Author: Andre Coleman

How does the work of Giddens help us to understand the interactions between structure and agency?

Anthony Giddens has become one of the first few British social theorists in recent times to have an international reputation for his influential work on social theory (Craib, 1992). According to Craib, the work of Giddens is very influential, not only because of it’s quantity but also for the range of different ideas it brings together (Craib, 1992).

In this essay, I will discuss and critically analyse how the work of Giddens help us to understand the interactions between structure and agency. I will first outline and define what the terms structure and agency mean, according to both classical theorists and Anthony Giddens.

Structure can be defined as ‘pattern’ of social relationships and a system that identifies how these patterns operate in the society. In functionalism, Structure is a broad term defined by its ‘function’ (Giddens, 1979). On the other hand, In Structuralism, ‘structure’ is defined as more explanatory in nature due to the element of transformations. The difference between structure and function is similar to the one between code and message; both are dependants on each other (Giddens, 1979).

Hence, both functionalism and structuralism share overall characteristics between each other. The difference between ‘structure’ and ‘system’ is that structures are patterns of social relationships whereas system refers to the actual functioning of such relationships (Giddens, 1979).

According to Giddens, structure is when the rules and resources are organised as properties of social systems. Whereas systems are reproduced relations between actors organised as social practices. Structuralisms are the conditions governing the duality of both structure and system for the reproduction of social systems (Giddens, 1984).

Giddens states that, ‘structure’ means a structural property providing the binding of time and space in social systems. These properties are the rules and resources for the reproduction of social systems.

Thus, structure means the study of the following, firstly the knowledge, how things are to be done by social actors. Secondly, social practices which are used to gain that knowledge. And lastly, capabilities of these practices for example what they can change (Giddens, 1979).

In social sciences, structural analysis involves the study of Structutaion of social systems. Hence, rules and practices exist in conjunction with one another.

In a nutshell, we can say that, Structures are rules and resources, which are organised as properties of social systems. Whereas systems are reproduced relationships between actors organised as social practices. Structutaion are the conditions deciding the continuity or transformation of structures and systems (Giddens, 1979).

Both functionalism and structuralism are very similar despite their differences, they both express a naturalistic standpoint and hence they both prefer objectivism. Gidden argues that agents reproduce the conditions that make human social activities possible (Giddens, 1984).

Duality of structure can be viewed in many ways, it’s a conformist way looking at structure, something which constrains action or even determines it. It is difficult to assume that structure and agency are the same thing, however they do have many similarities. According to Giddens, it is social practices which constitute us as actors (Gidden, 1984).

Giddens argues that agency is the centre of sociological concern; however the crucial feature of action is that it is not determined. Giddens claims that action is a continuous flow, a process whereby it can’t be broken down into reasons and motives. He argues that rather it is a process in which we monitor and rationalize our daily actions (Turker, 1998).

According to Giddens, agency involves a notion of practical consciousness, such as all the things that we know as social actors, and hence must know to make social life happen. Giddens see the relationship between structure and agency as the duality of structure, whereby individuals reflexively produce and reproduce their social life (Turker, 1998).

According to Giddens, agency is when an individual is able to observe his/her own experience and then be able to give reasons for their action. Agency should be identified with reasoning and knowledge (Turker, 1998).

Giddens argues that we as actors know what we are doing, hence we are conscious of these things, we routinely rationalize what we do. Giddens argues that as individuals we can often give a rational account of what we are doing. Giddens states that a sense of routine is needed in order to have self security. For example, if your daily routine is broken you are more likely to feel insecure (Craib, 1992).

Agency and Power, an agent (individual) is able to act or influence the outside world or resist from such intervention. In other words, to be an agent means to be able to use range of casual (daily life) powers such as influential powers that may already be used or deployed by others (Giddens, 1984).

Whereas, action depends upon the capability of those individuals to make a difference to a pre-existing state of affairs in the society. An agent doesn’t exist anymore when he or she loses the capability to make a difference or in other words, when they lose power (Giddens, 1984).

In terms of sociology, power can be defined as the will or capacity to achieve desired and intended outcomes. Giddens, agrees with Bachrach and Baratz when they classify two faces of power, which are, firstly the capability of individuals to influence decisions and secondly the mobilization of bias (Giddens, 1984).

Giddens argues that the resources are the structured properties of social systems, taken and improved by knowledgeable agents or individuals in the society during their course of interaction. Giddens further goes on to state that, power is not just connected to the achievement of the individual’s interests. Power itself is not a resource; resources are media through which power is exercised (Giddens, 1984).

In social science, structure refers to the structuring properties allowing the ‘binding’ of time-space in social systems (Giddens, 1984). It will not be right to call structures as rules and resources due to its different implications in philosophical literature. The difference between structure and rules is that rules are often connected with games but they are different in terms of social systems (Giddens, 1984). Rules are frequently treated in the singular; hence rules cannot be separated from resources. However, on the other hand structural properties represent domination and power (Giddens, 1984).

The Structutaion theory states that rules and resources used in the production and reproduction of social action are at the same time the means of system reproduction.

Therefore, we can say that a ‘rule’ is more or less similarly to having a habit or routine (Giddens, 1984). Habit is a part of routine and have significant role in social life. Whereas, rules of social life are techniques or generalised procedures applied in reproduction of social practices (Giddens, 1984).

Furthermore, formulated rules can be expressed such as bureaucratic rules, rules of games and so on. Knowledge of procedure of doing ‘social activity’ is methodological (Giddens, 1984). As social actors, all human beings are highly knowledgeable in the production and reproduction of day to day activities. This knowledge is more practical rather than theoretical in nature.

On the other hand, what does ‘intentional’ mean? According to Giddens it is an act carried out by an individual when he knows there will be particular outcome or quality of that act (Giddens, 1984). Hence, this knowledge of specific outcome is known to the individual when he starts pursuing that particular act. According to Giddens, there is a difference between what is intended and what is done (Giddens, 1984).

The consequences of what agents do, intentionally or unintentionally, are the events which could have not happened if the individuals had behaved differently (Giddens, 1984). The consequences play an important role in deciding what agent has done.

Merton has claimed that the study of unintended consequences is very important in the sociological system. Every activity can have two functions, Non-Significant Consequences or either Significant Consequences (Giddens, 1984).

Merton differentiates intentional activity from its unintended consequences. For example, if an individual is intending to turn the light switch on, he or she might face a consequence to trigger the alarm but not with an intention to call the police or to get caught by them and spend rest of his /her life in the jail. Here, the intentional activity was just to turn the light on; however, due to unintended consequences (alarm being triggered) the outcome was different (Giddens, 1984).

On the other hand, both Freud and Gidden claim that there are mini agents within the human agent. Freud states that these mini agents within the human agents decide their actions. These mini agents have been classified as “id”, “ego” and “super ego”. However, Gidden doesn’t agree with Freud when he says it is ego (mini agent) within the human agents that decides their actions (Mestrovic, 1998).

Here “id” or “unconscious behaviour” means the desires that these agents create within the mind of an individual (human agent) that is beyond rational thinking and consciousness (Mestrovic, 1998).

Freud’s usage of “unconsciousness” was later replaced by Giddens terminology of unconscious motives. Freud referred things like sexual and violent urges to state of unconsciousness while Giddens simply defined “unconsciousness” as state of mind when human beings are not conscious of something or in other words they cannot express their feelings into words. This explanation was given by Giddens without using any analysis from any other social theorists (Mestrovic, 1998).

Gidden has stated that there should a democratic relationship between a parent and a young child. For example, It is the right of the child, to be treated as equal to an adult. It needs to be justified when we say “no you are too young” to negotiate with children. However, it is difficult for an adult parent to make their child understand about sexual stereotypes without causing any emotional damage to the child (Mestrovic, 1998).

The modernists believe culture should be blamed for this but the reality is that these children freely select what they like according to their own preferences. Because the rational abilities of the children are not fully developed so they may react to culture in an emotional way. Hence, even critics have accepted Giddens viewpoint that sociology is the study of modern societies and also recognise his significant contribution in the field of social theory (Mestrovic, 1998).

On the other hand, Wittgensteinian Philosophy has only emphasized on action theory (nature of reasons or intentions) rather than structural explanation. They haven’t taken into consideration several other elements such as social change, power relations or conflicts in the society (Giddens, 1979). Furthermore, Durkheim argues that society and individuals have different characteristics and every person is born into an already constituted society. However, he failed to support this external or objective nature of the society in his writings (Giddens, 1979).

According to Giddens, risk and trust need to be analyzed together in late modernity. Giddens emphasis the fact that active trust is needed in today’s society in order to form social solidarity and personal ties. For example, many people who are in relationships, spend much of their time away from each other living in different countries, hence active trust is needed for the relationship to continue. Trust has to be won and actively sustained for relationships to be successful. Giddens argues that in today’s society we see that more women are now divorcing their marriage partners; this then leads them to leading the household by themselves, which then leads to poverty (Giddens, in Beck et al, 1994).

Giddens argues that society is produced and also reproduced through human action; hence he rejects any view which states that society might have an existence over individuals (Craib, 1992). Duality of structure is linked to Structutaion, Gidden argues that society normally sees structure as a determining feature of social life, however this is not always the case (Craib, 1992).

Gidden also takes the notion reflexivity very seriously, the way in which we represent our social world. In his work, Giddens talks about different types of knowledge, one of the knowledge Giddens mentions is the taken for granted knowledge, which plays an important part in Giddens theory. In other words, this relates to ontological security whereby an individual has a sense of the world and the people around him are more or less the same from day to day (Craib, 1992).

Furthermore, Gidden states that reflexivity should not be understood only in terms of self consciousness, but also as the ongoing flow of social life (Giddens, 1984). According to Giddens actors are continuously monitoring their activities; they monitor aspects both physically and socially. Gidden also states that human action can only be defined in terms of intension (Giddens, 1984).

Gidden argues that we are incorrect to assume that societies are somehow continuous with geographical borders; rather he believes that systems are more or less open and therefore cut across geographical boundaries (Craib, 1992).

Gidden believes that faith is entirely based on trust and vice-versa. In fact, they are closely related to each other. However, he has been criticised by his fellow sociologist for putting too much emphasis on this. For example, human beings have to show faith in things such as religion, science, technology and even teacher’s notes (Mestrovic, 1998). If there was no faith in these social agents then this modern world would not be able to function properly. On the other hand, we also trust these politicians, scientists, teachers and various other social agents to build up the faith process (Mestrovic, 1998).

Over one hundred articles have been published in scholarly journals on Anthony Giddens and his work and very few of them seriously challenged him. The most significant criticism of Giddens concept of structutaion ignores the idea of culture. In the modern society, culture plays a vital role so it needs to be studied in detail. Gidden sometime speaks like a typical Politian rather then being a social theorist. For instance, at one point he talks about a democratic system in the society. Whereas on the other hand, he justifies that sometimes individual interest are different from the common minority groups.

During his work on Structuration theory, Giddens does not emphasis that much on the social environment’s influence on sociology. Gidden argues that social structures are both the condition and the outcome of people’s daily activities; hence one cannot exist without the other. Giddens theory is very similar to Bourdieu; like Bourdieu, Giddens states that social practices are hugely important to the ongoing reproduction of socities (Tucker, 1998).

On the other hand, Nicos Mouzelis argues that Giddens in his book ‘The Constitution of society’ didn’t give enough emphasise to the constraining effects of social structure. (Bryant and Jary, 2001). Though, Giddens replied back to his critic by Mouzelis and stated that Mouzelis critic was not justified in terms of the content of what he wrote (Bryant and Jary, 2001).

Furthermore, throughout his work Giddens makes a great deal of the notion of time and space. Criab argues that Giddens deals with time and space on two different levels and unless they are clearly distinguished, his work is difficult to understand and confusing (Craib, 1992).

In social theory, action and structure are inter-dependent (or are linked to each other)

‘Action’ or ‘agency’ is a continuous flow of conduct (regular series of acts). To study the structure of the society is like studying the anatomy of the organisms, where you have to study a number of small functions (Giddens, 1979).

Furthermore, Giddens mentions that an understanding of action and structure is needed regardless of what problem one is seeking to analyse (Bryant and Jary, 2001). On the whole, Giddens provides us with evidence through examples and theories to show and help us understand the interaction between structure and agency.

ANTHONY GIDDENS-THE LAST MODERNIST, By S G Mestrovic, Routedge (1998) “The role of desire in agency and structure”
Anthony Giddens, 1984, “The Constitution of Society”, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Agency and Structure, Anthony Giddens (1979) “Central Problems in Social Theory”
Risk, Trust, Reflexivity – Giddens (In Beck et al, 1994)
Reading 5 – Craib , I (1992) Modern Social Theory – Structutaion theory: There is such a thing as society, there is no such thing as society
Reading 6 – The contemporary Giddens and Social theory in a Globalizing age (Bryant and Jary, 2001)
Reading 7 – Structutaion theory – Craib, I (1992) Anthony Giddens
Anthony Giddens, and Modern Social theory/ Tucker, Kenneth, London, Sage (1998) Structuration theory:

In Malaysia, human rights of homosexual issue are getting serious. Media is shaping the image of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) groups through their news. The problem statement of this research is that LGBT community is greatly discriminated in society. The research attempts to investigate the power of new media through youth`s view and gauge the level of public awareness and also to instil awareness of respecting homosexuality in today’s youth. The target audience is Malaysian university students of different races and ages between 17 to 27 years old. The survey method to obtain the result is through a questionnaire and to distribute 200 sets to the respondents on the Internet. Eventually, the researchers found out that the majority of student’s view that negligence on the LGBT community is not a serious problem in Malaysia and do not think that the Internet influenced much of their views on LGBT community. At the same time, they view “Seksualiti Merdeka” as a negligible issue since the respondents do not know much about it but majority think that LGBT deserves equal human rights. In conclusion, youth are not aware of homosexual issues in Malaysia. Government or some organizations should lend a hand in educating youth about homosexuality.

Homosexual identity is abstracted as a life-spanning development process. This process eventually leads a person to personal acceptance of a positive gay self-image and a clear personal identity (Minton & McDonald, 2012). According to Haberma’s theory of ego development, it is utilized to provide a synthesis and understanding of the literature on the construction and maintenance of the homosexual identity. It is concluded that the homosexual identity generally emerges in a three-stage process, in which the person progresses from (1) an egocentric interpretation of homoerotic feelings to (2) an internalization of the normative, conventional assumptions about homosexuality to (3) a post-conventional phase in which societal norms are critically evaluated and the positive gay identity is achieved and managed. In short, homosexual develops in three stages. The first stage is the homoerotic feelings in a self-centered way. The second stage is the internalization of the normative, assuming homosexuality in a convention way. The final stage is a post-conventional phase where the critical evaluation of societal norms happens and the positive gay identity is achieved and managed.

However, no one knows how exactly homosexuality entered into human history. According to Samhsa, the terms lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) describe distinct groups within the gay culture. The early initiatives for people who were gay focused mostly on men. So, in an attempt to draw attention to issues specific to gay women, “lesbian” is often listed first. People who are bisexual or transgender have been traditionally left out of, or underrepresented in, research studies and health initiatives. Other than that, a study from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy revealed that the term ‘homosexuality’ was coined in the late 19th century by German psychologist, Karoly Maria Benkert. Although the term is new, discussions about sexuality and same-sex attraction have occasioned philosophical discussion ranging from Plato’s Symposium to contemporary queer theory (Pickett, Brent, 2011). However, the gay group is different from “sissies” and “tomboy”.

According to Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United State, the dictionary itself documents the distinction between tomboy and sissy with gay, while tomboy refers to romping, boisterous, boyish young girl, “sissy” an effeminate boy or man, a timid or cowardly person (Siecus Report, 2003). Thus for a boy been called “sissy” can be devastating, as it pierces his self-image at its most vulnerable point. By contrast, “tomboy” is said with approving tones, and does not detract from a girl’s sense of worth (Green, 1979). By this definition, it could be understood that a gay individual is more likely to have same sex attraction, but a sissy person may only behave like a girl while having a normal sexuality as other heterosexual males.

According to National Academic Advising Association (NACADA), LGBT refers to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. The term gay refers to both men and women who are attracted to persons of the same sex. Lesbian is the term used specifically for women who are romantically and sexually attracted to other women. Bisexual is used to indicate that a person is attracted to both men and women. Some describe bisexuality as an attraction to the qualities a person possesses rather than the gender of the person who possesses the qualities. Bisexual persons often experience a lack of acceptance in both heterosexual and GL communities because of misconceptions and stereotypes associated with bisexuality. Finally, transgender is an umbrella term used to describe someone who experiences his/her gender in a way that varies along a continuum from masculine to feminine (Brown & Rounsley, 1996; Perez, DeBord & Bieschke, 2000; Cunningham, 2003; Smith 2006).

Hall (1996) coined the term of under erasure to refer to the LGBT individuals who happen to occupy “outside the field”. “Within the gay and lesbian community, the subjective voices of transgender people are often marginalized or ignored” (Minter, 2000) It indicates that the social status of the LGBT persons often insignificant and lower in rank.

Social networking sites are spots where youth are easily influence by sexual text, photos and videos and also creates such materials by own (Rebecca, 2001). New media helps in addressing issues such as sexual health and their important role of youth at risk depends on media which is in use (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2010). To see the ever present queerness in the most prosaic straightness is important to be sure, as it has been for every oppressed minority. Visibility is much important to gays and lesbian because change of social acceptance.

1.1 Problem Statement

This study addresses the issue of the portrayal of the marginalized group, known to be LGBT, by the new media and to what extent it influences the perceptions of the young individuals towards this group. A study performed by Free Malaysia Today stated that the Centre for Independent Journalism reprimanded the Malaysian print media for their lop-sided reporting on the Azwan Ismail video that was first made by a group called Seksualiti Merdeka. Azwan, an engineer, shot to fame after he stated his sexual preference in a video entitled, “I am Gay, I am Okay”. The video was first aired in an event organized by Seksualiti Merdeka. His open statement, however, did not go down well with other media. The Malay dailies newspaper and the community made their displeasure known via various cyber platforms. Some even went to the extent of issuing death threats against Azwan. One prominent Muslim blogger took the government to task for its failure in curbing the spread of gay and lesbian activities (Free Malaysia Today, 2011).

Other than that, Youth Pride Inc also stated that 36.5 % of GLB youth grades 9-12 have attempted suicide and 20.5% of those attempts resulting in medical care (Robin, 2002). In 2005, Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) survey of LGBT youth, 90% reported experiencing verbal or physical harassment or verbal assault in the past year (Harris Interactive & GLSEN, 2005). All these findings share one conclusion namely LGBT people are greatly discriminated in the society. This study thus chooses to highlight on homosexuality and Seksualiti Merdeka with aims to create awareness among today’s generation about the need to respect every person’s right, including the rights to be homosexuals.

1.2 Research Objectives

To discover the new media’s portrayal of the LGBT community in Malaysia.

To examine the Malaysian youths perceptions towards the LGBT community in general and specifically towards Seksualiti Merdeka.

To create awareness about the issue of homosexuality among Malaysian youths.

1.3 Research Questions

How are new media’s portrayals of the LGBT community in Malaysia?

What are the Malaysian youth’s perceptions towards the LGBT community and Seksualiti Merdeka?

How far Malaysian youths are aware about the issue of homosexuality?

1.4 Research Hypothesis

This research has one hypothesis, which is if the new media portrays the LGBT community negatively; the perceptions of youth towards LGBT community will be negative. This means, if the new media portrays the LGBT community positively, the perceptions of youth towards LGBT community will be positive.

1.5 Research Significance

This study examines the influence of new media on the youth’s perception towards LGBT community. The researchers highlight youth perceptions on this issue because in the modern era today, youths are expected to be more open minded apart of being daring to voice out their opinions about any arising issues. A research by Pew Internet & America Life Project (2007) revealed that 94 percent of internet users are young people with age range between 18 to 29 years old. This finding indicated that youths today are the active users of new media such as social networks, forums, blogs etc.

With new media, the youths can easily get information about LGBT issues that occured in the country or abroad. Therefore, the youths may have more awareness towards LGBT groups. New media is becoming a platform for the youth to express their opinions and to discuss about any issues. Therefore, the researchers think that, there is a need to study more about the influence of new media on youth’s perceptions towards LGBT community.

This study will help to instil awareness and provide a better perspective about the issues of LGBT and Seksualiti Merdeka to upcoming generation. It can also be useful and functional as reference for future researchers who are interested to expand the discussion on similar topics and areas.

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Media Portrayal of LGBT

Society has always had a general fear or disdain for homosexuality. That is why the media tended to support the already common perceptions, instead of challenging them (Montgomery, 1981).

According to Kanter (2012), since the start of television programming, the forms of LGBT characters in entertainment or popular culture have both been limited. If they did exist, they were either exaggeratingly stereotypical, or associated with criminality or deviance. All the way through the 1980s, gay characters were seen on television as cameo roles with particular “problems” that hold almost non-existent lives, absent of desire or relationships. With the spread of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic, starting in the 1980s and into the 1990s, homosexuals were portrayed in more substantial, reoccurring roles (Netzley, 2010).

Jackson & Gilbertson (2009) explained that versions of the media lesbian that preceded her contemporary incarnation as ‘hot’ typically cast her in stereotypical and undesirable ways, for example as masculine and unattractive (Wilton, 1995; Ciasullo, 2001). Dow (2001) notes how the lesbian on television historically occupied a fleeting space as an object of humor or as a villain. In her contemporary guise, the media lesbian can most often be seen as constituted within post-feminist discourses that produce women as sexually desiring, sexually plural, and self-pleasing (McRobbie, 1996).

Gamson (1995) encouraged the homosexuals to tell their views in the talk shows. Talk show is the place where they get the attention they want and rise out their views which they cannot get in other ways. He is also the only spot in mainstream media culture where it is possible for non-heterosexuals to speak for themselves.

A study shows the changes in attitudes towards homosexuality in the United State through fashion in public opinion polls. The results were considered by issues connected to homosexuality which integrated legal status, morality, acceptability, causes, familiarity with self-identified homosexuals, as well as views on both military and nonmilitary occupations, civil rights, marriage and adoption rights, and AIDS. This also concluded that community behavior have shifted in a free-thinking path (Yang, 1997).

2.2 LGBT Youngster’s Engagement with New Media

Past research had supported the idea that the Internet is frequently a lifeline in the development of sexual health among LGBT young people (Hillier & Harrison, 2007). Many of them first “come out” online, and report learning about sexual behaviours, pursuing friendships with other LGBT young people, and exploring same-sex attraction online (Harper, Bruce, Serrano, & Jamil, 2009; Hillier & Harrison, 2007).

Social networking tools had been widely used among youngsters in getting sexual health information. Importantly, social networking tools do not only allow researchers and practitioners to receive and provide information, but also allow the LGBT young people to exchange information and experiences with LGBT peers, engendering broader development of their sexual health (Bargh & McKenna, 2004). This opportunity allows for a greater chance for LGBT young people to “test out” identities and gather information in a more controlled, private environment than is typical among general Internet resources or large social networking sites (Joshua, Louisa, Samantha & Brian, 2011).

According to Wilkerson (1994), there several types of homophobic attitudes like the treatment of people with human immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) about ways in which HIV is transmitted, media representation of AIDS and the way the medicines purpose reinforces a positive view inimical to lesbians and bisexuals. African-American news websites are growing in influence in terms of the number and loyalty of the unique visitors they attract. Homophobia and discrimination are the top storylines on the African-American news websites we analyzed, followed by culture, religion, and same-sex marriage in equal measure (Siegel, 2012).

2.3 Health Issues among LGBT Community

By the 1990s, lesbian, the LGBT youth have appeared only as a separate cultural group. There are quite few youth identified themself or turn as LGBT since social sanctions and stigma contributed to severe repercussions and isolation, limiting access to supportive communities and awareness of sexual and gender identities in the earlier periods. However, only a handful addressed the needs of youths although a range of lesbian and gay service organizations developed in large cities during the 1970s and 1980s.

According to Makadon (2008), elimination of health disparities among LGBT individuals, also collectively called sexual minorities, is a critical need for focus on their health. LGBT populations are disproportionately at risk for violent hate crimes, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV/ AIDS, a variety of mental health conditions, substance abuse and certain cancers. However, LGBT patients frequently encounter problems with access to quality health services, experiences disparities in screening for chronic conditions, and report a lack of counseling pertinent to actual lifestyle behaviors.

Historically, homosexuality has been judged quite harshly due to cultural and religious taboos. The Pew Research Centre’s 2003 Global Attitudes Survey found that the majority of people in Western European and major Latin American countries (Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil) believe that homosexuality should be accepted by society, while most Russians, Poles and Ukrainians disagreed, and people in Africa and the Middle East objected strongly. Meanwhile, majority of Americans believe that homosexuality should be accepted (Makadon, 2008).

Stigma, prejudice and discrimination create a stressful social environment that can lead to a variety of health problems among LGBT group. In LGBT group, minority stress is caused by (a) an external, objective traumatic event, such as being assaulted or being fired from a job; (b) the expectation of rejection and development of vigilance in interactions with others; (c) the internalization of negative societal attitudes (also known as internalized homophobia, transphobia, or biphobia); and (d) the concealment of gender identity or sexual orientation out of shame and guilt or to protect oneself from real harm. In addition, research shows a relationship between internalized homophobia/biphobia and various forms of self-harm, including eating disorders, high-risk sexual activity, substance abuse and suicide (Makadon, 2008). According to Rosan (1978), “homophobia” is a shortened form of “homophilephobia,” which means the fear of person neither of one’s own sex, clearly not the connotation given to these terms in common parlance nor in professional literature. Garner (2008; as cited in Mulick & Wright Jr., 2003) describes biphobia as psychological construct of negative attitudes towards bisexual individuals and bisexuality in general.

In Malaysia, the rising trend of sexual transmission from 5.3% in 1990 to 22.15% in 2005 (Ministry of Health AIDS/STD Section) indicates that the situation could expand into a general epidemic. Furthermore, the proportion of women infected has risen from 1.4% in 1990 to 14.5% in 2005 (Ministry of Health AIDS/STD Section). Indeed, the female to male ratio of new infections has narrowed substantially. In sharp contrast to men, 64% of HIV infections in women were sexually transmitted. The result of HIV situation has an emergency need to go for gender-sensitive national respond by Malaysia government (Zulkifli, Lee, Yun, & Lin, 2007).

To do better in lend a hand to LGBT group for their healthcare, people should spend more time and attention to learn about LGBT health and obtain support in making educational improvements. Explanation focus on the clinician-patient relationship and address all threes domains of learning which comprised of attitudes, knowledge and skills would help clinicians to provide better care to LGBT patients. Attitudes have a major effect on health outcomes. Attention to attitudes requires growth in the affective arena. For clinicians, this involves developing awareness of and respect for a patient’s differences and willingness to listen empathically to that person’s experience (Makadon, 2008).

2.4 LGBT involvement in international human rights

Under international human rights law, all persons who including LGBT community are entitled to equal rights, including the rights to life, security of person and privacy, freedom from torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, and the right to be free from discrimination (The Road To Safety, 2012).

There are more than 80 countries still maintaining the laws that make same-sex consensual relations between adults a criminal offence. In year 2008, such laws were used in Morocco to convict six men, after allegations that a private party they had attended was a “gay marriage”. On 19 July 2007, six men were arrested after a young man who had been arrested on theft charges was coerced by police into naming associates who were presumed to be homosexual (O’Flaherty & Fisher, 2008).

According to journal The Road to Safety (2012), LGBT refugees in Uganda and Kenya are among the most vulnerable of refugee populations. Due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, they can be targeted for violence by other refugees and some members of the host populations, harassed and extorted by police officers, and marginalized from accessing services from government institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), or the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

According to Julie (2006), LGBT advocates have engaged in two very different kinds of activities on the international human rights stage. First, they have engaged in traditional human rights activism, using the traditional human rights techniques of monitoring and reporting to apply existing human rights norms to LGBT lives. These rights included the right to privacy in the criminal law context; the right to equality; the right to family; the right to non-discrimination; the right to freedom from torture (applicable in cases of “forcible cures” for homosexuality and psychiatric mistreatment generally); and the right of transsexuals to recognition of their new gender. Second, they have tapped into both traditional monitoring techniques and human rights culture-building efforts to promote new international human rights that are important to LGBT lives, including “the right to sexuality.”

Until the mid- to late-1990s, most of LGBT advocates that involved in the international work on gay rights were also working with LGBT-specific organizations, such as the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA). This organization was found in 1978 in Brussels as a “world federation” organization, and today it is joined by more than 500 gay and lesbian organizations from ninety countries on all inhabited continents. From its inception, ILGA has “focused on presenting discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation as a global issue.” Another prominent group during this era was the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), founded originally in 1990 by Russian and US activists and now a US-based organization with offices in San Francisco, New York, and Buenos Aires (Julie, 2006).

2.5 Seksualiti Merdeka in Malaysia

The rejection of homosexuality by Malaysian law and culture leads to the rise of human rights to the LGBT people. An increasing integration of Islamic political thinking and practice that builds on literal interpretations of Islamic textual sources is the main reason for why LGBT rights are neglected. Muslims who are under group of LGBT facing politically charged from conservative of normative Islamic discourses on sexuality and gender.

To fight for their rights, LGBT community in Malaysia had formed Seksualiti Merdeka or Sexuality Independence in the year 2008, founded by Pang Khee Teik and Jerome Kugan. Seksualiti Merdeka is an annual sexuality rights festival held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and represents a coalition of Malaysian Non-Government Organizations which included Malaysian Bar Council, Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), Empower, Pink Triangle Foundation (PT Foundation), United Nations, Amnesty International and general public. The term used to highlight the fact that even after Malaysia independence, not all Malaysians are free to be who they are. The organization believes that everyone in Malaysia deserves to be free from discrimination, harassment and violence for their sexual orientations and their gender identities. They believe it is our right to be responsible for our own body and believe everyone is entitled to the freedom to love and the freedom to be, whether gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersexes, straight, asexual, pansexual, or simply fabulous (Sexualiti Merdeka, n.d.).

Being a Muslim-majority country, Malaysia would have to reiterate its strong objections to a policy that clearly contradicts the principles enshrined in the religion of Islam. On November 3, 2011, police banned Seksualiti Merdeka as the festival was deemed a threat to national security and a threat to public order. Co-founder of Seksualiti Merdeka Pang Khee Teik said that they are not trying to promote homosexuality. This festival is actually the chance for Malaysians to listen to their story, why after all these years of trying to be somebody else, some of them have found peace with themselves and to accept who they are (Chun, 2011).

According to Mosbergen (2012), on September 2012, Malaysia’s Education Ministry has “endorsed guidelines” to help parents identify gay and lesbian “symptoms” in their children. The guidelines are as below:-

Symptoms of gays:

Likes having a fit body and likes to show off by wearing V-neck and sleeveless clothes;

A preference for tight and bright-colored clothes;

Attraction to men; and

A preference for carrying big handbags, similar to those used by women.

Symptoms of lesbians:

Attraction to women;

Besides their female companions, they tend to distance themselves from other women;

A preference for going out, having meals etc. with women and a preference for sleeping in the company of women;

Not attracted to men

Pang Khee Teik, however disagreed with the guidelines and he advised the ministry to rely on sound research instead of endorsing pseudo-experts as this could be damaging to children. Pang said education is an important tool to address inequality but the ministry had instead sought to use it for teaching hate, promoting inequality and playing politics. Besides that, the ministry should teach all children to be confident and to respect one another, no matter who they are. Seksualiti Merdeka thus was prepared to brief the Education Ministry if its officers were willing to listen to reliable research on the LGBT community (Asia One, 2012).

2.6 Online discussion of sexuality

According to Mckee (2004), in one of the ¬?rst published articles addressing online discussions of sexuality, the homophobic comments made by composition students using the synchronous chat program interchange to brainstorm possible topics for a research essay (as cited in Regan, 1993).

When a student raised homosexuality as a possible topic, a number of students posted homophobic comments: “We’re taught that homosexuality is a sin”; “A homosexual once made a move on me. I really didn’t like it. I mean I really didn’t like it!” and “To whoever was thinking about the topics of death and homosexuality, here’s a thought, why not join together and do a project on the death of homosexuals? Not by AIDS.” At the time of the exchange, the researcher Regan was unsure what to do when confronted with these comments, but she did try to redirect the conversation by interjecting, “Has anyone thought about writing about homophobia?” but it does not seem that her efforts were successful at redirecting what she called “socially sanctioned classroom terrorism” (McKee, 2004).

Regan was distressed that the online environment enabled students to articulate “their fear and hatred of homosexuals in a way that would not have happened in the traditional classroom,” and she concluded that online spaces are not egalitarian, as was frequently claimed at the time.

2.7 Discrimination towards LGBT group in Malaysian Context

Malaysia is one of the countries that illegalized homosexuality. Among the reasons for the country`s disapproval of homosexuality is its status as an Islamic nation, where everything that goes against the Islamic law and teaching is strictly prohibited and thus, condemned.

According to Goh (2012), the rejection of same-sex behavior is not one that has emerged from a socio-political vacuum. Sexuality is considered “taboo” (Goh, 2012; as cited in Jerome, 2008) and appears to have a prominent place in the psyche of many Malaysians, notably institutional quadrants of Islam. Islamic civil and religious authorities closely observed on Muslims in Malaysia, ravaging the sexual lives of Muslims that are as private as “khalwat” (illicit close proximity) and “zina” (illicit sex or adultery)” (Lee, 2010:31). In the Malaysian legal context, male homosexuality or ‘gayness’ as a globally-recognized cultural trope has no direct equivalence to sexual identitiesaˆ‚ Section 377A, 377B and 377C of the Malaysian Penal Code make provisions against acts of sodomy or “liwat” without being gender-specific, although it is in section 2 of the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territory) Act 1997 that one discovers a clearly-defined morphology of “liwat” as “sexual relations between male persons” (Goh, 2012).

Uproars over male homosexuality in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries came into prominence with two major events. First is the sodomy charges of the former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and second is the festival celebrating the human rights of sexually-diverse persons, Seksualiti Merdeka. Raging debates on homosexuality in relation to Anwar (Kanaraju, 2007) and the banning of Seksualiti Merdeka in 2011 (Shazwan, 2011) caused innumerable forums on men`s masculinities population to mushroom among the Malaysian.

Back in the year 1992, the Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad made the statement that democracy would lead to homosexuality (Offord, 1999). Dr Mahathir used the conflation of homosexuality with democracy to consolidate Malaysia’s cultural borders (and its postcolonial status), so that Malaysian people can maintain the pureness and uniqueness. Dr Mahathir is drawn on cultural specificity in this context to explain the indigenous from the foreign, and homosexuality is conceived of as alien and “other”.

It is in this sense that Anwar Ibrahim is “bothered” by the use of the accusation that he is homosexual. Anwar has been notable for his liberal views about democracy and transparent government (The Asian Renaissance, 1996). To simply do away with opposition and perceived threats to his authoritarian rule, Dr. Mahathir can inscribe upon his enemy the descriptor of “homosexual” (Offord, 1999).

Prior to the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) leader’s summit in Kuala Lumpur in late 1998, amid the controversial jailing of Anwar and civil unrest and demonstrations, the role of homosexuality as a political and cultural tool of difference was propounded strongly by the Malaysian Foreign Minister, Dr Abdullah Badawi. It was his contention that sodomy was a serious offence in Malaysia; it was against the country’s religious and social values (The Weekend Australian, 1998). Dr Badawi maintained that in certain places in Europe, and perhaps Australia and America, they do not treat it as something big but to Malaysia, it is bad consider as a scandal.

Following Dr Mahathir’s accusations against Anwar, a People’s Anti-Homosexual Voluntary Movement was formed to combat the “dangers of homosexuality”. In one blow Dr Mahathir succeeded in undermining Anwar’s credibility and deployed homosexuality as the number one impossibility. Anwar, also a Muslim, entrenched the perceived, corrupting value of homosexuality by asserting in the Time interview that his character was assassinated by this descriptor (Offord, 1999).

Therefore in Southeast Asia today, this is one sense of where homosexuality is located, something that is “demonized”, and deeply disturbed. It is conflated at once with democracy, corruption, and foreignness. It does seem clear that when the nation state perceives a threat to its existence, that danger is frequently translated into sexualized terms. Same sex sexuality is deployed as the alien other, linked to conspiracy, recruitment, opposition to the nation, and ultimately a threat to civilization (Offord, 1999).

2.8 Theory applies between relationship of Media and LGBT Community

Media plays a very important role in human life, where people get more of information they need from it. Therefore, to be more understand the influence of media on youth’s perceptions and opinions about homosexuality, the study chooses to employ framing theory. The concept of framing has been variously attributed to sociologist Erving Goffman and anthropologist Gregory Bateson. Frames allow journalists or media in general cover and package issue. The choice of journalists who shelter a story can influence the way issues are framed. The theory describe that the message framer has the choice of what is to be emphasized in the message, as the view through a window is emphasized by where the carpenter frames, or places, the window. If the window had been placed, or framed, on a different wall, the view would be different (Botan & Hazleton, 2006).

Acco

Identity recognition has been a hot topic in recent years. It is a complicated issue that no single definition of the term has been set up in science. The first time “identity of perception” goes to the public as a scientific term is in The Interpretation of Dreams (published in 1900) by a great psychologist, Sigmund Freud. He proposed that dreaming was an unconscious process of information in the day time, which shared the role of controlling individual’s mental and psychical activities. Thus he claimed that dreaming maintained the personality’s continuity and identity. Identity conception plays an important role in human beings’ psyche, he suggested. The society is developing quickly, which makes human beings lost in recognition of identity in social life and also in psycho. Problems of identity are studied for years in different areas, and the conceptions of identity differ. Most of the recent studies are conducted in sociology, which focus on study the social groups, social phenomena and social behavior. Here in this paper, I focus on the individual’s behavior, individual’s interpretations of the information on the internet, and how the internet influences individuals.

Identity is the state of an individual’s consciousness of the relationship with oneself, people around and with the surroundings. It is more about how an individual sees himself, based on the aggregation of his personal characteristics, personal feelings, personal values, personal judgments and his interpretations about the information inwards and outwards. To determine one’s identity, we need to “aggregate one’s characteristics of personality that are of a biological, psychological, social, and cultural nature.”(Vladimir Rimskii, 2)Identity is a stable consciousness that will last for a long time once set up. It enables one to “be oneself in different situations.” (Vladimir Rimskii, 2)However, identity changes with the environment changes. Individuals take in different and changing information for the new situations, and this process of aggregation with information will slightly change the individual’s perception on his own identity. So exists the possibility to “coexistence of different identities” (Vladimir Rimskii, 2)at one and the same moment in time. In some cases, this leads to crisis because the adaptation of identity lags behind the changes in reality.

Childhood plays a significant and essential role in forming an individual’s identity, which continues until death. Identity forming is about mental development, influenced not only by biological factors, but mainly by social factors. The relations and interactions among children, parents, culture and social life of the community play a very important role in shaping one’s identity. As a person enter his adolescence years, identity keeps forming and yet changing, for his high time of mental development and values forming. An adolescent goes through a time of getting rid of the influence of parents and setting up self-values in the changing environment. In many cases, these adolescents have the problems of identity because of their lack of experiences in life. As they grow up, they will begin to shape their own identities as the acceptance of particular roles and the rejection of other roles. This process will slow down as they enter adulthood, and they will have stereotype identities, which are relatively stable. However, the identity crisis among adolescents has been a hot topic recently. The new generation is said to be too cool and willful. They are exposed to a world full of information. They have a lot of chances to get in touch with different people, learn about different thoughts, and know what’s happening around the world. Therefore, their identities are easily influenced and changed. Also, because of the overindulgence of their parents, they young generation lose some chances to think about life and future by themselves. They fail to pay enough attention to the identity forming. Therefore, identity crisis is a very import yet complicated issue. In this paper, I will try to briefly study the internet’s influences on youth’s identity conception.

Identities in the reality

Many identities are perceived as social roles interacting with other individuals. Human beings live within social groups. They have more than one role when connecting with others. Each role might have its own identity or tend to have slightly different identity. These different identities coexist in one at the same moment of time, thus exists the possibility that a person might not able to show all his personalities and roles in one identification card. The other possibility is that people around cannot clearly know who the person is. The author (Vladimir Rimskii, 3) suggests that collective identities of a social group enable its members to “determine who belongs and who does not.” Individuals almost always interact with representatives of particular social groups, which make them constantly adapt or affirm their own identities. According to him, we can know a person by checking the social group he belongs to.

It is true that social life and social experiences help a person to achieve a definite identity. In order to achieve a sense of belongingness, self-preservation, recognition, self-realization and other needs, a person will join in some certain social groups by attaining membership.( Vladimir Rimskii, 4)

However, humans have subjective initiatives. One may not want to reveal his complete real information in social life with the purposes such as self-protection. Also, one may fake his information in order to get into a group. People are bound to the conventions of the society. They live in a world full of limitations. They cannot fully express and show their values, judgments, behaviors, and personalities. For example, the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual (GLB) may not want people around them to know their secrets. They may cover up in case other people blame them for acting against the cultural and social traditions. Therefore, one will not present the “true” person of oneself in reality and we cannot know a “true” person by processing the intended presentation of his identity.

In the process of identification, an individual may project his own identity onto someone else. He may borrow someone else’s identity, or mix his own identity with the identities of others, so as to create a new him.

Identities on the internet

Today, hundreds of thousands of people have accessed to the internet, and have identities in the virtual world. The number is growing at a very fast speed. Individualism and the freedom of expression may be the first reason that people form a new identity on the internet.(Julie Rak, 7)There is no restrictions of forming an identity on the internet, so a person can register an ideal identity, do whatever and say whatever he wants on the internet. Another reason for people’s formation of identity on the internet is that people desire to create ideal identities that cannot be realized in the real world. Individuals can decide their attitudes, perceptions, stereotypes, judgments, opinions, assessments, priorities, tastes, ways of life, characteristics of activity, etc. Internet makes it possible for individuals to achieve self-realization and to be ideal ones for a while. Quite different from the reality, there is also possibility for a person to use a number of different identities simultaneously without using verifiable information.

People have been arguing about the advantages and disadvantages of internet on identities. The supportive side suggests that we can know a person better through internet because his identities online are mostly the ones that he wishes to be. Those identities reveal the real inside of a person. People will fee safe and comfortable to chat on the internet. They use nicknames with limited information revealed. The information doesn’t have to be true, which protects people from being traced. Moreover, the communication is mostly non-face-to-face. Therefore, people may be more willing to share their real feelings and thoughts on the internet than in real world.

However, the opposed side argues that people who get addicted to the internet may lose their identities in the reality and fail to bear his responsibilities. They suggest that people turn to the internet to avoid things in the real world. On the internet, all things, including identity information, thoughts and feelings may be false, which will easily confuse people. The exposure to different kinds of information and identities will not help people clear up their minds. It is more likely to pull people away from the real world along with their responsibilities.

Combination of Identities in the reality and on the internet

Based on the discussions between the supportive and opposed sides, I suggest that the combination of identities in the reality and on the internet may be a useful way to help solve the identity crisis. People base on the reality to face the life, bear the responsibilities and solve problems. Therefore, the identity in the reality should be the basic and should be stable. It defines a person’s position in a society. However, it’s understandable that people want to keep personal secrets and hide characteristics and feelings. The internet will be a good way for them to relieve the pressure from reality and try to be another part of themselves. Therefore, the combination of the identities in the reality and on the internet may complete a person’s identities and is good for human experiences. However, one important premise for this is that the internet should be under more control to provide a safer internet environment.

To fully solve the problem of identity crisis, more in-depth studies of identities on the Internet, and investigation of the positive and negative effects of their influences on individual identity perceptions, should be conducted. We believe that these findings may shed some light on tackling the problem of identity crisis in the near future.

Notes

Rak, Julie. “THE DIGITAL QUEER: WEBLOGS AND INTERNET IDENTITY.” Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly 28.1 (2005): 166-182. Academic Source Complete. EBSCO. Web. 28 Nov. 2010.

Rimskii, Vladimir. “The Influence of the Internet on Active Social Involvement and the Formation and Development of Identities” .Russian Education HYPERLINK “javascript:__doLinkPostBack(”,’mdb~~s8h||jdb~~s8hjnh||ss~~JN “Russian Education & Society”||sl~~jh’,”);”&HYPERLINK “javascript:__doLinkPostBack(”,’mdb~~s8h||jdb~~s8hjnh||ss~~JN “Russian Education & Society”||sl~~jh’,”);” Society; Aug2010, Vol. 52 Issue 8, p11-33, 23p, 2 Charts

Formerly the Abyssinia empire, Ethiopia is filled with a rich ancient history. Ethiopia holds strength as the eldest and noteworthy African country that has never been colonized by European nations (Ethiopia Review, 2011, p.8). The large population is comprised of 77 ethnic groups such the Oromo, Amhara, and Tigreans which makes up three-forth’s of the country’s population. However, despite the country’s resiliency, According to the CIA World Factbook, Ethiopia is one of Africa’s poorest states (2011). As the nation continues to face extreme poverty, Ethiopian women have even more barriers to overcome as the country as they face economic, educational and social inequalities.

Towards the end of my secondary education, I became interested in world development issues and took action to contribute in my small environment while hoping that it would have a world of impact. I took part in many health projects that assisted in aid to several African nations. One project in particular that I was involved in was called The SWEET project (Students for Women Exporters from Ethiopia to Toronto), which left a lasting impression on me. This project demonstrated Ethiopian women liberating themselves by taking economic independence by utilizing their skills in woven textiles that allowed them to provide for themselves and their children.

Ethiopian society keeps women in a subordinate position, using traditional values as an excuse. The discrimination that Ethiopian women continue to face has hindered the nation’s development as it disables almost half of the population from participation and the country remains underdeveloped. This paper will discuss the barriers of traditional values in Ethiopia for women such as equal economic participation, the opportunity to obtain an education and the social determinants that perpetuates the present role of women in Ethiopian society.

WOMEN DEVELOPMENT THEORIES:

Women in development (WID) addressed the oppression of women from “traditional” economic and social relationships in society ( Martinez, 2009, p. 184). The principal means used were education and skills training for women and improving their access to credit and advantage agricultural techniques. The purpose of WID was to integrate women into the workforce and increase their productivity in order to improve their lives. Women and development (WAD) sought to explain the relationship between women and the process of capitalist development in terms of conditions that contribute to their exploitation. Material conditions refer to the economic structures that underline the social organization of capitalism, such as mode of production, the primacy of private property, unequal interactions between classes, and the international division of labour. WAD offers critical analysis of the relationship between capitalism and patriarchy. This analysis argues that women have always contributed economically to the development of their society, whether they are productive in the paid or unpaid labour force such as housework, food preparation and child care, they are an integral part of the economy ( Martinez, 2009, p.184).

Feminist Loudres Beneris (2003) argues that analyzing women in international development and globalization contributes to a better understanding of an underdeveloped country’s situation. She points out that development can not simply be reduced to economic and financial aspects but must be considered as a whole. The process of equality in development as she quotes French prime minister Lionel Jospin, cannot be reduced to a “universal model”. Development strategies must be tailored to the history and social reality of each country (p. 23). This notion pertains to the gender inequality in Ethiopia. Women make up nearly half of the population in Ethiopia yet they do not share an integral equal part in the country’s economy . Looking specifically at Ethiopia’s past and the perception placed upon women will determine the proper implications that aid to bind the gender equality gap. Looking closely at patriarchal forms, gender inequality and women oppression can be embedded in many different ways in societal institutions. Referring to Ethiopia’s economy, men and women have been given distinctive labels and respective roles as to what they can and cannot do. In fact, women are an integral part of the agricultural sector. These women experience physical hardship throughout their lives, carrying loads over long distances and other agricultural practices to ensure a prosperous livelihood, hoping to avoid a drought and inevitably famine. Over 85 % of Ethiopian women reside in rural areas. ( CIA World Factbook, 2011). Rural women are integrated into the rural economy, while fulfilling traditional roles as a mother and a wife. With their limitations, they remain economically dependent upon men. Social programs are needed to properly introduce women into the paid labour force in order to gain economic independence.

Indian feminist Chandra Mohanty (2003) advocates, “the theorization of the common interests, historical location, and social identity of women workers under global capitalism”(p. 12). Mohanty looks closely at the relationship between a woman- cultural and ideological composition, constructed through diverse representational discourses in science, literature, politics, linguistics and cinema. And women being real, material subjects of their collective histories ( p. 19). Nonetheless, the perception of women in Ethiopia, presents a connection between women in historical contexts and the representation of woman produced by discourses. These images, referring to Orientalism, mythifies woman in the Global South as exotic, vulnerable and weak, differing them from woman in the Global North. Mohanty presents political presupposition underlying the model of power and struggle; a notion of the oppression of women as a group that is assumed “Third World women” (p. 22). Women she describes, who strongly resemble the traditional taboos Ethiopian women face, lead distinctive lives based on their feminine gender and being of the Third World, they are regarded as “ignorant, poor, uneducated, tradition-bound and victimized. (p. 22). These women in developing countries are compared to women from developed western countries who are examples of educated, modern, have control of their bodies and sexuality and the freedom to make their own decisions. ( p. 22). The distinction between the western and the Third world women presents the characterization of the Third World as being engaged in the lesser production of ” raw materials” oppose to the “real” productive activity of the First World. This notion brings about a question of “women as a category of analysis; or we are all sisters in struggle?”. ( p. 23). Regardless of location in this world, when women are granted the opportunity, primarily within institutions, women demonstrate self- determination and are equally able to gain economic independence. As a ” category of analysis” women, across classes and cultures, are assumed to be socially constituted as a homogeneous group identified prior to the process of analysis. This notion is problematic, as the effects of preconceived negative perspectives of a women’s economic capabilities has hindered Ethiopia’s development.

Modernization theory correlates to Ethiopia’s gender inequalities. The theory exemplifies, that traditional values are barriers towards development. (Canada and the ” Third World” p. 26). This theory presents images of the Global South as ” backwards and economically poor” ( p. 26). Modernization demonstrates the need for evolution within a state, however they are usually based on Eurocentric ideas of progress. ( p. 26). It calls for a country such as Ethiopia which development has been static in a primitive stage and traditional values are practiced within an economy. ( citation). It is important not to associate traditional values directly to religious practice. Many countries in the Middle East, most notably the United Arab Emirates, have used their oil wealth to fund infrastructure projects and to develop industrial and service industries to generate economic wealth. ( p. 27). Despite this economic prosperity, the UAE has held strong to their Islamic faith within the state. The utilization of modernity has not shifted their political belief towards social liberalism or political democratization, rather ” a form of modernity which maintains moral codes”. ( Adelkhah, 2000).

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS:

Ethiopia has an agricultural based economy and it accounts for the livelihood for most of the population that resides in small rural towns. Almost 45% of the country’s GDP lays in the agricultural sector and accounts for 85% of the total employment (Cherinet, H and Mulugeta, E. 2002). Women play a large role in agriculture yet they are represented the least. Traditionally, men have all the control in decisions related to land distribution and agricultural production. Coffee is critical to the Ethiopian economy with exports of $ 350 million in 2006. ( CIA World Factbook, 2011). Under Ethiopia’s constitution, the state owns all of the land and provides long-term leases to the tenants. The system continues to stagnate growth in the industrial sector as entrepreneurs are unable to use land as collateral for loans. While the GDP growth remains high, per capita income was amongst the lowest in the world at $1,000 in 2010. (CIA World Factbook, 2011). Only 17% of the estimated roughly 88 million people live in urban areas, notably the capital of Addis Ababa.

The economic determinants within Ethiopia has presented an unequal platform for women to become economically independent. As traditional taboos have been placed upon women, their labour is under-appreciated and the magnitude has gone unnoticed. ( Tadele, 2001). There is a high prevalence in informal jobs such as childcare and household work within Ethiopian communities while these women continue to be underrepresented in the formal sector. ( Tadele, 2001). Stevenson,(2003) demonstrates Ethiopian women are highly concentrated in the routine type and low paying jobs. Domestic jobs within the household relates back to the notion of traditional values placed upon Ethiopian women as they have the abilities to gain economic independence if these traditional barriers did not lay in their way. Ethiopian women in the capital city of Addis Ababa are slowly aiding in changing the national picture of widespread gender inequality in regards to women. In the capital city, there are almost an equal number of male and female government employees (50.13%) , while the rural regions in Ethiopia among all government employees, women constituted for only 30.75% (Grey,1999). This demonstrates the Ethiopian women as capable of being in leadership roles when traditional ideology is replaced with more accepting ideas of the role of women. One important economic activity currently involving thousands of women in the capital, Addis Ababa is the provisioning of fuel wood. The only work that focuses on these indispensable suppliers of energy to the nation’s capital is Fikerte Haile’s 1984 sociological study. It is estimated that around 73,000 women were involved in gathering and transporting wood, branches, and leaves (principally on their backs) and selling them. She pointed out that slightly over 60 percent of these women were migrants from rural or semi-rural areas who in most cases came to the city “leaving their families behind to look for better lives.” ( Bizuneh, 2006, p. 9).

Education is very important in Ethiopia’s development. The World Factbook estimated in 2003 that 42.7% of Ethiopia’s population is literate. 35.1% of women were women compared to the 50.3% of men. The Gross Enrolment Ratio for primary schools, grades 1 to 8 exemplifies that a significant number of Ethiopian children do not have access to education. In 2008, educational expectancy for was 8 years (CIAWorld Factbook, 2011). Sexual education is a major issue in Ethiopia with women being more susceptible to diseases due to the lack of proper healthcare and sanitation. Diseases that present high risks for the Ethiopian population are malaria and bacterial Diarrhea. Sexually transmitted infections in general (HIV/AIDS in particular) compromises the health of women with serious consequences. According to the 2004 report on the global AIDS epidemic, Africa is the epicentre, with 25 million HIV-positive adults worldwide (Martinez, 2009, p. 178). In Sub-Saharan Africa, 57 % of HIV- positive individuals are women, and 75% of the youth affected by HIV are girls (Martinez, 2009, p. 178). As of 2007, Ethiopia was estimated to have 980,000 people living with HIV/AIDS and an estimated 67,00 known deaths from this disease (CIA World Factbook, 2011).

Education is an important means behind economic, social and cultural development at a national level . Developing countries put strong emphasis on education in order to accelerate the development process . It is apparent that women’s education is closely related to development issues, such as their participation in productive activities, population growth, reproductive health and the education of children in general especially in regards to daughters. (Mekonnen, E., 2009). Women are not favourable in terms of education, a number of economic, social and cultural problems constrain women from attending and succeeding in education. The statistics show the increasing division of gender inequality in education in Ethiopia. Indrawaite, B. (2008) and Dugassa, B. (2005) relates the lack of basic education to sanitation concerns, widespread poverty and a perpetuating cycle of serious problems as young girls continue to be deprive of this need elaborate, this is too vague and confusing. However, it is known that there are several female students who succeed overcoming the problems using their own personal and social resources. (Synder,1995). Therefore, measures should be taken that focuses on creating favourable social environments and inculcating a different ideology that help women become strong to overcome the present problems. One gets a sense of what a dedicated female could do from the activities of Sylvia Pankhurst, the founder of the Ethiopian Observer, a journal that replaced the famous New Times and Ethiopian Times. Pankhurst was a feminist who was concerned about women’s issues; this concern was clearly reflected in the articles that were published in the journal she edited. The first issue, which appeared in December 1956, had an article that reported on the activities of the Ethiopian Women’s Welfare Association, an organization that engaged in welfare work and education. ( Bizuneh, 2006, p. 12).

Ethiopia is a patriarchal society (Henze, 2003). The attitude by the majority towards women holding a high position, the way society and the workplace are structured and the gender division of labor all pose a serious challenge. These values and beliefs are formulated and promoted by cultures, religions, families, school, media and advertising among society’s outlets. Within the patriarchal society that has a system which values men’s activities and achievements over those of women, which reflects in all aspects of life. (Kedir and Adamasachew, 2010). In most cases, the cultural values and practices favour men which leaves women without a voice in Ethiopian society to address these discriminatory issues. Many of the socialization agents including family, school, church and the community perpetuate the unfair gender relationship prevalent in Ethiopian society (Kebede and Butterfield, 2009) and (Bizuneh, 2001). The media is full of stereotypical portrayals of men and women, and the art reflect what is in the culture. The gender imbalances are relevant to the practices and cultural beliefs in Ethiopia.

CONCLUSION:

Ethiopia’s development has been hindered due to the inequalities that women face. Because of this oppression, many women have not been able to reach their full potential and gain self-determination. Traditional barriers have oppressed women economically, educationally and socially. This inequality has hindered Ethiopia’s development as nearly half of the population has not participated to their best of their ability.

Income gender gap can be reviewed at both the individual and institutional level. It refers to the prejudicial beliefs and discriminatory of individuals, and the policies that restrict the opportunities of minorities respectively.

SECTION II – THE ISSUES AND WHO ARE INVOVLED

Income gender gap is also known as the disparity of income between sexes. It has been a debatable issue ever since globalization takes place. In the context of economic inequality, gender gap generally refers to the differences in the wages of men and women. This can be calculated as a ratio of female to male wages (often expressed as a percentage). The female population has been showcasing their talents and it is depending on how the world accounts and utilizes such talent pool to determine the competitiveness of the economies.

Gender disparity in income is an issue that has been surfacing worldwide and economies would have been affected as a result. Thus, it was chosen as I openly felt that corrective measures might not have been designed to address the issue on a global scale. Besides, reports have also shown that the gender pay gap has not been fully resolved as many countries’ workplaces are still faced with the problem of gender discrimination. In this income gender gap report, I aim to highlight the importance of promoting gender equality. This is in hope that creation of greater awareness among a global audience is present, with implementation of good practices and effective measures drawn that can help further reduce gender inequality.

An example of common stereotypes stating males being more dominant and females seen as the weaker sex are present. This happens when both sexes working in the same field are being remunerated differently – the male with a higher wage as compared to the female. Singapore is not spared in this aspect. Statistics have shown that there is a closing of gender income gap. However, this is only relevant in the occupations of professionals, services/sales and cleaners/labourers.

Statistics have shown that employers tend to empower males with prospective occupation tracks that lead them to having high flying careers; however this isn’t so for the females. There is more likelihood that employers entrust women with occupation positions that are deemed to be dead-end, or have very little mobility for advancement. This is due to the perception that women will leave their jobs or labour force at times of marriage or pregnancy.

SECTION III – WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR US TO TALK ABOUT IT?

The principle of equality of opportunity is one of the basic tenets of human development. However, the differences in wage between genders speak about how discrimination brings about inequality and places one at an advantage or vice versa. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), progress in reducing the gender pay gap is very slow in Europe and Central Asia. The gender income gap may have narrowed in some countries, but on an international level, it is still not evident as proven by ILO. Improvising of stricter policies and measures should be done in the light of significance in every country and the most effective means of doing so is through governments’ intervention.

The ‘talents’ of women which involved the capacity for and skills are not equally rewarded. Also, division of work has always been gendered, which left women often experiencing a disparity in the labour market – limited positions and rights in companies. Constrain on the economic growth is one of the impacts contributed by gender inequalities in society.

In the long run, society will experience greater negative consequences economically, resulting from this discrimination – gender inequalities at work. This is because income inequality diminishes growth potential. With gender inequalities reduced, it benefits men and women, children and the elderly, for the poor and as well as the rich. This in turn would lead to the better advancement in economic growth.

However, research begged to differ that such reduction in income disparity between genders would be positive. It is argued that higher inequality would be an advantage in encouraging growth in well developed regions although it will hinder growth in poor countries (Robert Barro, 1999). Although the economy at large is still affected, inequality and growth were believed to have no correlation-concluding that inequality neither drives nor impairs growth (“World Development Report”, 2000). This is also supported by a recent study on income inequality; a society in which income was distributed perfectly equally with respect to gender would not be a desirable place either (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2008).

On a fair note during entry level for both sexes, earnings of women’s pay have been analyzed in some countries and the increase in earnings is substantial, in addition, even higher than those of men because of their qualifications. This explains that income is based solely on merit of individuals. Still, I believe that this is not practiced internationally, with Singapore – a globalized developed country, ranking 84 out of 134 countries, with a score of 0.666 (0.00=inequality/1.00=equality). And for wage equality for similar work, she’s ranked 9th (World Economic Forum, 2009). Yet Singapore is still facing these problems at present. For this reason, the gender gap plays a significant magnitude in determining wage.

In the perspective of Singapore, females still earn less than males in all occupations. Disparity is even wider when comparing of mean incomes, which implies that males still receive higher wages than their female counterparts as a whole. This is backed by structural constraints in Singapore’s economy preventing women from attaining similar income. Comparison of the monthly gross salary in the managerial roles shows signs of glass ceiling. The mean gross wage is $7272 for a female, compared to $9065 for a male, and the median gross wage is $5673 for a female, compared to $6450 for a male (Singapore Yearbook of ManPower Statistic, 2009).

Predetermined conception that women have shorter employment life-spans and experiences on the job due to pregnancy and traditional domestic duties, such as child rearing and housekeeping is the contributing factor bringing about stereotype against women at the workplace. Studies have shown that these factors accounts for a considerable component of the gender wage gap. Due to women’s family-related commitments and priorities, the average woman on the labour market has fewer years of experience than the average man, which contributes to the difference in pay between men and women.

Furthermore, an equal position whereby both genders are employed takes into the consideration of National Service. Men trained in the National Service were being favoured, which played a part in the salary differentials. A strong argument cited that because National Service provides men with essential skills such as in leadership, organisation, and decision-making, which is said as to be a pre-requisite in the job market. Awarding them a higher starting salary in the public and private sectors is justifiable. Since National Service is unavoidable, it is deemed as a result that women may be left with little power in the public and private sectors in terms of representation.

SECTION IV – WHERE CAN WE START TO FIX THE PROBLEM?

With males given a higher edge above their female counterparts in the context of wage, it is a prejudice as men is seen as the domineering sex. Thus, with no qualms that such an issue creates inequality in society. Men would be given perks at the expense of the degree and opportunity of women’s representation; which are considerably affected by social norms and perceptions regarding women’s roles in society. I take the stand that both genders should be given equal benefits based on their qualifications, and hence the pay differentials should not surface.

At the individual level, adopting different educational-informational means to alter the aforementioned public perception of women’s role in various spheres of society is essential. Using these strategies may boost public awareness of gender stereotyping, ensuring there is minimal social prejudice against women, as well as strengthening a positive insight.

With the aim of overcoming uncertain societal nature of women’s representation in the labour force, it is necessary to adopt legal constitutional provision on the principle of women’s ‘right to be represented’.

In Singapore, the Government and social partners commitments’ are affirmed by the addition of an appropriate clause in collective agreements to certify that employers conform to the principle of paying their employees the remuneration based on merit.

To conclude, with the implementation of various means would improve the status of female representation and gender equality.

Human history can be divided into three phases: pre-modern, modern and post modern. There is no definite beginning or end to each of these phases; rather they merge into one another, as not all societies moved forward at the same time.

Although most industrialised countries are now considered post modern, a large proportion of the Third World remains modern or in some cases pre- modern. Pre- Modern is the period in society which came prior to Modernity, which began in Europe after the introduction of Industrial society and large scale production.

Sociology and modernity are closely intertwined, but it has also been argued that sociology is actually a product of modernity. During this piece I will examine pre- modern society and discuss some of the reasons why the study of this era is important for sociology.

What is Pre- modern Society?

The pre-modern era spans from before history and can be separated into two phases, before and after settled agriculture. Before settled agriculture, society lives off the land, hunting and gathering. An example of a hunter- gatherer society that exists today is the Arctic foragers, who occupy the circumpolar region of the earth. Due to the lack of vegetation in this area of the world, most Arctic foragers are forced to live on a diet of meat. Many Arctic people are extremely mobile like the feudal societies of pre- modern times.

Pre-modern society:

The term ‘pre- modern’, covers a number of different societal forms: hunter-gatherer, agrarian, horticultural, pastoral and non-industrial. Pre-modern social forms have now virtually disappeared, although they are still in existence in some of today’s societies, therefore ‘pre- modern’ cannot be defined in terms of historical development.

In this respect, pre-modern societies can be characterised by a combination of economic, political and cultural circumstances.

In pre-modern society, work was not highly specialised and the number of roles necessary to produce things were relatively small, therefore the division of labour was simple when compared to modern societies. Most of the labour forces engaged in agricultural activity and produced food through subsistence farming. The majority of pre-industrial groups had standards of living not much above survival, meaning that most of the population were focused on producing only enough goods for means of survival.

The rise of settled agricultural villages meant the build up of storable produce, which represented a cultural advance for civilisation. With the development of storage, in some rare cases came some social unrest, as what could be stored could also be stolen. It should be noted here that in pre- modern times there was very little deviance, as communities were extremely close knit and everybody knew each other.

Pre- Modern society was a time without class distinctions and people shared the same sense of values. In Pre- Modern times, a person’s sense of purpose was expressed through a faith. Religious officials held the positions of power within the communities and were the intermediaries to the general masses. The population of pre-modern times saw God as the main entity and those closest to him, for example the religious officials, were seen as the community leaders. Persons in pre- modern society did not see themselves as having an individual identity rather a group identity. Social life in pre-modern society also often had religion at its core. Villages were divided into parishes and the observance of religion took place at a community level.

In post modern society, the influence of religion appears to have lessened, although it formed the basis for modern penal laws, which regulate human behaviour like religion did in pre- modern times.

Industrialisation and the making of Modern Society:

In order to understand why the study of pre- modern times is vital to sociology, it is important to look to the Industrial Revolution, as this was a time of great change for European society, and the crossing over from pre- modern to modern society.

Industrialisation is the process whereby social and economic change transforms a pre- industrial society into an industrial one. Industrialisation also introduces a form of philosophical change, where people take a different attitude towards their perception of nature.

During the Industrial revolution, an economy based on manual labour was replaced by one taken over by industry and the manufacture of machinery. Rapid industrialisation cost many craft workers their jobs and scores of weavers also found themselves unemployed as they could not compete with machinery. Many unemployed workers turned their anger towards the machines that had taken their jobs and began destroying factories and machinery.

These activists became known as Luddites and became extremely popular. The British government took drastic measures against the Luddites using the army to protect the factories.

The Industrial Revolution saw the emergence of class, urbanisation and the bad conditions in which people had to live and work in. Marxism essentially began as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution. As the Industrial Revolution progressed so did the gap between class structures. According to Karl Marx, industrialisation polarised society into the bourgeoisie, and the much larger proletariat.

Ordinary working people found increased opportunity for employment in the mills and factories and in some cases had no choice but to move to the towns and cities in search of work. By the early 1900’s up to eighty per cent of the population of Britain lived in urban centres (Kumar, 1978, cited in Bilton et al, p.28).

Using the clock to time one’s self, as a basis of social organisation, was an indicator of the emergence of a modern society. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries both agricultural and manufacturing labour became set by the clock in a way that was very different to pre-modern production. In pre-modern times factors such as hours of daylight set work rhythms, whereas the factories were regulated by the clock, labour was synchronised and took place for a certain number of hours each day and on particular days of the week. For the factory owners and their employees, time now equalled money. The working conditions were often strict with long working hours and a pace that was set by machinery and production.

With the Industrial Revolution came an increase in population. Education was still limited and therefore children were expected to work. Child labour was appealing to employers as it was cheaper than employing an adult yet productivity was similar. The machines did not require strength to operate and there were no experienced adult labourers as the system was completely new.

By the eighteenth century there was only around thirty percent of the population who engaged in agricultural activity, this enables us to gain some idea of the nature of modern society and the economic changes that took place as modern society developed.

The majority of ordinary people were greatly affected by capitalism and industrial production. By the late 1900’s England’s Black Country was one of the most industrialised parts of the United Kingdom and in the 1830’s was described in the following way;

“The earth seems to have turned inside out…. The coal…. is blazing on the surface… by day and by night the country is flowing with fire, and the smoke of the ironworks hangs over it. There is a rumbling and clanking of iron forges and rolling mills. Workmen covered in smut, and with fierce white eyes, are seen moving amongst the glowing iron and dull thud of the forge-hammers.”

(Jennings,1985 p.165)

Conclusion:

The transition from pre- modernity into modernity was important for sociology as people began to see that society was something important to study. Some argue that this was when sociology began as the emergence of modern societies created a new intellectual world aware of its surroundings and concerned with acquisition of knowledge.

“Sociology is concerned with the study of human societies….a society is a cluster, or a system of institutionalised modes of conduct….sociology has as its main focus the study of institutions of the advanced or the industrialised societies and of the conditions of transformation of those institutions”.

(Giddens 1982)

As modernity took form, changes in social attitudes within society occurred making society itself interesting to others. Unlike the static pre- modern society, modern societies appear to have created many different groups, causing new and interesting interactions between people. In the pre- modern era, relationships between people in society were extremely similar and perhaps uneventful and society had been static, therefore sociology was not required.

A 29 years old male patient admitted to the psychiatric ward with the diagnosis of schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorders. He had these problems three years and was hospitalized twice before and this was his third time of hospitalization. He came to the hospital with the complaints of low self esteem, excessive masturbation, hallucinations and religious delusions. During the initial visits with the patients it was hard to identify the root cause of all these problems, but it was clear when patient stated that “I live in a separate room at home moreover my family didn’t allow me to talk with relatives when they visit us and they locked the door. Moreover I personally observed that during my whole clinical weeks his father just came once and talk with his son only one minute and left. By seeing all of this and communicating with my client I personally feel that there is problem in family dynamics. Along with that I also think that there is lack of proper parenting which led him to low self esteem, lack of confidence etc.

introduction 91

In this paper I will discuss that how important is to have healthy family dynamics and the role of parents in maintaining family dynamics effectively to ensure the proper mental growth of the individual. Relationships among family has great role in personal development. According to Mathew(1999)Family relationships in general and the parent-child relationship in particular have a pervasive influence on the psychological, physical, social, and economic well-being of children” these relationships are not just help to maintain good social and interpersonal relationship but it has great role in person psychological growth.

Pakistani context 143

In Pakistani societies there is a significant value of family in one’s life. we live mostly in a extended family it helps everyone to communicate with each other effectively and maintain a healthy family dynamics which omit the component of isolation from the society. According to Sousa, A.D. (2009), “in countries like Pakistan family is the major support system for the patient that is mentally ill but at times the patient is often deprived of psychiatric treatment due to family burdens that exist.” But on contrary, due to some myths present in our culture which have become the part of our thinking like believe in bad evil. Thus parents don’t bring their children to mental care settings instead they send them to religious faith healers for expulsion of so called bad evil. This more often leads to the social isolation of the victim of mental illness. Even it has been found that in Pakistani culture parents do not let their children socialize with others because of their illness which ultimately results in internal stigmatization of the victim. This further leads to internal conflicts and may result in guilt.

Critically analyse 223
“The family plays multiple roles in the treatment process, course of the illness and in relapse prevention. It is therefore of utmost importance than in our routine practice we delve into family dynamics and work on this aspect of psychiatric illness. Psycho-education and family therapy must be entwined in routine psychiatric treatment programs and shall go a long way to reduce family burden and relapse-prevention in schizophrenia and other mental disorders.” (Sousa, A.D., 2009)

Family dynamics is the integral part of everyone’s life and it helps to live life effectively without having extra stressors. But if have problem in their family system or the family dynamics are not working properly the person may end up with mental illness. As I have previously mention that the family system of my client is not effectively working so as a disturbed family system my client facing problems like low self esteem, lack of confidence, guilt and emotional immaturity. This component of personality is developed during the initial period of anyone life. And during this time there is need of proper parenting and the parental support. Along with that as my client is having a internal conflicts y so there is more need for parent’s support because these persons don’t talk more and usually don’t express their emotions. Moreover during the early childhood the child learns how to express their emotion. But if parents would not be able to attend this specific need of the child this may lead to emotional immaturity as my patient was facing the same problem.

Moreover except the parents their age group and sibling also play an important role. Good relationship with the peers and siblings helps the individual to maintain a good relationship with the society and it brings the positive attitude in the individual.

There is multiple factors that how disturbed in family dynamics lead to the mental problem of the individual of the family. The family system illness model briefly highlight what factors led to this problem and what are the ultimately solutions of this problem

This model is focus on the three dimensions ‘psychosocial Types’ of illness and disability; major developmental phases; and key family system variables. It focus on the individual holistically. It tells us that how the psychosocial environmental affect the family dynamics which ultimately lead to the individual. According to Rolland and walsh (2006) “It attends to expected psychosocial demands of a condition through its various phases; family systems dynamics in relation to individual and family developmental issues; multigenerational patterns of coping with illness and loss; and belief systems, including influences of culture, ethnicity, spirituality,and gender”

Strategies 461

Before going to work upon the patient who has impaired family dynamics system, firstly family assessment could be done by exploring the issues and problem which is family facing and identify the maladaptive behavior which they are using as the coping strategy. Along with that we need to explore the relationships among the family so we can create a base ground upon which we need to work for our patients.

If there is problem in patient family system or there is lack in parents support. So the second step is to maintain the good family dynamics or brings the positive attitude of parents towards the individual. The first thing which works is the family therapy. According to Townsend, M.C. (2005), “Family Therapy is a type of therapeutic modality in which the focus of treatment is on the family as a unit. It represents a form of intervention in which members of a family are assisted to identify and change problematic, maladaptive, self-defeating, repetitive relationship patterns.” So if any person has problem in family system there is need to first correct this system which ultimately helps to improve the condition of the mentally ill person. Along with that if we focus on the family so it will ultimately decrease the relapse rate, reduce the need for hospitalization and also help in medication management and compliance. “Family members hold a huge wealth of information about the client’s behaviors, their moods, and the stability of these things. When it’s a psychotic illness, perception of reality is impaired, so family members who often live with or near the client can help piece together what’s been going on.” (Frisch, N.C., & Frisch, L.E., 2005). It’s all due to the strong bonding of family with their members, so to appropriately manage the patient condition and prevent from relapse we need o focus on the family based approach. “Most psychotherapists would agree that apart from drug treatment and CBT, family-focused interventions are the most beneficial form of therapy” (Mohr, W.K., 2003)

Moreover due to the lack of awareness of the family members or parents, the family didn’t accept that their child has some type of mental problem. This led them to delay in the treatment. Along with that in our society the stigma is associated with the mental illness. This is also the one reason that the family is reluctant to go in the mental health care setting. So to prevent from this we need to provide the proper awareness to the family and other people at the society level that these individuals are same as us, so that the delay in identification in problem should be prevented. Along with that the support of the family and society helps them to recover soon and live a healthy life.

Personal feeling

I personally feel that support of the family matters allot and specially for the mentally ill patient. patients who having mental illness is the unfortunate eole because they become dependent upon the others person. Keeping ourselves on the patient position make us very depressive . so we can’t imagine that how much psychological ain they are suffering. Moreover after dwealing with the mentally ill atient and communicating with them. I emphasize that they are same as us and we need to treat them holistically. Along with that I feel that there is very less family suort yto these eole se we need to sensitize the eole at community and also institutional level so that these eole live their life effectively and haily

My feelings and thoughts regarding family therapy lies in the fact that family is a word which is very close to my heart because I am living away from my family for more than 10 years. I know what my family meant to me. I can’t forget the rituals of bedtime stories, hugs, holidays and daily meals shared together with my siblings, which used to provide me a sense of warmth, structure and safety. These rituals and traditions, not only create memories and leave a family legacy, but create our first path in life, the one that is positive. Family therapy is a very useful therapy which should be applied on any patient. I think this therapy is beneficial for not only psychiatric patients but all the other patients who are hospilaized due to any reason. I learned many things after writing paper. I reviewed a lot of literature including benefits of the therapy as well as different researches. This will help me a lot in my future work and practice.

Conclusion / Recommendation

Literature and researches strongly emphasis on the role of family support for psychologically ill patients. There is a profound impact of family support on patient’s health outcomes. So in developing countries like Pakistan much emphasis should be given on the importance of family support and all the social entities have to take practical steps in this regard and to promote awareness programs for general population regarding promoting family support in mental illnesses.

People with mental illnesses are the most unfortunate members of our society because, in mental illness a person become much dependent on others. Unfortunately, there is less support offered for them on social and family level. The treatment and recovery of patients from their respective mental illnesses depends up on both the medical professionals and social support of the patients. In hospital, the staff provides personal support which is called hands-on care while family members offer psychosocial support to the patient which is one of the most important factors of patient’s recovery from psychological illness (Joseph E. Gaugler, 2005). It is doubtless that family has an integral role in management of psychologically ill patients. We all know that if there is proper and effective family and social support available to the patients can lead to positive outcomes like improvements in quality of life, and physical and emotional wellbeing (Laudet et al, 2000). Family support can work on all the three levels primary, secondary, and tertiary levels so help patients. It means if the family support system is strong and there are coherent interactions among the family member it can avert many stressors which can escort to mental disorders. Further, if a psychologically ill patient has effective family support at hospital or during treatment can enhance the recovery process of patient. Proper family support can also contribute effectively in the rehabilitation of patients and can prevent relapse and further hospitalization.

Gender issue has become so important this lately. Many people think that gender plays a very important role in the society. Public views on gender have become so exact on certain issue till it is being accepted as a fact by the community. For instance, issues engrossing equality, inequality and stereotyping on gender nowadays attracted most people attention.

United Nations Population Fund affirmed that equality will only exist when both men and women have an equal right in the power allocation of power and influence. And also they will have a corresponding chance to gain money and finance their life by working or doing businesses. They will as well have equivalent right of entry in education as well to share responsibility for the household chores. Society always tries to differentiate between what a man and a woman can achieve because it is understandable for a man and a woman to have different physical appearance, difference body size, different capabilities, different strength and etc. A man is continuously being described as a conqueror and always acts as an oppressor to woman life. But in reality, all those things will not happen again in today’s modernize world. In some area, such as military, leadership, role in family and chances of being promoted in workplace it is found that women cannot survive just as men can do. Society incessantly believes that men can perform well in those areas just because the past had shown that men are better in those areas. This will prevent the women from showing their capabilities. Most horrible, this will led to many other problems.

For example, women have a higher poverty rate than men in almost all nations. In thinking about possible causes of the gender gap in poverty rates, it is crucial to understand that poverty is measured at the household or family level in most all government and academic statistics. Christopher, England, Sara and Smeeding (2000) concluded that for a woman who has a spouse or married women, this thing will only become their minor problem. But for a single mother, it will lead them to become poor. There are two main reasons for this problem, which are they actually earn lower than a man and a fact that they always live together with their children after divorce. Thus, it will direct to a very big problem which is poverty in the family.

Nevertheless, people should notice that inequality not only happen in women community but also men’s. Even from the outside people always sees a man as tough and better in strength, but actually they are suffering inside. A man will not be allowed to express their feeling and act emotionally. For example, a girl may be allowed to act some tomboyish behavior, but little boys cannot be allowed to be a sissy or at least show some sissy stuff. In addition, a woman also can be easily accepted if she is trying to work seriously in the man profession but a man will receive many negative comments if he is trying to work in the woman profession. For example, a lady can simply apply for a career in the army however a man will be question a lot if he is attempting to apply for the nurse job. Perhaps, this thing occur because people might think it is difficult for a man to show the love and kindness like a woman might do where as to show the strength and ability in the army is trouble-free for a woman.

However, equality also exists in gender. Women and men nowadays have an equal right to receive same level of education. In many countries, there is no barrier between level of education applied to men and women. Thus, after receive the same level of education they might also acquire the same high pays job. This will decrease the difference in wage they receive. Rushfan (2008) said that in many areas of Afghanistan, girls are often taken out of school when they hit puberty. Cultural factors related to the ‘correctness’ of sending girls to school, reluctance to send girls and boys to the same school after third grade, as well as the perceived and real security threats related to girls walking to school and attending classes all contribute to slowing down the enrollment of girls in schools. But, however we should be thankful because the same policies did not applied in Malaysia. Woman in Malaysia cannot be disallowing from receiving education as this is an offense under Education Act of 1996 which stated that all children must attend primary school classes until they finish their Standard 6 phase.

Stereotyping always occur in everyday’s life. People cannot escaping from the act of stereotyping others from their days. According to Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, gender stereotyping means that it is one-sided and exaggerated images of men and women one deployed repeatedly in everyday life. In a simple words, gender stereotyping can be clarify as the accusations or assumptions made about a specific gender whether they are true or false. Most of the time however, gender stereotyping is far from the truth but based on past speculations therefore it is assumed as true in the present time. Additionally, it will also persuade someone to put others down because of their gender or believe that they are unable to do a particular job just because they are either male or female.

There are many factors that have stimulated the gender stereotyping issue. The influence from the media, family leaders, schoolteachers, buddies and the respected religious people undoubtedly are the main stimulus of gender stereotyping. McConnell (n.d), described that media always portrayed individuals like sportsmen, celebrities and model as a symbol on how a man and a woman should appear and act. In terms of fashion and physical appearance, those who did not match the body size and the look of these individuals, unconsciously they are judge as “bad” and “ugly”. Also, media constantly shows a man work as a hard labour where as a woman will work at a house, arranging lace and prettying the house in pink. This will shape an idea of a child where he will think that working at home is only a woman job. As for the kids, adults are their role model. For them, no matter what adults do, this will be assumed as a way of life of what a man or a woman should do. For instance, the way the adult stereotype the gender will influence the kids. It will pass along gender stereotypes from one generation to the next.

Another factor that influences the stereotyping is the influence of others. Sometimes, we are confused between other’s perceptions and ours which it may vary a lot. As a result, we might choose to follow their perception and slowly believe that our thinking is wrong and erroneous. This may happen in everyone’s life especially children where they tend to follow others more than their own instinct.

The weight of scientific evidence demonstrates that children learn gender stereotypes from adults. As with gender roles, socializing agents-parents, teachers, peers, religious leaders, and the media-pass along gender stereotypes from one generation to the next. One approach to reexamining conventional gender roles and stereotypes is androgyny, which is the blending of feminine and masculine attributes in the same individual. The androgyne, or androgynous person, does not neatly fit into a female or male gender role; she or he can comfortably express the qualities of both genders. Parents and other socializing agents can teach their children to be androgynous, just as they can teach them to be gender-biased.

(CliffsNotes.com. Gender Stereotypes. Retrieved on 21st Feb 2010)

The most common stereotype for a man will be a man is more skillful, hardworking when it comes to practical jobs, always thinking about sex, be assertive, competitive, independent, courageous, and career-focused; hold his emotions in check and too conscious about his life triumph. These are few stereotype views that one’s will deliver to a man. Whereas for a woman, she always be viewed as always put her family’s welfare before her own; be loving, compassionate, caring, nurturing, and sympathetic. It seems so hard to separate them with those stereotypes.

In Malaysia, the trend of a man becoming a househusband is still low. People view on a working-woman is acceptable, but for a woman to work and become the breadwinner of the family whereas her husband will take care of the household chores is still negative. Krishnamurthi (2004) stated that a woman will receive mockery comments and being alienated by the society if she has to work and her husband will stay at home. People will uttering that she is trying to control her husband and overshadow him as a family leader. In my view, the act of such thing will cause many negative effects. Many fathers intent to spend more time with their children but due to lack of time they have to keep inside their intention. A man is stereotype as a tough guy with less love sense like a woman. The act of encouraging them to stay at home will make them develop their love sense gradually. Hence they differentiation between a love from a father and a mother will be wiped out. For the mother, she may possibly work without tension and stress because she need not to worry about her kids as this thing will be under her husband responsibility, not in other people’s supervision .

Franzoi (2003) stated that negative stereotypes will develop a ruin self-fulfilling prophecy. Self-fulfilling prophecy refer to the act that becomes true because people expect it to be true and behave in a way that will make it happen. To forestall stereotyping, everybody must play a very important role. In Friedman (n.d) article in American Baby magazine stated that among the way to overcome stereotype is by gaining self-confidence it the kids. We should support everything the kids for whatever they are doing. Added to that, the parent should develop a special interaction and coordination to their kid that suits the kid interest. Personally, I really think that a parent should watch out for the media because as I have discussed earlier in this text media have develop most people stereotype view. The act of letting them receives much unclear information which will shape their view.

As a conclusion, although equality, inequality and stereotype has create many problem however if we view it positively we still have many thing to gain from it. We, as the society should know how and when to react to this issue appropriately. Gender issue has to be treated properly as it tends to create more trouble if we handle it pessimistically. Moreover, it involve all kind of human being no matter we are a man or a woman.

REFERENCES

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United Nations Population Fund (2002). Gender Inequality. Web Population and Reproductive Health Indicators. Retrieved 21 February 2010, from http://lao.unfpa.org/defcon.htm

Christopher K., England P., Sara R. & Smeeding T. (2000). Gender Inequality in Poverty in Affluent Nations : The Role of Single Motherhood and The State. Presented at a Conference on Child Well-Being in Rich and Transition Countries, Luxembourg. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 439195). Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/

Rushfan (2008). 10 Extreme Examples of Gender Inequality.Ultimate Top 10 List. Retrieved 21 February 2010, from

10 Extreme Examples of Gender Inequality

Oxford Dictionary of Sociology (3rd ed.).(2005). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Krishnamurthi A. (2004). Gender Stereotyping.Social Strategic Foundation. Retrieved 14 February 2010, from http://www.yss98.com/index.php?view=articleHYPERLINK “http://www.yss98.com/index.php?view=article&id=399?&HYPERLINK “http://www.yss98.com/index.php?view=article&id=399?id=399

Friedman J. (n.d). Avoiding Stereotypes.American Baby Magazines. Retrieved 22 February 2010, from http://childparenting.about.com/od/childdevelopment/a/avoidstereotype.html

Gattiker., Urs E. (2000).Income Inequality Based on Gender and Position: Possible Effects on Perception of Career Success.Alberta Manpower STEP Program. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 278928). Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/

CliffsNotes.com (2008). Gender Stereotypes.Ultimate. Retrieved on 21st Feb 2010, from

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/CliffsReviewTopic/Gender-Stereotypes.topicArticleId-26957,articleId-26896.html

The issue of single parenthood has been of much discussion if many societies in the recent past mainly to the increment of these families and the perceived inability of the failure of societies to stop this (Booth, Crouter 2002). In many societies, the nature of life with relations to jobs, interaction, life expectations and extended families may give rise to or create an environment that is deemed to be conducive for the existence single parents (Antecol, Bedard 2005, Ray 2010).

In the view of this essay, single parent families pose different implications to different societies in the world which can again be defined by income levels, religious affiliations, geographical disposition and even technological development levels (Cheal 2003), this is to say that, there are certain implications that may be prevalently negative due in technologically advanced societies and not necessarily with the same intensity in economically deprived societies or deeply religious societies.

The view held by this essay is that, generally, single parent families pose various negative implications to the societies as a whole.

This essay will therefore describe what single parent families are, also, the essay will briefly discuss the rise of single parent families and provide an elaborate evaluation about the implications and lastly provide an evaluation about what could be done to deal with these implications.

Single parent families

Single parent families may be described as those families that have only one member of the parents being represented and not both the parent and conventionally, this may imply that either the father or the mother is absent and the children are brought up by the other parent (Cavanaugh, Fields 2006). According to Deleire, Kalil (2010), a single parent family is a family that appears normal in representation but with the absence of a resident member of the parents being either the mother or the father.

It is however important to develop an understanding about what parentage means, as this will facilitate the creation of a more holistic view of the concept. This is because, while (Furlong, Cartmel 2007), viewed parents as both the man and the woman who live together and hence both take an active part in raising the children and keeping the family together, (Hantrais, Flipov, Billari 2006), notes that that is a view that is conventionally confined to ‘straight’ families that leaves the ‘homosexual’ parents out of its definition and is hence limited. According to Campbell et al (2008), the rise of homosexuality, especially in developed economies is increasingly ruling out the conventional definition that includes man and woman.

Another view that has been taken by (Hayslip, Kaminski 2008), notes that by stating that the man and woman must be living together, the subjective problem is that these must be under one roof for most of their day or week, which is increasingly becoming impossible when the need to provide for the family increasingly leading to parents living apart as they seem to fend for their families. Could this arrangement be termed as single parentage?

Probably the definition given by (Paterson 2001), is more acceptable as it brings about the psychological and physical aspect of this family composition, because, this definition views single parents as those who are physically and emotionally detached from each other and hence one or each of the parents look after all or some of the children, as the outcome of separation for the other partner.

The causes

The view held by Bradshaw (2003), and Deleire, Kalil (2010), is that it is not possible to understand the implications of single parent families without identifying the cause of existence of such families. The following are the causes of the rise in single parent families;

First, death of the is the primary cause of these families since death of the parent deprives the family of one of the parents. Therefore in societies where terminal illnesses are prevalent or where death rates are higher, the probability of having many single parents and hence such families is also very high (Edwards 2009). But at this point it is important to note that the existence of single parent families as a result of death may only be temporary if the widow or widower remarries after a period of ‘mourning’, which may extend to a few years, therefore, single parentage only arises when there is no re-marriage. In many a society, depending on the ages of the widow (er), re-marriage may be an option, also, and this is to imply that if the marriage takes place when the children are already old and have left the house, the case of single parentage may not arise since in the view of Egeland, Carlson, Sroufe (2009), single parentage exist where children are still in the care of the parents.

Secondly, according to Hayslip, Kaminski (2008), divorce, which may be caused by a multitude of reasons, is another case for single parentage. This is because, divorce leads to estrangement of the partners and this leaves one of the partners with the duty of taking care of the children. The increased rise in divorce cases, which is caused by disagreements or as is in the recent past, mutual agreements, leads to the aforesaid single parentage. Divorce cases are on the increase in all societies both the Western and Orient, the rich and poor across the globe (Hill, Hill 2003).

Third, economic reasons (Heckman 2008, Melchior et al. 2009) which come about by the need to stay apart, sometimes for weeks or months or even years hence leading one of the partners to have sole responsibility for upbringing, but this may be disputed since the other partner, mainly the man, still parents the children indirectly by sending money and issuing instructions (Hutchings et al 2007). But as noted earlier, single parentage has much to do with psychological imbalance than just the presence of one of the partners and the continued absence of one of the parents may mean that the each of the parents and even the children experience the psychological imbalance that exists (Ray 2010).

Fourth, decayed moral fabric of many societies have lead to early or unwanted pregnancies which in turn leads to single mothers having to take full responsibilities of their children as the supposed fathers are either not known or are simple not ready to take responsibilities for parentage (Rimm, Rimm 2008). In this case, according to (Cheal 2003) societal vices like wartime rape cases are also immoral and when they lead to pregnancies, then single parentage arises.

Fifth, religious beliefs, according to (Furlong, Cartmel 2007), some religious beliefs may lead to women having to give birth as the options of abortion is not considered and as such when this happens then they may be left to deal with child raising on their own. According to (Rimm, Rimm 2008), this belief is predominant in the Catholic denomination of the Christian faith where, even family planning methods are not entertained.

Sixth, adoption cases are also on the rise and these also causing the non-biological existence of single parentage when the children are adopted by one person (Bradshaw 2003). Since most laws on adoption do not curtail this practice to the existence of both the parents (Cavanaugh, Fields 2006) and (Ray 2010), it is increasingly becoming easy to adopt by individual.

Seventh, the sense of independence that is now sought after by many women who may not wish to have their own children but not under the ‘control’ of anyone else has also contributed to the rise of such families (Egeland, Carlson, Sroufe (2009) and (Furlong, Cartmel 2007). The view held by this essay is that, for this to happen, the mother must be assured of their ability to take care of their children especially to provide for their material needs (Hayslip, Kaminski 2008). This is therefore a major cause for the rise in relatively developed economies where jobs can be created then in developing economies.

The factors given above denote that there are many reason causing rise of single parent families and most of which are beyond the control of the parent or even the state, but, the state can, to some extent have effective measures of dealing with this situation although this may take time, for instance change the tax benefit system for single families may not be an easy process as it is political, but (Cheal 2003), notes that this can only go to a certain extent but will not hold families which are in marital problems together.

The Implications

As seen in the discussion above, there are various cause of single parentage and these hence mean that the implications are also many as given below;

First, single parent families deprive the children of the benefits of having the other parent (McBride 2006). This according to Hall and Hall (2007), Osberg (2003), may lead to serious behavioural problems cased by the sense of deficiency, which the child realises through his/her peers. For instance, according to the research by (McLanahan 2000), lack of father figure may often lead to behavioural problems by the children, which may make them to start having problems with the law at a very early age. However, (Peele 2004), made an attempt to state that behavioural problems might be caused by any factor and not necessarily lack of the ‘father’ figure, but this view has been contested by (Pounds 2007), who noted that the ‘father’ figure may be found in the mother and hence, the view held here is that the child grows to note a difference between him/her with other children and it is this psychological knowledge of abnormality that makes the child to have tendencies of negative reaction and begin to be ‘on the wrong side of the law’.

Secondly, as a result of having problems with the law, the government may be forced to spend a lot of money on rehabilitation and this may hence mean that in serious case scenario, the government will have to allocate more money to the social welfare department and activities at the expense of other development allocations (Tanner 2003). According to (McLanahan 2000) and (Cheal 2003), this is a major problem since the allocations to this department are not productive either in the short or the long term. According to Yarber, Sharp (2010), when children are taken into custody for correction, they may not necessarily respond positively to this custodial correction and on the contrary, they may become rebellion and the purpose will have been defeated. However, (Deleire, Kalil 2010), noted that this is a problem with less scientific ways of rehabilitation that leave children to feel like criminals than potentially productive members of the society.

Thirdly, single parentage may result in unnecessary allocations of benefits to the single parents in a welfare state (Telegraph 2009, BBC News 2007 and Thisismoney 2009). This is a terrible outcome on many fronts. In the view of this essay, tax benefits on single parents bring about single families that encourage child vices as held in the first and second part above, and at the same time takes away money from the exchequer in an unproductive ways leading to serious deficit problems which the UK is facing currently (BBC News 2007). This is seen as the social problems that extend to political problems in the society and this to many a ‘normal’ families becomes an unfortunate situation since it appears that single parentage is rewarded and normal parentage is punished ((Booth, Crouter 2002). According to (Rimm, Rimm 2008), the reason the benefits which lead to budgetary imbalances are unfair when given to most of the single parents is that the system will most certainly stand to be abused by those who know how to do so. Also it is generally impossible for the governments to know for certainty who of the single parents are in their situations in a genuine way and lastly, there will be no way of having in place a more effective control measures to compromise the parents or even to ensure that the society is trained on the importance of a normal family when there is seemingly more advantages of staying single than in a family (Wang, Benard 2004 ).

Fourth, single parent families exposes the parent or the children or both to abuses especially if the parent is the mother and not the father (Deleire, Kalil 2010), this is the view that is also held by (Yarber, Sharp 2010, Rimm, Rimm 2008), who stated that when the children are left with the mother alone, chance are that the society will note the vulnerability of this entire family and those who wish to exploit them will do so in various ways (Furlong, Cartmel 2007) for instance a supposedly caring ‘boyfriend’ or partner may abuse the children due to lack of real parentage attachment to them. The mothers may also be under severe abuse as a result of this and while this is not to suggest that the abuse is often physical, but they may be taken advantage of either due to their money or property after which they will be left in a sorry state (McLanahan 2000). According to (Deleire, Kalil 2010), the probability of suffering by single mothers is higher than the women in a normal relationship, since these single mothers and even their children are viewed to have no where to go to (Wu 2009). However, Deleire, Kalil (2010), noted that such abuses, as much as they exist in many a society, they are more prevalent in the developing than developed societies, because, in developed societies certain infrastructure exist that may discourage such instances for instance, quick police responses and CCTVs which when coupled with increased profiling, may deter violent abuses, this is not the case in the developing economies.

Fifth, according to McLanahan (2000) and Swick, Williams (2010) single parent families are bound to have increased stress than a normal family due to the lack of shared responsibilities. This is a crucial problem in that, in single parent families, the lone father or mother bears all the burden of parentage, including fending for the family and looking after the children interest (Wu 2009). According to Swick, Williams (2010), this causes the parent to provide less than sufficient attention to the children and to snap at minor provocation which may affect the child’s psychology due to abuses, beatings and even serious sufferings that might be inflicted on to the children who may suffer in silence (Wang, Benard 2004). While this view has also been supported by (Furlong, Cartmel 2007) and (Deleire, Kalil 2010) who noted that such parents cause problems to themselves and to their children, (Cavanaugh, Fields 2006) and (Jackson, Preston, Franke, 2010), have not supported it and they state that stress can exist more in a normal family than in a single parent family and it all depends on what the parent is doing and not the state of the parent. This is because; most single parents are resilient and can bear stress in a far better way than normal parents.

Sixth as their parents are stressed, children may hence be stressed too which may affect their ability to perform well in school. This is because; children may not be able to handle the psychological pressures that come with stress, which may be translated to mean deprivation and withdrawal (Wang, Benard 2004), these children are more likely to experience serious dysfactionalities and absent-mindedness which are also psychological in nature and hence loss concentration in the classroom (Anderson A., et al 2008), however, (Wu 2009), seriously disputes this notion by stating that children in abusive but normal families are the ones who may show such tendencies as they live in the ‘terror’ of abusive parents. This seem to be a more credible point of view as the children in such families are left with little option if they view, for instance, their mother to be helpless and their fathers to be ‘monsters’ (Cavanaugh, Fields 2006), this may not exist in single parent families. According to (Rimm, Rimm 2008), the main implication in this case is that the children who may wish to compare themselves to their mates, may find themselves ‘lacking’ especially if they also come across teachers who talk about the parent that is not in the child’s life (Jackson, Preston, Franke, 2010). According to the research conducted by (Zastrow, Karen 2009), in Denmark, on an average, the children from single parent backgrounds were found to be performing poorly in the classroom than those in the normal families, however, this research produced an interesting finding by stating that, on average, the performance was worst soon after the parents have split and as the child ‘recovers’ from the shock, they, mentally accept the reality if it is explained clearly to them and their performance may improve (Wang, Benard 2004). (McLanahan 2000), took a very different point of view by stating that child’s performance has nothing to do with their family set-ups but everything to do with the schools that they are studying in, because, good schools which are sought after produced an average of better results with higher grades for every child (Melchior et al. 2009) as opposed to the average schools.

Seventh, according to (Furlong, Cartmel 2007), single parents families may cause a spiral effect on the future generations by having children who develop greater tendencies to being single parents themselves as they grow to learn to be the ‘mother and father’ of their families at the same time. This, according to (Cavanaugh, Fields 2006), is a positive implication in creating a resilient society, but, according to Yarber, Sharp (2010), the resilience is to the extent of the child being able to handle pressure in the future at work but not positive in encouraging a normal family existence (Melchior et al. 2009 ). According to (Rimm, Rimm 2008, Yarber, Sharp 2010), the ability to act as a mother and father at the same time has nothing whatsoever to do with positive societal framework and resilience does not replace the discipline and order that can exist with the existence of both the parents, therefore, this notion of resilience is self defeating.

Eighth, according to the research conducted by (Zastrow, Karen 2009) and (McLanahan 2000), single parent families face serious economic deprivation, poverty and even exposure to vices like prostitution, theft and greater likelihood of suicide. The study here was related to material problems that the single parents face and it was found that when there is shared responsibilities, the family may sustain unlike if such is not present (Rimm, Rimm 2008). This is because, in a single parent family, the source of income may be one especially in cases where one partner died or where there was unwanted pregnancy, this may lead to deprivation where children lack what they need and when this prevails, and stress comes in, the tendency to resort to extreme measures (Melchior et al. 2009). Prostitution is one of the common ways of fighting poverty when other measures seem to have failed (Jackson, Preston, Franke, 2010), also, in worse cases, suicides may be the way out of misery by both the parent and the child(ren), and these are practices that do not only wreck the single parent family but also the normal families (Jackson, Choi, Bentler 2009).

Discussion and Conclusion

This essay has managed to highlight various issues that relate to single parenthood as they affect various societies. Single parenthood is a major problem that confronts all societies alike. It is the view of this essay that the implications can only be dealt with if the causes are identified. As seen in this essay, the main causes of this situation range from family disagreements to natural causes to political factors of the welfare state, these are far reaching and hence with much more greater implications and it may not be possible to adopt a single method of tackling these as the approach has to be multi faceted.

The best way to tackle the problem of single parenthood is to ensure that the social and moral fabric is addressed (Rimm, Rimm 2008, Yarber, Sharp 2010), and the view of this discussion is that for this to be done, the schools must be encouraged to adopt curricula that educates and instils on the children the importance of family without seeking to find out how their families are composed, this will cause sanity to the moral thinking of the society and as the generation ages, the importance of family will be glorified (Melchior et al. 2009). Also, religious based organisations must be consulted and asked to help by having their teachings geared towards family cohesion and not family breakages, this however requires the society to be more responsive to religious calls which may not be a major issue sin many societies.

Also, the rules that make divorce easy and benefiting especially to the other partner who goes to share half the wealth must be re-discussed and changes adopted (Yarber, Sharp 2010), in the UK, the mother is generally given the duty to look after the children while in the USA (Rimm, Rimm 2008), this duty is shared with the father also taking part, this is in the case of divorces, the shared responsibility may reduce the vices that children may show since they still enjoy the company and teachings of the parents. However, in the cases of death, it is obvious that there cannot be any arrangement of custodial rights for the other party as they are not there, but this calls for strengthening the community spirit, so that the whole society can be charged with the duty of taking care of the children (Booth, Crouter 2002, Yarber, Sharp 2010), of course schools can only play a limited role and the extended family needs to take an active role, yet, it must be realised that this cannot be forced either, however, the government can to some extent facilitate this by reducing the benefits given to the single parents who choose to do so simply to benefit from the tax benefits, this will lead to more reliance on family and lastly, foster caring should be vetted and allowed for normal families alone as a way of placing the child in a normal family and avoiding future problems (Melchior et al. 2009).

Lastly, as seen from this discussion, there are more negative implications of single parent families than are positive ones, which denote that this is a societal problem that needs to be dealt with and it calls for society-wide participation to deal with it. While single parents must be cared for, care must be taken to ensure that this care is not misinterpreted and abused by others who may have other options.

Robotics technology is increasing at a fast rate, providing us with new technology that can assist with home chores, automobile assembly and many other tasks. Robotic Technology has changed the world around us and is continuing to impact the way we do things. Robotic technology transformation from the Past to Present surrounds almost everyone in today’s society, and it affects both our work and leisure activities. The definition of the word robot has a different meaning to many people and most people have their own definition and meaning for the word robot. According to the Robot Institute of America, 1979 a robot is a re-programmable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks. The use of robots continues to change numerous aspect of our everyday life, such as health care, education, and job satisfaction. Robots are growing to be a major part of the world economy, they help ways to make our daily life easier and assist in producing more products. Robotic technology is becoming one of the leading technologies in the world. They can perform many functions; robots are used in many different ways in today’s society. The use of Robotic Technology has made an immediate impact on the world in several ways.

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Industrial robots

First, the industrial robot has help changed the industrial workplace. Thousands of companies depend on the output and quality performance offered by the current industrial robots. Industrial robotics has emerged as a popular manufacturing methodology in several areas in recent years, including welding, materials transport, assembly, and spray finishing operations. The use of industrial robots has helped to increase productivity rate, efficiency and quality of distribution. Industrial robots have significantly changed factories and businesses all over the world. Today’s industrial robot provides companies with a lot of advantages. These robots alone have changed products production and the industrial work place.

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Improved technologies have made the industrial robots easy to use, inexpensive, and smarter than ever before. The industrial robots can perform jobs with precision, speed, and reliability. The industrial robots have enhanced product quality and improved industrial operations with increase output of products. Having these robots keep workers from having to tolerate boring, dangerous or exhausting jobs. Robotics is an increasingly visible and important component of modern business, especially in certain industries. Robotics-oriented production processes are most obvious in factories and manufacturing facilities; in fact, approximately 90 percent of all robots in operation today can be found in such facilities. These robots, termed “industrial robots,” were found almost exclusively in automobile manufacturing plants 20 years ago. But industrial robots are now being used in laboratories, research and development facilities, warehouses, hospitals, energy-oriented industries (petroleum, nuclear power, etc.), and, above all, in research.

Military robots

Second, the military robot is used for bomb disposal, Search and rescue missions, aerial recon, and attack operations. Military robots come in different shapes and sizes according to their military purpose. A military robot can be programmed to conduct a specific task or mission routes can also be put into military robots. A military robot uses GPS it also have the ability to solve certain problems on its own. Military robots are pre-programmed to follow a certain route and it can warn soldier if it senses any type of movement as well as other programmed conditions. These robots act in according with the instruction given by the operator. Military robots are also equipped with a camera to provide soldiers with view of the battlefield and dangerous obstacles. These robots are often used to disarm mines and “improvised explosive devices.

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The American soldier has a dangerous job, but some soldiers perform jobs that put their lives in danger all the time. We can use military robots to Cross through minefields, disarming bombs, clear mines and caves in which soldiers have to do. By using robots we can keep soldiers out of harm’s way, we also use robots to do these dangerous jobs. Using robots to conduct these types of dangerous jobs saves lives, instead of losing the life of a soldier we would only lose an expensive piece of equipment in which we can replace. The rising interest in robots in the late 1990s coincided with changing political winds-a shrinking U.S. military as part of the post-Cold War so-called “peace dividend,” and an increasing belief that public tolerance for military risk and casualties had dropped dramatically after the relatively costless victory in the Gulf War. In 2000, this was the main factor that led Senator John Warner (R.-Va.), then chairman of the Armed Services Committee, to mandate in the Pentagon’s budget that by 2010, one-third of all the aircraft designed to attack behind enemy lines be unmanned, and that by 2015, one-third of all ground combat vehicles be driverless. And then came September 11, 2001. The annual national defense budget since 9/11 has risen to $515 billion (an increase of 74 percent between 2002 and 2008), not counting the cost of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. There has been a massive increase in spending on research and development and on procurement, with a particular focus on anything unmanned. “Make ’em as fast as you can” is what one robotics executive recounts being told by his Pentagon buyers after 9/11. Enthusiasm has only grown thanks to successes on the battlefield.

The important thing about military robots is that they are built to assist soldiers on the battlefield. Some of these robots are built to be carried by the soldier helping them to complete their mission. Having these robots have protected soldiers from dangerous situation and lessen the risk of putting soldiers into harm’s way. Military robots play a very important part in combat operations throughout the world. By having such robotic technology it has notably made the U.S. military a superior power in the world having such technology has significantly increased our military standing as being one of the most powerful militaries in the world. The army’s race during the cold war generated some of the greatest technological achievements in human history. If our military stop spending money on robotic technology, we put our country at risk.

Medical robots

Next, the medical robot is helping to change the medical field. A medical robot has become one of the most beneficial robots in the world. These robots are used to train surgeons, assist in difficult and precise surgical procedures, and to assist patients in recovery. Medical robots are used in a range of medical practices, including difficult and precise surgical procedures. Medical robots are equipped with a computer-integrated technology that contains a complex of programmed languages, controllers, and advanced sensors. Medical robots are currently being used for training surgeons and providing detailed information to students. These robots offers routine procedure, which cut down on the time needed to perform any medical operation. These robots provide accurate placement and limited movement that can help to improved surgical procedures. Robot-assisted surgery provides many benefits in the surgical care of patients. Computer-assisted robots provide exact motion and trajectories to minimize the side-effects of surgical intervention. Surgeon-guided robotics allows the surgeon to access patient anatomy with smaller incisions. The medical robot offers medical personnel a major advantage in precision and efficiency in medical operations. A medical robot gives doctors the ability to view medical records, view X-rays, interact with patience’s, and to view test results. Although robots cannot actually check patients they, give doctors the ability to have social interaction with each other by using a screen attached to the medical robot.

See full size image See full size image New technology in the field of medical robotics will soon change a doctor’s ability to interact with their patience. The use of WiFi technology in the medical robots will soon allow medical personnel to interact with their patience from anywhere in the world.

Domestic robots

In addition, the domestic/ household robot comes in different types and serves varoius purposes they range from robotic movers, robotic vacuum cleaners, robotic pool cleaners, toys, and floor washing robots. Domestic robots of these types must be setup properly to perform their jobs. Once put together correctly these robots will be very reliable and will need a small amount of human interference to operate correctly. However, some domestic robots requires a lot of involvement from people such as the vacuum cleaner. Companies are always looking for ways to limit the amount of interaction that people have with domestic robots. A domestic robot of some sort can be found in almost every household in the world. Some domestic robots are equip with a timer so that it shut it self off when finish with a task. Domestic robots are on the brink to take over the household duties. We use these types of robots to help with chores around the house, entainment, and for educational purposes. We also purchase this type of robots for our children and love ones. Domestic robots will one day take of the responsibilities of a maid making life easier for families. Domestic robots have been slowly putting themselves in position to take over all the duties around the household. Each year, robots are entering domestic environments in increasing number. By 2012, it’s estimated that 7.8 million robots will be in domestic settings. These robots are intended to help with household chores, act as home health aids, and serve as companions and entertainers for people. However, because the field of domestic robotics is birthed from industrial robotics, many of these robots in the home still look and behave like they belong in a factory. Their interactive styles are often not well-suited toward the wide variety of home users that exist. Domestic robots will soon be able to assisit with all the household duties. These robots have been around for years and each year they become more advance in their operational purposes. They will soon be able to help the elderly around the house.

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Humanoid robots

Lastly, a humanoid robot is a robot with its overall appearance based on that of the human body, allowing interaction with made-for-human tools or environments. In general humanoid robots have a torso with a head, two arms and two legs, although some forms of humanoid robots may model only part of the body, for example, from the waist up. Some humanoid robots may also have a ‘face’, with ‘eyes’ and ‘mouth’. Androids are humanoid robots built to aesthetically resemble a human. A humanoid robot is an autonomous robot because it can adapt to changes in its environment or itself and continue to reach its goal. Humanoids will one day show emotion, make decisions, and interact with humans. Humanoids Robots are currently being used as a research tool. They help researchers to better understand the human body structure and human behavior. Humanoids robots are also being made to take on some of the duties of a human. The humanoid robots that we see on TV will one day become a reality. The research in humanoid robotic technology is rising and will soon change the world. Having a robot that can serve as a human and that can do all the task of a human will assist in the learning and research process. To date, humanoid robots can perform certain tasks on their own through voice commands from a human-being.

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Humanoids will soon prove to be the perfect robot that will be able to mingle with people. Humanoids robots will someday be in the workplace and our home taking on some of the responsibilities of a human. With further research in the field of humanoid robots, things that were initially only envisioned in science fiction movies and novels may be possible. By replicating the physical and cognitive structure of actual humanoids, scientists can learn how the beings obtain their attributes. Breakthroughs biomechanics have already produced artificial body parts which offer better replacements for humans who suffer injuries to their bodies.

Conclusion

In summary, the use of Robotic Technology has made an immediate impact on the world in several ways. Robotic technology is evolving rapidly into the 21st century. The advantages of using robotics have been understood where they have become a part of our common occurrences and everyday lives. Robotic technology can be found in stores, hospitals, homes, the work place, and on the battlefield. Robotics is often used to do jobs that could be accomplished by humans. In other words, there are many reasons why robots may be better than humans in performing certain tasks. We use robots because they are faster than individuals at carrying out tasks. Robots can also work in conditions that would be a danger to humans. Robots can withstand a greater amount of heat, radiation, chemical fumes, and other hazards that humans cannot. They can perform repetitive tasks that may become boring to humans. Robotics offers efficiency in which they have the ability to accomplish a job without wasting time and effort, energy, or materials. In addition, robotics offers accuracy for assembling parts and performing complex procedures. Furthermore robotic offers adaptability in being able to accomplish more than one task. Robotic technologies present the world with different uses and convenient ways to accomplish a variety of jobs. With the advances in robotic technology we have found ways to make our life more convenient, protect lives, increase product output, and research.