Violence in the workplace(hospital nursing department)plan of action Essay

Violence in the workplace(hospital nursing department)plan of action - Essay Example The proposed program to respond to the issue of workplace violence in nursing, workshop will be conducted among the nursing staff. There are four main components of the interventions: assessment, program development, implementation and evaluation. The whole program will consist of three months for assessment and dry runs, twelve sessions during a period of six months and three months for the evaluation of the program. Successful outcomes for the intervention will be established at 50% decrease in reported cases of violent behavior among nursing staff and satisfaction rating of 75% from participants. Assessment will determine were conflicts or violence occurs between nursing staff. The dry-runs will be evaluated as they are completed and will serve as reinforcement to workshop strategies. The program development will involve nursing managers, human resource development consultants and staff representatives. The implementation of the programs will be initiated with a series of three work shop sessions with eight to ten participants. Participants will be chosen at random among the population defined as most vulnerable or susceptible to conflicts that led to violence. The issue of violence either against or by nursing professionals has a considerable impact to society not just health care. Current legislation emphasizes the responsibility of administrators and managers to create safe and secure working environments. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) (2002), the safety and well-being of nursing professionals directly affects the quality, delivery and value of health services. Though the workplace safety statutes have been in place to address the issue in the industry, the NIOSH (2002) saw it fit to develop specific legislation for the nursing profession in consideration of th professional exposure to risk, stress and violence. Case in point:

Planning a Party Essay Example for Free

Planning a Party Essay Planning a party takes time and requires focus. You want to make sure you get everything covered and don’t leave out any details. You need to find a location, possibly a public venue or even your own home. Will you have a theme or keep it casual? Not only is the location important but who will be your party guests? You want to know who will be attending and where so that you can make proper arrangements for food, beverages, party favors and decorations. Finding the proper location for a party can be tricky. You will need to make sure that the venue can hold enough people depending on the size of the party. Do your research online first and see what sort of businesses in your area offer space to rent. Will there be enough parking available? Is the date of your party available at the time and location you chose? These are all important questions to ask while planning. Don’t forget to make a reservation or schedule a walk through. You may find the perfect place to host your party and choose to change your date. It all depends on what you want and what details are important to you. Once you have decided on your party venue and what your theme will be, if you decide to have one, then it’s time to start making a list of who you will be inviting. Remember just because you invite someone it does not mean they will be attending. This is when it becomes a good time to add an R.S.V.P to your invitation so you can get a better idea of the number of people who will actually be attending. If your guests will be allowed to bring someone make sure you put that on the invitation as well. Date, time and the type of dress are also important to include. You may choose to send a paper invite through the mail or send your invite by email. When choosing your invitation you can get creative with your theme or keep it basic. Next you have the task of tackling the details, food, drinks, decorations and party favors. If you choose to have food at your party be sure to plan ahead. Keep in mind the number of guests expected to attend and the age group. Catering is always an option or you may choose to make food or snacks on your own. When selecting beverages you may want to select a few options so that your guests have choices. When selecting decorations recruit the help of a friend or two for an outside opinion and help setting up. If your party will be themed try and stick to your theme while decorating. Getting a list together of what you would like can save you time. Party favors can be a fun way to thank your guests for attending and give them something to remember your party. There are loads of ideas online that you can use to get creative. Once you have all your ideas and details in place then your party is ready to come to life. There are so many options out there that can make your party just what you want it to be. Just remember to stay calm; getting stressed or discouraged will not make the process any fun. If you need help with something don’t be afraid to ask a friend. There are so many choices to make and endless possibilities. Give yourself adequate time to prepare. When it comes time for the party try to have fun and enjoy what you have created. If your guests see that you are relaxed and enjoying yourself they will relax and have a good time.

Gender Differences in Classroom Behaviour

Gender Differences in Classroom Behaviour Investigating the differences in classroom behaviour across the genders Introduction: In recent decades there has been an increasing focus on gender differences in an educational context. During the 1970s and 1980s, feminist research on gender and education was motivated by concern at the underachievement, and marginalization, of girls (Francis and Skelton, 2001, p.1). This had been largely due to the different subjects that boys and girls studied, and it was not until the introduction of the National Curriculum which saw boys and girls studying the same subjects for the first time, that the extent of girls’ relative success was revealed (Arnot et al., 1999). Recent years have seen something of a pendulum swing with boys now being a focus for concern. Younger et al. observed in key stage two children a ‘marked disparity between the attainment of boys and girls in English’ with 83 % of girls attaining level 4 in 2004 compared with 72% of boys (Younger et al., 2005, p.20). There is, however inconsistency in the research with Myhill suggesting that not all boys are underachieving and neither are all girls academic success stories (Myhill, 2002). The nature of gender in the education is a difficult effect to isolate since class, race and gender are inevitably interrelated and it is difficult to disentangle the individual effect (MacGilchrist, et al., 2006, p.62) and therefore say conclusively that differences in attainment levels are due to gender alone. The aim of this paper is to investigate the differences in behaviour in respect of gender in the school setting, by looking at the nature of the differences, possible explanations and strategies which teachers can use in the classroom to address these problems, particularly in respect of boys’ underachievement. Theories of Gender Development: That there are patterns of behaviour and social organisation that differ according to sex/gender is not in doubt (Francis, 2006, p.8). There are many theories as to why this is the case, some regarding differences as due to the different biological nature of men and women while others argue that there are environmental reasons for the differences, the dichotomy of nature versus nurture (Rose, 2001, p.256). The idea of gender differences has been taken up by feminist theorists who have argued that that femininity is culturally constructed (Weiner, 1994), as is masculinity (Mac an Ghaill, 1994). Innate Differences: This is the belief that the sexes are inherently different. Evolutionary biologists see differences in gender as having their roots in our genetic make up, stretching back for many generations. Findings from research by Professor John Stein in connection with his work in the context of dyslexia, indicates that boys brains are generally slower to develop. It is therefore not logical to have the same expectations from boys and girls when they come to school for the first time (Scott, 2003, p.84). In recent years many biologists and neuroscientist have been critical of the evolutionary approach (Francis, 2006, p.9), leading to the idea that gender specific behaviour is socially constructed, shaped by a number of factors including culture and the environment. Role Theories: Role theories suggest that gender characteristics are constructed by observing the ways in which other people adopt typical gender roles, being rewarded for engaging in appropriate behaviour and punished in some way when they do not (Gregory, 1969). Proponents of these theories suggest that girls learn how to be girls by watching demure, feminine behaviour, characteristic of girls, while boys learn to be boisterous and tough. These are images that are portrayed to children by a variety of people in their lives, their parents and carers, their teachers, their siblings and reinforced through the media. School is an important arena for the observation of roles and a school policy concerning equal opportunities must reflect an awareness of this. Views on Children’s Acquisition of Gender Knowledge: Skelton and Francis have identified two views on how children acquire their knowledge about gender: Social learning theories which propose that gender identity is learned by children modelling their behaviour on same sex members of their family, peer group, local community as well as the gender stereotypes seen on books and on television; Cognitive development theorists, such as Lawrence Kohlberg, who suggest that a child’s understanding of their gender identity as opposed to their biological sex depends on their stage of cognitive development, their intellectual age. (Skelton and Francis, 2003, p.12). Environmental Factors: It has been suggested that boys and girls are shaped differently by their environment because of the different ways in which they respond to it. Gilligan proposes that girls tend to analyse situations before coming to decisions whereas boys are more likely to stick to rules that they have applied in previous situations. Gilligan suggests that these differences in reaction are as a result of differences in cognitive styles rather than abilities (Gilligan, 1982), but can impact on outcomes in respect of attainment. Environmental factors have been shown to have an effect on children’s attitudes to and performance at school. Home background and parental levels of educational attainment and expectation have been shown to be factors in the different levels of attainment of boys and girls in school. Research presented by Brooker showed that, while boys and girls did not have any marked differences in ability levels on entry to school, over the course of a year girls made more progress than boys. She found that the most successful group were those who came from large families where they had a lot of home support from their siblings (Brooker, 2002, p. 159). Girls typically work more collaboratively, engaging in more socially constructed activities, enhancing learning in the process. Boys from some ethnic minorities have been shown to be under performing against all other educational groups. This has been attributed to peer group pressure, with an anti achievement culture believed to be operating among some black teenage boys. This manifests itself in their disrupting schoolwork and generating a low level of expectation among themselves (Aslop and Hicks, 2001, p.148). The school environment plays an important part in the development of gender attitudes. While it was thought that gender stereotypes would be reinforced by single sex schools, research has shown this not to be the case. When brought together in co educational settings, both boys and girls made more sex stereotypical choices despite a greater variety of facilities. It would therefore appear that co education increases differentiation between the sexes (Leonard, 2006, p.194). Gender Differences in School: With an increasing belief that gender is socially constructed, has come an awareness that school is one of the social contexts in which gender appropriate behaviour is defined and constructed (Myhill and Jones, 2006, p.100). The most prominent area for concern has been the development of gendered behaviour leading to the disengaged or alienated male in school. His behaviour, general unruliness and lack of interest are seen as dominating classroom life (Gray and McLellan, 2006, p.652). Many teachers show a strong belief in gender differences, believing them to influence attitudes to school, motivation, maturity, responsibility, behaviour and identification with the school ethos (Arnot and Gubb, 2001). It has been shown that because so many primary school teachers are female, they have not been trained in how boys and girls learn differently (Gurian, 2002, p.126) and traditional teaching styles adopted may favour the learning dispositions of girls. Expectations: Teacher expectations are an important factor in achievement. If teachers have high expectations, pupils will be highly motivated to learn and succeed (Aslop and Hicks, 2001, p.148). In respect of boys’ underachievement, evidence has tended to note that teachers have low expectations about boys’ levels of academic achievement (Myhill and Jones, 2006, p.101), research supported in a study by Younger and Warrington that demonstrated that teachers tended to underestimate boys’ achievement at GCSE level, while girls’ achievement tended to be overestimated (Younger and Warrington, 1996). Teachers have been shown, in addition to having low expectations of boys, to take advantage of girls, enlisting them as allies in the battle to â€Å"police, teach, control and civilise boys† (Epstein et al., 1998). It is incumbent on schools therefore to have high expectations for boys and to have mechanisms for transmitting this information to the students and developing high expectations. They must also have a focus on not using girls a pseudo teachers, allowing them to develop an appropriate role in the classroom in the context of their peers. Perceptions of Boys and Girls: In studies of primary schools differences have been shown in the ways in which teachers perceived boys and girls. Girls have traditionally been viewed as co operative and conscientious workers with boys being viewed as dominant, demanding but rewarding to teach. Boys have traditionally been viewed as requiring more effort to teach but at the same time having more ability (Skelton and Francis, 2003, p.8). Boys and Underachievement: Changes in educational policy in recent years can lead to boys feeling devalued because, in the early years, especially, they find themselves in a world of learning lacking in masculine figures. Research has also shown that girls have a lack of confidence, even when performing well in comparison with boys (Gray and McLellan, 2006, p.653). The challenge is therefore to re-engage boys in the learning process through appropriate activities and motivation and to develop greater degrees of self esteem in girls. The extraordinary academic progress of girls in recent years has been associated with two features; girls’ continuing advantage in English and their improvement in mathematics and science (Arnot et al., 1999, p.16). As noted above, Gilligan has presented evidence that boys and girls may react to their environment in different ways, but what causes concern for teachers and educators is that maths and science have traditionally been male domains, which now boys are not performing as well in as they have done in the past. Gipps and Murphy expand on this point by suggesting that this should be borne in mind by those who set and mark test papers in order to take into account the different approaches students may adopt when answering questions (Gipps and Murphy, 1994). Schools must give consideration to the strategies being employed to facilitate boys’ learning. Research carried out by Daniels et al. in the context of special education suggests that girls give each other a great deal of help and support, not something often seen in boys. They speculate that this may have at least three important consequences: It can help reduce the amount of extra support required by girls from their teachers as they are getting a lot of this from their peers; The support is likely to be appropriate because the peers know exactly what type of ‘scaffold’ is needed to facilitate learning; The person giving the support can consolidate their own learning by giving support and teaching someone else. (Daniels et al., 1996). Girls have also been shown to give considerable help and attention to boys, helping them by providing equipment and helping them with their homework (Thorne, 1993), reiterating the idea of girls acting as pseudo teachers in the class. Although there is a lot of individual variation amongst males and females, male students of all ages tend to dominate discussions, to make more direct and directive comments to their partners and generally to adopt more ‘executive’ roles in problem solving (Mercer, 2001, p.196). Working with Boys in the Classroom: While girls have been perceived as being hard working in the class, it has been argued that peer group pressure among boys makes it difficult for them to slot into this role. Popularity among ones peers and working hard at school can be seen as mutually incompatible and may result in boys being bullied or excluded from friendship groups (Frosh et al., 2002). The issue in respect of how boys behave in the classroom has been a further area of controversy with arguments ranging from boys being treated less favourably than girls through to boys causing disruption to a degree that hampers learning for other children, but there is evidence to suggest that, regardless of the nature of the interaction, whether positive or negative, teachers do engage more with boys than they do with girls (La France, 1991). Some of the reasoning behind boys underachievement has been questioned. Biddulph, (1998, cited in MacNaughton, 2006, p.140) has suggested that while boys are often accused of not listening in class, the reality is that they suffer from growing spurts that have an adverse affect on their ear canals. MacNaughton questions the fact that if this is the case for boys, then surely the same must be true for girls (MacNaughton, 2006, p.141), suggesting that the physiological explanations do not provide an adequate explanation. There has been a great deal of concern for many years about boys’ behaviour in schools, having been expressed as early as 1930 by Brerton who commented â€Å"Many girls will work at a subject they dislike. No healthy boy ever does!† (Brerton, 1930, p.95). A major factor that has come to light in a great deal of the research concerning boy’s disaffection with school is that fact that it is multifaceted in its nature, with gender being only one of a number of factors. Bob Connell is among a number of researchers who ahs pointed this out writing, â€Å"The making of masculinities in schools is far from the simple learning of norms. It is a process of multiple pathways, shaped by class and ethnicity, producing diverse outcomes.† (Connell, 2000, p.164). Research presented by Marland suggested that teachers treated boys and girls differently and in doing so amplified society’s stereotypes (Marland, 1983). Research in gender and education has highlighted the negative consequences of the construction of masculinity for many boys in education, with many boys coming into conflict with teachers and other authorities (Skelton, 2001). Some theorists have suggested that this could be addressed by having greater concentrations of male teachers in schools. Thornton and Bricheno have countered this, presenting evidence that greater concentrations of male teachers actually leads to poorer discipline in schools (Thornton and Bricheno, 2002, cited in Skelton and Francis, 2003, p.7). Assessing Children’s Perceptions: As with all other teaching and learning that goes on in the school setting, schools must begin the development of the equal opportunity policy in respect of gender by ascertaining the views that the children have, addressing misconceptions, planning what they want to achieve and developing a programme to facilitate this. Skelton suggests that in order to do this the school should begin by asking the following four questions: What images of masculinity and femininity are the children bringing with them into school and what types are they acting out in the classroom and playground? What are the dominant images of masculinity and femininity that the school itself reflects to the children and are these what the school wishes to present? What kinds of role model does the school want and expect of its teachers? What kinds of initiatives/strategies/projects should teachers be undertaking with children to question gender categories? (Skelton, 2001). A Europe wide study carried out by Smith and Gorard revealed that boys in several European countries in general felt that they were treated less favourably than girls but the feelings were strongest among boys in the United Kingdom (Smith and Gorard, 2002, cited in Myhill and Jones, 2006, p.102). This is a finding that is echoed throughout the research literature (Wing, 1999; Francis, 2000). Gender and Mathematics: Recent decades have seen a shift in emphasis from the focus on girls’ underachievement in mathematics, towards generic ideas concerning mathematics and gender. Research has been carried out by the Girls and Mathematics Unit (Lucey et al., 2003, p.55) has proposed that the characteristics of an ideal mathematics learner is a child who is active, keen to explore and investigate new challenges, ideas central to constructivist theories of learning where learners build on what they know already to assimilate new concepts. It has been argued that these are in fact characteristics more often associated with boys, rather then being gender neutral, suggesting that the ideal child is, in fact an ideal boy (Adams and Walderdine, 1986). Concerns in respect of a general decline in mathematics led to the adoption of a National Numeracy Strategy. Research has suggested that girls like to work in an investigative way, keen to learn about new things rather than just getting the correct answer, skills that are fostered by the move towards an approach which focuses on learning about learning and developing strategies for developing mathematical skills and explanations. Clark argues that boys and girls have different ways of exerting their power in the classroom, boys using direct methods such as dominating the classroom dynamics and interacting to a greater degree with the teacher, while girls employ more subtle methods for asserting themselves through working hard and being co operative (Clark 1990), which in turn helps their attainment (Walden and Walkerdine, 1986, p.125), a consequence of their spending more time directly on task. Lucey at al. suggest, that in the context of whole class teaching, in order for all children to experience success, teachers need to avoid lessons becoming an arena for confident children. They argue that a better use of lesson time is to allow children to work at their own pace, in group or pair contexts, where pupils are allowed to develop their own skills, explore a variety of strategies, and at the same time, develop confidence and self esteem. Gender and Literacy: As mentioned above, girls have been performing better than boys in respect of literacy, giving it a central role in the debate about gender and schooling in recent years. Boys’ underachievement in this area has been well documented. In her book Differently Literate, Millard proposed reasons for this, citing one of the main ones as the fact that bots and girls have interests in different aspects of literacy. She argued that boys were largely discriminated against in the school setting where many of the texts available are not related to boys’ interests. The National Literacy Strategy was introduced in 1998, one of the main ideas of which was critical literacy, an idea that texts do not stand alone, but that they are socially constructed making them useful in developing critical literacy skills in respect of gender roles (Marsh, 2003, p. 73). The fact that gender roles are embedded in many of these texts provides opportunities for the challenge of stereotypes by children. This is essential in developing the understanding necessary for overcoming them. Gender and Science: The 1990s saw science become one of the success stories in the primary curriculum, following a number of attempts to reduce sex specific behaviours in science and technology. The research concerning children’s perceptions in science has been mixed. Drawing a scientist has been employed as way of ascertaining children’s perceptions. Some studies have shown that children have developed less gendered ideas about scientists and therefore science while other research has suggested that children’s attitudes have not really changed very much (Reiss, 2003, p.82). The nature of science and its subject matter has been the subject of debate in the gender context. While single and mixed sex groupings have both been shown to be effective in teaching and learning in science in some respects, what has been identified as more important is the teacher’s attitudes in respect of gender equity, preferably in the context of a whole school approach to gender issues in science. It is important to facilitate the development of diverse ideas with respect to scientific concepts and to have assessment systems which are fair. Addressing the Issues: Head states the implication of gender research for teachers is that if girls and boys: â€Å"prefer different learning procedures then teachers should be flexible in their choice of teaching and assessment methods. But these gender differences are not absolute, there is considerable overlap between the two sexes and considerable variation within one group. A flexible approach to pedagogy should therefore be of general benefit to the school population.† (Head, 1996, p.68). It has been recognised that children work hard to demonstrate their gender identity, not being easily swayed by alternative images (Francis, 1998). Schools do have a responsibility to ensure that they have a policy on sex discrimination, and must ensure that it is being properly implemented. In the light of the evidence presented by Francis (above) and others, it is not sufficient for teachers to present alternative views for children. The approach must be more proactive with children being given opportunities to actively challenge stereotypical views that they may hold. The role of the teacher in facilitating gender awareness and equality in the classroom cannot be overestimated. Teachers should avoid using stereo typical language pertaining to gender, should use reading and teaching materials which can be interrogated in respect of gender, and should foster attitudes pertaining to equal opportunities and inclusion in the classroom. Skelton and Francis suggest that this can be achieved in the primary classroom through an active challenge of gender stereotypes, including the following activities: Teachers should ensure that they are involved in a full range of activities in the classroom, paying particular attention that they are not avoiding areas in the classroom traditionally associated with the opposite sex, such as male teachers avoiding the home corner and female teachers avoiding the construction toys; Children should be presented with a range of play and learning activities in which they can be encouraged to challenge gender stereotypes; Teachers should take opportunities, as and when they arise, to discuss issues pertaining to gender, through the use of appropriate materials; When boys or girls are dominating particular play areas or activities, that can be challenged through the use of circle time or class discussion. The teacher can play a role in challenging behaviour through the use of open ended questioning such as â€Å"can boys and girls play together with blocks, do you think that of you worked together you could make something better than you can on your own?† In this way the teacher can be encouraging children to be reflective about their roles in the class and in society generally; Teachers need to help children in the development of skills with which they may not normally associate themselves. (Skelton and Francis, 2003, p.17-18). Conclusion: The growing body of literature on masculinities and femininities in education has advanced our understandings of the complex ways in which boys and girls construct and negotiate their identities within schools (Jackson, 2006, p.xiv). Research supports the view that pupils take up various positions with respect to attitudes to schooling but, while identifying the existence of clearly gendered pupil types, it challenges the simplistic notions about how boys and girls may differ (Gray and McLellan, 2006, p.654). Many of the practices recommended in schools’ equal opportunities policies to redress gender inequalities have done little, if anything, to change the way in which boyhood and girlhood is perceived and judged by adults as well as acted out by children in the primary classroom (Francis and Skelton, 2003, p.13). Research has demonstrated that, despite their improved achievement, many facets of girls’ educational experience remain negatively affected by the masculine values and expectations reflected in educational institutions (Francis and Skelton, 2001, p.3). Evidence that has been presented in respect of girls outstripping boys in terms of school achievement has not gone unchallenged, with Gorard et al. suggesting that data presented masks the fact that exam performance has increased for both boys and girls on a yearly basis, and the statistical information has, in any case, been misinterpreted (Gorard et al., 1999). The boys’ underachievement debate has been cri ticised because of the narrow parameters of the argument where it has been suggested that all boys, irrespective of social class, ethnicity and so on are underachieving (Francis and Skelton, 2001, p.165). It is essential that schools develop policies which take a holistic view of inclusion and equal opportunities in respect of gender. These must be implemented and their success evaluated, and efforts made to re-engage boys in the education process. References: Adams, C. and Walkerdine, V. (1986) Investigating Gender in the Primary School. London: ILEA. Alsop, S. and Hicks, K. (2001) Teaching Science: A Handbook for Primary and Secondary School Teachers. London: Kogan Page. Arnot, M., David, M. and Weiner, G. (1999) Closing the Gender Gap. Cambridge: Polity Press. Arnot, M. and Gubb, J. (2001) Adding value to boys’ and girls’ education. A gender and achievement project in West Sussex. Chichester: West Sussex County Council. Brerton, C. (1930) Modern Language in Day and Evening Schools. London: University of London. Brooker, L. (2002) Starting School: Young Children Learning Cultures. Buckingham: Open University Press. Clark, M. (1990)The Great Gender divide: Gender in the Primary School. Melbourne: Curriculum Corporation. Connell, B. (2000) The Men and the Boys. Cambridge: Polity Press. Daniels, H., Hey, V., Leonard, D. and Smith, M. (1996) Gender and Special Needs Provision in Mainstream Schools. ESRC Report no. R000235059. Epstein, D., Elwood, J., Hey, V. and Maw, J. (1998) Failing Boys? Issues in Gender and Achievement. Buckingham: Open University Press. Francis, B. (2006) The Nature of Gender in C. Skelton, B. Francis, and L. Smulyan, (2006) The SAGE Handbook of Gender and Education. London: Sage. Francis, B. (2000) Boys, Girls and Achievement: Addressing the Classroom Issues. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Francis, B. (1998) Power Plays. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books. Francis, B. and Skelton, C. (Eds)(2001) Investigating Gender: Contemporary Perspectives in Education. Buckingham: Open University Press. Frosh, S., Phoenix, A. and Patman, R. (2002) Young Masculinities. Basingstoke: Palgrove. Gilligan, C. (1982) In a Different Voice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Gipps, C. and Murphy, P. (1994) A Fair Test? Assessment, Achievement and Equity. Buckingham: Open University Press. Gorard, S., Rees, G. and Salisbury, J. (1999) Reappraising the apparent underachievement of boys at school. Gender and Education, 11, 4, 391-400. Gray, J. and McLellan, R. (2006) A matter of attitude? Developing a profile of boys’ and girls’ responses to primary schooling. Gender and Education, 18, 6, 651-672. Gregory, R. (1969) A Shorter Textbook of Human Development. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill. Gurian, M. (2002) Boys and Girls Learn Differently! San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass. Head, J. (1996) Gender identity and cognitive style in P. Murphy and C.Gipps (Eds) Equity in the Classroom: Towards an Effective Pedagogy for Girls and Boys. London: Falmer Publishing. Jackson, C. (2006) Lads and Ladettes in Schools. Oxford: Oxford University Press. LaFrance, M. (1991) School for scandal: differential experiences for females and males. Gender and Education, 3, 1, 3-13. Leonard, D. (2006) Single-Sex Schooling in C. Skelton, B. Francis and L. Smulyan, (Eds)(2006) The SAGE Handbook of Gender and Education. London: Sage. Lucey, H., Brown., Denvir, H., Askew,M. and Rhodes, V. (2003) Girls and boys in the primary maths classroom in C. Skelton and B. Francis (Eds) Boys and Girls in the Primary Classroom. Buckingham: Open University Press. Mac an Ghaill, M. (1994) The Making of Men: Masculinities, Sexualities and Schooling. Buckingham: Open University Press. MacGilchrist, B., Myers, K. and Reed, J. (2006) The Intelligent School. London: Sage Publications. MacNaughton, G. (2006) Constructing gender in the early years education in C. Skelton, B. Francis and L. Smulyan, (Eds)(2006) The SAGE Handbook of Gender and Education. London: Sage. Marsh, M. (2003) Superhero stories: Literacy, gender and popular culture in C. Skelton and B. Francis (Eds) Boys and Girls in the Primary Classroom. Buckingham: Open University Press. Mercer, N. (2001) Talking and working together in J. Wearmouth (Ed) Special Educational Provision in the Context of Inclusion. London: David Fulton Publishers. Millard, E. (1997) Differently Literate: Boys, Girls and the Schooling of Literacy. London: Falmer Press. Myhill, D. and Jones, S. (2006) â€Å"She doesn’t shot at no girls†: pupils’ perceptions of gender equity in the classroom. Cambridge Journal of Education, 39, 1, 99-113. Myhill, D. (2002) Bad boys and good girls? Patterns of interaction and response in whole class teaching. British Educational Research Journal, 28, 3, 339-352. Reiss, M. (2003) Gender equity in primary science in C. Skelton and B. Francis (Eds) Boys and Girls in the Primary Classroom. Buckingham: Open University Press. Rose, S. (2001) Escaping evolutionary psychology in H. Rose and S. Rose (Eds) Alas Poor Darwin: Arguments Against Evolutionary Psychology. London: Vintage. Scott, W. (2003) Making meaningful connections in early learning in J. Fisher (Ed) The Foundations of Learning. Buckingham: Open University Press. Skelton, C. (2001) Schooling the Boys: Masculinities and Primary Education. Buckingham: Open University Press. Skelton, C. and Francis, B. (2003) Boys and Girls in the Primary Classroom. Buckingham: Open University Press. Skelton, C., Francis, B. and Smulyan, L. (2006) The SAGE Handbook of Gender and Education. London: Sage. Thorne, B. (1993) Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School. Buckingham: Open University Press. Walden, R. and Walkerdine, V. (1986) Characteristics. Views and relationships in the classroomin L.Burton (Ed) Girl

The Colony of Saint Domingue :: History american Essays

The Colony of Saint Domingue In looking at the revolution of the slaves from the colony of Saint Domingue, we must consider several different aspects that helped to create the atmosphere that was suitable enough for this revolution to take hold. The "Eden of the Western World" (Beckles 402) that produced almost half of the sugar and coffee consumed in the Americas and Europe was soon to become the stage of intensely bloody, deadly battles. In order to better understand how and why this revolution, that has been called "one of the few revolutions in world history that have had such profound consequences" (Shepherd 402), could have happened we must look at who was living in the colony at this time period. In the late 1780’s the French colony of Saint Domingue consisted of what is primarily know as the "three-tier" structure, which was what generally existed in these sugar colonies. Race as well as economic standing and social position separated the three groups that made up this structure. The whites of the colony were surprisingly enough not a tight knit group even despite the fact that they were by far the minority, in terms of numbers on the island. The whites were split up into two distinct groups that drew their lines by wealth. The rich white planters was the group of whites that owned the plantations and the slaves and represented the unified support for slavery, because of the fact that they depended on it for their wealth. It should be duly noted that this group of whites was at this time extremely unhappy with their mother country of France, and were already disobeying her regularly in order to trade more cheaply with the United States. The second group of whites was obviously the poor whites who held simple everyday jobs, but despite the fact that they were not wealthy slave owners, they were certainly supporters of the anti-black feelings. The next group that we will look at is that of the black slaves. The black slaves, as was noted above, vastly outnumbered the free whites, and it can be seen here in this accompanying chart, that by the time of the French Revolution the black slaves outnumbered the free by almost 10: 1. This vast difference in numbers is not something without significance to the revolution, because it represented the apex of the discrepancy, and made the apparent balance of power seem less and less clear.

Role of Women in Forest Management

————————————————- Cudia, Jane Victoria A. February 23, 2011 2007-15891Soc Sci 180 Role of Women in Forest Management Increasingly, the role of indigenous peoples in forest management and conservation had been recognized on the international level. Even if forest management and conservation had been an indigenous practice since time immemorial, recognition of indigenous peoples roles started only three or four decades ago. However, indigenous peoples as protectors of the environment are taken as a whole disregarding the contribution of roles and differences as contributing factors to the continuous practice of forest management and conservation. In terms of IP roles in forest management and conservation, gender is a very important thing to consider. Given an indigenous social and political context, the management of forests is communal. In general, forest management is primarily the domain of men. Women’s participation on the other hand primarily lies in forest protection because there is an intimate relationship between IP women and the forest (Caguioa, 2011). However, problem lies in the lack of recognition in national policies as to the roles of IP women in forest management and conservation. The pine forest of Brgy. Agawa, Besao, Mt. Province is a communal forest shared by different communities managed mostly by indigenous peoples. For the people of Brgy. Agawa, the forest or langdas is the source of livelihood and a place where their unique culture thrive, one of the major features of indigenous peoples. In terms of livelihood, the langdas is the source of wild fruits and animals, lumber, and firewood. In the indigenous law they practice, selling of pine lumber is prohibited. Also, outsiders are prohibited from getting anything from the langdas making the practice sustainable. In terms of tradition and culture, they believe that there are spirits guarding the rivers and forests. This is one of the reasons why indigenous peoples do not exploit the forest resources. Also, they manage the forest in a sustainable way because of the belief that their ancestors, who were buried in sacred places, mingle with their affairs. The role of women in environment protection, forest management, and conservation is very significant. Two of the key informants of the study conducted by Caguioa (2011) and her colleagues are old women who spent most of their life living in the area. The people of Brgy. Agawa, has a history of resistance in protecting the langdas and the environment. One sign of protest they had done before was the exposure of older women’s breast to oppose people who wanted to operate saw mills in the area back in the 1940s. In response to the secret resin tapping activities done to pine trees that operated during the 1970s, women of Besao secretly removed the plastic catchers and burned all of it. In general, women of Agawa, Besao, Mt. Province show their protest in the regional and national level in opposition of road construction, mining, and logging projects that will ruin the langdas. Amidst globalization, vulgar consumerism, high demands from the market, and laws that treat us all equals [sometimes even without regard to culture], the people of Brgy. Agawa, Besao, Mt. Province especially women managed the forest in a sustainable way. Following their traditions and belief systems, they had managed to conserve the forest by following natural mechanisms to restore the forest. Given the resources and knowledge systems we have as members of the dominant and so called â€Å"developed† society, we should devise forest management and conservation mechanisms that are easy and applicable. However, due to a market-driven economy we engage in, we have no control over our resources anymore. The working mechanism that works today is â€Å"what the market demands, the market gets† even at the expense of the environment and the people who manages to protect and conserve the forest. Forest management, although primarily dominated by men, it should be the domain of all even if there are differences in gender. As seen in the case of Brgy. Agawa, Mt. Province, women had great contributions in forest management and conservation. It all goes down to this: in effective forest management and conservation, gender roles and differences have a lot to offer. Reference: Caguioa, M. C. (2011). Panagsalaknib ti Langdas: Role of Indigenous Women in Forest Management in Brgy. Agawa, Besao, Mt. Province from the Global Lecture Series on Indigenous Peoples’ Studies (University of the Philippines Baguio).

Descartes and Plato Essay

Explain both of descartes Arguments for the existence of God Descartes proof of God’s existence comes from his third meditation and is based on three ideas. He argues that innate idea exists within us, the fictitious or invented ideas are a result of our own imagination and adventitious ideas result from our experiences in the world. Descartes said, the idea of God is innate and cannot be invented. Descartes presents some arguments that lead to his conclusion. The first argument is that nothing can result to something and the cause of an idea will always have a formal reality because the idea must have an objective reality. He argues that if an individual have God, then the idea has an infinite objective reality and therefore, the individual cannot be the cause of the idea, because he is not infinite or a perfect being or he doesn’t have enough formal reality. It’s only a perfect and infinite being who can be the cause of the idea. Therefore, God as an infinite reality must exist. A perfect being, is benevolent and good; implying that God is benevolent and would not deceive or allow making errors without giving a way of correcting the errors. The second argument Descartes gives is based on the premise that I exist, and my existence must have a cause. He gives the only possible causes are: my existence, existence of something less perfect than God and existence of God. Out of this Descartes argues that if I had created myself, I would have created myself perfect and that if my existence have a cause, then it doesn’t solve the problem. If I’m not an independent being, then I would need the sustenance of another being. And that the perfection in me could not originate from a less perfect being. Therefore God exists. Descartes second proof of God’s existence is based on the fifth meditation on essence of material objects and it’s called the ontological argument. Descartes identifies external objects that can either be distinct and clear or obscure and confused. Descartes argues that without any sure knowledge of existence of a supreme and perfect being it would be impossible to have any assurance of any truth. Descartes defined God as an infinitely perfect being and that perfection will include existence. Meaning therefore, God exists. Explain the Allegory of the Cave and relate it to Platos metaphysical and epistemological theory The allegory of cave is about prisoners who have spent their lives chained to the wall of a cave and facing the wall. The prisoners are watching shadows cast on the wall by objects passing in front of the fire behind them, and they start to attribute the forms of these shadows. It is a figurative show of how a man is trapped in the illusion of material existence and how he can free himself from such trappings by philosophical thoughts of personal and social awareness through constant self examination. These shadows are the close the prisoners can get to reality. When the one who actually is able to free himself from the cave, returns back to the cave to tell his fellow man about the world outside the cave he is ridiculed for his free thoughts by the ones not knowing the real truth yet. Thats how a philosopher feels, he is like the prisoner who has freed himself from the cave and realizes that shadows on the wall are not the reality of things in life but merely shadows. This allegory of the cave is related to Plato’s theory of Metaphysics and Epistemology. Seen as an epistemological account, it attempts to determine the importance of ideas which we can only comprehend through reason resulting from our experiences from the physical world. The allegory of the cave is a philosopher’s effort to enlighten the society which can be seen as prisoners, imprisoned by their dark ignorance. The cave could represent our daily experiences and how we always accept the dictates of the society without questioning them.

Edward Taylors Huswifery Essay Example

Edward Taylors Huswifery Essay Example Edward Taylors Huswifery Paper Edward Taylors Huswifery Paper Essay Topic: Poetry Who was Edward Taylor? A Puritan, who fled to the American colonies because of religious persecution (1642-1729). What poem did he write? Huswifery. What does huswifery mean? Care and management of a household. What is this poem about? The poem is about trying to be closer with God, and being used by God. How does Taylor show what the poem is about? Taylor uses extravagant comparisons, intellectual wit, and subtle arguments. What is the rhyme scheme of this poem? A B A B C C What metaphor is used in the first stanza? The spinning wheel. What does conceit mean? Strained metaphors that compare the connotations of two wildly different entities What is an example of conceit in this poem? Make me, O Lord, Thy spinning wheel complete. What does the spinning wheel, distaff, flyers, spool, reel, and yarn have to do with Edwards background? They are all found in a Puritan home. They are what gave the poem its title.

New York State Unit Study - Geography, State Symbols Facts

New York State Unit Study - Geography, State Symbols Facts These state unit studies are designed to help children learn the geography of the United States and learn factual information about every state. These studies are great for children in the public and private education system as well as homeschooled children. Print the United States Map and color each state as you study it. Keep map at the front of your notebook for use with each state. Print the State Information Sheet and fill in the information as you find it. Print the New York State Outline Map and fill in the state capital, large cities and state attractions that you find. Answer the following questions on lined paper in complete sentences. State Capital What is the capital?Virtual Tour of the State CapitolState Flag What is Justice holding and what do they represent?Flag Quiz/PrintoutState Flower When was the state flower officially adopted?State Fruit When was the state fruit adopted?State Bird When do these birds return north?State Animal What is the state animal?State Fish Where are these fish found?State Insect How does this insect help gardeners?State Fossil What crab is this fossil related to?State Shell How do these scallops swim?State Tree When was the state tree adopted?State Gem What color is this gem?State Song Who wrote the state song?State Seal When was the current seal created?State Motto What is the state motto and what does it mean?State Muffin Make this state muffin and enjoy with the state beverage!State Beverage What is the state beverage? New York Printable Pages - Learn more about New York with these printable worksheets and coloring pages. Fun in the Kitchen - The official muffin of New York State, the Apple Muffin, was created by elementary school children in North Syracuse, New York. Try their official recipe. Presidents born in New York: Theodore RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt History - Learn about the history of New York. Big Apple Factoids - A New York Matching Game - be sure to read the facts after you find the match! New York Underground - New Yorkers go about unaware of what is happening just beneath their feet: Power pulses, information flies, and steam flows. Go on this virtual field trip underground! Niagara: The Story of the Falls - Take a journey down the perilous Niagara River, play the daredevil trivia adventure, explore the timeline of falls firsts, and discover surprising stories in snapshots of the falls. Empire State Building - Find fun facts, go on a photo tour, and play some games. The Chrysler Building - Pictures of this New York City skyscraper. Word Search - Find the hidden New York related words. Coloring Book - Print and color these pictures of the New York state symbols. Fun Facts - What is the states longest river? Read these fun New York facts and find out. Capitol Minutes - Short audio presentation of historical and educational interest. Buck Mountain - Take a virtual hike up Buck Mountain. Crossword Puzzle - Can you solve the crossword puzzle? Word Find - Find the hidden New York State Regions. Word Scramble - Can you unscramble these New York State symbols? Odd New York Law: It used to be illegal to ring the doorbell and disturb the occupant of a house.

Beloved on Slavery

This is true because most of the major events in the story relate to some type of slavery. The slavery that drives the novel does not have to be strictly physical slavery. Morrison†s characters are slaves physically and mentally. Although they are former slaves, they are forever trapped by horrible memories. The type of slavery the novel initially depicts does not correspond to what really happened to slaves in the 1800s. At Sweet Home, Mr. and Mrs. Garner treated their slaves like real people. Mr. Garner is proud of his slaves and treats them like men, not animals. . . . they were Sweet Home men — the ones Mr. Garner bragged about while other farmers shook their heads in warning at the phrase. [He said,] â€Å". . . my niggers is men every one of em. Bought em thataway, raised em thataway. Men every one. â€Å"1 The things that occurred at Sweet Home while Mr. Garner is alive are rather conservative compared to what slaves actually suffered during this time period. Under the management of schoolteacher, things change dramatically. He turns Sweet Home into a real slave plantation. He treats and refers to the slaves as animals. He is responsible for the horrible memories embedded in Sethe and Paul D. Sethe feels the impact of slavery to its fullest extent. Slavery pushes her to kill her baby daughter. She feels that is the only way to protect her beloved daughter from the pain and suffering she would endure if she became a slave. The minute she sees schoolteachers hat, Sethe†s first instinct is to protect her children. Knowing that slave catchers will do anything to bring back fugitive slaves and that dead slaves are not worth anything, Sethe took matters into her own hands. On page 164 Sethe says, â€Å"I stopped him. I took and put my babies where they†d be safe. † Paul D asks, â€Å"How? Your boys gone you don†t know where. One girl dead, the other won†t leave the yard. How did it work? â€Å"They ain†t at Sweet Home. Schoolteacher ain†t got em,† replies Sethe. This one incident does not only affect Sethe, but it changes things for Beloved and Denver as well. Beloved loses her life to slavery. Her own mother sacrifices her existence in order to keep her out of slavery. As for Denver, she is indirectly affected by the horrors of slavery. She has to put up with living in a haunted house because her mother refuses to run away again. On page 15 Sethe says, â€Å"I got a tree on my back and a haint in my house, and nothing in between but the daughter I am holding in my arms. No more running — from nothing. I will never run from another thing on this earth. † Sethe becomes a slave again when she realizes who Beloved really is. She feels indebted to Beloved for taking her life. In an effort to gain forgiveness, Sethe decides to focus all her energy on pleasing Beloved. When once or twice Sethe tried to assert herself — be the unquestioned mother whose word was law and who knew what was best — Beloved slammed things, wiped the table clean of plates, threw salt on the floor, broke a windowpane. †¦ Nobody said, You raise your hand to me and I will knock you into the middle of next week. †¦ No, no. They mended the plates, swept the salt, and little by little it dawned on Denver that if Sethe didn†t wake up one morning and pick up a knife, Beloved might. 2 Then there†s Paul D, who replaces his â€Å"red heart† with a tin tobacco box. He refuses to love anything strongly and establish long term relationships because he is still hurting from losing his brothers and friends to schoolteacher. Schoolteacher also takes his pride and manhood away by forcing him to wear a bit. Paul D compares himself to a chicken. On page 72 he says, â€Å"But wasn†t no way I†d ever be Paul D again, living or dead. Schoolteacherchanged me. I was something else and that something else was less than a chicken sitting in the sun on a tub. † As a member of the chain gang he suffers another type of slavery because he is both a prisoner and a sexual servant. Even after he escapes and is a free man, Paul D is still a slave. He is a slave to his memory. Having been through so many horrible events, he has trouble finding happiness again. In her novel, Morrison uses the phrase, â€Å"Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another. † This applies to each and every one of her characters. Sethe will always be haunted by the memory of killing her own flesh and blood. It will be a long time until Paul D is ready to turn his tin box back into a red heart. While Denver finally ventures out of 124, she is not going to forget being shunned by the community and being held captive by her own house. As for Beloved, she is her own slave. Her constant dependency on Sethe makes her weak. Beloved needs to free herself from Sethe. Though it is hard, she needs to accept what has happened and move on. Beloved is about a group of people and how they deal with life†s hardships. Many issues in the story deal with control. There is a constant struggle for power throughout the novel. Each character fights to free him/herself from something or someone. The major theme in the story is freedom and how to acquire it. The critics are correct in saying that the novel is primarily about slavery, but they should mention that slavery means more than just being an indentured servant. Beloved on Slavery This is true because most of the major events in the story relate to some type of slavery. The slavery that drives the novel does not have to be strictly physical slavery. Morrison†s characters are slaves physically and mentally. Although they are former slaves, they are forever trapped by horrible memories. The type of slavery the novel initially depicts does not correspond to what really happened to slaves in the 1800s. At Sweet Home, Mr. and Mrs. Garner treated their slaves like real people. Mr. Garner is proud of his slaves and treats them like men, not animals. . . . they were Sweet Home men — the ones Mr. Garner bragged about while other farmers shook their heads in warning at the phrase. [He said,] â€Å". . . my niggers is men every one of em. Bought em thataway, raised em thataway. Men every one. â€Å"1 The things that occurred at Sweet Home while Mr. Garner is alive are rather conservative compared to what slaves actually suffered during this time period. Under the management of schoolteacher, things change dramatically. He turns Sweet Home into a real slave plantation. He treats and refers to the slaves as animals. He is responsible for the horrible memories embedded in Sethe and Paul D. Sethe feels the impact of slavery to its fullest extent. Slavery pushes her to kill her baby daughter. She feels that is the only way to protect her beloved daughter from the pain and suffering she would endure if she became a slave. The minute she sees schoolteachers hat, Sethe†s first instinct is to protect her children. Knowing that slave catchers will do anything to bring back fugitive slaves and that dead slaves are not worth anything, Sethe took matters into her own hands. On page 164 Sethe says, â€Å"I stopped him. I took and put my babies where they†d be safe. † Paul D asks, â€Å"How? Your boys gone you don†t know where. One girl dead, the other won†t leave the yard. How did it work? â€Å"They ain†t at Sweet Home. Schoolteacher ain†t got em,† replies Sethe. This one incident does not only affect Sethe, but it changes things for Beloved and Denver as well. Beloved loses her life to slavery. Her own mother sacrifices her existence in order to keep her out of slavery. As for Denver, she is indirectly affected by the horrors of slavery. She has to put up with living in a haunted house because her mother refuses to run away again. On page 15 Sethe says, â€Å"I got a tree on my back and a haint in my house, and nothing in between but the daughter I am holding in my arms. No more running — from nothing. I will never run from another thing on this earth. † Sethe becomes a slave again when she realizes who Beloved really is. She feels indebted to Beloved for taking her life. In an effort to gain forgiveness, Sethe decides to focus all her energy on pleasing Beloved. When once or twice Sethe tried to assert herself — be the unquestioned mother whose word was law and who knew what was best — Beloved slammed things, wiped the table clean of plates, threw salt on the floor, broke a windowpane. †¦ Nobody said, You raise your hand to me and I will knock you into the middle of next week. †¦ No, no. They mended the plates, swept the salt, and little by little it dawned on Denver that if Sethe didn†t wake up one morning and pick up a knife, Beloved might. 2 Then there†s Paul D, who replaces his â€Å"red heart† with a tin tobacco box. He refuses to love anything strongly and establish long term relationships because he is still hurting from losing his brothers and friends to schoolteacher. Schoolteacher also takes his pride and manhood away by forcing him to wear a bit. Paul D compares himself to a chicken. On page 72 he says, â€Å"But wasn†t no way I†d ever be Paul D again, living or dead. Schoolteacherchanged me. I was something else and that something else was less than a chicken sitting in the sun on a tub. † As a member of the chain gang he suffers another type of slavery because he is both a prisoner and a sexual servant. Even after he escapes and is a free man, Paul D is still a slave. He is a slave to his memory. Having been through so many horrible events, he has trouble finding happiness again. In her novel, Morrison uses the phrase, â€Å"Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another. † This applies to each and every one of her characters. Sethe will always be haunted by the memory of killing her own flesh and blood. It will be a long time until Paul D is ready to turn his tin box back into a red heart. While Denver finally ventures out of 124, she is not going to forget being shunned by the community and being held captive by her own house. As for Beloved, she is her own slave. Her constant dependency on Sethe makes her weak. Beloved needs to free herself from Sethe. Though it is hard, she needs to accept what has happened and move on. Beloved is about a group of people and how they deal with life†s hardships. Many issues in the story deal with control. There is a constant struggle for power throughout the novel. Each character fights to free him/herself from something or someone. The major theme in the story is freedom and how to acquire it. The critics are correct in saying that the novel is primarily about slavery, but they should mention that slavery means more than just being an indentured servant.

Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Research Paper - Essay Example radigms that significantly influence the performance outcome of the businesses have become vital factors of competitive advantage in the contemporary global business environment. Scholars assert that in the contemporary times, resources like machine, factories, human capital or intellectual property can be bought from the open market and therefore, they are not effective resources that could provide competitive edge to a firm (Johnston, Scholes and Whittington, 2005). But Lynch (2003) believes that resource based strategy inherently includes all tangible and intangible assets that enable the firm to conceive of and implement strategies that improve its efficiency and effectiveness and therefore gives it the necessary advantage. It also true that organizational competencies in terms of organizational culture and leadership initiatives that exploit human capital for improved performance outcome is highly relevant element of competitive advantage (De Wit & Mayer, 2005). Hence, the research on the topic would greatly help identify factors and issues that facilitate businesses to gain leverage in the highly competitive business of contemporary times. The proposed research study would be qualitative in nature and would involve comprehensive literature review. Observation and interviews have been two major methods of understanding and evaluating the factors that impact the changing business dynamics. The sample data primarily comprised of observations of general public and local businessmen on the various perspectives of business competition and issues that influence their performance. The results showed the recessive trend had hugely impacted the business outcome and necessitated cost cutting measures to meet the challenges of the time and survive tough economic conditions. It was also found that the globalization and increasing multicultural environment also required more proactive measures to promote cross cultural understanding for improved teamwork. Workplace

Ikea smilaraties and defferences among international competitors Essay

Ikea smilaraties and defferences among international competitors - Essay Example Due to these, the company had a hard time gaining recognition by consumers in the market. However, in an attempt to develop economically and increase the customer base, the organization started considering the operational details, cost control, and constant product development. This attributes made the company unique from its opponents. In terms of making itself dissimilar to its opponents, IKEA uses the differentiation strategy effectively and efficiently. In this strategy, IKEA gazes for economic advantage through offering products that are alleged to be superior and different from the products of competitors by its consumers owing to its unique features. For instance, the superiority of the products. Secondly, the organization seeks to be different in its market along some magnitudes that are treasured among consumers. It chooses a single or several attributes that many consumers in a market perceive as significant and exclusively positions itself to accomplish those needs. To conclude, IKEA also has a unique price that is fairly lesser than other competitors are, thi s lower price comes from the large-scale procurement the company is involved in, thus making them superior to

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 187

Assignment Example ssue of female genital mutilation, around which Arab feminists today organize, including the insurance of fair divorce laws, proper health care f or women, family planning education and others. The veil which was also symbolic of Arab women’s meekness was symbolically thrown by Sharawi into the sea as a symbolic protest of how women are treated. To date, there are women NGOs who are taking on increasingly important responsibilities in the context of state withdrawal from the provision of social services and in the context of a global trend in the expansion of civil society. I was surprised to realize that there was and still is a feminist movement in the Middle East and started as early as 1800s. What is more surprising is that its feminist movement father Qasim Amin is actually a man. It is like Abe Lincoln who is a Caucasian and abrogated the slavery against the Negroes. I was also surprised that the veil’s interpretation vary and is not accepted by all Arab women. 3. What role did the non-aligned and secular movements play in the Middle East- how did the West influence on one hand, and fail the secular movement on the other hand? Why has secularism in the region, with the exception of Turkey, failed in the region? The non-aligned and secular movements in the Middle East played a crucial role today in promoting women issues such as passage and enforcement of fair divorce laws, proper health care for women, family planning education and others. It is important to note that the key figures of Middle East feminist movement are educated and well travelled in the West who saw the disparity between the Western woman and a Middle Eastern woman who are secondary to the preferential treatment of men and thus asserted that women should have greater participation and rights in

Health Care Reform Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Health Care Reform - Research Paper Example The contention was supported by authors Siegel, Mead and Burke (2008) who revealed an analogous argument in the rising costs of health care services coupled with the increasing number of Americans who are uninsured. B. Reality of Health Care in the US The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) emphasized that â€Å"some  47 million U.S. residents have no health insurance, and the numbers keep growing† (AFL-CIO, 2011). In view of this, the current administration has enacted the Affordable Care Act that envisions implementing â€Å"comprehensive health insurance reforms that will hold insurance companies more accountable, lower health care costs, guarantee more health care choices, and enhance the quality of health care for all American† (USDHHS: Health Care, n.d,). C. ... rage through the following strategies, to wit: â€Å"(1) sets up a new competitive private health insurance market; (2) holds insurance companies accountable; and (3) puts our budget and economy on a more stable path† (USDHHS: Health Care, n.d., pars. 6 to 8). Section 2: The History and the Evolution of the Issue in Health Care The major issues in health care that significantly traced its historical evolution are sourced from The Henry J. Kaiser Family of Foundation (2011) and enumerated herewith, as follows: 1965 President Lyndon Johnson Lyndon enacted legislation which introduced Medicare covering both hospital and general medical insurance for senior citizens paid for by a Federal employment tax over the working life of the retiree, and Medicaid permitted the Federal government to partially fund a program for the poor, with the program managed and co-financed by the individual states. 1985 The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) amended the Employ ee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to give some employees the ability to continue health insurance coverage after leaving employment. 1997 The State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, was established by the federal government in 1997 to provide health insurance to children in families at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty line. 2010 The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Patient Protection is enacted by President Barack Obama providing for the phased introduction over four years of a comprehensive system of mandated health insurance with reforms designed to eliminate "some of the worst practices of the insurance companies" — pre-condition screening and premium loadings, policy rescinds on technicalities when illness seems imminent, lifetime and annual

Puzzle of High Saving Rate in China - Myth and Reality Research Paper

Puzzle of High Saving Rate in China - Myth and Reality - Research Paper Example Other economists believe that these high rates of saving are a part of financial behavior or financial attitude development that resulted in the tremendous growth of Chinese economy. Among many cynical reasons, one reason was that the increase in the number of male children born in China has resulted in this trend. The ratio of male to female children in China is around 122 men for every 100 girls. This means that one in every five man cannot find a girl in the marriage market. Hence, in order to give them competitive edge in the marriage market, these people try to save more and build up more wealth so that they can find a wife in the future. This is one f most widely accepted reason of increase in saving rates in China (Wei, 2010). Other reason for growth of saving in China is declining dependency ratio. This means that more people nowadays are working in China and hence since income of people is high they can afford to save more since they do not have to bear the expense of their dependents or people who rely on them. Another reason for this growth in saving rate is the growth of national income and GDP per capital in China. This means that people are earning more than they were earning before and hence this gives them more chances to save their money for future and precautionary motives. Table 1: Comparisons of Saving Rates as percentage of GDP Source: Yi and Ma If we compare China with other countries with other countries we can say that over time it has become far superior to other countries in terms of saving. China’s propensity to save from year 1998 to 2008 has increased from 39% of its GDP to 54.3% of its GDP. This shows a growth of around 15% over this period time. Similarly, Singapore also has a large propensity to save but over a... Hence, in order to give them a competitive edge in the marriage market, these people try to save more and build up more wealth so that they can find a wife in the future. This is one f most widely accepted the reason for an increase in saving rates in China (Wei, 2010). Another reason for the growth of saving in China is declining dependency ratio. This means that more people nowadays are working in China and hence since the income of people is high they can afford to save more since they do not have to bear the expense of their dependents or people who rely on them. Another reason for this growth in saving rate is the growth of national income and GDP per capita in China. This means that people are earning more than they were earning before and hence this gives them more chances to save their money for future and precautionary motives. If we compare China with other countries with other countries we can say that over time it has become far superior to other countries in terms of saving. China’s propensity to save from the year 1998 to 2008 has increased from 39% of its GDP to 54.3% of its GDP. This shows a growth of around 15% over this period time. Similarly, Singapore also has a large propensity to save but over a decade its growth in saving has been nothing as compared to China. Singapore’s propensity to save has risen only by 5%. Hence, we can also conclude that it is a common practice in this region to save more and hence these countries have a high propensity to save as compared to Western nations.

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 187

Assignment Example ssue of female genital mutilation, around which Arab feminists today organize, including the insurance of fair divorce laws, proper health care f or women, family planning education and others. The veil which was also symbolic of Arab women’s meekness was symbolically thrown by Sharawi into the sea as a symbolic protest of how women are treated. To date, there are women NGOs who are taking on increasingly important responsibilities in the context of state withdrawal from the provision of social services and in the context of a global trend in the expansion of civil society. I was surprised to realize that there was and still is a feminist movement in the Middle East and started as early as 1800s. What is more surprising is that its feminist movement father Qasim Amin is actually a man. It is like Abe Lincoln who is a Caucasian and abrogated the slavery against the Negroes. I was also surprised that the veil’s interpretation vary and is not accepted by all Arab women. 3. What role did the non-aligned and secular movements play in the Middle East- how did the West influence on one hand, and fail the secular movement on the other hand? Why has secularism in the region, with the exception of Turkey, failed in the region? The non-aligned and secular movements in the Middle East played a crucial role today in promoting women issues such as passage and enforcement of fair divorce laws, proper health care for women, family planning education and others. It is important to note that the key figures of Middle East feminist movement are educated and well travelled in the West who saw the disparity between the Western woman and a Middle Eastern woman who are secondary to the preferential treatment of men and thus asserted that women should have greater participation and rights in

Puzzle of High Saving Rate in China - Myth and Reality Research Paper

Puzzle of High Saving Rate in China - Myth and Reality - Research Paper Example Other economists believe that these high rates of saving are a part of financial behavior or financial attitude development that resulted in the tremendous growth of Chinese economy. Among many cynical reasons, one reason was that the increase in the number of male children born in China has resulted in this trend. The ratio of male to female children in China is around 122 men for every 100 girls. This means that one in every five man cannot find a girl in the marriage market. Hence, in order to give them competitive edge in the marriage market, these people try to save more and build up more wealth so that they can find a wife in the future. This is one f most widely accepted reason of increase in saving rates in China (Wei, 2010). Other reason for growth of saving in China is declining dependency ratio. This means that more people nowadays are working in China and hence since income of people is high they can afford to save more since they do not have to bear the expense of their dependents or people who rely on them. Another reason for this growth in saving rate is the growth of national income and GDP per capital in China. This means that people are earning more than they were earning before and hence this gives them more chances to save their money for future and precautionary motives. Table 1: Comparisons of Saving Rates as percentage of GDP Source: Yi and Ma If we compare China with other countries with other countries we can say that over time it has become far superior to other countries in terms of saving. China’s propensity to save from year 1998 to 2008 has increased from 39% of its GDP to 54.3% of its GDP. This shows a growth of around 15% over this period time. Similarly, Singapore also has a large propensity to save but over a... Hence, in order to give them a competitive edge in the marriage market, these people try to save more and build up more wealth so that they can find a wife in the future. This is one f most widely accepted the reason for an increase in saving rates in China (Wei, 2010). Another reason for the growth of saving in China is declining dependency ratio. This means that more people nowadays are working in China and hence since the income of people is high they can afford to save more since they do not have to bear the expense of their dependents or people who rely on them. Another reason for this growth in saving rate is the growth of national income and GDP per capita in China. This means that people are earning more than they were earning before and hence this gives them more chances to save their money for future and precautionary motives. If we compare China with other countries with other countries we can say that over time it has become far superior to other countries in terms of saving. China’s propensity to save from the year 1998 to 2008 has increased from 39% of its GDP to 54.3% of its GDP. This shows a growth of around 15% over this period time. Similarly, Singapore also has a large propensity to save but over a decade its growth in saving has been nothing as compared to China. Singapore’s propensity to save has risen only by 5%. Hence, we can also conclude that it is a common practice in this region to save more and hence these countries have a high propensity to save as compared to Western nations.

Dantes Inferno Essay Example for Free

Dantes Inferno Essay On the evening of Good Friday in the year 1300, Dante is travelling through a forest, when he gets lost. In the morning, he finds a mountain and tries to climb it, but is stopped by a lion, a wolf, and a leopard. The spirit of the poet Virgil appears and offers to take him to the top of the mountain to Heaven when his love, Beatrice, is, but the way first leads through Hell. Virgil and Dante enter through the gates of Hell and see a crowd of people along the banks of the river. Virgil tells Dante these are the souls who neither sinned nor worshipped God, and are therefore rejected by both Heaven and Hell. Charon takes them across the river. The Second Circle is guarded by Minos and is the first of four rings in which souls are punished. In the Second Circle, the souls of the lustful are blown about by never-ending winds. In the Third Circle, the souls of the gluttons are soaked by heavy rain and clawed by the three-headed dog, Cerberus. Continuing downwards, they meet the entrance to the Fourth Circle, which holds the greedy. These souls must charge at each other with boulders repeatedly. Virgil and Dante next proceed to f the city of Dis. Dis is a city within the larger region of Hell, however the demon guards refuse to open the gates. A messenger arrives from Heaven to force the gates open for Dante and Virgil. The Sixth Circle of Hell holds the Heretics, and in this circle that Dante encounters Farinata, a rival political leader. A deep valley leads into the First Ring of the Seventh Circle of Hell, where there are three inner rings. The first is where those who were violent toward others spend eternity in a river of boiling blood. The second ring is for those who were violent toward themselves, and the third ring is for those who were violent toward God. The monster Geryon transports Virgil and Dante across a great abyss to the Eighth Circle of Hell, known as Malebolge, Here, there are also many layers. The first is for the panderers and seducers, who receive lashings from whips. The second is where the flatterers must lie in a river of human feces. The simoniacs in the third layer hang upside down in baptismal fonts while their feet burn with fire. The fourth layer is for the astrologists and diviners, who are forced to walk with their heads on backward. In the fifth layer, those who have accepted bribes are torn apart by demons. In the sixth layer, the hypocrites must walk in circles for eternity while wearing robes of lead. In the seventh layer, thieves sit in a pit of vipers and turn to vipers when bitten, and then regain their human form when they bite  another thief. In the eighth layer, Dante speaks to Ulysses who will spend forever with those guilty of Spiritual Theft. In the ninth layer, those of scandal walk in a circle with wounds that open and close repeatedly. In the tenth and final layer, falsifiers suffer from plagues and diseases of all kinds. Through the Giants’ Well, Virgil and Dante proceed to the Ninth Circle of Hell, which leads to a great frozen lake named Cocytus. Virgil and Dante are picked up and placed in the lowest region of Hell by the giant Antaeus. Like the previous Circles, the Ninth Circle of Hell also contains numerous different inner Rings. In the First Ring, those who betrayed their kin stand frozen to their necks in the lake. In the Second Ring, those who betrayed their country stand frozen to their heads. However, those who betrayed their guest are destined to spend eternity lying on their back in the frozen lake in the Third Ring. In the Fourth and final ring of the Ninth Circle of Hell, an eternity in complete icy submersion is given to those who betrayed their friends. In the center of this circle is the three-headed Lucifer. His body comes from the center of the Earth where he fell when God sent him down from Heaven. In each of Lucifer’s mouths are Judas, Cassius, and Brutus. Virgil instructs Dante to climb down Lucifer, and travel out of Hell and back onto Earth. They return to Earth on Easter morning. Analysis In the first canto, Dante uses the dark forest to express the flaws he saw in the world around him at the time Inferno was written. Also, when Dante encounters the leopard, the lion, and the she-wolf. The leopard represents fraud, the lion represents pride, and the she-wolf represents incontinence. Dante is most affected by the presence of the she-wolf because, while incontinence is the least severe category of sin, it is the one to which he is most susceptible. Christian symbolism is extremely prevalent throughout Inferno, and it is first introduced in the second canto. Hell is not just described as the underworld, but a place where sinners are punished for eternity. In the inscription on the gates into Hell, each part of the Trinity is represented. The â€Å"potency divine† represents God the Father, the â€Å"wisdom supreme† is Christ, and the â€Å"primal love† is the Holy Spirit. Along these same lines, the use of the Trinity is also used in the last canto, when we are  introduced to the three-headed Lucifer. The three heads could represent the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as well. In the fourth canto, Dante explains that Limbo is for those who have not been baptized, thus addressing one of the great moral problems of Christianity. Baptism is considered necessary to go to Heaven, but it does not seem fair that people who do not know of Christianity should suffer for something they have no control over. Dante takes care of this problem by keeping those who are not Christian in Hell, but giving them a much less painful fate by giving them eternity in Limbo. The timeframe of Dante’s Inferno is extremely relevant in terms of Christianity. Dante begins his journey through Hell on Good Friday and emerges and returns to Earth on Easter day. This means that he was â€Å"dead† for the time period following the crucifixion of Christ, and he has risen with him. To look further into the other religions represented in Inferno, the tower in the city of Dis that Dante refers to is a mosque, to further emphasize that anyone who does not believe in Christianity is a nonbeliever and should be in Hell. It is also interesting to look at the role Dante plays throughout Inferno. Throughout, it is clear that Beatrice has kept a careful eye on Dante’s progress and is prepared to intervene when necessary to ensure that he gets to her. In the first canto, when Dante is lost, Beatrice sends Virgil to guide him, and when Virgil and Dante are not admitted into Dis, Beatrice sent a messenger to let them in. Without Beatrice, Dante would be lost. She is the only reason he has a chance at making it to Heaven. Dante faints and weeps numerous times, further indicating his weakness and his reliance on Beatrice and Virgil. He expresses fear of the wild beasts in the first canto and of many of the other demons in the other circles. These weaknesses emphasize how little he does for himself. He follows the path that is laid out for him by Beatrice and Virgil, and does nothing more than that. In many contexts, Dante is held as a hero, but he is really just relying on others.

Gender and Leadership Style

Gender and Leadership Style Introduction Leadership has had a great impact on the culture, history, and civilization of humankind, thus theoretical explanations for it have been extended throughout the history. Although the term leadership is mostly related with industry and business, it is important to education as well. Therefore it is vital to understand the role of leaders in education and to investigate the impact of gender on leadership style. Despite the large number of female teachers across all levels (i.e. primary, secondary, tertiary), leadership positions are still held mainly by men. Cooper et al. (2000) stated that qualified women educators provide important resource for meeting current and impending school leadership shortages but are often ignored. Meanwhile Young and McLeod (2001) identified that womens entrance into educational leadership will depends on their career aspirations, their leadership orientations or styles, the particular exposure to transformational leadership, their experiences, and the support they gain when entering administration. This section will include early leadership theories, the roles of school leader, relationship between leadership and gender, female leadership styles, differences between leadership styles of men and women, gender stereotypes, prejudice against female leaders and the summary of this chapter. Early Leadership Theories In the early 18th centuries, philosophers recommended a theory of leadership which was termed the Great Man theory. According to Jani (2008), this theory assumed that leaders are born and not made. Whereby leaders usually were members from the aristocracy since they only got a chance to lead; hence, it was considered that good breeding contributed to great leaders. Besides that, this theory also states that when there is a great need, then a great leader arises, like Buddha, Jesus, Churchill and Eisenhower. During that era, women were not taken into account as possible leaders. Even from the name given to this theory illustrates that women were not perceived as leaders, and leadership research during this period were related solely to males. Trait theories were introduced in the year 1904 and were well known up to 1947 (Bass, 1990). This theory assumed that people are born with inherited traits whereby some traits are particularly suited to leadership. It is believed that people who make good leaders have the right combination of traits. And once again, these traits were thought to be inborn, and unique to leaders. Trait theories basically described traits in masculine terms, and these characteristics were considered crucial for successful leadership. In the 1900s, small numbers of women began to enter the workforce. However, only very small proportions of women took up leadership positions in the 1940s. Typically, women were seen as carers, assistants, teachers, or nurses rather than leaders during this period of time (Koziara et al., 1987). Therefore, females were not seen as appropriate in the role of leadership. Soon after the 1940s, researchers began to propose that traits alone were not sufficient to explain effective leadership. They proposed that the interaction of leaders and followers, as well as other situational factors, may be a significant factor in effective leadership. At this stage, leaders were no longer considered to possess inborn characteristics and abilities hence Gardner (1989) proposed a new way of conceptualizing leadership. He said that men learn to lead therefore there is no one that are born to be a leader. This philosophy lead to the behavioural theories of leadership in the 1930s and the perspective began to move from a belief in the inborn characteristics of leaders, to a focus on behaviour which could be acquired or learned. There were four main behavioural studies conducted in conjunction with this theory. Firstly, the University of Iowa researchers which isolated three behavioural dimensions; these were the democratic, autocratic, and laissez-faire styles. Secondly, a study by Ohio State University in the 1940s and 1950s. They advanced this body of thought by dividing the behavioural theories into two dimensions which they termed consideration and initiating structure. Consideration was explained as being considerate towards followers ideas and feelings while initiating structure referred to structuring work relationship to meet job goals. The third study was conducted by the University of Michigan which described employee oriented and production oriented dimensions. The findings of this study concluded that employee-oriented employers promoted high group productivity and job satisfaction amongst their employees (Kahn and Katz, 1960). These concepts were extended in 1964, when Blake and Mouton proposed a Managerial Grid. They proposed that by incorporating the two dimensions of concern for people and concern for production the most effective way of leading could be achieved (Blake and Mouton, 1964). All these behavioural theories were proposed in the early 1930s, but only achieved prominence in the 1960s at a time when the number of women in positions of power or authority in organisations were still low. The proportion of women in leadership roles in the USA in 1970, ten years after the behavioural theories were introduced, was only 16 per cent. Moreover, this percentage of women involved in a leadership role was reported to be constant for over a decade (Powell, 1999). However, during this period of research, there was an emerging recognition of the importance of concern for people in the behavioural theories as being an effective leadership quality. A concern for people could be seen as behaviour more typically associated with female. Subsequently, the leadership theories moved on to embrace both individual traits and situational aspects of leadership simultaneously (Bass, 1990). Successful leadership was considered to be dependent on the leaders consideration of situational factors in order for an appropriate leadership style to be chosen to cope with each situation. This theory assumes that the action of a leader depends on a number of situational factors, such as motivation and capability of followers, relationship between the leader and the followers, stress, mood, and etc. Yukl (1989) has identified six situational factors namely, subordinate effort, subordinate ability, organization of the work, cooperation and cohesiveness, resources and support, and external coordination. Situational theories would have predominantly been seen as applying to males in leadership roles because of the low profile of women in management during that time, and it can be assumed that the profile of women in management would not h ave been advanced in any significant way from this body of literature. Additional theories began to be available with mostly focused on the specific leadership styles of leaders, in an attempt to increase the understanding of what constituted effective leadership. These concepts relating to leadership styles were introduced in 1938 by Lewin and Lippitt. They suggested that leaders vary in the way they led in organisations. They proposed three styles of leadership. Firstly, autocratic leaders were originally described as leaders who used their power and their ability to persuade in leading their followers. An autocratic leader was also illustrated as a directive leader. The autocratic style of leadership was not been associated with female gender stereotypical characteristics. The second leadership style was named democratic leadership. This style was explained as a style whereby the leader pursued an open and follower oriented relationship. Leaders who take on this style encouraged followers to establish their own strategies, provided them with a perspective by explaining in advance the procedures for accomplishing the goals, and granted the followers independence to commence their own tasks and congratulating them if they succeed. According to Bass (1990), this leadership style originated from America, and leaders adopting this style were described as caring, considerate, and easy to compromise. This is the first kind of research which was seen to be more favourably aligned to feminine characteristics as compared to masculine characteristics. However, as mentioned previously, during the era when leadership style theories reached prominence, there were still limited women holding leadership positions. As research on gender difference in leadership styles did not occur until 1990, it would appear that the theories on leadership styles would have been written to illustrate male behaviour in leadership roles. Nevertheless, it could be argued that the theories on leadership styles began to raise the profile of women in leadership. This early leadership research may have changed insights about the suitability of women in leadership positions, as a democratic style of leadership could be attributed to both male and female leaders. The third leadership style was described as laissez-faire leadership. The term laissez-faire means to let others act without interference or better known as the hands off style. Laissez-faire leaders were thought to have less confidence in their decision-making responsibility, or in their capability to manage, often avoiding meeting with their subordinates (Bass, 1990). Similar to previous theories, these researches was studied in a male context, probably because of the small numbers of women in leadership roles at that time. In short, all of the theories reviewed portrayed leadership implicitly or explicitly as a male prerogative, and the small numbers of women in leadership positions during the respective periods confirms that the role of leaders was largely seen as a male domain. Not unpredictably, all the researchers and writers on early leadership were men and hence the years of leadership research reflect a male dominance. Denmark (1993), reflected that by ignoring gender as a variable in studying leadership, researchers created many blanks in theoretical and research design. However, gender has begun to be a consideration in the literature in the late 1970s. Gender difference research began to report on differences in behaviour, attitudes, and skills between males and females in general and was subsequently extended to consider abilities such as leadership. The Roles of School Leaders The role of the school leader in successful schools has gone beyond the traditional view of functional management, power, behaviour style, and instructional leadership. In the past, the job of school leader was considered as primarily managerial, however nowadays the realities of our global society have shifted the focus from management to leadership. According to Kowalski, (2003) an effective school administrator typically must be both a manager and a leader. Todays school leaders face more complex expectations. They face a very different student population. At a time when many view the schools as one of the few social organizations, students arrive with very different attitudes, motivations, and needs than students of todays generations (Young and Kochan, 2004). International research indicates that successful schools have leaders who creates a productive and professional school culture (Stoll, 1999), have a clear vision (Fullan, 2003), are knowledgeable about teaching and learning (Wesson and Grady, 1993) and protect schools from demands that make it difficult for schools to operate on a professional basis (Normore, 2004). As for school leaders in less successful schools, they seem to view their role to be more that of a middle manager. While leaders in highly successful schools perceive themselves as educational leaders (Normore, 2004) who contribute to school improvement and school effectiveness (Mortimore and MacBeath, 2001). Effective school leaders are vital to change and improvement, and are clear on expectations for student learning (Fullan, 2003). Expectations of nowadays school leaders include new knowledge and skill for instructional leadership, discipline, supervision, fundraising, and public relations expertise (Shuttleworth, 2003). More responsibility has been added to the job over the years causing some of the best school leaders to slow down until the extent that they have lost much of their leadership, rather than management quality (Normore, 2004; Shuttleworth, 2003; Simkins, 2003). Relationship between Leadership and Gender According to Oshagbemi and Gill (2003), the relationship between gender role and leadership style is the association of masculinity with task-oriented leadership styles and femininity with relationship-oriented styles. This relationship is not so precise for women. Jamieson developed the concept of femininity and masculinity in the year 1995 where behaving feminine is associated with incompetence and behaving masculine is associated with competency. If the masculine model represents the general and dominant model of leadership, women understand that in order to escalate the ranks they have to conform to it (Fernandes and Cabral-Cardoso, 2003). In other words, the same influence strategies that proved to be successful for men are continually used by women too. The main strategy is to develop behaviors feminine enough not to diverge from the gender role expectation, but masculine enough to gain credibility as professionals; in simple terms, women have to create their own leadership sty les. As Gardner (1995) said Leadership is never guaranteed; it must always be renewed. Female Leadership Styles Earlier thinking emphasized that women who had reached leadership positions were imitators of male characteristics, but contemporary theories recognize feminine leadership styles. Like any new trend in traditional settings, it takes years to develop new styles until these styles are understood and well accepted. Women face several barriers that prevent them from involving in leadership positions. Obstacles with this origin have been described as the glass ceiling as a metaphor that halts women in moving up the career ladder at a certain point (Oakley, 2000). Nonetheless, the increasing involvement of women in the labor market in the last half century, and their movement to managerial positions has changed the definition of leadership (Kark, 2004). Rosener (1990) believed that female leadership tends towards a style defined as interactive leadership that involves: encouraging participation; sharing power and information; enhancing self-worth; changing self interests for an overall good; relating power to interpersonal skills; and believing in better performance when feeling good. Women leaders in education need to find the leadership styles that, without denying its feminine origins, result in efficiency. The redefinition of characteristics of an effective school leader, following the current trends of organizational leadership, will help erase gender stereotypes and focus on desirable characteristics that candidates (men or women) bring to the position (Logan, 1998). Differences in the Leadership Styles of Men and Women One possible explanation of gender gap in leadership is that women are deficient in the characteristics and behaviors that are crucial to effective leadership. However, contrary to the idea that women are less suited to leadership than men, Eagly, Alice H., and Marloes L. van Engen (2004) have described female leaders as having cooperative, interactive, and facilitative leadership styles that are more attuned to the needs of modern organizations than the leadership styles that of men. Empirical research has observed such claims about the typical leadership styles of men and women. To determine whether men and women differ in leadership styles, Alice Eagly and Blair Johnson (2004) carried out a meta-analysis of 162 studies that were conducted between 1961 and 1987. Most of these studies distinguished between task-oriented leadership (a style that emphasizes subordinates to follow rules and procedures, maintaining high standards of performance, and making roles explicit) and interpersonally oriented leadership (a style that emphasizes helping subordinates, looking out for their welfare, explaining procedures, and being friendly and available). Besides that, some studies distinguished between leaders who behave democratically and invite subordinates to participate in decision making, known as participative or democratic leadership, and leaders who behave autocratically and discourage subordinates from participating in decision making, known directive or autocratic le adership. Eagly and Johnsons meta-analysis found that the leadership styles of women and men were somewhat stereotypical. In these laboratory and assessment studies, women, more than men, tended to manifest relatively towards interpersonally oriented styles, and men, more than women, tended to display relatively task-oriented styles. In contrast, gender differences in task and interpersonal style were insignificant among leaders occupying managerial roles in organizations. These findings were consistent with the principle that gender differences are lower among managers because male and female managers are selected by similar criteria and subjected to similar organizational socialization. However, in all these studies, one difference did consistently appear: Women leaders displayed a somewhat more democratic or participative style and a less autocratic or directive style than men did. In the twenty-three studies comparing men and women on the democratic versus autocratic dimension, 92 percent went in the direction of a more democratic and participative style among women. In the 1980s and 1990s, researchers identified a type of leadership style that is commonly known as transformational leadership, which is similar to contemporary models of leadership known as visionary, charismatic, and inspirational. The importance of these models is on the ability of the leaders to inspire, stimulate, and motivate followers and to nurture their ability to contribute creatively to the organizational goals. Transformational leadership are differ from transactional leadership, which is a more conventional style that stresses clarifying subordinate responsibilities and using rewards and punishments to encourage subordinates to meet objectives of the organization. Also acknowledged by some researchers is laissez-faire style that is characterized by a general failure to take responsibility for managing or better known as the hands off style. To determine whether male and female leaders differ when evaluated in terms of these new distinctions, Eagly, along with social psychologists Mary Johannesen-Schmidt and Marloes van Engen, carried out a meta-analysis of 45 studies that compared male and female managers on the measures of transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership. These studies involved organizational leaders, mainly from business and educational organizations. The meta-analysis revealed that female leaders were more transformational than male leaders and also exceeded male leaders on one component of transactional leadership which is contingent reward behaviors, which consist of rewarding subordinates for doing a good job. Women also exceeded men on the transformational dimension of individualized consideration, which relates to developing and mentoring followers. In contrast, men were more likely than women to display two other aspects of transactional leadership which are active management by ex ception and passive management by exception. Active management by exception refers to attending to followers mistakes and failures to meet standards, while passive management by exception refer to waiting until problems become severe before attending to them. Men, more than women, also displayed laissez-faire leadership, which means they are uninvolved during critical moment. In summary, research has established some small differences in the behavior of male and female leaders. Specifically, women tend to be more democratic and less autocratic than men, a difference that does not yield an overall advantage for either gender. More important for effectiveness are womens tendencies to engage in transformational style and to deliver more rewards for followers good performance. These behaviors have been related with enhanced effectiveness across a wide variety of settings. Consequently, empirical research does not support the thought that the leadership styles of women account for their lesser success in rising into higher-level of leadership positions. Gender Stereotypes Women have traditionally been stereotyped as more socially sensitive and interpersonally competent than men (Korabik 1999). In various studies, the traditional stereotype of women included attributes such as being less competent and less effective in tasks that are required for work outside of home (Glick and Fiske 1999), nurturing, compassionate, considerate, weak, and subservient (Bem 1974), and emotional, subjective, tactful, aware of others feelings, and having feelings that are easily hurt (Broverman, Vogel, Broverman, Clarkson, and Rosenkrantz 1972). Stereotypes linked with men, on the other hand, typically included traits such as leaders, dominant, aggressive, independent, objective, and competitive (Broverman, Vogel, Broverman, Clarkson, and Rosenkrantz 1972). These gender stereotypes broaden into almost every facet of daily life for both men and women. People interpret communications and speech characteristics through gender stereotypes (Tannen 1990, 2001). Research has also demonstrated that gender stereotypes regarding communication patterns and styles develop early and continue on through adulthood. Other aspects of interpersonal interactions are subjected to gender stereotypes as well. Eagly and Karau (1991) demonstrated that overall, men were perceived as being more capable and were more readily accepted as leaders when they acted in a confident and assertive manner. Although the nature of the task moderated this relationship, men were more likely than women to be thought of as leaders (Eagly and Karau 1991). For women, the same qualifications of assertiveness and confidence could be harmful when they are faced with traditional gender stereotypes. Carli and Eagly (1999) in their summary of the research on influence and leadership emergence highlighted the barriers that faces by women in leadership. Studies conducted in the United States have demonstrated that self-efficacy and self-promotion are beneficial in hiring and promotion practices for men. However, women who engaged in these behaviors as undesirable (Rudman 1998). Therefore, gender stereotypes play a critical role in limiting the opportunities for women to emerge as leaders by decreasing womens access to leadership roles and increasing the obstacles they must overcome in order to become leaders (Eagly and Karau 2002). When women and men leaders behaviors and styles are reviewed, typically one of these paradigms is employed. Eagly and Johnsons (1990) meta-analysis research demonstrated that across studies, no difference was found in the perception of men and women leaders. However, they did report a small but significant finding in which women leaders were perceived as being more participative as compare to their men counterparts. They also highlighted that the source of the perception (self or subordinates) may play an important role on the results. In addition, factors such as the gender of the author, the type of study, and the date of the study had some moderating effects on the results. More recently, Eagly and colleagues have reported meta-analytic results regarding the role of leaders gender in transactional and transformational leadership styles (Eagly, Johannesen-Schimdt, van Engen, and Vinkenburg 2003). These studies found that women leaders, when compared to the males, were perceived as slightly but significantly more likely to engage in transformational behaviors. They also found that men leaders, when compared to the women leaders, were perceived as more transactional leaders. Therefore, it could be concluded that men and women are perceived somewhat differently due to the presence of traditional gender stereotypes. Prejudices against Female Leaders Prejudice against women as leaders is at least partly responsible for the lack of women in leadership positions. Prejudice arises because peoples common views about what a manager or a leader is like do not fit their ideas about women as well as they fit their ideas about men. This inconsistency can be examined in terms of social roles of women, men, and leaders. These role expectations are called descriptive because they indicate what behaviors members of a particular social category might display. Role expectations are also called injunctive because they include consensual expectations about what group members ideally should do. Gender roles are understood as socially shared beliefs about the typical attributes of women and men. According to social role theory, these roles emerge from the societal division of labor between the genders. The underlying principle is that the perceivers infer that peoples actions tend to correspond to their internal dispositions, a cognitive process that has been labeled correspondent inference or correspondence bias. Specifically, the common, nurturing behaviors required by womens domestic and child-care roles and by many female-dominated occupational roles favor inferences that women do possess and should possess common traits. Similarly, the confident, task-oriented activities required by many male-dominated occupations and the breadwinner family role create expectations that men do possess and should possess agentic traits, such as unselfishness, concern for others, and expressiveness, as well as traits such as masterfulness, self-assuredness, and instrumental competency. In general, prejudice in the workplace may arise from the irregularity people perceive between particular workplace roles and the attributes attributed to individuals based on their group membership. Most leadership roles are characterized primarily by agentic attributes and are therefore different with the predominantly common characteristics attributed to women. Although it might seem that gender should be irrelevant in the workplace, it spills over to affect opinions of employees. The resulting incongruity of the female gender role and leadership roles leads not only to decreased prospect that women can be successful leaders, but also to less favorable evaluations of leadership when it is enacted by a woman compared with a man, as shown in many studies that were summarized by Eagly and social psychologist Steven Karau in 2002. Several types of research have shown that women have fewer accesses to leadership roles than men do. Economist Joyce Jacobsens review showed that most studies of actual income and promotion supported the claim of discrimination against women in general and female managers in particular, albeit on a decreasing basis over the years. As shown in a meta-analysis by psychologists Heather Davison and Michael Burke, experiments in which participants evaluated female and male job candidates who were experimentally equated supported the narrower claim of prejudice as a disadvantage for women in relation to male gendertyped positions, which would include most leadership roles. Other studies, such as those by sociologist Martha Foschi, showed that women usually have to meet higher standard to be judged as being competent and possessing leadership ability. In addition, Eagly and Karaus 1991 meta-analysis demonstrated that it is usually less likely that women emerge as leaders in groups, especial ly if the groups task is not particularly demanding of interpersonal skill or is otherwise relatively masculine. Research also has proved the prediction that women have more obstacles to overcome in becoming successful in leadership roles. Specifically, as demonstrated in a meta-analysis by Alice Eagly, Steven Karau, and social psychologist Mona Makhijani, studies of leaders effectiveness, it demonstrated that leaders performed less effectively when the leader role that they occupied was incongruent with their gender role. Women suffered diminished outcomes in roles given especially with masculine definitions, and men suffered somewhat diminished outcomes in roles given with more feminine definitions. As shown in a meta-analysis by Alice Eagly, Mona Makhijani, and social psychologist Bruce Klonsky, more definitive support emerged in an experimental research paradigm that removed possible differences in the leadership behavior of women and men by comparing this behavior. More ultimate support emerged in an experimental research framework that removed possible differences in the leadership behavi or of women and men by equating this behavior. In these studies women fared slightly less well than men did. More important, just as in studies on leaders effectiveness, women fared less well than men did when leader roles were male dominated and when men served as evaluators. In synopsis, pressures to female leaders come from two directions: Conforming closely to their gender role would produce a failure to meet the requirements of their leader role, and conforming closely to their leader role would produce a failure to meet the requirements of their gender role. The latter pressure can result in the prejudicial outcome of receiving lesser rewards for appropriate leader behavior than an equivalent man would receive. In this sense, female leaders face more challenges not encountered by male leaders, especially in leadership roles that are defined in relatively masculine terms. Chapter Summary In conclusion, the outlook for womens involvement in leadership in the twenty-first century is promising as more women enter leadership roles in industrialized nations and thereby reduce the difference between peoples beliefs about women and about leaders. Furthermore, organizations gain from giving women equal access to leader roles, not only because evidence shows that women are at least as effective as men, but also because gender equality increases the pool of potential candidates from which leaders are chosen.