€Å"frivolous† spending and invest in the future. Those who feel that they have nothing to lose, in contrast, save less: hope matters! CHAPTER 9: RELUCTANT ENTREPRENEURS Many expect that the poor will find successful business opportunities. They haven’t been given a chance, so their ideas are fresher: MFIs have many examples of successful clients, like a garbage collector turned recycling empress! The sheer number of business owners among the poor is impressive. When tiny grants were made to small businesses in Sri Lanka, their profits increased rapidly. However, while many of the poor operate businesses, most of these businesses are tiny. The businesses of the poor tend to have few if any employees and very limited assets. The businesses run by the poor are also generally unprofitable, which may well explain why giving them a loan to start a new business does not lead to a drastic improvement in their welfare. Many businesses suffer from the â€Å"empty shelf† problem: a space a created for a shop, but no inventory fills the shelves. Even a small investment in more inventory will have large marginal returns, but once the shelves are full, the business has no further scope to grow. Despite initial large returns to small investments, many small businesses hit at point at which a substantial capital investment is needed in order to continue growing. However, few people are willing to give such large loans to the poor. Because of this trap, the poor may not invest as much (both money but also emotions and intellectual energy) into their businesses because they know that their business will always remain too small to make real money. Often, the enterprises of the poor seem more a way to buy a job when more conventional employment opportunities are not available than a reflection of a particular entrepreneurial urge. One of the most common dreams of the poor is that their children become government workers – a stable, though not always an exciting job. A sense of stability may be necessary for people to be able to take the long view. People who don’t envision substantial improvements to their future quality of life may stop trying and end up staying where they are. Creating good jobs could go a long way in increasing the stability of the lives of the poor, which will, in turn give the poor the opportunity and the urge to invest in their children and save more. There are more than a billion people who survive off of the earnings of their own farm or business. We must be impressed by their resilience. But these small businesses will probably not pave the way for a massive exit from poverty. CHAPTER 10: POLICIES, POLITICS Even the most well-intended and well-thought-out policies may not have an impact if they are not implemented properly. Corruption, or the simple dereliction of duty, creates massive inefficiencies. Many people believe that until political institutions are fixed, countries cannot really develop. There may be no natural process to completely eliminate bad institutions. Institutional change from the outside is probably an illusion. But it is not clear that things will eventually fix themselves. However, fighting corruption appears to be possible to some extent even without fixing the larger institutions. Relatively straightforward interventions, such as threatening audits or publicizing corruption results have shown impressive success. Often, small changes make important differences. In Brazil, switching to a pictorial ballot enfranchised a large number of poor and less educated adults. The politicians they elected were more likely to target their policies to the poor. In China, even imperfect elections led to policies that were more favorable to the poor. In India, when quotas for women on village councils in India were enacted, women leaders invested in public goods preferred by women. Policies are not completely determined by politics. Good policies (sometimes) happen in bad political environments. For example, Suharto built tens of thousands of schools in Indonesia. And bad policies happen in good environments, because what the government is trying to do is hard: generally, the government tries to convince people to do something they would not like to do, like wearing a helmet on a motorcycle! The opportunities for corruption are rife. Bad policies are often a product of the three I’s: ideology, ignorance, inertia. For example, nurses in India, whose job description is so overwhelming that they have decided that they cannot possibly do it, and instead do nothing. Careful understanding of constraints can lead to policies and institutions that are better designed, and less likely to be perverted by corruption. Changes will be incremental, but they will sustain and build on themselves, and perhaps even improve the political process. How to cite Book Review on Poor Economics, Essay examples

The Different Cell Membrane Transport Mechanisms free essay sample

The different cell membrane transport mechanisms The cell membrane is referred to as a ‘fluid mosaic model’ because the protein part within the cell membrane used to be though of as an even layer spread over the outside and the inside of the phospholipid. Now we are starting to think that it is spread unevenly, more like a mosaic than a layer. The phospholipid part of the cell membrane is fluid; this means that its molecules are constantly moving about. Through the molecules constantly moving about it allows for things such as ‘transient gaps’ to occur, these are gaps within the phospholipids which allow molecules to pass through; they are only temporary. Here is a picture of the fluid mosaic model: [pic] Both water-soluble (hydrophilic) and lipid soluble (hydrophobic) substances are able to pass across the cell membrane. It is easier for lipid-soluble compounds to pass relatively quickly through by dissolving in the lipid layer. Water needs to pass through via osmosis where as water-soluble substances cross the membrane through simple diffusion, facilitated diffusion and active transport. Osmosis is thought of as the diffusion of water from an area of high concentration of water molecules to an area of low concentration, across a partially permeable membrane. To define osmosis more accurately we define it in terms of water potential. Water potential is a measure of how easy it is for water molecules to move. Diffusion occurs because substances attract a ‘cloud’ of polar water molecules around them. The cloud is held by weak chemical bonds, including hydrogen bonds; this means that these water molecules cannot move freely. This is a picture of osmosis: [pic] Inside cells some solutes have a higher concentration inside than outside of the cell, this means in order to make it equal they need to move across the cell membrane against the concentration gradient. This means that they cannot get in by passive transport; passive transport is the diffusion of substances across a membrane, this is a spontaneous process and cellular nergy is not expended. Molecules will move from where the substance is more concentrated to where it is less concentrated. The rate of diffusion for different substances is not always the same even if the process is spontaneous; this is because membranes are selectively permeable. They must enter by way of a process known as active transport. It is called active transport because unlike passive transport it requires cellular energy. Active transport involves sp ecial molecules of the membrane called ‘pumps’. Pump molecules can pick up molecules and transport them to the other side of the molecule; where they are released by the pump. Pump molecules are globular proteins which span the lipid bilayer. The energy needed for active transport is used here; a reaction with ATP is required by the pump molecules to supply the metabolic energy to the process. Membrane pumps are specific to the particular molecules they work within; this is what makes selective transport. Here is a picture of active transport: [pic] Simple diffusion can take place in some of the carrier proteins found in the plasma membrane. Carrier proteins have binding sites which pick up specific molecules. They can only function in one direction and they require energy to change shape and move a solute. Simple diffusion is a passive process; this means that substances move down a concentration gradient and they do not need any input of energy from the cell, the rate of diffusion can be affected by a few things. Such as the difference in concentration between the area of high and the area of low concentration. The distance over which concentration occurs has an affect on the rate of diffusion; for example the thickness of the membrane which separates the areas of high and low concentration. The surface area which separates the area of high concentration from the area of low concentration affects the rate of diffusion. The higher the temperature is the more kinetic energy the particles possess and the faster they move; therefore this affects rate of diffusion. [pic] Facilitated diffusion is when diffusion is speeded up by specific proteins in cell membranes. These proteins are able to pass substances across the membrane faster than usual. Facilitated diffusion occurs along a concentration gradient and requires no metabolic energy, unlike active transport. There are only two types of proteins involved in facilitated diffusion; specific carrier proteins take particular substances, e. g. glucose, from one side of the membrane to the other. Ion channels are protein pores that can open or close to control the passage of selected ions, e. g. sodium and potassium. Facilitated diffusion occurs when molecules such as those that are soluble in water cannot pass through the phospholipids in the bilayer. When this happens they are transported across via the carrier proteins. Solute molecules moving about on either side of the membrane will randomly come into contact with their specific binding site. Once they bind, the protein changes shape and the molecules come off the binding site on the other side of the membrane. [pic] Both carrier proteins and ion channels are used during facilitated diffusion. Carrier proteins transport polar molecules across the membrane. The carrier protein is specific to the diffusing molecule. The molecule binds to the receptor on the carrier protein, and the protein changes shape (after an input of energy). The diffusing molecule ends up on the other side of the cell, where it is released. Ion channels are used for the transport of inorganic ions. They facilitate the diffusion of charged particles. The channels are lined with polar molecules. The charge particles move towards regions of opposite charge. The ion channels are usually specific to one particular ion.