What is the role of women in Things Fall Apart How does Achebe present Essay

What is the role of women in Things Fall Apart How does Achebe present them As subservient As dynamic members of the society - Essay Example managed to get the novel to depict women in a subservient condition as they, along with certain lbo castaway members, readily submit themselves to new religion. Women particularly give in to male orders without question. Such act implies anxiety towards the possible consequence or fate of disobedience instead of a gradual process in which a woman in this case may otherwise find confidence and time to think through better alternatives. Considering the dynamic part which women play in this type of society, diversity in role is spread throughout the novel. As priestesses, of the lbo village, women perform a traditional duty of spiritual leadership. With this role, women like Chika are largely feared (17), having the status believed to have attained the power of her god while the Agbala priestess would never hold back her firm command to Okonkwo. Being able to threaten the tribal chieftain indicates the woman’s portrayal of a figure who has constantly been revered by her subjects. Earth goddess Ani further shows the aspect of power in a significant role of woman as a supreme authority set to rule with judgment of conduct and morality of human deeds. Her power is even magnified through the attitude of the inhabitants who pay tribute by observing the Week of Peace before harvesting their crops believing that the goddess is able to prosper the farms with abundance and good growth (30). Moreover, the sense of connection to nature signifies the woman’s continuous communication of her responsibility such as the mother’s attachment to her child. This role strength is made emphatic when Okonkwo seeks refuge to his mother’s village in the time of great distress during exile (134). Here, the faith is established in the value that women can be much relied upon when desperate or unfortunate situations come. â€Å"The women [who] weeded the farm three times at definite periods in the life of the yam, neither early or late (33).† The line suggests that women may be found

African American Culture 5 Essay Example for Free

African American Culture 5 Essay Question# 4: African cultures, by and large, bring a similar world view to the relationship between man and the spiritual realm, one that is marked by an extremely personal interaction. In the broader African spiritual world human beings are seen to be under the constant influence of other people, their ancestors, minor deities, the Creator, and various forces of nature. As a result the African spiritual world can be described as interactive since all things are endowed with life-force. How is this idea expressed in ritual approaches to morality, wrongdoing, and spiritual empowerment? African American religion has always been heavily involved and influenced by the notion of morality, wrong doing and spiritual empowerment since the slave days if not earlier, African Americans came to embrace Protestant Christianity and adapted their own version of it which is consistent with evidence in the 19th century and a little bit of the 18th, at the time Christianity had little effect on slave society through the efforts of Anglicans, but it was not because African Americans rejected the gospel but because whites seized Christian brotherhood from blacks. As blacks in the South and in the British Caribbean struggled to develop individual and collective identities from the ideas and ways of African culture and their new conditions of life, the series of efforts by evangelicals to convert slaves eventually gave rise to a distinct African-American form of Christian theology, worship style, and religious community. The importance of religion and having their own take on it is among African Americans, as among all people, rests on fulfilling the human need for an understanding of one’s place in both the spiritual and temporal world. Although it was difficult, African Americans discovered in evangelical conversion requirements an opportunity to reassert personal authority based on their ability to communicate directly with God and to bring others to recognize the need for personal repentance and acceptance of Jesus. A perfect example that supports the connection between religious involvement and a sense of personal identity, is found in a slave woman who, back then it was not common for them to tell missionaries that her people have come from across the sea and lost their father and mother, and therefore want to know the Father. The displacement of Africans, for whom locality was critical to interactions with the spiritual world, did not strip them of their religious identity, but required them to learn the spiritual landscape of their new home and reshape their practices accordingly. â€Å"Come Shouting to Zion† details the many religious rituals that Africans preserved in the new world, especially those surrounding fundamental life events such as the birth and naming of children, marriage, burial ceremonies, and ritual dancing and singing to communicate with ancestors and deities. The influence of Africans with many diverse but fundamentally similar cultures in a strange new land encouraged slaves to form new pan-African cultures, which grew increasingly popular as later generations of slaves were born into bondage in America, establishing a distinct African-American culture. The pidgin African-English is a prime example of Africans in American creating a system of communication that was not traceable to a particular African ethnic origin, nor was it a perfect imitation of American English, but was instead shared by blacks in America. As slaves first encountered a foreign language that whites wished them to learn well enough to be more productive but not well enough to pose a threat to the race-based socioeconomic hierarchy, so they became acquainted with Christianity at the will of whites, but when given the opportunity, appropriated it for their own purposes. In the early encounters between slaves and Christianity it is without question that African, and particularly American-born slaves, sought a spirituality that would explain or show their temporal condition. Some salves looked to a theology of liberation and equality among Christians, which they could glean from 18th century evangelicals, mostly Anglicans, who tried to downplay these aspects of biblical teaching. The early period of evangelism was restricted by the fears of slave-owners that slaves who converted to Christianity would feel empowered to revolt against their bondage. Several conspired rebellions and many smaller incidents of black assertion were linked to blacks who had heard enough preaching to identify themselves with the enslaved nation of Israel. This fed the fears of whites, and Anglicans continued to complain that the planters who prohibited them from educating slaves on religious matters were the largest hindrance to saving African American souls. While racism was strengthened and slaves were unable to improve their social status by conforming to white European-American values, very few blacks found the Christian message Anglicans shared with them appealing . Anglican churches maintained strict separation of rich and poor, white and black, during services and sacraments. The high-church emphasized that learned men alone were authorized to teach and that blacks would listen without questioning and to accept the extension of their temporal message and isolation from whites into the religious sphere. Under these terms, it is I am not surprised that Christianity failed to take root as a meaningful religion, a spiritual world that Africans wanted to live in. But it is essential to recognize the role of whites in shaping the message that Africans were allowed to hear, and the role specifically of slaveholders in excluding blacks from access to Christianity. That blacks expressed their agency in rejecting this early version of Christianity offered to them. . At the same time Anglicans were confused over their lack of success in the Southern mainland, Moravians made a significant impact on blacks in the Caribbean by bringing a different vision of a Christian community. Moravians, Methodists, Separate Baptists, and a few other missionaries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries who sought out African Americans stressed spiritual, if not always worldly, equality. Africans identified with and embraced images of a savior who had suffered like they did, and joined these Christian images with African musical modes of expression to create spirituals that reminded: â€Å"Jesus been down to de mire/ You must bow low to de mire† (Stuckey, 139). However, you must finally accept Christianity as an affirmation of their lowly place in society and a divine exhortation to obedience and docility, as many white slaveholders had hoped they would. Rather, blacks found opportunities at biracial revival meetings which were meetings held at locations most often church, in which slaves and blacks were black would interpret what they heard and to share their divinely inspired interpretations of Christian faith, even from pulpits. During this critical period when a significant portion of blacks in the Caribbean and American South were first offered Christianity, they clearly adopted it and transformed it into something that was their own. After the period of revivals that first sparked wide-scale conversions in the South, many African-Americans focused on building a community in which they could support one another and worship in their own African-influenced style. Local black congregations extended their religious community, most notably with the founding of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in1816. As an institution spanning several states, the A. M. E. Church allowed blacks to take part at different levels in a collective, hierarchical social system as had never before been possible under American slavery. blacks continued to participate as minorities in biracial congregations (still with segregated seating) in most parts of the south and the expanding frontier, but found fewer opportunities to become ordained preachers or lay leaders in mixed parishes, where they were likely only to be allowed to â€Å"exercise the gift, provided they teach sound Doctrine sic† under the approval of whites (Frey Wood, 166). In the creation of their own religious communities in which no whites were present to criticize â€Å"overemotional† black forms of religious expression and persisting practices, such as polygamy and dancing, African-Americans actively designed a spirituality that fulfilled their needs in the slave societies of the Americas. African-American religiosity was then, as it is now, â€Å"centered on extended and expanding families and households, the importance of self-determination and personal dignity, mutual aid, and shared responsibility for the progress of the race† (Hortons, xi). In my opinion, African agency is most clearly supported by evidence of Africans defining their faith, modes of worship, and religious ties as part of a larger emerging African-American culture. Change was a relentless fact of life for Africans in 18th and 19th century America, most tragically present in enslavement and removal from Africa and domestic trade within the Americas that broke up families as masters bought and sold property. Outside the personal struggles of individual slaves, the changes in ideology and society wrought by the era of the American Revolution exposed Africans and their descendents to evolving external ideas about their place within American society, their rights as humans, and their needs as spiritual beings. Religion was one of the few arenas in which African-Americans could control the changes in their individual lives and their culture as a whole. Evolving religious traditions provided individuals over generations with a source of spiritual renewal and a supportive community and prepared an institution that could serve future generations. The long and turbulent transition from African forms of religiosity to African-influenced forms of Protestantism shows that black Americans created, out of all religious ideas and structures available to them, a faith that was their own. Question#3 The musical selections in this section come from Africa and the Americas. Some are examples of the preservation of traditional musical styles; others are examples of the adaptation of traditional modes of expression to modern styles. Prevalent in each performance is the use of either percussion instruments such as drums or singing in groups or by soloists. How do these musical selections exemplify a common African musical aesthetic, i. e. rhythmic syncopation, call-and-response, melodic constructions, vocal colors, in both traditional and contemporary expressions? African dance has contributed many characteristics to dance in America. We see evidence of this in many aspects of dance today. Being such a diverse nation, America has the blessing of combining original dances from different cultures to create an amazing dance repertoire. American dance as we know would be completely different, if it weren’t for the Africans. African dance began with the different rhythms of the tribes. Its roots in America began with the slave trade. The American slave trade began in 1619, (However, Africans were imported as slaves to the West Indies staring almost a century before that) with the arrival of Dutch trading ships carrying a cargo of Africans to Virginia. They were first brought over by boat to places such as Brazil, Cuba, and Haiti. Eventually different countries end up taking over those nations and slaves fall under their rule. In Brazil, the Portuguese take over, in Cuba the Spanish take over, and in Haiti, the French take over. The retaining of African culture by those in slavery was stronger in the other nations than in America, as the Spanish and French rulers adhered to the more lenient view of dancing taken by the Catholic Church. In America, the Protestant church strongly disapproved of dance. Therefore, dances that occurred in the West Indies, Brazil, Haiti and Cuba retained more of the African dance structure, than those in America did. Those dances can be classified as recreational or sacred. An example of a recreational dance is the Juba, which was a competitive dance where opponents would outdo each other in feats of skill, sometimes while balancing something on their head. Sacred dances were based on the worship of religious gods. The goal of the dance was for the dancer to become possessed by the god so that it would speak through the dancer. Two examples are voodoo and Shango dances. Traces of the African religious practice of possession, or disengaging from reality through the combined effects of music and dance, can be detected in the appeal of some forms of jazz dance. In America, the dance movement of Africa was restrained mainly by two factors: the attitude of the church towards dancing as being immoral and the restricted use of the primary African instrument (the drum). Drumming was banned in 1739 following a slave insurrection. White plantation owners responded by banning all drums and that forced slaves to search for other percussion options. They substituted with banjos, clapping hands, stomping feet, and the fiddle. Dances that occurred on the Plantations were for recreation and religious reasons also. Because of the European influence in America, the movement gave a distinct American appearance, rather than a strictly African one. Many dances imitated animals. There were also circle dances and dances for celebrations. Another category that emerged was competitive dances. The most well known one was the cakewalk. The slaves had witnessed their owners’ dancing festivities and imitated their stiff upper bodies while contrasting it with loose leg movements. The owners enjoyed watching this and gave a cake to the best dancer. The observation of African dancing by the whites led to them stereotyping the dancing slave. They began to blacken their faces and imitate them using such indigenous movements as the ‘shuffle’. The imitation dances by whites started an era of American entertainment based on the stereotype on the dancing ‘Negro’. Before the Civil War, professional dancers were mostly white, with the exception of William Henry Lane. He was also known as Master Juba and was a freeborn slave thought to be the best dancer in the World. He had lived in Manhattan where the Irish immigrants also lived. His dancing was a combination of Irish jig dancing and African rhythm, just like the slaves who were forced to compete with the Irish migrant workers aboard the ships. Both his movements and the Nigerian slaves are said to be the start of tap dance. Minstrelsy was also a popular form of entertainment in America from 1845 –1900. The Minstrel show was a group of male performers that portrayed the Negro as either slow and shuffling or sharply dressed and quick moving. The minstrel show proved prominent in spreading vernacular dances like the cakewalk and jig dancing on a wide scale. The next major change after minstrelsy came with the birth of ragtime music and ballroom dancing after 1910. A bunch of animal dances were seen in white ballrooms. Examples were the Turkey Trot, and Chicken Scratch. The invasion of ballrooms with native inspired dances set the stage for the same process to occur on Broadway. Zeigfield borrowed some of these dances for his Follies. Social dance became introduced on the theatrical stage. The big aspect being borrowed wasn’t the actual dances, but their swinging qualities. In 1921, Shuffle Along featured a jazz inspired dance called the Charleston. It left the audience with a lot of energy and a new respect towards black dancing. Tap was now also brought to white audiences and the musical comedies took on a new, more rhythmic life. In the late 1920s, jazz inspired songs replaced the popular white standards and America accepted Jazz music as its own. Louis Armstrong was a big part of the creation of swing music. It was a style of jazz music that emphasized African influenced rhythm and was played by big bands. Faster and sharper footwork came about and the Lindy was the new dance craze. It incorporated the shuffle and glide and buck and wing movements from early African dances. The Lindy was significant for starting jazz dance styles used in later musicals. It also gave the opportunity for white choreographers to experience African swing. Jazz music and dancing slowed down in popularity after WWII. Technology and music were evolving. The beat became more complex and musicians like Charlie Parker and Dizie Gillespie explored more with improve. The overall result was, jazz music became something more to listen to rather than to dance socially. The advent of Television in the 1950s also kept people at home instead of on the dance floors. African American dance became more of an artistic expression than a social means. Professional companies and dancers restored early African rhythms and the beauty and emotion of their traditional songs, including Catherine Dunham’s Shango, Alvin Ailey’s Revelations and Bill T. Jones’ Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In the past 50 years, African American dance has been rich in innovations as well as connections with the past. The definition of professional dance has broadened beyond ballet, modern, and jazz. Popular and social dances, including the urban black dance forms of break dancing and hip-hop have been recognized for their artistry and expressiveness. Dance created and performed by African Americans has become a permanent part of American dance. Every dancer and almost every person in America, in one way or another has danced steps that resemble early African polyrhythmic movements. Personally, I think the dance World in America could no have flourished as well as it did without it’s African influences. since the slave trade the drum has been used all over the world as a means of communication and self expression. Its broad variety of users includes the early African tribes, using them for ceremonial purposes. The Africans brought drums with them to the Americas and helped to develop their popularity among American musicians. In the mid 1900’s drum sets were brought about. These revolutionary collaborations of percussive pieces started off with a pair of hi-hats, a bass and snare drum, and a couple of tom toms. Later as the music progressed, so did the drum kits, completely eliminating the need for an entire drum section. With the coming of the rock and roll movement the drum kits were changing, they needed to accommodate the new music styles. They became sonically diverse and even electronic drums were brought about; making them infinitely adjustable both ergonomically and musically. With every major drum manufacturer competing to have the best product on the market drums will always be evolving. African American musicians and early slaves choose to use drums as a common form of expression because of the deep bass that was used to duplicate heart beat and thunder. The sound waves for open ended and string instruments is fairly straight forward. However, for a closed end instrument, such as a drum, the sound waves are different. A lot of the energy is dissipated through the shell of the drum, which is the reason for the variance in drum construction these days. Many different kinds of wood are used to generate different sounds, or a different amount of energy absorption. For a warmer, deeper sound maple construction is used while birch is used to get a high, resonant tone full of vibration. The heaviest wood that dissipates the most amount of energy is oak, creating a lower, flat sound. Question#1 I believe that Egypt’s economic progress over the last decade is a great example of showing how They have come a long way and are still vastly improving. Egypt is the third-largest economy in the Middle East and North Africa region (after Saudi Arabia and Israel), as well as one of the strongest, with significant potential for future economic growth and diversification. With a real commitment to economic reform, which favors a large privatization program and the encouragement of private investment and growth. The improvement in Ghana is evident in how their country has such a diverse economy. The Gold Coast was renamed Ghana upon independence in 1957 because of indications that present-day inhabitants descended from migrants who moved south from the ancient kingdom of Ghana. By West African standards, Ghana has a relatively diverse and rich natural resource base Mineralsprincipally gold, diamonds, manganese ore, and bauxiteare produced and exported. Exploration for oil and gas resources is ongoing. Timber and marine resources are important but declining resources. Agriculture remains a mainstay of the economy, accounting for more than one-third of GDP and about 55% of formal employment. Cash crops consist primarily of cocoa and cocoa products, which typically provide about one-third of export revenue, timber products, coconuts and other palm products, shear nuts , and coffee. Ghana also has established a successful program of nontraditional agricultural products for export including pineapples, cashews, and peppers. Cassava, yams, plantains, corn, rice, peanuts, millet, and sorghum are the basic foodstuffs. Fish, poultry, and meat also are important dietary staples. Ghanas industrial base is relatively advanced compared to many other African countries. Industries include textiles, apparel, steel (using scrap), tires, oil refining, flour milling, beverages, tobacco, simple consumer goods, and car, truck, and bus assembly. Industry, including mining, manufacturing, construction and electricity, accounts for about 25% of GDP. I strongly believe that since Ghana and Egypt have improved so vastly it is helping African Americans improve in general, the saying â€Å"We come from a long line of kings and queens is such a truthful statement if you look back on history. We have a lot of ancestry that lies within Ghana and Egypt. With the knowledge of the past it will help us to continue realize our past and bring us to terms with the future. We can reverse the process by not letting people hold us back and to not blame others. I also believe that strong knowledge of Ghana and Egypt and Mali, will also further our culture by being educated and not told how our past was. There are a lot of invention by many great African Americans that most people do not know that black inventors were behind the idea, not that is matters that a black or a white person constructed or came up with an idea for a patent, it is essential that we are have contributed just as many things if not more than any other culture. There have been so many contributions to society to western civilization and I feel it is so important that we surround our selves with knowledge of our ancestors because they worked hard to get us to the point today where we are able to vote and the possibility of a black president. The saying that we come from a long line kings and queens is so powerful because it shows you that black really is beautiful and if you retrace our ancestors you will find out that our people were just as important as kings and queens. Lewis Temple was the inventor of a whaling harpoon called the Temples Toggle and the Temples Iron. He was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1800 and arrived in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1829. He worked as a blacksmith and had lots of friends that were whalers who bought harpoons and had lots of conversations with them. Granville T. Wood was known as the black Edison. Woods was born in Columbus, Ohio on April 23,1856. He never finished elementary school and he worked in a machine shop at a very young age. He moved to Missouri in 1872 at the age of sixteen. By 1881 he opened a factory in Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactured telephone, telegraph and electrical equipment. He filed for his first application for a patent in 1884 for an improved steam-boiler furnace. Woods patented the telographony , a combination of the telegraph and the telephone. He produced one of his most important inventions in 1887, it was called the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph. It enabled messages to be sent from moving trains and railways stations. In 1890 he set out to improve the lighting system by creating an efficient safe economical dimmer. It was safer and and resulted in 40% energy savings. Woods also created an overhead conducting system for electrical railways and the electrified third rail. By the time of his death in 1910 he had 150 patents awarded to him all together. Lewis H. L was a pioneer in the development of the electric light bulb. He was also the only black member of the Edison Pioneers, a group of inventors and scientists who worked with Thomas Edison. He was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1848 and was raised in Boston. He enlisted in the Navy and served as a cabin boy on the U. S. S Massaoitta the age of sixteen. Latimer was given the assignment to draw plans for Alexander Graham Bells telephone patent . In 1879 Latimer went to work as a draftsman for Hiram Maxim, who invented the machine gun and headed the electric lighting company. Latimer worked on improving the quality of the carbon filament used in the light bulb. In 1882 he received a patent for an improved process for manufacturing carbon filaments. Gerrett is best remembered for his invention of the gas mask and the three way traffic signal. Mogan was born on March 4,1875 in Paris, Kentucky. He left school after fifth grade at the age of fourteen. He left Kentucky and headed for Cincinnati, Ohio and got a job as a handy man in a sewing shop. Morgan directed his attention to the frequent instances of firemen being overcome by fumes and thick smoke when they went into burning buildings. He perfected breathing device which he patented in 1914. In 1923morgan patented an automatic traffic signal which he sold to the General Electric Company for four thousand dollars. In 1963 Garrett A. Morgan died at ht age of 88 in Cleveland, Ohio after he was ill for two years. Just to name a few ,those were a couple of major contributors to the African American culture and western civilization.

Women In The Workforce Sociology Essay

Women In The Workforce Sociology Essay It has been argued that, women have been excluded from the study of work, and that, when they are studied, the analysis has often been distorted by sexist assumptions (Acker, 1977; Acker and Van Houten, 1974; Brown, 1976; Kanter, 1975, 1977; Oakley, 1974). Prior to the industrial revolution, the family economy operated as a cohesive unit; typically all family members, regardless of age or gender, were engaged in productive labour (Tilly and Scott, 1978). Given gendered expectations, along with a gendered opportunity structure (Browne and England, 1997), we, therefore, assume that Women would benefit from arrangements providing the most family-related resources and Supports in terms of both economic capital (e.g. income, security) and social capital (e.g. less time on the job, a supportive supervisor). Wethington and Kessler (1989) found women with high employment commitments were more vulnerable to distress (see also Mirowsky, 1996). Nowadays women have more freedom in choosing the path for their future and they may decide whether or not to combine career with having children. Womens increased share of the labour force has prompted businesses to respond to their family needs by providing flexitime, or flexible work schedules (Wiatrowski, 1990). Bergmann 1986 highlights that middle class women are having fewer children; their labour force participation is now less responsive to their position in the family cycle. In fact as stated by Robinson, 1988 Women still do much more housework and family care than men, but the hours women spend performing these duties have been declining, particularly among younger women. The entrance of women of all ages into the labour force in the second half of the twentieth century has created another period of structural lag (Moen and Yu, 2000). However although there has been effort done to increase diversity, female employees still face the glass ceiling when it comes to the top management jobs. The glass ceiling is according to Maume,2004 a failure of women or a certain minority groups in climbing up the corporate ladder, despite seeing the top jobs but still not reaching them due to the discriminatory barriers. The expectations from the womens family and from the society may sometimes affect the decisions of women in their career objectives which may act as a barrier. The society sometimes treats women differently. Sometimes often careers are cut short because of for instance maternity leave which takes women out of the workplace for months at a time where the company needs to move on. However, over the last years there was a change in the perspective that women are not as effective as men and this was highlighted in the Economist Men -Tomorrows second sex. A One Chief Executive Officer of a large Mauritian multi-national stated recently: Women have done really well here and moved on. Ive never come across sexist views. There are some really good assertive women role models here. Women want to progress and peoples attitudes have changed. Women in hospitality Woods and Viehland (2000) found that although practitioners and researchers were concerned with females status in hotel management, only a few empirical studies examined this topic. Whether the issue has been scrupulously studied or not, relevant literature clarified that it was widely debated (Mann and Seacord, 2003; Del Sesto, 1993). In UK, the tourism sector was one of the area where there was the fastest growth and in the 80s three quarter of this growth was womens who were the most represented mainly in partime jobs ,insecure, low status and clerical post. Recent years have seen an emergence of studies that explore mobility, the role of women in the labor force and the expansion of the internationally hospitality workforce (Baum et al,2007 ; Devin,Baum,Hearns,Devine2007a,2007b;MatthewRuhs,2007).Today tourism presents both the opportunities and challenges for gender equality and womens empowerment. (Global report on women in tourism 2010). Females contribute a significant proportion of the labor force in several countries awareness of the factors and the constraints that might affect their participation is increasingly required for their managers ( Burrel et al, 1997). The participation and involvement of women in tourism sector is being encouraged and womens participation has increased directly and indirectly in tourism industry also Boxall and Purcell,2003 states that the career ladder within hotels is predicated on the conventional employment models of continuous employment and linear progression. (Bagulley, 1990, Hicks 1990; Jordon 1997 ; Wood 1992) Identify that the tourism and hospitality sectors are dominated by women and managed by men; in fact it is very common as the service sector is largely populated by women and they are more present especially at the lower level. Women are important to the hospitality labour market ( Doherty 1997). In many of the literature review it has been observed and declared by many authors that women are key participants in the tourism labour market ( Ashley,Roe and Goodwin 2001;Jameison 2003) ,although there is a belief that women tend to be disadvantaged in this sector as few women occupy the senior executive positions and those that do receive less pay ( Iverson,2000 ; Jordon 1997 ; Ng and Pine 2003 ; Skalpe,2007; Zhong and Couch,2007). However, we can put forward assertion was that girls are now outperforming boys at every level in school and closing the gap at university level. Women in fact predominate in the growing service sector, while men are trapped in declining heavy industries the sugar industry is an example (In Mauritius) and that employed men are no longer attractive marriage partners. (Tulsidas Naraidoo, 2011) It has been found that women are more likely to fill part time roles , 54% of female working in the sector work part time, compared to 46% of man-according to women case for change-executive summary 2010. Beyond the rapidly increasing numbers of female entering the workplace (Mc Dougal Briley 1994), we cannot neglect womens contribution in tourism development as for instance nowadays the proportion of women graduated in the sector is increasing at a rapid rate. Women are acknowledged as key participants in the tourism labor market (Ashley, Roe and Goodwin 2001; Jamieson 2003). According to Kate Purcell the womens jobs fall predominantly three categories: Contingently- gendered jobs which happen to be mainly done by women but for which the demand for labour is gender-neutral. Women work in such jobs as a result of employers pursuit of economic advantage rather than gendered preferences; they want cheap workers, and women particularly, married women seeking part time work have historically been available for employment for lower average rates of pay than men; partly reflecting their status as component rather than breadwinner. Crompton and Sanderson[8, pp. 155-8] sextyped jobs, where sexuality or other attributes assumed to be sex-related are explicit or implicit parts of the job specification In the hospitality industry it is a clichà © that the right kind of personality is a more important employment prerequisite than formal qualifications[13,14]. Where Filbys[16] finding that personality tends to be used as a synonym for sexual attractiveness and/or gender-specific tacit skills and attributes. He was told by a male manager he interviewed that recruitment of female staff was informed by a height for weight principle It has been noted that for some front house jobs it is essential to have a certain type of woman which, when pressed, he defined as ideally between 21 and 26, with long legs and a good figure. This is because the the customers expect it. This remark was highlighted by many other authors as Adkins [17, p. 109]). Patriarchally-prescribed jobs where patriarchal practice determines and prescribes appropriate job incumbency. Patriarchal prescriptions, though, is a distinct and equally powerful tendency, deriving from largely unarticulated understandings that male dominance in the home and in the public sphere and womens dependency are normal and that these norms derive from natural differences between the sexes. Bell and Newby have identified that there is thee is the deferential dialect between male and female often, as reinforcing womens economic dependency on men by providing opportunities for component waged jobs[10] which the HCTC[3, p. 37] note, without irony, appeal to women who wish to combine the opportunity to earn an income with their domestic responsibilities. The more higher level and very well paid the post is, the more likely it will be filled by a man, even though , women may be greater in number in the industry. Gender roles play a great role for womens low involvement in direct tourism business in one hand and on the other hand many employers of this sector think that women cannot continue the job due to their social and biological reproductive responsibilities. Such attitude of the employers about women may be due to the discriminative nature of the patriarchal system of the society. Tourism provides good opportunities for female employees contribution and participation in the tourism employment. Womens entrepreneurship as well as their leadership is important. Female employee in the tourism sector earn low pay and they are sometimes under utilised and under represented. However tourism offers positive pathways to the female success in tourism. The global report on women in tourism 2010 by UNWTO and UNIFEM (now UN Women) findings were as follows: 1. Women make up a large proportion of the formal tourism workforce. 2. Women are well represented in service and clerical level jobs but poorly represented at professional levels. 3. Women in tourism are typically earning 10% to 15% less than their male counterparts. 4. The tourism sector has almost twice as many women employers as other sectors. 5. One in five tourism ministers worldwide are women. 6. Women make up a much higher proportion of own-account workers in tourism than in other sectors. 7. A large amount of unpaid work is being carried out by women in family tourism businesses. Research indicates that religion, culture, and society can influence womens employment (Constance 2005; Feldmann 2007; Foroutan 2008; Read and Oselin 2008; Read 2004) and also a good example is in the context of Malaysia, Amin and Alam (2008) also found that religion significantly influenced a womans decision regarding employment. However religion may not be the only factor discouraging women of working in hotels but also poor employee facilities and the absence of childcare facilities available in the country (Dayal and Didi 2001). 2.2.1 Women contribution to the hospitality industry Women are acknowledged as key participants in the tourism labor market(Ashley, Roe and Goodwin 2001; Jamieson 2003). The tourism sector is very labour intensive; it provides different jobs opportunities from high skilled jobs to unskilled jobs. However Women are often concentrated in low status, low paid and precarious jobs in tourism industry as quoted in the global report on women in tourism 2010. According to Garavan etal., 2006;Woods and Viehland, 2000, senior managers are predominantly male; women middle managers are in housekeeping, front desk, personnel and training and conference and banqueting, whereas male managers are in finance and control, property and security and purchasing the latter more likely to lead to the general managers job also as stated in the report of the fifth UNWTO international conference on tourism statistics the apparent rate of women in the sector seems also to be related to the cultural issues, especially for employment in housekeeping, laundry, food preparation, guest services and so on. Many countries have a high presence of the feminine labour force in tourism t his is because of the high demand of unqualified workers, especially for young women. Initially in the other hand females describe themselves much less satisfied than males in the hospitality sector. In America more than 50 % of the people who are employed in the tourism sector are women. According to Edgell, one in every fifteen people all over the world is employed in tourism sector and half of them are women. In the third world women constitute the basement of employment in tourism sector because they may work part-time, seasonally and without full salary. However, the industry plays a very important role for the education and independence of women. Since tourism is a hospitality industry, the role of women is looked upon as significant and the trend of women participation is considerably increased since the mid of 70s. According to World Tourism Organization, in tourism business 51 percent are women (MOT/UNDP, 2006). Barriers face by female employees in hotels Even though women are important for the tourism sector, barriers to the advancement of female employees continue to persist; literature has singled out societys stereotypes and prejudices against women in positions of power (Catalyst, 2002, 2005). In fact a number of possible barriers to womens career advancement have been identified (Brownell 1993), including: the glass ceiling based on gender discrimination lack of role models an absence of mentoring opportunities exclusion from informal networks gender discrimination and sexual harassment (Knutson and Schmigdall, 1999) From Richard Martell and Christopher Parker view it is stereotype which acts as a major barrier to women, they stated that women lack characteristics most needed to succeed and consequently were often judged to be less qualified than men. However from the executive summary of the case for change: Women working in hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism 2010, identify five other key barriers which according to them appear to be most significant in preventing women advancement to senior roles in the sector: the difficulty of combining work at senior roles with caring responsibilities a dominant masculine organisational culture preconceptions and gender bias lack of networking and exclusion from informal networks of communication Lack of visible women in senior positions. What can be noted is that all the authors writings upon the barriers that stop women advancements are quite the same basically. It resemble in the sense that for example the lack of example of women at senior post, the stereotype at work or even the lack of networking. There is a serious need today to establish what kinds of work women may perform and if there are any barriers to their full integration and to identify policies and practices which might be helpful for employers who wished to make better use of their female workforce. (Tulsidas Naraidoo, 2011). ). However Woods and Kavanaugh (1994) according to whom gender discrimination was an invisible barrier that kept women from reaching top positions in many management circles There are other barriers identified also for instance: Other authors have cited the old boy network (Brownell, 1994a; Diaz and Umbreit, 1995); Women may have to work twice as hard and do twice as good a job in order to warrant a promotion (Brownell, 1994b, Gregg and Johnson, 1996). Moreover Sekam 2000 sited that for family reason as well as organisational demands become to both working women and their organisation that fail to tap the full potential of experienced women thereby becoming less productive themselves. Family constraints is another barrier that women can faced it can be perceived ad a function of a females commitment to and actual involvement in duties associated with parental ,marital and homemaker roles on one hand and the amount of support she receives from her spouses and relatives on the other ( Chin-Ching 1992).Sometimes in some countries in hotel industry part-time or of informal work is the flexibility it can give to women who may be required to spend more time wo rking in the home (with family or care responsibilities). (ILO report). On the other hand some research indicates that religion, culture, and society can influence womens employment (Constance 2005; Feldmann 2007; Foroutan 2008; Read and Oselin 2008; Read 2004). 2.3.1 Segregation in the hospitality industry The theories of occupational segregation on womens employment were first presented in depth by Hakim (1992). In fact the tourism industry has shown a wide adoption of segregational occupation (Crompton and Sunderson 1990). In the industry women frequently carry out the most undesirable and lowest status work ( Adid and Guerrier 2003; Korczynski 2002) Many authors have identified the factors which contribute to the professional marginalisation of women. The interlinked factors include gender stereotyping ( Heilman,2001) ; a lack a role model , mentors and peers for women in the workplace ( Noe,1988) and the glass ceiling ( Davidson and Cooper,1992; Reich 1995). Problems of gender domination include women workers crowded into a narrow range of jobs, lack opportunities for promotion and development and insufficient opportunity to develop a broad range of skills (Gardner and Plamer 1997; Haganand Jensen 1998). The Global report on women in tourism 2010, states that gender stereotyping and discrimination means that women mainly tend to perform job such as cooking, cleaning and hospitality. Vertical and Horizontal sex segregation has been shown to exist in the hotel industry ( Ludkins 1999). As in most organisations and occupations, there are male and female occupational groups vertically and horizontally segregated throughout large hospitality organizations and hotels themselves, reflecting economic and power differences. Many studies of gender segregation have focused on international country comparisons (Jensen et al., 1988, OECD, 1999) and industry and cross sectoral comparisons (Game and Pringle, 1983; Pringle, 1988). Segregation by gender results in individual costs to women workers in terms of narrower range of employment choices and opportunities along with lower pay but there are also broader economic and social costs. It is contended that gender segregation of the workforce inhibits flexibility in responding to pressures of structural adjustments and prevents expanding national skills bases resulting in a less competitive economy. (OECD, 1991) The sexual division of labour resulting in the domination of industry sectors, organisations and professional by one gender is argued to be a major factor shaping workplace relations. (Game and Pringle, 1983; Burton, 1991) In general, gender inequality in the labour market is closely connected to educational and professional, both vertical and horizontal, segregation. The labour market is divided into womens jobs and mens jobs, and women find it hard to access managerial posts. (HCT ILO REPORT). Stockdale (1991, p.57) has defined occupational sex segregation as existing where the jobs, that women do are different from those done by men ( horizontal segregation) and women work at lower levels than men in the occupational hierarchy ( vertical segregation). It is still the case that relatively few women achieve management roles in the service areas and as a consequence few make to general management positions. This segregation within the management ranks impacts adversely on the pay of women managers and their influence in this field. Tulsidas Naraidoo, 2011. 2.3.2 Sexual issues in hotels. Urrys[18] observation that such the service and commercial industry involve the sale of an experience, where the quality of the social interaction, including the visual presentation of interactive service workers, is an intrinsic part of the service itself. If women are routinely seen as (indeed, employed as) sex objects, what implications does this have for their career development opportunities, as individuals and as a category? Interactive service jobs in hospitality, tourism and leisure, exemplify occupations where gender (and indeed, sexuality) are explicit aspects of the job. In fact tourism is associated with freedom and relaxation that have traditionally been visualized in marketing and PR with images of attractive young women. (HCT ILO REPORT). Woods and Cavanaugh (1999) stated that almost one-quarter of both males and females agreed that most women in the hospitality industry had been subjected to sexual harassment at work. The ILO report that women are, more often than men , faced with precarious types of jobs, violence at work, stress and sexual harassment. It is a fact that when working in the hotel industry the service worker must be socially attractive and friendly with the customer . An author even gave an example of a young girl who was told on starting waitress to wear her skirt as short she would feel comfortable. The main characteristics of the sexual issues are obviously the sexual harassment on the place of work that is at the hotels. Woods and Kavanagh (1994) found that hospitality managers perceive sexual harassment to be pervasive within the industry.In many customer contact roles in the service sector, sexiness is a part of the role itself, the job flirt is encouraged as a part of the service style (Hall, 1993) and there may be a thin line between selling the service and selling sexuality. The hospitality industry can be susceptible of having incidents odf sexual harassment due to the ambiguity of hospitality service , that is , the odd working hours as well as the conditions of work. 2.3.3 The gender role stereotyping perspective in hotels. Stockdale (1991, p.57) assumption about the segregation and stereotype the assumption that people in particular jobs and the jobs themselves have the characteristics of only one gender. Women in the hospitality industry are widely employed in subordinate jobs for their nurturing and/or sexual attributes. Moreover differential treatment of women has been reported in recruitment, pay and career development prospects (Brown, 1979). The reason for the different treatment is the gender role stereotyping perspective. In fact women have been socialized to adopt attitudes and behavior that are in conflict with the demands of a successful managerial career (Schein, 1973, 1975; Terborg, 1977). Sinclair (1997) found that women have been excluded from some occupations within the tourism industry due to traditional ideologies of gender and social sexuality which is very stereotyped. Stereotyping can have negative impacts to womens advancement in the workplace, since negative stereotypes of women influence how their workers perceive them, how their other colleagues perceive their work, their selection for further training and development, and finally, the rapid pace they move in their career. Athought there are such stereotyping in the industry, studies show that female students are more committed to careers in hospitality and tourism and seem to better fit success in this sector than do their male classmates and colleagues (Kuslavan and Kuslavan, 2000; Burke et al., 2008). The female employees must be able of wearing two different hats one at work and one at home 2.3.4 Breaking of the Glass Ceiling in the Hospitality industry. The term was earlier used by Morrison et al. (1987) in their fascinating book Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Can Women Reach the Top of Americas Largest Corporations? That gave new insight to the issues women face in their journey through the executive echelons of the corporate organizations and Maume 2004, stated that glass ceiling is the failure of women and other minority groups in climbing up the corporate ladder, despite seeing the top jobs, but still not reaching them due to discriminatory barriers, is what many think of as glass ceiling. There have been many studies about the breaking of glass ceiling of women in each and every industry. Cotter et al. (2001) profound description of the term as a specific form of generic inequality existing at the apex of hierarchy contradicts others (Reskin and Padavic, 2001; Maume, 2004) claiming its existence in lower levels and working class jobs. Cotter et al. (2001) three criteria for the glass ceiling occurrence suggest that it occurs when despite similar credentials women (and minorities) face barriers in their career advancements, it also occurs when due to limited promotional prospects; women are discouraged from the initial placement on the job ladder, thus raising mens numbers to survive till the top levels and lastly, while organizations may be willing to pay out high salaries to women, they still hesitate to place them in positions where they can make an impact on organizations profitability, therefore, glass ceiling is created. The glass ceiling as in every industry affected also women in the hospitality industry. It has been highlighted by many authors that the industry is a female dominated industry however it is manage by men. Among the reasons for the glass ceiling phenomenon such as the lack of role models, mentoring, networking options, and the complexities of the dual role as working woman and housekeeper (Crampton and Mishra, 1999), literature has singled out societys stereotypes and prejudices against women in positions of power (Catalyst, 2002, 2005). According to Frank (2006 do find evidence that gay/bisexual men suffer from glass ceilings comparable to those faced by heterosexual women (p. 485). Existing management resistance must be offset by the multiplier effect of more female role models advancing beyond the glass ceiling. 2.3.5 The promotion issues in hotels. Like the retail services, tourism and hospitality are sectors which are highly dominated by women however managed by men (Bagguley, 1990; Hicks, 1990; Jordon, 1997; Wood, 1992) Sometimes men get more privileged than women these differentials were reinforced by differences in fringe benefits, with men in the commercial hospitality sector significantly more likely than women to be entitled to valuable perks such as company cars, free or subsidized meals, low-cost housing, private health insurance, company share ownership schemes and product discounts. . Many authors tend to attribute the finding that males are promoted more frequently and rapidly than equally qualified females to the influence of gender based stereotypes (Owen and Todor, 1993; Cordano et al., 2002; Tomkiewicz et al., 2004). The hospitality business, therefore, provides fewer opportunities for promotion that are sufficient to meet the expectations of females (McCuddy et. al., 2010). 2.3.5.1 Women in management level in Hotels Ludking (1999) notes the lack of women in general manger positions despite the high percentage of women in college and university hospitality programs. Although women are now graduating in higher numbers than men from educational institutions (Fagenson and Jackson, 1994) and more women are entering the paid workforce (Hind and Baruch, 1997) and taking up managerial roles (Parker and Fagenson, 1994), the poor representation of women at senior management level continues. Pursuing a managerial career in every industry requires skills and competencies imparted to men as a social group. Employees and managers holding this type of stereotypic view are likely to perceive women as ineffective managers in job positions incongruent with females more traditionally passive gender role. (Schein, 1973, 1975, 1978; Rosen and Jerdee, 1974; Powell and Butterfield, 1979; Brenner et al., 1989; Schein et al., 1989; Schein and Mueller, 1992; Schein et al., 1996; Heilman et al., 1995; Powell et al., 2002). It is not hard to find in the western context where patterns of gender inequality persist in leadership positions even with womens increasing visibility in the lower echelons of management (Weyer, 2007). Ezell et al. (1981) measuring the effects of having being supervised by a woman on perceptions of female managerial competence found significant differences only in the area of the motivation of a woman to manage. In the present study, direct contact could not help in suppressing gender stereotypes. By June 1996 only three of 72 Hong Kong Hotels had female general managers (Pine 1997). Womans desire for advancement into a senior-level leadership position becomes more difficult because of the prevalent traditional role assumptions (Schaap et. al., 2008). Moreover, research conducted in the U.S.A. indicates that, even in America, a disproportionate low number of highly educated females attain executive status in the industry (Li and Leung, 2001). The career ladder within hotels is predicated on the conventional employment models of continuous employment and linear progression (Boxall and Purcell, 2003). Some literatures state that the recruitment and selection processe may not be transparent. Both may be likened to an invisible web that works against women (Green and Cassell, 1996; Lan and Wang Leung, 2001; Rees and Garnsey, 2003). 2.4.1 Harassment at work An additional negative aspects to womens work in hotels is that they are subject to high level of sexual harassment from both guests and peers due to their low status and low-educational levels ( Poulston 2008). Research by Eller (1990) clearly indicates that more men and women experience sexual harassment in the hotel industry than do individuals in society-at-large. Today in many hotels there are a high level of female employee of gender discrimination and sexual harassment. 2.5 Inequality issues in hotels. Research shows the different ways in which tourism can contribute to economic growth, poverty reduction and community development. However, less attention has been paid to the unequal ways in which the benefits of tourism are distributed between men and women, particularly in the developing world. Gladys Acosta, UN Women Director for Latin America of the newly-establish UN agency UN Women, pointed out that womens contribution to the tourism sector is often invisible. According to Purcell and Quinn (1998) that it is a fact that in the early career stages, female hospitality graduates received lower pay, fewer fringe benefits and less intrinsic job satisfaction. However Woods and Kavanaugh (1994) according to who gender discrimination was an invisible barrier that kept women from reaching top positions in many management circles. There also continues to be wide discrepancies in remuneration between the genders (MunËœ oz-Bullo ´ n 2009; Tugores 2008. The hospitality sector has an important role: it should respect the equality of men and women; they should promote human rights and more particularly the individual rights of the most vulnerable groups, notably children, the elderly, the handicapped, ethnic minorities and indigenous people. ILO report (Development and challenges in the hospitality and tourism sector 2010). Kinnaird and Hall (1994) comment that women fulfill the majority of jobs in tourism, especially those which are poorly paid, low skilled and part-time also it is to be noted that in the tourism sector unskilled or semi-skilled women tend to work in the most vulnerable jobs, where they are more likely to experience poor working conditions, inequality of opportunity and treatment, violence, exploitation, stress and sexual harassment. (ILO ) Carli and Eagly (2001) observe that, although womens status has improved remarkably in the twentieth century in many societies, women continue to lack access to power and leadership compared with men (p. 629).

Plagiarism :: Ethics Writing

Day by day, people become having more greed. We notice that they try to cheat or steal anything to achieve their goals. Nowadays, big companies are specialized only to imitate products, without permissions by the manufacturing companies, such as car spare parts, clothes and shoes. Likewise so many writers commit plagiarism because they merely think about their own good, while they do not think about the consequences. The way of paying the price of this kind of crime depends on the reaction of the original writers or the organizations investigating their laws to protect copyright. First, plagiarizing students must be expelled. Many students are not well aware of the strict law preventing them to use even some statements from other resources without citation or quotation. According to the website Hamptonroads.com, the student Allison Routman, studying in the U.Va. Shipboard program, was accused of plagiarism when she borrowed some phrases from Wikipedia.com to support her outline assignment of the movie â€Å" Europa Europa†. Even though, she claimed that nobody had explained anything relating to plagiarism and said she did not made up as the other students who confessed that they did copying from some sources because she did think she was working well on her homework, the officials and her teacher did not admit her apology. They said this was her fault because she was supposed to read the documents including the honor-code of the university they gave her in the beginning of the summer semester. Finally she was victim of plagiarism nonetheless she did no t intend that. (1) In addition, plagiarizing writers might be sued by courts. Some writers may not only do copying the whole structure, but also lead to bad reputation by falsifying the real purpose of the original writing from serious to nonsense. According to the Telegraph.co.uk, the former English teacher Dan Brown, 39 years old, plagiarized the architecture of two books, The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail of the writers Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln, converting their serious ideas, which discuss the hypothesis of Jesus’ marriage with Magdalene and their distinct, to comedian story describing a professor at Harvard tried among conspiracy to stop Jesus to marry Magdalene. They did a long research for six years to write these books and to sell two million copies, and finally after twenty years Dan Brown ripped them off and sold much more copies. These authors except Lincoln insisted to claim to the court because they are convinced that there is no way to hush up.

The Worker Next Door

In the essay â€Å"The Worker Next Door† written by Dr. Chris Chiswick, the author addresses the illegal immigrant problem in America, and gives several questionable reasons how if the flow of illegal immigrants were deterred, jobs would still be filled, and life would go on as usual, or even better. Dr. Chiswick wrote a not too convincing essay, having many places where he could have improved or even left out certain parts of his essay that would have made this writing better, and more realistic to his audience. I spotted a couple areas where the author went on a tangent of barely related areas to illegal immigration. Along with that, it doesn’t really seem like he tried to appeal to ethos too much, but gives some attention to logos and pathos early on in the essay and at the end. The first paragraph of this essay is a rhetorical question that asks how different life would be if illegal immigrants were not in the country doing low-class, low-skilled, and low-wage jobs that most Americans would not do. This question is a good way to start the essay, making the reader think a little, and get more interested in the topic while also revealing the authors purpose; to persuade the reader into thinking that illegal immigration is not necessary for the American economy. This purpose is hinted throughout the course of the essay, but is most obvious in his thesis in paragraph eight. As the essay progresses, it becomes clearer that Chiswick’s audience is the American public who live in states with high illegal immigration, specifically from Mexico, as his title so subtly states. Not so subtle in his essay however, is his claim in the third to last paragraph, where he states that â€Å"Less frequent lawn mowing and washing of hotel sheets and towels would reduce air, noise, and water pollution in the bargain. †. Chiswick can have all the Ph. D. s in the world, but its not going to make illegal immigration from Mexico a realistic strain on pollution in America. While the author may not do too well on appealing to ethos, he does make an attempt to make up for it on logos, when he gives data from the U. S. ensus, saying that 64% of lowskill jobs were done by native born Americans while only 36% were foreign born. The problem that I had with this is that no where in this statistic does it mention illegal aliens, which this essay is supposedly about. If illegal immigration is such a big concern for this man, then why does he have to resort to a barely related statistic to get support from? This leaves us to the last appeal available, pathos. Chiswick used pathos most evidently and strongly in the last paragraph, with a hint of ethos, to give a final attempt in convincing his readers. His entire essay up to this point is about how America would be far better off economically without illegal immigration from Mexico, but then he quickly turns from criticizing and blaming aliens to praising the genius of the American public and economy. If his strong attempt at the use of ethics by showing he knows a little American history does not impress a simple high school student, I can’t imagine what his informed, educated, and mature audience would think. Have you noticed how in this very essay, there doesn’t seem to be a nice flow between topics, and that things may at times, seem fairly irrelevant to the subject at hand? This is how i felt while reading â€Å"The Worker Next Door†. Chiswicks organization is flawed, jumping from claim to claim without any real connection between the two. It might be just me, but I don’t really see the link between suggesting bad hygiene (â€Å" Hotels and motels could reduce the frequency of changing sheets and towels†¦ to every third day†) and how home owners could switch grass species. If Chiswick knew his audience properly, he would know that Americans are generally lazy, and we are getting lazier(CNN). At first, I thought Chiswick was a reasonable guy. He pointed out how places with little to no illegal immigration still had groceries bagged, lawns cut, and hotel sheets changed. But what he failed to point out was that these places are usually small towns out in the middle of nowhere, where the standard of living is lower, and the local economy is stagnant. Not fully thinking his statement through hurt the credibility of his essay, and the ridiculous claim that illegal immigration contributes to our pollution is absurd. Chiswick’s essay could have been much better than this. Someone who has a Ph. D. in economics and is writing a persuasive essay should have many more sources, facts, and realistic examples. The strongest case Chiswick could come up with is that immigration is driving down the living standards for low-skilled workers, as if he were writing his essay to help them out. But these workers aren’t immigrating to a lower standard of living. They’re immigrating to a country that has a much higher standard of living, even for low-income workers.

Protecting and Preserving Our Environment Essay

At WD, we recognize the need to preserve and protect the earth’s vital natural resources. We believe that part of being a good corporate citizen and a good neighbor is maintaining or improving the cleanliness of the air, water and land of the locations in which we operate. As a result, our facilities throughout the world comply with applicable environmental laws and regulations, and each has developed and implemented a comprehensive set of practices designed to ensure continued compliance. In addition, we continually review our operations and processes to identify opportunities which allow us to reduce or recycle byproducts generated by our activities. We are also concerned about protecting the natural resources of the communities in which our products are sold and used. We review the content of the products we manufacture and have established programs to eliminate or phase out the use of certain materials restricted by international legislation. We have also begun offering fo r sale a line of products specifically designed to reduce the environmental impact resulting from their use. All of our manufacturing facilities in Asia have environmental management systems in place which are ISO 14001 certified. Each facility has a comprehensive policy and set of supporting procedures addressing environmental permits, pollution prevention, hazardous substances, wastewater and solid wastes, airborne emissions and product content. Our policies express a commitment to continued improvement, and to this end, we review the status of our environmental management systems at least annually. All of our manufacturing facilities have environmental specialists onsite, and we provide training programs on environmental practices for employees whose job duties impact our environmental management systems. In addition, all of our facilities provide clear written direction to all employees and workers in languages appropriate to each site regarding requirements and responsibilities for environmental practices in accordance with company policy. Compliance with RoHS and WEEE Directives WD products manufactured and sold worldwide after August 1, 2005, meet or exceed Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) compliance requirements as mandated by the European Union for electrical and electronic products. The RoHS Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament, which was effective in the EU beginning July 1, 2006, aims to protect human health and the environment by restricting the use of certain hazardous substances in new equipment, and consists of restrictions on lead, mercury, cadmium, and other substances. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive was developed to minimize the disposal of electrical and electronic equipment into landfills. WD hard drive products and packaging include the WEEE symbol in support of this directive. Supplier Compliance WD has conducted and continues to conduct very extensive tests regarding use of environmental compliant material on all our components. WD requires all component suppliers meet WD’s environmental Specification, titled â€Å"WD’s Environmental Guidelines for Materials, Components and Products.† This 20-page Specification sets forth the maximum threshold limits for restricted, prohibited and managed substances and requires suppliers to adhere to all applicable laws. In addition, the Specification states that all WD suppliers and sub-suppliers will be expected to complete environmental declaration forms for all new materials and components based on a combination of knowledge of their incoming raw materials, process review and their own analytical testing and certification data. Suppliers are required to maintain documented records, made available to Western Digital, indicating which measures are used to ensure compliance to the Specification. We review all suppliers ’ Declarations of compliance with WD’s environmental Specification during the launch of every new hard drive program and also track this together with a 3rd party Analytical lab data by component in our Environmental Compliance database. In addition, we maintain strict requirements with respect to Supplier Process/Material Change requests. Suppliers are also required to keep records of their in process tests to ensure compliance to the approved Process Management Plan and approved materials. These are regularly audited by WD. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Global climate change, caused by increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, is one of the most significant concerns facing our world today. As a corporate citizen, WD is particularly sensitive to the effects of global climate change. The need to understand the science of climate change and to formulate appropriate policy to address scientific findings is intensifying with each passing day. To view WD’s Greenhouse Gas report, click here. Q&A for Environmental and Hazardous Materials Environmental QDoes Western Digital have management representatives responsible for assuring compliance with respect to environmental laws, regulations and codes? AYes. Western Digital has management representatives at all critical sites whose core responsibility is monitoring, communicating and training employees in all aspects of environmental compliance as related to the specific facility. QDo Western Digital’s facilities receive periodic audits of environmental practices in order to assess conformance with regulatory and other requirements? AYes. Western Digital conducts both internal and external audits to evaluate its compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations. QWhat types of policies, rules or procedures does Western Digital maintain relative to environmental programs? AWestern Digital maintains environmental polices, rules and/or procedures which address environmental permits, pollution prevention, hazardous substances, liquid waste, solid waste, air emission controls and product content. The substance of these programs is delivered to our employee population utilizing various formats including in-person training, web-based training, face-to-face communications, postings and bulletins. All programs are communicated in various languages appropriate to the employee population of each of our facilities to insure that all employees have a clear understanding of the programs. QDoes Western Digital place contractual requirements on its suppliers to be in compliance with environmental laws, regulations and codes of conduct? AYes. Whenever possible, Western Digital executes contracts with its suppliers which require, among other things, that the suppliers comply with all relevant and applicable environmental laws and regulations. QIs Western Digital required to maintain certain environmental permits in the operations of its facilities? AYes. Western Digital is required to maintain certain environmental permits as related to the operations of its facilities. Based on the geography and the operations, permits may be required for chemical handling and storage, waste treatment, wastewater discharge, air emissions and storage tanks. QDoes Western Digital make available Material Data Safety Sheets (MSDS) to workers that handle chemicals? AYes. Western Digital makes MSDS sheets available to employees onsite at all of its facilities. In addition, Western Digital contracts for OnCall MSDS information domestically. Hazardous Materials QDoes Western Digital use hazardous materials in its manufacturing process? AYes. Western Digital utilizes a variety of hazardous materials in its manufacturing operations. Classifications of hazardous materials include flammables, combustibles, corrosives and toxic gases. QHow does Western Digital store chemicals at its facilities? AWestern Digital stores all hazardous materials in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Storage areas are secured and covered containing various types of containers including bottles, cylinders, drums and other approved vessels with the appropriate type of labeling and containment as required or recommended by codes, regulations and other authorities. QDoes Western Digital generate wastes that are classified as hazardous wastes? AYes. Western Digital generates various types and quantities of hazardous wastes. All wastes are disposed of in compliance with applicable law, and we regularly audit our hazardous waste haulers and their facilities. QDoes Western Digital have a program or procedures for management of hazardous waste? AYes. Western Digital has a variety of programs and procedures for the management of its hazardous waste. These include monitoring, characterization, treatment, conversion and disposition. All wastes are disposed of in compliance with applicable law, and we regularly audit our hazardous waste haulers and their facilities. QDoes Western Digital have a site specific management system registered to ISO 14001, OSHAS 18001, or other recognized health and safety or environmental management standards? AYes. Western Digital factories in Malaysia and Thailand maintain management systems which have earned the ISO 14001 and OSHAS 18001 designation. QDoes Western Digital have programs or procedures to reduce or eliminate pollution and waste in its operations? AWestern Digital is always looking for ways to eliminate or reduce pollution or waste generated by our operations. Among the programs we consider are solvent re-use or elimination, process waste and emission minimization, packaging reduction, recycling or elimination as well as reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. QDoes Western Digital have programs or procedures to reduce the use of energy, water and other natural resources in its operations? AWestern Digital is always looking for ways to reduce energy and other natural resource consumption in our operations. Among the programs we consider are evaluating product or process design modifications, improvement in energy efficiency of process, and the evaluation of construction, maintenance and land use programs.