Blasphemous Movie on Prophet Muhammad Essay Example for Free

Blasphemous Movie on Prophet Muhammad Essay Abstract: Media is held responsible for the distorted and caricature image of Muslims and their most holy figure prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the West. The movie â€Å"innocence of Muslims† is the most recent stereotype demonstration of them. People’s thinking on a matter, which they don’t have much knowledge about, is largely formed by what media determines, following an agenda setting theory. Islam has always been such issue in the West and Muslims have always been shown as fanatics, extremists and violent killers thus giving negative connotations to Islam. According to semiotic theory of sighs, every image or sign has a coded message, which is always decoded by different people in the same way by a common cognitive system. When the messages in the carton images of Prophet Muhammad published by a Danish magazine Jyllands-Posten in 2006 were decoded, there was an outcry in the Muslim world, which later developed a carton controversy around the global politics. This blasphemous movie of prophet Muhammad, another genre of visual communication, created the same political conflict between East and West and upheaval in the politics of Muslim countries too. The first part of my paper which is a media plan for Pakistani government to deal with the issue, analyses how Muslim world reacted to this movie and how a troublesome situation in all the Muslim countries is affecting the relations of Muslims’ with the U.S. Second part examines how western media, in the name of freedom of speech, has been deconstructing the bodies of Muslims as violent treacherous men and their religion as a danger to West. This message has been continuously shot into the heads of masses since ages analyzing magic bullet theory of media. Media effects theory can easily elucidate the results of such efforts. The article advocates media should consider ethical boundaries while discussing religions and religious entities. Key words: Muslims, stereotypes, prophet Muhammad , cartons, movies, western media, protests, politics. Background of the problem. Just a 14 minute trailer of the blasphemous movie â€Å"innocence of Muslims† caused a great upheaval in the Muslim world .the holiest figure of Islam  prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has been shown in this movie as a child molester, womanizer, drunk and a violent killer. This is not the first movie, there is a list of such movies against Muslims and Islam, e.g. Black Hawk Dawn, the kingdom, the Seige, fitna, which created havoc in Muslim world and we saw riots, violence, boycotts and deaths as a result of them. Later on, such trouble tic situations were always manipulated by politicians.(see links of movies trailers in references) This movie produced by Nakoula Basseley led Muslims protests in Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Iraq, India, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia and in many other Muslim countries including the killing of US ambassador to Libya in a violent attack by extremists. Obama and Clinton condemned this movie like many other governments of the countries, even Cindy Lee Garcia told The Hollywood Reporter that she and many actors were duped by filmmaker. â€Å"He has a price to pay, this Mr.Bacile, maybe not here on Earth, but he’ll stand before God one day for what he has done†. These protests were going on and â€Å"meanwhile a French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published the controversial cartoons of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) further inflaming Muslims’ sentiments†.(the Dawn 30 sep) Such protests were started in earlier September in Pakistan where hundreds of thousands from all walks of life recorded their protest against this movie and publication of carton images again. Many marched towards US embassy in Islamabad and many were killed and wounded in clash with police there. There were rallies of protests nationwide having more than 45,000 people earlier in September, 21 were killed and 229 wounded, more than 200 protesters set fire to effigy of Barack Obama in the capital of Pakistani administered Kashmir.(Aljazeerah 21sep). Pakistanis are demanding from the government to stop missions with US If they don’t ban this movie altogether, though it was banned later in many Muslim countries on a request from Washington house to goggle. Problem for Pakistani Government: In Pakistan election campaigns are going on and the political parties are engaging mob in violent attacks to make unrest in the country. By highlighting the weaknesses of the government and the wrong dealings of the issue by the government, the other political parties are trying to take advantage of the situation. Many banners in the rallies led by other  political parties demand from government to shut US and French missions in Pakistan which is definitely not possible. So there is a great need to make a well developed strategy through media to handle the situation as president is loosing the popularity because of many stories of the corruption of government and this issue of blasphemy is very complex to handle as the demand to ban this movie cannot be accomplished at once like Pakistani are wishing. so is the case with their demands to shut the missions with US. Objectives of the media plan: 1) Stop the people from violent protests by giving references from Islamic values teaching peace and tolerance. 2) Gain trust and confidence of the people as a responsible government by focusing what government has done to deal with the issue. 3 minimize the nation’s hatred for US and shift their focus from their demands of not to assist US in the war going on in the region. 4) Present your nation’s viewpoint on international forums regarding the issue. Key messages of the plan: 1) By quoting from the life of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), the people should be stopped from making violent protests and showing hatred to other countries as it is leaving a bad image of the nation and the Islam as well. Media should focus how prophet has taught Muslims to be tolerant and how he hated bloodshed and violence. So key message would be â€Å"Islam is a religion of tolerance not of violence†. 2) Key message to the west should be that we respect freedom of speech but reject freedom of hatred. This movie like other blasphemous movies and carton images of prophet Muhammad fall in the category of later. Such laws should be formulated to avoid these distasteful attempts leading to the unrest in the whole world. 3) Focus on requests of Obama’s government to goggle and you tube to ban the video and also tell your nation through the media the U.S effort to make the laws against such blasphemous acts in the future, so that their hatred towards America could be minimized as their demands to shut missions with America are not easy to be considered. Theoretical framework: Edward said’s famous work on the relations of east and west received much criticism that opens with a quotation by Karl Marx: ‘they cannot represent themselves, they must be represented’. So the west took as its responsibility to represent the east and civilize them by calling them uncivilized. Said unfolds the binary opposition as â€Å"self is familiar (Europe, the west, â€Å"us†) and the other is strange (the orient, the east, â€Å"them†) (said, 1978:43) Said asserts that European knowledge of the East goes arm in arm with expansionism, exploration and settlement. He argues that the Orient is constructed and represented in the binary opposition against the Occident, as the Other. In many respects, the Orient is seen by European values, assumptions, and cultural codes and as the Occidents other. He criticizes the way that the Occident views the Orient by her own culturally-determined and biased and limited historical perspectives.(Moosavinia, Niazi Ghaforian,2011) The universal declaration of Human Rights states â€Å"everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression† (United Nations 1948). Some people could argue that they have boundless rights to mock other people’s religious believes including their holy books and holy figures. In the name of freedom of speech, 12 cartoons of Muslims Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)were published by a Danish magazine. The one most debated showed prophet Muhammad as having a bomb in the cloth over his head. (Bond B, 2007) talks about Danish media landscape as â€Å"It is fair to say that the factual social vulnerability, the stereotyping, and the division between â€Å"them† and â€Å"us† in the news media, has created a very hostile rhetoric against visible foreigners and particularly Muslims.â €  He also talks about Danish media representations of Muslim women. â€Å"Appearing in the 1970s the stereotype of minority women as oppressed and battered was prominent from the late 1990s to early 2000s. The  stereotype of oppressed minority women was emphasized by televised pictures of veiled women illustrating many stories about refugees and other immigrants. Another stereotype since the 1970s was the image of immigrant men as hypersexual threats to women† (Green L, Aly A, 2011) state in their research that â€Å"there was some resentment voiced by Muslim respondents in interviews and focus groups that the media did not fully represent the diversity of Muslims and instead perpetuated stereotypes of Muslims: ‘the ugly Muslim male’ and ‘the oppressed Muslim female’. This mediated construction of Muslims was thought to provide an influential pathway for the broader community’s understanding of Muslims.† Reporting on Islam has been a mandatory part of western media agenda. A research about agenda of German media concludes as following. In summarizing the results, it can be said that in non-fictional formats such as magazines, talk shows, documentaries and reportages over 80% of the content reproduces an image of Islam that portrays this religion as a problem and a danger for politics and society. This image of Islam in the non-fictional formats of ARD and ZDF is an exaggerated image of violence and conflict, conveying the impression that Islam is less a religion than a political and social ideology that collides with the morality and values of the West. (Richter C, Hafez K, 2009) Talking about the publication of caricature images of Muslims’ holiest figure of Muslims prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), one can solemnly say that visuals have strong power of global communication. The analysis of one of the images is as following. The turban bomb could also be interpreted as a symbolic depiction of a globe and the Arabic inscription would thus be located in the Middle East. The ideological threat of Islam is translated into a fanaticized face, meant to depict the prophet of Islam, and also the non-communicative attitude of his followers, who are focused on destruction instead of dialogue. This was one of the most criticized of the 12 cartoons, presumably because of its hostile depiction of the prophet, and because of the implication that all Muslims are potentially dangerous suicide-bombers. (Mà ¼ller M Ãâ€"zcan E, Seizov O, 2009). The examination of over 900 Hollywood movies by Jack Shaheen (2001) may be regarded as a cornerstone in Orientalism canon where he argued how the Hollywood film genre has stereotyped the Arab society by representing them  as greedy precarious men and subjugated women. Such stereotyped presentation paves a way in justification of American foreign policy with the Middle East. The continued production and successes of such movies as Black Hawk Down, The Kingdom and The Siege cannot be overlooked in light of the power struggles resulting from the ‘War on Terror’ and hegemonic representations of Muslim men and women in a variety of Western Media. The visual narrative in The Kingdom—with its deployment of the only American female main character, Janet Mayes, whose body was scripted to represent essential differences between white and brown women—illuminates imperialist discourses, with Muslim bodies becoming the battleground upon which such discourses are both visually and literally being fought. It was argued that a critical engagement with Hollywood cinema is necessary to unveil the complex ways in which Muslim bodies are scripted as dangerous, pre-modern and uncivilized in U.S popular culture. (Michelle Aguayo, 2009) Discussion: The concept of binary opposition given by Edward said (1978) op,cit. as â€Å"us† and the â€Å"Others† is applicable to present scenario easily, western media has always presented the eastern countries specially Muslim countries as â€Å"others† uncivilized, savages, brutal, untamed and western countries as â€Å"us† civilized, educated, tamed and rational. Thinking of Agenda setting approach, I can easily relate how western media has set an agenda against Muslims by presenting them always as violent, precarious, killers and women as oppressed. While talking about Danish media landscape, there were riots, protests, boycotts, deaths in Islamic world including the burning of Danish embassies in Syria and Egypt in response to publication of caricature images of prophet Muhammad. But the western media proved so stubborn that 143 newspapers in 56 countries of West re –published the images again after sometime. To mock Muslims’ holy figure, their holy book and to show Muslims stereotype was included in the common agenda of western media. Semiotic theory helps understanding the process of carrying meanings by those images as semiotics refers to Modality, which is a specific way to encode the information for presentation to people and the meaning, is conceived by people as an effect of it. A list of sign types is considered in such presentations like writing, symbol, color, map, index, graph etc. The different people decode all the signs in the same way by a common cognitive  system according to psychology of perception; this concept elucidates how all people about prophet as a terrorist decoded negative messages in such images of prophet Muhammad. The movie â€Å"Innocence of Muslims† brought another catastrophe in the hearts of Muslims that presented prophet Muhammad as a womanizer, child abuser, homosexual and a violent killer. The purpose of this low quality picture is just to mock and insult Islam and prophet Muhammad and the producer gave as many negative attributes to Prophet Muhammad as he could. Agenda setting approach of media can be helpful in understanding the western agenda of presenting Muslims and Islam as dangerous men and violent religion respectively. Another anti-Islamic movie â€Å"fitna† made by a Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders, where Quranic versus are shown alongside the scenes of terrorism. Those versus, in reality, are about the wars going on in that era of fourteen hundred years back but without giving the actual context those versus are misrepresented to show that Quran teaches Muslims to be violent killer. And this proved to be another extreme distortion of Islam. (See link in references). The production of such movies by Hollywood confirms common western agenda to present Muslims stereotypes. All these negative connotations continuously given to Islam and Muslims had a power to shape the thinking of people about Muslims as terrorists, that is also explained by Magic Bullet theory that messages by media are so powerful, and act as a bullet shot into the heads of people by shaping the thoughts of people in a magical way. So the people who don’t know much about Islam and Muslims mostly get Muslims as terrorists. Western media has cast a spell over the people by continuous shots of negativity into their heads. Media effects theory elucidates easily such stereotype representations of Muslims as we can see isolation of Muslims in the world and negative concepts of them in the eyes of common people in the west. People in the West always think of Muslims as extremists, the feelings of hatred and fear against Muslims is prevailing in the western society, which is the most visible effect of media’s stereotype presentations. Conclusion: Whenever media takes such blasphemous steps, they take to riots, protest and upheaval in Muslim countries, which may also lead to global political conflicts sometimes. The biased approach to one religion or to one  particular group of people is surely an attempt to divide the world population into the boundaries of pointless hatred. Media should take great care while talking about religion and religious entities. It should consider some ethical limits while talking negative about Islam as it hurts the feelings of almost 2 billion people in the world. references http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR0Vj-8dqTMfeature=fvsr http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0ET9qez-Kshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HLNawUg_ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUJ6cxWdZwA3s Pakistan hit by anti-Islamic video protests. (2012, September21). Aljazeerah Said,Edward W. (1978). Orientalism. New York. Penguin Moosavinia, S. R., Niazi, N. N., Ghaforian, A. (2011). Edward Saids Orientalism and the Study of the Self and the Other in Orwells Burmese Days. Studies In Literature Language, 2(1), 103-113. Bonde,B. (2007). How 12 Cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed were brought to Trigger an International Conflict. NORDICOM Review, 28(1), 33-48 Green, L., Aly, A. (2011). How Australian Muslims Construct Western Fear of the Muslim Other. At The Interface / Probing The Boundaries, 7765-90 Richter C, Hafez K. The image of Islam in German public service television programmes. Journal Of Arab Muslim Media Research [serial on the Internet]. (2009, Dec), [cited October 23, 2012]; 2(3): 169-181. Available from: Communication Mass Media Complete. Mà ¼ller, M. G., Ãâ€"zcan, E., Seizov, O. (2009). Dangerous Depictions: A Visual Case Study of Contemporary Cartoon Controversies. Popular Communication, 7(1), 28-39. doi:10.1080/15405700802598361 Shaheen, Jack. (2001). Reel bad Arabs. New York: Olive Branch Press Aguayo, M. (2009). Representations of Muslim Bodies in The Kingdom: Deconstructing Discourses in Hollywood. Global Media Journal: Canadian Edition, 2(2), 41-56.

Women’s Changing Role in the Family and Society

Women’s Changing Role in the Family and Society Nicole M. Tortoris Today, women are tipping the balance of power in their favor. Women have gained power because society is becoming more aware of women’s potential, not only as mothers and housewives, but as businesswomen and entrepreneurs (Schoen, Astone, Rothert, Standish, Kim, 2002). The battle of the sexes continues; women are becoming more independent and more preoccupied with their careers. Women’s independence is why they are less dependent on men and men’s financial support, and less willing to start a family for reasons concerning only economic safety. The emancipation of women, which began decades ago, led to a more active and influential presence in the business world, also known as â€Å"a man’s world.† The time to be an obedient housewife and a dedicated mother has passed, while the time for education and profession is present. Women are becoming too busy for large families for whom they must care during their entire youth (Schoen, Astone, Rothert, Stan dish, Kim, 2002). In their study, Schoen, Aston, Rothert, Standish and Kim (2002) investigated whether or not married women’s employment threatens their marriages. They pose a complex three-part hypothesis in which they examine the likelihood of a marriage to end in divorce based on the woman’s employment and the happiness of both or either spouse. They investigated these hypotheses using data from the 1988 and 1992-94 National Survey of Families and Households. In their analysis of this data, the authors consider two theories using the variables role specialization, interdependence, and economic opportunity. The first suggests that a married woman’s employment does pose a threat to her marriage; however, the second argues that in itself, the wife’s work does not endanger her marriage, but would allow her to leave if she were unhappy with the marriage. The authors’ findings support the second theory, that a working woman would be more likely to leave an unhappy marri age. The risk of divorce for a full time employed wife when both partners are unhappy is 4.94 times greater than not getting a divorce, p Women’s fuller participation in the decision-making processes of our social institutions has shattered stereotypes that tended to limit females to feminine activities and pushed males into male activities (Heslin, 2007). As structural barriers continue to fall and more activities are degendered, both males and females will be freer to pursue activities that are more compatible with their individual abilities and desires instead of society’s prescribed roles. As stereotypes continue to be broken, new role models develop and socialization of children changes. Males and females will gain new perceptions of themselves and of one another. Sociologist Janet Chafetz (1974) conducted a qualitative longitudinal study utilizing focus groups, (based in large part on small class project by her students). In this study, Chafetz identifies 16 acceptable behaviors, eight for men and eight for women. Each of these themes focused on specific behaviors that are considered acceptable for men and women. This study’s findings were more useful in determining acceptable behaviors for men and women, and efforts to understand how far both men and women have advanced in terms of acceptable behaviors. This study was also useful because it looked at behaviors instead of stereotypes. In an attempt to take a new approach to this area of study, this study coded specific sex-typed behaviors, instead of using stereotypes, to assess gender in commercials. Chafetz (1974) explained that this change will allow men and women to express needs and emotions that traditional social arrangements denied them. Women and girls will likely perceive themselves as more in control of their lives, more assertive, and striving more for positions of leadership. With these roles changing, men and women will also develop a new consciousness of their capacities and their options, which will change relationships among men and women. Offen (1990) predicted that if current trends continue, American society may see a growing appreciation of sexual differences coupled with greater equality of opportunity. This has the potential of transforming society. According to Rogers and Amato (2000), there have been fundamental changes to gender relations. Since the 1960s, both men and women have become less traditional in their gender-role attitudes. Judge and Livingston (2008) examined the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a panel study administered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The sample was a nationally representative sample of 12,686 individuals between the ages of 14 and 22 years of age when the participants were first surveyed in 1979. Individuals were surveyed annually through 1994 and then interviewed on a biennial basis through to 2005. F rom the original sample, 60.4% of participants remained in the study. Judge and Livingston (2008) found that women have a more egalitarian orientation than men do (B=-.361, p Kulik (2002) analyzed 232 Israeli retirees aged 58 to 85 years to compare the differences between husbands and wives and their views on marital satisfaction. The results of this comparison suggest that gender may have implications for those couples who are at similar life stages versus those who are not. Participants in the study were asked to complete a 20 minute questionnaire. Research assistants made sure the couples filled out the questionnaire separately. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine whether there were differences between husbands and wives with respect to marital satisfaction and gender role ideology, power relations, and division of family roles. Wives reported a lower level of marital satisfaction than their husbands F(2,103)=7.45,p In Kulik’s 1999 study of 348 men, 137 were pre-retired (up to 18 months prior to retirement) and 211 had been retired from 2 to 10 years. MANOVA revealed significant differences between pre-retired and retired husbands in gender role ideology (F [2,324] = 6.25, p Several potential explanations for a gendered division of household labor have been posited (Blair Lichter, 1991). One explanation suggests that household responsibilities continue to be shouldered by women because women are socialized to adopt this as part of their identity as a woman. Therefore, many women may discourage help from their husbands because this challenges their self-identity. Recognizing that husbands contribute more to household duties upon retirement (Atchley, 1992), regardless of their wives’ employment status, may suggest a potential source of conflict as men encroach upon what has traditionally been accepted as a â€Å"woman’s domain.† This may be an issue that is more pronounced for individuals in age discrepant relationships who transition into retirement at different times. Although Kuliks (1999; 2001) results do not suggest that age discrepancy may exacerbate potential sources of conflict that couples in age-similar marriages have alread y confronted and resolved, it is important to recognize that no specific data regarding age similarity between partners was provided. Moreover, Kuliks (2001) study focused on Israeli couples who were in dual-earner marriages. As a result, the potential impact of culture may fail to extend to American couples. Kurdek (1998) provides further support for the link between gendered divisions of household labor and gender socialization. Kurdek examined the relation among division of household labor, gender role orientation, and marital satisfaction. The link between gender role orientation and division of household labor were consistent with Kulik’s (1999; 2001) findings. Although the women in Kulik’s sample shouldered more of the household responsibilities than men, the division of household labor was not significantly related to marital satisfaction. According to Kulik, this may be because an inequitable division of household labor is consistent with traditional views regarding the roles of men and women and is therefore congruent with the expectations of both husbands and wives. Ward’s (1993) study provides additional insight regarding the relation between marital satisfaction and the division of household labor. Unlike Kurdek (1998), Ward’s study provided evidence supporting the link between the division of household labor and marital satisfaction for wives, but not husbands. Ward analyzed the National Survey of Families and Households, which conducted interviews with a national probability sample of 13,017 participants. According to Ward, unequal divisions of household labor are not responsible for gender differences in marital satisfaction. The link to marital satisfaction is based on whether wives consider these labor divisions to be fair. Ward used multivariate analyses to investigate the predictors of perceived fairness in household labor and marital happiness. According to his findings, women participate in household tasks more often than men do (means: women=37, men=15, p=.0001). Perceived fairness of household chores appeared to be rel ated to marital happiness. For women, unfairness to self is related to lower happiness, χ2 (1, N=538) =38.4, p Several studies have linked gender role ideologies to the division of household labor (Kurdek, 1998; Gerson 2004; Mannino Deutsch, 2007; Mickelson, Claffey, Williams 2006; Robinson Hunter, 2008), yet the impact of aging on attitudes toward sex roles remains unclear (Kulik, 1999). Inglehart, Norris, and Welzel (2003) found evidence that younger adults displayed more modern gender role ideologies when compared to older adults. Inglehar, Norris, and Welzel (2003) note that the differences between younger and older couples may reflect differences in socialization related to cohort. As a result, couples who are age discrepant may be more likely to experience conflicts related to the impact of cohort differences on attitudes toward sex roles. However, Burke and Cast (1997) note that newlyweds who have a newborn during the first year of marriage experience changes in gender identity that accompany gender role taking. According to Burke and Cast, gender-role-taking yields more congruency between partners with regard to gender identity. The implications of Burke and Castâ⠂¬â„¢s study indicate that retirement may present the same opportunity for gender role taking among age discrepant marriages that the birth of a child does for newlyweds. These are issues that have yet to be examined among older couples and age discrepant marriages in particular. Researchers have attempted to explore power, decision-making, and relationship satisfaction differences between males and females for years. There appears to be some sex difference in the levels of satisfaction within marriages. For example, there seems to be a difference in relationship satisfaction based on gender roles and ideologies (Mickelson, Claffey, Williams, 2006; Sprecher, 2001). One predictor of relationship satisfaction may be equal participation in household work. Many women perceive the contribution by their partner, however limited, as an expression of love or support (Pina Bengtson, 1993). Similarly, other studies suggest that balanced roles in relation to equal division of household labor (Mickelson, Claffey, Williams, 2006; Rachlin, 1987) and equal contributions to child-rearing (Coltrane, 2000; Dempsey, 2002; Yogman Bragelton, 1986) led to higher levels of relationship satisfaction. Tsang and colleagues (2003) and Marks and colleagues (2001) also concluded that when both spouses were employed full-time, relationship satisfaction was increased (Marks, Huston, Johnson, Macdermid, 2001; Tsang, Harvey, Duncan, Sommer, 2003). REFERENCES Amato, P., Johnson, D., Booth, A., Rogers, S. (2003). Continuity and change in mariatl quarily between 1980 and 2000. Journal of Marriage and the Family , pp. 1-22. Atchely, R. (1993). Retirement and marial satisfaction. In M. Szinovacz, D. Ekerdt, B. Vinick, Families and Retirement (pp. 145-158). Newbury Park, California: Sage. Blair, S., Lichter, D. (1991). Measuring the dividion of household labor. Journal of Family Issues , 12, 91-113. Burke, P., Cast, A. (1997). Stability and change int he gender identieies of newly married couples. Social Psychology Quarterly , 60, 277-290. Chafetz, J.S. (1974). Masculine/feminine or human? An overview of the sociologt of sex roles. Itasca, IL: F.E. Peacock. Chafetz, J.S. (1990). Gender equaily: An intergrated theory of stability and change. Newburry Park, CA: Sage Publications. Gerson, K. (2004). Understanding work and family through a gender lens. Community, Work and Family , 7 (2), 163-178. Grote, N., Clark, M. (2001). Perceiving unfairness in the family: Cause or consequece of marital distress? Journal of Personaility and Social Psychology , 80 (2), pp. 281-293. Henslin, J. (2007). Sociology: A down-to- earth approach (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Inglehart, R., Norris, P., and Welzel, C. (2003). Gender equality and democracy. Comparative Sociology , 1 (3-4), pp. 321-346. Judge, T. A., and Livingston, B. A.. Is the gap more than gender? A longitudinal analysis of gender, gender role orientation, and earnings. Journal of Applied Psychology 93.5 (2008): 994-1012. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. Kulik, L.(1998). The effect of gender and social environment on gender role perceptions and sex identity: A comparative study of kibbutz and urban adolescence in Israel.Journal of Community Psychology, 30(6), 533-548. Kulik, L. (1999, May-June). Continuity and discontinuity in marital life after retirement: Life orientations, gender role ideology, intimacy, and satisfaction. The Journal of Contemporary Human Services , 286-294. Kulik, L.(2001). The impact of men’s and women’s retirement on marital relations: A comparative analysis. Journal of Women and Aging, 13(2), 21-37. Kulik, L.(2002). Marital equality and the quality of long term marriage in later life.Ageing and Society, 22,459-481. Kurdek, L. (1998). The allocation of household labor in gay, lesbian, and heterosexual married couples. In D. Anselmi, A. Law, Questions of gender: Perspectives and paradoxes (pp. 582-591). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill. Mannino, C., Deutsch, F. (2007). Changing the dividion of houselold labor: A negotiated process between partners. Rex Roles , 56, pp. 309-324. Marks, S., Huston, T., Johnson, E., MacDermid, S. (2001). Role balance among white married couples. Journal of Marriage and Family , 63, 1083-1098. Mickelson, K., Claffey, S., Williams, S. (2006). The moderating role of gender and gender role attitudes on the link between spousal support and marital quailty. Rex Roles , 55 (73), 81-91. Offen, K. (1990). Feminism and sexual difference in histroical perpective. In D. Rhode, Theortical perspectives on sexual differences (pp. 13-20). New Haven, Connecticut: Yale Schoen, R., Astone, N., Rothert, K., Standish, N., Kim, Y. (2002). Womens employment, marital happiness, and divorce. Social Forces , 81 (2), 643-663. Tsang, L., Harvey, C., Duncan, K., Sommer, R. (2003). The effect of children on marital happiness: Evidence from a longitudinal sample. Journal of Family and Economic Issues , 24, 5-26. Ward, R. (1993). Marital happiness adn houshold equilty in later life. Journal of Marriage Family , 55, 427-438.

Rizal the Subversive :: essays research papers fc

Rizal as a Rational Thinker   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During his life, Jose Rizal was described as a heretic and subversive, an enemy of both the Church and Spain. He has made tremendous contributions to the progress of the Filipino society. His political works and essays, being anti-clerical and anti-colonial, frankly aimed to expose the maladies of his time and cure the Philippines of what he calls â€Å"the social cancer†. Rizal had been the progressive radical thinker, and promptly answered the ailing call of his Motherland, who cries for a cure.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rizal had been a subversive in his own time. The Church had him excommunicated, and the Spaniards had him imprisoned, and then executed in Bagumbayan. However, that does not mean that he will always be a subversive, provided that he lives in a time aside from his, as if it really is his own identity, rather than an act or decision based on the call of situations and events. And in the first place, Rizal did not go to Europe just to harbor revolutionary ideas from the people there. He sought knowledge in foreign lands, so that he may use it and the Filipinos may benefit from it. Rizal did not intentionally want to make waves or a revolution, at all situations and regardless of events. And if he really favored revolution, that would be because of necessity. Rizal is a rational thinker, will surely analyze the situations first, and then make decisions based on his analyses, just like what doctors do when treating their patients.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the entire article, one could often read the communistic word, â€Å"struggle†Ã¢â‚¬â€struggle against foreign tyranny, against the ruling class, etc. This was what Jose Ma. Sison was aiming at since the start. He believed that individual freedom can only be achieved through national freedom and that political unity could only be gained by removing all foreign threats to it. Then, he calls for a revolution, a Philippine Revolution, so that all the struggles that the mass is currently facing, according to him, will be finally put to an end.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Perhaps Sison is missing a point in this one simple thing: that this world is not perfect, and in every aspect of the society, there would always be a weakness. It is true that a revolution could end the situation, but how many revolutions? In this state of frailty and weakness, the Philippines could no longer afford another radical revolution.

Cadburys - Marketing Strategies :: Business Management Studies

Cadburys - Marketing Strategies In order to increase sales Cadburys needs to undertake a range of marketing activities before deciding upon the best way to encourage the purchase of its product. When identifying the basic principals which Cadburys must apply to its marketing will be its basic objectives because all business must have objectives it allows them to increase sales and make profit. Corporate aims are the long term intentions of a business, whereas corporate objectives are the specific targets required to achieve the aims. The common aim and objectives of the corporation such as Cadbury includes the following: 1 Survival 2 Profit maximisation- which is often taken to be the reason why firms exists and to be the primary objectives in practices most firms have a hierarchy of objectives when a firms survival is threaten it may profit maximise in order to restore its financial health. 3 Growth- which includes Cadbury selling new products or expanding overseas. 4 Diversification- which is the spreading of business risks by reducing dependence on one product. 5 Sales maximisation- which is the increasing of sales 6 Improving the product image-which includes creating a new logo or launching a new brand of product and creating more attractive packaging. For example, Cadbury set out two objectives for the development of their chocolate, Fuse. These were: 1. To grow the market for chocolate confectionery 2. To increase Cadbury's share of the snacking sector When launching a product the company Cadbury’s had to make sure that any new product in the snaking sector must establish points of difference, creating a unique selling proposition (USP) i.e. a product with unique appeal which is not shared by any of its competitors. Referring back to the example of Fuse, Cadbury lost a lot of money

The Benefits of Having a Greenhouse Essay -- Essays Papers

The Benefits of Having a Greenhouse There are many benefits of having a greenhouse or growing space attached to the average family home. A well-built greenhouse can utilize solar power in such a way that it becomes a positive addition to the household in every way. Greenhouses present an opportunity for everyone to be able to grow some of their own food, save electricity, gain practical experience, and soothe their mind and body. Throughout history gardens have served as a food source for families. Collecting and preserving the summer harvest provided a large part of the food for families all over the world. The nutrients contained in vegetables and fruit are very important for good health, and can enrich financially limited diets. During World War Two the American Government encouraged citizens to grow â€Å"Victory Gardens† in their backyard. These gardens would be full of vegetables to help families through financially difficult times. Not only do gardens provide fruits, vegetables, spices and flowers for people in time of need, but they have been proven to help relieve stress. Many emotional care facilities have gardens where the patients can work in the soil, water, and help take care of the plants. The simple mindless effort that goes into caring for plants is soothing, and allows people to relax their mind while using their body. Patients in physical therapy are also encouraged to work in gardens. There are many activities in gardening that can be done with little strength or flexibility. Many retirement communities have also started gardens on their property to encourage their residents to spend time caring for the plants. In areas such as Vermont the growing season is so short that the benefits of simp... ...ds the local lumberyard, and the local nursery. The reduction in petrochemical savings is important, for both financial and environmental reasons. Eating food fresh from a personal garden; grown, cared for, picked and eaten by the same person is an enormously satisfying experience. The benefits to having a solar greenhouse are numerous, and varied. The financial, health, emotional, and environmental benefits are great, and more than enough reason to build a personal greenhouse. Bibliography Energy Saving Urban Greenhouses for Canada. Research Branch. Agriculture Canada. Printed by Ministry of Supply and Services. Publication 1814-E. 1987. Yanda, Bill and Rick Fisher. The Food and Heat Producing Solar Greenhouse. John Muir Publications, Inc. USA. 1976 â€Å"A Brief History of Solar Energy.† April 5 1999. www.uccs.edu/~energy/courses/160lectures/solhist.htm.

Humility in Lifeand Business

Humility is the one characteristic human trait that is the most elusive, as it cannot be obtained through effort, work, or education. The reason it is so difficult to obtain is because the more you aspire for it, the more it will go away from you. Have you ever heard a person state, â€Å"I have finally become a humble person! † The statement alone is a signal that humility has not been gained. It is something which has to be inculcated from the very beginning in one’s life. For this to happen, it follows that the right family values play a very important role. Humility is a trait that lets a person be grounded, no matter what the situation is. It’s considered a virtue in many religious and philosophical traditions. Humility is multi-dimensional and includes self-understanding and awareness and openness. Humility stops the ego or arrogance from creeping in to our minds and it is a great team building asset and vital in a business. In business there are people who work for you, you pay them wages for them to deliver the amount of work entrusted to them, to achieve their KRA’s so as to say. But by no means does that give the employer the right to treat them in a non-humane manner. Respecting the human resource today, the people who work for you whether it be a manufacturing facility or a services concern, is imperative. The respect will come as an offshoot of humility, in the belief that not only ones leadership but also the people who work for you are the two wheels which draw your chariot of success. Leaders, who want to inspire followership, need to demonstrate not simply their accomplishments but their character. Take pride in what you have done, but use it as a platform to bring people together to do greater things, e. g. increase sales and improve quality. Use your leadership for something other than self-aggrandizement. We must understand that as humans, it is natural for us to have our faults and to realise the things which we do well and ones which we do not. This is the first step to self realisation and the stepping stone to humility. In a way it helps you to think beyond yourselves and see the larger picture. Hence, it is considered an important characteristic, one to be believed and practised. C. K. Prahalad, the renowned management guru said â€Å"Leadership is about self-awareness, recognizing your failings, and developing modesty, humility, and humanity. † It is essential to acknowledge what others do. Few have said it better than legendary Alabama coach, Paul â€Å"Bear† Bryant. â€Å"If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it. That's all it takes to get people to win football games for you. Practice that attitude always, especially when things are not going well, and your team will rally together because they want you to succeed. In short, humility breeds humility. It is the same in business and in life. Success plays a critical role when it comes to humility in Life. In the journey of life, achievement of success- expected or unexpected can boost anybody's ego and put them in a spot of complace ncy. Furthermore milestones of success are keenly anticipated. Subsequent successes are hugely welcomed but at that point of time, the occurrence of any possible failure can really demoralize the person. In the case of the humble ones, the wings of airs are rarely obtained. Even in times of adversity the humble ones stay put. Humility can bring more success in the long run. The lesson remains that it always pays to be more grateful than to be more proud. It is human to want more in life, to be ambitious and to go to lengths to achieve your goals. But in this process we often choose the path of ruthlessness and become shrewd. This path has provided success more often than not to most people who have resorted to using it, which in turn gives us the return present of PRIDE. We loose the art of humility that was one of the first lessons taught to us as children, and as the saying goes ‘Pride comes before a fall. ’ Each one of us is a blend of our personal and professional lives and as I see myself part woman and part businesswoman, I have realized the importance of humility in everyday life. Sometimes I learnt it the hard way, but it was a lesson well learnt. I have realized that in family situations and at my work place whenever I was faced with a difficult situation and I choose to be angry or arrogant, I was not able to achieve the desired results. People respond better to love and compassion as compared to criticism. I learnt that when I changed my attitude in situations in which I otherwise used to be angry or proud to one where I was humble, I got better results! We have to try not to let our achievements in life get to our heads. I met with a time in my life when everything was falling apart my work, my health and my personal life and I had nothing but my attitude to blame for it. I considered my small achievements as big, people were doing much more work than I was and keeping silent about it. Their humility was giving them the necessary cover and capacity to do better while I was collapsing under the weight of my attitude. But only when you reach your lowest point can you rise back up. I hit an all time low, met with an accident, and was laid up in bed for 9 months. This forced rest gave me the opportunity to ponder over my life. Life taught me the best lesson I have learnt the hardest way. I was left at the mercy of others, I could not walk or move without help. This helplessness broke my pride to bits. In these 9 months in bed, I realized that my attitude of pride has given me nothing but anger and failure. When I got back onto my feet, I slowly started to change my ways. As they say ‘charity begins at home’ I started by changing my attitude towards my family and friends. I became more forgiving and adopted an Attitude of Gratitude towards daily things. Seeing my changed attitude my family changed their attitude towards me. Difficult situations became easier and life started to seem easy. As I saw a change in family situations I realized how this could change troubled situations at work as well. I started by being more soft spoken and humble towards people at work – my employees and my clients of course. Even when I saw a difficult situation I did not act on impulse and on success I was not proud. I tried to look at every achievement as a stepping stone towards more and kept my calm. The frequency of my achievements grew considerably and I was able to think better with a sound mind. This new found clarity gave me immense satisfaction and peace of mind. I was happier, more loved and respected among family and co-workers and since then I have tried to make it my way of life.

Manufacturing

Information System Implementation Case Study Analysis Introduction: PacSci has been a successful medium size aerospace/defense company. It has been in business since 19760s. (1) The company has very good reputation in price and quality. However, it always has problem with OTD (on time delivery). Ten years ago, the OTD problem was not an issue, because there weren’t too many competitions. But in the last few years, due to stiffer competitions, OTD has become a big issue and been hurting the company’s sales.And lots of loyal customers slowly turned to its competitors. Causes: Several problems contributed to OTD have been identified by the management of the company. The first one they identified was the failure to recognize the lead times of the raw materials. The purchasing department always had to order materials at the minute when the parts in the stock room were almost empty. The company had to pay extra to expedite their orders, which drove the company’s operat ing cost high.Notification between Stock room personnel and purchasing department was not automated. And the receiving department didn’t notify the stock room when they received raw materials packages. Another one was no automated process in place across the company, too many manual entered communications between departments. Some sales men made unrealistic delivery date to customers because they couldn’t access older sales order information.The engineering projects took too long to be transferred to Manufacturing because of lack of project management. Lastly, the manufacturing department still relied on too many manual labor steps in manufacturing process. (2) Implementation: The management decided to implement Microsoft ERP across the whole company to stream line their Supply Chain Processes so that the inventory control can be managed, and the purchasing department can order the raw materials when they see orders come in, receive automatic notifications from stock r ooms.The shipping and receiving department now can notify the stock room when they receive raw materials and parts right away through emails triggered by ERP. Sales men can inform the customers the shipping status and the exact delivery date based on the manufacturing time, and can reach out to customers based on the customer’s order activities. And also management cuts down operational costs by implementing automatic manufacturing steps to replace time consuming manual labor steps, so that the product line process time and labor cost can be managed.Now, after implementation of Microsoft ERP, all of engineering projects can be properly managed and monitored in Microsoft ERP by management, and transferred to manufacturing after they pass manufacturing readiness phase in a timely fashion. Conclusion: After Implementing Microsoft ERP, it has helped PacSci improve its inventory, decrease the operating cost, achieve over 90% OTD. Since the improvement in its supply chain and OTD, the relationships with customers have also improved.New products from engineering department can be properly managed and transferred to manufacturing according the schedules in ERP. More and more of those lost customers slowly return to PacSci for business. Sales department can identify the customers’ order behaviors and predict better market trends, and provide better customer service. And the company’s purchasing departments also negotiate with suppliers for better terms. Citations: (1) http://investing. businessweek. com/research/stocks/private/snapshot. asp? privcapId=118423755 (2) Narrated by former employee of PacSci, Don Yang