Author: Andre Coleman

Introduction:

My selected thesis topic basically lays emphasis on how employee motivation and productivity get effected by gender discrimination in workplace and how different variables effects under different envirnoment. Now I shall move to explaining the topic in detail.

OVERVIEW:

My research interest is in this field because I know the gravity of the situation and how important it is for both genders to treat each other equally. As we move towards development an integrated effort is needed and everyone has to do his/her bit. Women need to be looked upon as equals by men from the very start so that they can get good education and pursue good careers in the future.

Gender discrimination is a very real and actual problem that is being faced by firms and more importantly women in our society. It is important to note that gender discrimination takes place not only at the workplace but in every walk of life for a common Pakistani woman. When being faced by pressure from all sides, it is very tough for the woman to carry out her day to day activities and work at her full Most of us wake up in the morning, go to college or our respective job and act in ways that are more or less our own. We respond to the atmosphere around and the people in it with little thought as to why what makes us do such things e.g. why we enjoy some activities more than others and why we fine some recreational activities better than others. All these actions are motivated by something. Motivation is defined as the forces either within or external to a person that arouse persistence and want towards completing a given course of action. Employee motivation affects productivity and part of a manager’s task is to channel motivation towards the accomplishment of organizational goals. Thus, a manager has to study that what motivates his employees and what influences their choice of action furthermore why they persist in that action over time. So the way people are treated deeply affects how they will perform at the workplace. Gender discrimination against someone will obviously affect his/her productivity; this study is intended to prove how deeply the two are connected to each other. Discrimination is treating of employees based on criteria that are not job related, these may include race, color, gender, ethnicity and religion.

Organizations these days are moving towards diversity which means women and minorities will play a larger role in the workplace than in the past and it will be more important to keep them working at their optimum level if success is intended in the future.

MANGERIAL CONCERNS:

When someone in the workplace is judged, appraised, promoted or given a pay based on criteria which are not job related, discrimination occurs. This discrimination leads to the employee being demotivated because he/she knows that no matter what amount of work they put in, they will be reward on the basis of criteria which are not job related.

My study is not entirely based on the wage differentials but also deals with motivational effects of discrimination at the workplace on the whole. The main motivating factor for employees has always been pay. There has used a huge gender gap in pay in Pakistan but has now decreased over time but still exists. This gap in motivation is mainly because of differences in characteristics of the jobs carried out, the labor market experience they bring to the job and discriminatory treatment of women by employers or co-workers (which will be my area of study). All these factors interact in many complex and different ways. Thus making it difficult to determine precisely how much of the difference can be attributed to discrimination. Women and men do differ greatly in their preference of jobs and the roles they play in families. Still, the skill set of a woman has now come much closer to a man’s. As my thesis shall suggest, there is continuing discrimination against women in the labor market which leads to demotivation because there is loss of confidence for the worker. Confidence in self abilities and in the firm one is working for account as a great motivating factor. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs one of the pillars of motivation is to get appreciation for doing a certain task.

Many women are raped, sexually harassed and given unfair treatment by the society leading to high rates of female illiteracy and prostitution. In my view, it is very important for the woman to be soundly educated because in our society the responsibility of raising children mainly lies with the mother. When the mother herself is not educated she can not possibly give her child the support and basic fundamental training needed to become a good human being.

Moving to gender discrimination in the workplace regarding Pakistan, most of the women are house wives in our country and there are very few double income families. Although the gender gap in the workplace has reduced significantly over the past decade it still remains high with most of the working women mainly pursuing very low paid jobs e.g. teaching, nursing, receptionists and many of them work in houses as maids and helpers etc

Term

Working Definition

Motivation [a]

Motivation refers to the forces either within or external to a person that arouses enthusiasm and persistence to pursue a certain course of action.

Discrimination [b]

To discriminate socially is to make a distinction between people on the basis of class or category without regard to individual merit.

Gender Discrimination at the workplace [c]

Promoting/Rejecting or treating one person differently to another based on a criterion which is not job related. In this case mainly gender

Workforce Diversity [d]

Hiring people with different human qualities who belong to various cultural or sub cultural groups.”

Glass Ceiling [e]

Invisible barriers that separate women and minorities from top management positions.

Disparate Treatment Gender Discrimination [f]

This is also called direct discrimination. To put it simple, it is treating an employee a different manner because of their gender.

Harassment [g]

Harassment refers to a wide spectrum of offensive behavior. When the term is used in a legal sense it refers to behaviors that are found threatening or disturbing, and beyond those that are sanctioned by society.

Verbal Harassment [h]

Verbal harassment refers to persistent and unwanted verbal advances, typically in the workplace, where the consequences of refusing are potentially very disadvantaging to the victim. Also casually known as flirting.

Sources:

(Daft, Richard, (2000), Management 4th Edition, p. 526)

(Stokes, DaShanne. (In Press) Legalized Segregation and the Denial of Religious Freedom)

(Daft, Richard, (2000), Management 4th Edition, p. 524)

(Daft, Richard, (2000), Management 4th Edition, p. 453)

(Daft, Richard, (2000), Management 4th Edition, p. 462)

(Taylor, Allison, (2005). Wrongful Termination)

(Taylor, Allison, (2005). Wrongful Termination)

(Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harassment)

Study Objectives

To study wage differences between men and women working on equal level in the banking sector.

To conduct questionnaire surveys from employees to find out differences in treatment for males and females.

Study how difficult it is for a woman to get promoted in a workplace

How treatment of supervisors differs from males to females

Is the working environment psychologically suitable for a woman to work in on a long-term basis.

The ways harassment takes place for a women in her workplace and who is the main harasser

LITREATURE REVIEW

Gender discrimination and harassment are topic of immense importance as they have been under discussion for over more than a decade, many studies and researches have been conducted to investigate on the different aspects of this topic, to correlate and identify the various variables from within the studies to contribute to the society in a direct or an indirect way. All the studies point out to a healthy working environment for both Men and Women so that they are more motivated producing better results for the companies as a whole. The areas of research on this topic in the past focuses on Law, job satisfaction, employee turnover, organizational costs, social responsibility and corporate culture providing insights into many factors influenced by gender discrimination and harassment. Almost all the studies focuses on problem faced by women from within the organization and social external factors involving discrimination and effecting productivity. Relationship between the variables drawn in the previous studies shows the direction of the research and how the factors interrelate with each other.

Studies show that people have protection against this menace of discrimination and harassment but its effectiveness is always challenged and debated for over some time. Law and justice are always closely looked upon when it comes to harassment at work place.

A study “Gender-Based Harassment and the Hostile Work Environment” (Joshua F. Thrope) tests whether non-sexually motivated gender discrimination is as serious a factor in creating a hostile working environment as sexually motivated gender discrimination. Although Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to all gender-motivated discrimination, in practice many lower federal courts make a distinction between sexually motivated gender discrimination and non-sexually motivated gender discrimination (gender-based harassment) in a work environment. This study illustrates a court case of Dwyer v. Smith in which a police officer alleged that her co-workers and supervisors engaged in a pattern of abusive conduct that created a hostile working environment. (Thorpe). The failure of the plaintiff to allege a case of sexual harassment proved to be fatal to her case. Sexual harassment is only a part of gender discrimination that female employees face in a hostile work employment. Ridicule, rudeness or insults directed at working women may not be sexually motivated but may still create a hostile working environment. The failure of courts to view gender-based harassment claims as actionable has reduced the availability and deterred the effectiveness of Title VII. The study claims that in order to recognise gender-based discrimination as actionable it must be severe or pervasive or it could be misinterpreted.

Impacts and consequences have been explored in many previous findings and emphasis have been given on the nature and reason of harassment, but from within harassment sexual harassment is the concept which is quite highlighted factor discussed in findings as in,

“Recent Thinking about Sexual Harassment: A Review Essay” (Elizabeth Anderson) discusses the wrongs of sexual harassment and presents three theories that capture a different aspect of sexual harassment. Dignity theory explains the offensiveness of harassment; autonomy theory deals with the coercive nature of sexual conduct whereas equality theory highlights the group based harms of sexual harassment. This article also gives an example of airlines that expect female flight attendants tolerate customer’s anger, rudeness or ogling without any objection and hence, make it difficult for them to perform their jobs satisfactorily. The essay also tries to provide remedies and explains that antidiscrimination law has been quite useful in helping people understand their rights and combat sexual harassment in the workplace.

Most people perceive harassment and gender discrimination as a mentally or physically induced trauma but very few people measure it on the basis of the high costs involved by this practice of harassment and its deeply routed and ever growing cost is often ignored. One such article:

The study “Estimating the Organizational Costs of Sexual Harassment: The Case of U.S. Army” (Robert H. Faley, Deborah Erdos Knapp, Gary A, Kustis, Cathy L. Z. Dubois) tested the implication of sexual harassment on the organizational costs. The increasing costs of sexual harassment encouraged organizations to give attention to the issue of sexual harassment. These costs initially included litigation and associated settlements. However, with further research it was found that harassment can lead to an overall decrease in employee motivation towards the job resulting in increases in absentees, turnover, and requests for transfers, and use of mental health services, as well as decreases in productivity (Gutek & Koss, 1993; Martindale, 1990; U. S. Merit Systems Protection Board, 1981 and 1987). This study states that results indicate that the total annual cost of sexual harassment in the U.S. Army in 1988 was over $250,000,000. This not only brought attention to the organizational costs of sexual harassment and also to the seriousness of the problem as well. However, this study concludes that increase in the proportion of females in the military would increase that part of the total costs of harassment associated with females and as a result the cost of sexual harassment may grow even more. Furthermore it implies that losing a higher rank female in the army due to sexual harassment would cost a staggering amount.

Hence sexual harassment continues to be a threat not only to the working individuals but also harms the companies financially.

“Gender Mainstreaming and Corporate Social Responsibility: Reporting Workplace Issues” (Kate Grosser, Jeremy Moon 2005) focuses on the potential of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to gender equality. The paper states that women are provided equal opportunity in the workplace by the combination of legal compliance, business care and social regulation (Dickens 1999) and the theory of CSR combines all these three notions. This study suggests that a reason for slow progress in reporting gender issues is the lack of platform for gender issues to be discusses. The study has highlights the under-representation of women’s issues and has stressed on the need of women representation in company practices, as employees, community members, consumers and investors among other things.

The impact of sexual harassment in a legal profession on job satisfaction is examined in “The Effects of Sexual Harassment on Job Satisfaction, Earnings, and Turnover among Female Lawyers” (David N. Laband and Bernard F. Lentz). The results from American Bar Association’s National Survey of Career Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction (1990) show that nearly two-thirds of female lawyers in private practice and nearly half of those in corporate or public agency settings reported either experiencing or observing sexual harassment by male superiors, colleagues, or clients during the two years prior to the survey. The study shows that overall job satisfaction is significantly lower among female lawyers who experienced or witnessed sexual harassment by male superiors and colleagues than among those who did not experience or witness such harassment. According to statistics shown in the study, job satisfaction among female employees is affected more than twice as strongly by sexual harassment than by their annual income. The study also implies that there is a direct relation between sexual harassment and intention to quit current employment. However, the study was limited by the fact that the survey did not refer to the degree of harassment.

“Implementation Mechanism” (Shamreeza Riaz) discusses the provision of law related to sexual harassment at workplace and the effectiveness of its implementation. This study was conducted in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Interviews were conducted with the work force of organizations, women activists, NGO workers and educational institutions. The writer argues that women participation in the making policies and in decision making can lead to a prosperous nation. However, the true potential of women is hindered due to the difficulties that they face at the work place. The ‘Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010’ provides the definition and kinds of harassment at the workplace. According to the study, in 20-30% sexual harassment cases, women remain silent because of their dignity and self respect. 70% of the women are victims of physical harassment and verbal and other kinds of harassment. The writer lists the causes of harassment as lack of awareness, misuse of authority, lack of organizational policy and a male dominant society. The study shows that sexual harassment has very serious consequences resulting in the loss of job, a hostile environment and physical and psychological breakdown while some women are forced to quit their jobs. The International Labour Organization, United Nation on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, Beijing program for action Declaration, European Union Legislation and Organization of American State all provide laws aiming to prevent gender discrimination.

The study “Branded: Corporate Image, Sexual Stereotyping, and the New Face of Capitalism” (Dianne Avery, Marion G. Crain) aims to show how the adoption of sophisticated forms of marketing are distinct from the worker’s physical and mental labour. The study reveals the case of Jespersen v. Harrah’s Operating Co. in which the court rejected a female bartender’s Title VII challenge to the workplace’s policy that women wear makeup, which she found sexually demeaning. Employer’s sophisticated marketing techniques sometimes create a property like interest and employers take advantage of their employees outside of their usual work by forcing them to propagate company brands outside of the workplace.

“Transforming discriminatory corporate cultures” (Cheryl L. Wade) discusses gender equality in corporate environment. The writer argues that companies can only change if men change. She states that even if men witness discriminatory behaviour or harassment in their workplace, they fail to take necessary action that could promote gender equality. Many male managers may seem to support gender equality but still ignore gender conflicts in the work place. If the CEO of a company strives to bring a culture of gender equality then the workers will follow his example. Moreover, the writer states that sometimes women allow sexist comments and jokes to go unnoticed in an attempt to show that they belong to the right workplace. The corporate workplace also seems to work on the expectation that women of colour can be given jobs that are not valued in the corporate context. Hence, such negative stereotypes adversely affect the performance of women in the workplace. As the relationship between management and its employees plays a central role in a companies’ success, it is necessary that problems of workplace discrimination be dealt with.

The study “Gender Justice and Its Critics” focuses on the judicial practices and laws on gender discrimination. The article underlines the traditional treatment of women and the current condition of women. Women were victimized by the laws made to protect them by giving decision making powers to the male members. The writer states that in contrast to these laws, the remedial laws such as prohibition of sex-based discrimination in workplace have empowered women to make their own decisions. Laws which tried to prevent discriminatory practices have created distinct profession for men and women. Furthermore, Gender Justice claims that it is not opposed to the needs of working mothers but offers that parental benefits be given to both males and females.

The study “The Price of ‘Man’ and ‘Women’: A Hedonic Pricing Model of Avatar Attributes in a Synthetic World” (Edward Castronova 2003) investigates the demand of physical attributes and qualities of the social world. The study examines the computer generated avatars which are both male and female. However, the hedonic price analysis suggests that the female avatars are available at a discount and that there is less preference to have a female avatar. As this physical difference is not real in the synthetic world, this reluctance can be explained by the general assumption about the effectiveness of the female avatar. However, the study does not indicate whether this is arises from a prejudice on behalf of the population or simply the numbers indicate that more male players choose male avatars. This article was chosen because of the importance it holds in outside world other than corporate sector to give out an overview on the gender based difference one holds in his mind.

They were shortcomings and left out concerns in those previous studies which can be looked upon on the basis of variables and introducing more measurable models which could relate and interlink the variables in appropriate and a strong way.

Theoretical Framework
DEMOGRAPHICS
Characteristics of a human population
Age
Income
Gender
Race
Experience
Gender diversity
Unfair treameant
Promotion
Placement
Moral fairness
Sexual orientation
Female employee turnover
Hiring & firing.
Work envirnoment
Healthy
Motivating
Safety
Stress
Frequency of Women Promotion
Number of times women get promoted at workplace
More promotions to male or female?
Productivity
Equal treatment in terms of salary and promotion
Drive
Increased desire
Encouragement
Inspiration
Motivated to work
Motivation
Level of satisfaction
What one wants from a job and what one perceives it as offering
Overall satisfaction
Satisfaction with the job
Satisfaction with the work
Sense of achievement
Scope of using own initiative
Influence over the job
Harrasment
Offensive behaviour
Intent to disturb or upset
Unwanted sexual advances
Bases of colour, race religion and sex
Financial and recognition rewards
Wages & Salary
Empower-ment
Fringe benefits
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE TO ANALYZE
THE CORRELATES OF GENDER DISCRIMINATION
AND IT IMPACT ON MOTIVATION

This questionnaire is being exclusively used for research purpose; all the information provided by respondents would be kept confidential. Your co-operation would be highly appreciated.

Personal info:

Name —————————

Age ————— Experience in this organization ——————

Education———————–

Marital status Single Married Divorced

Gender Male Female

Income bracket 10,000-20,000 20,000- 50,000 50,000 & above

Section A
Levels of Satisfaction
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
I enjoy at my workplace
1
2
3
4
5
Factors can be added to improve employee motivation at your workplace
1
2
3
4
5
Would you like to stay at your workplace for long
1
2
3
4
5
I am over all satisfied by the attitude of my boss and workplace
1
2
3
4
5
Do you feel as an important part of your organization
1
2
3
4
5
Are you satisfied by your designated authority
1
2
3
4
5
GENDER DIVERSITY:
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
Mostly the supervisors are male
1
2
3
4
5
Majority of Co-workers are Male
1
2
3
4
5
I belive that I have equal opportunities and potential for growth as my other colleagues have
1
2
3
4
5
In my view discrimination does take place at workplace.
1
2
3
4
5
At times I have been judged/mistreated on criteria which is not merit based
1
2
3
4
5
You have been treated and judged on the basis of Gender
1
2
3
4
5
1)Race
1
2
3
4
5
2)Physical appearance
1
2
3
4
5
3)Religion
1
2
3
4
5
Working enviornement and Harassment:
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
My company is strict on the laws of harassment.
1
2
3
4
5
In majority of workplace harassment cases the harasser is 1) immediate boss
1
2
3
4
5
2) Subordinates
1
2
3
4
5
3)Colleagues
1
2
3
4
5
Verbal harassment takes place
1)openly
1
2
3
4
5
Equal gender treatment creates a healthy environment at workplace.
1
2
3
4
5
If harassment occurs verbally my response would be
1)to react to the harasser the first time
1
2
3
4
5
2)Report the harassment to my boss
1
2
3
4
5
3) I would bear with it because there is no other choice.
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
I have been mistreated in an offensive manner because of my Gender.
1
2
3
4
5
Offensive treatment harm your ability to work.
1
2
3
4
5
I have switched my job because of unequal treatment
1
2
3
4
5
Harassment results in increased stress and anxiety
1
2
3
4
5
Frequency of promotions:
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
I have been quickly promoted to the post I am today.
1
2
3
4
5
Male workers get frequent promotions
1
2
3
4
5
Female have more chances of getting hired for a job at first place when the interviewee is Male
1
2
3
4
5
Male have more chances of getting hired for a job at first place when the interview is Female.
1
2
3
4
5
Female workers most get in house assignment as compared to traveling assignment
1
2
3
4
5
Female get more sexually harassed than men
1
2
3
4
5
MOTIVATION:
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
Discrimination affects my productivity
1
2
3
4
5
Male workers are paid more salary/wage as compared to female for the same job description
1
2
3
4
5
Male workers are more empowered to take decisions
1
2
3
4
5
Male and Female workers get same Fringe benefits
1
2
3
4
5
Low percentage of female getting promoted than men works as a less motivating factor.
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
Men feel more superior than women which affects motivation for women in negative way
1
2
3
4
5
Some people get desperate things to get promoted
1
2
3
4
5
Women get more limited opportunities than Men contributing negatively towards motivation
1
2
3
4
5
General training has been given to staff a your workplace in connection with general duty to promote equality between Men and Women
1
2
3
4
5
Men and Women are treated equally when it comes to performance Appraisals and analysis.
1
2
3
4
5

Gender discrimination and harassment are topic of immense importance as they have been under discussion for over more than a decade, many studies and researches have been conducted to investigate on the different aspects of this topic, to correlate and identify the various variables from within the studies to contribute to the society in a direct or an indirect way. All the studies point out to a healthy working environment for both Men and Women so that they are more motivated producing better results for the companies as a whole. The areas of research on this topic in the past focuses on Law, job satisfaction, employee turnover, organizational costs, social responsibility and corporate culture providing insights into many factors influenced by gender discrimination and harassment. Almost all the studies focuses on problem faced by women from within the organization and social external factors involving discrimination and effecting productivity. Relationship between the variables drawn in the previous studies shows the direction of the research and how the factors interrelate with each other.

Studies show that people have protection against this menace of discrimination and harassment but its effectiveness is always challenged and debated for over some time. Law and justice are always closely looked upon when it comes to harassment at work place.

A study “Gender-Based Harassment and the Hostile Work Environment” (Joshua F. Thrope) tests whether non-sexually motivated gender discrimination is as serious a factor in creating a hostile working environment as sexually motivated gender discrimination. Although Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to all gender-motivated discrimination, in practice many lower federal courts make a distinction between sexually motivated gender discrimination and non-sexually motivated gender discrimination (gender-based harassment) in a work environment. This study illustrates a court case of Dwyer v. Smith in which a police officer alleged that her co-workers and supervisors engaged in a pattern of abusive conduct that created a hostile working environment. (Thorpe). The failure of the plaintiff to allege a case of sexual harassment proved to be fatal to her case. Sexual harassment is only a part of gender discrimination that female employees face in a hostile work employment. Ridicule, rudeness or insults directed at working women may not be sexually motivated but may still create a hostile working environment. The failure of courts to view gender-based harassment claims as actionable has reduced the availability and deterred the effectiveness of Title VII. The study claims that in order to recognise gender-based discrimination as actionable it must be severe or pervasive or it could be misinterpreted.

Impacts and consequences have been explored in many previous findings and emphasis have been given on the nature and reason of harassment, but from within harassment sexual harassment is the concept which is quite highlighted factor discussed in findings as in,

“Recent Thinking about Sexual Harassment: A Review Essay” (Elizabeth Anderson) discusses the wrongs of sexual harassment and presents three theories that capture a different aspect of sexual harassment. Dignity theory explains the offensiveness of harassment; autonomy theory deals with the coercive nature of sexual conduct whereas equality theory highlights the group based harms of sexual harassment. This article also gives an example of airlines that expect female flight attendants tolerate customer’s anger, rudeness or ogling without any objection and hence, make it difficult for them to perform their jobs satisfactorily. The essay also tries to provide remedies and explains that antidiscrimination law has been quite useful in helping people understand their rights and combat sexual harassment in the workplace.

Most people perceive harassment and gender discrimination as a mentally or physically induced trauma but very few people measure it on the basis of the high costs involved by this practice of harassment and its deeply routed and ever growing cost is often ignored. One such article:

The study “Estimating the Organizational Costs of Sexual Harassment: The Case of U.S. Army” (Robert H. Faley, Deborah Erdos Knapp, Gary A, Kustis, Cathy L. Z. Dubois) tested the implication of sexual harassment on the organizational costs. The increasing costs of sexual harassment encouraged organizations to give attention to the issue of sexual harassment. These costs initially included litigation and associated settlements. However, with further research it was found that harassment can lead to an overall decrease in employee motivation towards the job resulting in increases in absentees, turnover, and requests for transfers, and use of mental health services, as well as decreases in productivity (Gutek & Koss, 1993; Martindale, 1990; U. S. Merit Systems Protection Board, 1981 and 1987). This study states that results indicate that the total annual cost of sexual harassment in the U.S. Army in 1988 was over $250,000,000. This not only brought attention to the organizational costs of sexual harassment and also to the seriousness of the problem as well. However, this study concludes that increase in the proportion of females in the military would increase that part of the total costs of harassment associated with females and as a result the cost of sexual harassment may grow even more. Furthermore it implies that losing a higher rank female in the army due to sexual harassment would cost a staggering amount.

Hence sexual harassment continues to be a threat not only to the working individuals but also harms the companies financially.

“Gender Mainstreaming and Corporate Social Responsibility: Reporting Workplace Issues” (Kate Grosser, Jeremy Moon 2005) focuses on the potential of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to gender equality. The paper states that women are provided equal opportunity in the workplace by the combination of legal compliance, business care and social regulation (Dickens 1999) and the theory of CSR combines all these three notions. This study suggests that a reason for slow progress in reporting gender issues is the lack of platform for gender issues to be discusses. The study has highlights the under-representation of women’s issues and has stressed on the need of women representation in company practices, as employees, community members, consumers and investors among other things.

The impact of sexual harassment in a legal profession on job satisfaction is examined in “The Effects of Sexual Harassment on Job Satisfaction, Earnings, and Turnover among Female Lawyers” (David N. Laband and Bernard F. Lentz). The results from American Bar Association’s National Survey of Career Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction (1990) show that nearly two-thirds of female lawyers in private practice and nearly half of those in corporate or public agency settings reported either experiencing or observing sexual harassment by male superiors, colleagues, or clients during the two years prior to the survey. The study shows that overall job satisfaction is significantly lower among female lawyers who experienced or witnessed sexual harassment by male superiors and colleagues than among those who did not experience or witness such harassment. According to statistics shown in the study, job satisfaction among female employees is affected more than twice as strongly by sexual harassment than by their annual income. The study also implies that there is a direct relation between sexual harassment and intention to quit current employment. However, the study was limited by the fact that the survey did not refer to the degree of harassment.

“Implementation Mechanism” (Shamreeza Riaz) discusses the provision of law related to sexual harassment at workplace and the effectiveness of its implementation. This study was conducted in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Interviews were conducted with the work force of organizations, women activists, NGO workers and educational institutions. The writer argues that women participation in the making policies and in decision making can lead to a prosperous nation. However, the true potential of women is hindered due to the difficulties that they face at the work place. The ‘Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010’ provides the definition and kinds of harassment at the workplace. According to the study, in 20-30% sexual harassment cases, women remain silent because of their dignity and self respect. 70% of the women are victims of physical harassment and verbal and other kinds of harassment. The writer lists the causes of harassment as lack of awareness, misuse of authority, lack of organizational policy and a male dominant society. The study shows that sexual harassment has very serious consequences resulting in the loss of job, a hostile environment and physical and psychological breakdown while some women are forced to quit their jobs. The International Labour Organization, United Nation on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, Beijing program for action Declaration, European Union Legislation and Organization of American State all provide laws aiming to prevent gender discrimination.

The study “Branded: Corporate Image, Sexual Stereotyping, and the New Face of Capitalism” (Dianne Avery, Marion G. Crain) aims to show how the adoption of sophisticated forms of marketing are distinct from the worker’s physical and mental labour. The study reveals the case of Jespersen v. Harrah’s Operating Co. in which the court rejected a female bartender’s Title VII challenge to the workplace’s policy that women wear makeup, which she found sexually demeaning. Employer’s sophisticated marketing techniques sometimes create a property like interest and employers take advantage of their employees outside of their usual work by forcing them to propagate company brands outside of the workplace.

“Transforming discriminatory corporate cultures” (Cheryl L. Wade) discusses gender equality in corporate environment. The writer argues that companies can only change if men change. She states that even if men witness discriminatory behaviour or harassment in their workplace, they fail to take necessary action that could promote gender equality. Many male managers may seem to support gender equality but still ignore gender conflicts in the work place. If the CEO of a company strives to bring a culture of gender equality then the workers will follow his example. Moreover, the writer states that sometimes women allow sexist comments and jokes to go unnoticed in an attempt to show that they belong to the right workplace. The corporate workplace also seems to work on the expectation that women of colour can be given jobs that are not valued in the corporate context. Hence, such negative stereotypes adversely affect the performance of women in the workplace. As the relationship between management and its employees plays a central role in a companies’ success, it is necessary that problems of workplace discrimination be dealt with.

The study “Gender Justice and Its Critics” focuses on the judicial practices and laws on gender discrimination. The article underlines the traditional treatment of women and the current condition of women. Women were victimized by the laws made to protect them by giving decision making powers to the male members. The writer states that in contrast to these laws, the remedial laws such as prohibition of sex-based discrimination in workplace have empowered women to make their own decisions. Laws which tried to prevent discriminatory practices have created distinct profession for men and women. Furthermore, Gender Justice claims that it is not opposed to the needs of working mothers but offers that parental benefits be given to both males and females.

The study “The Price of ‘Man’ and ‘Women’: A Hedonic Pricing Model of Avatar Attributes in a Synthetic World” (Edward Castronova 2003) investigates the demand of physical attributes and qualities of the social world. The study examines the computer generated avatars which are both male and female. However, the hedonic price analysis suggests that the female avatars are available at a discount and that there is less preference to have a female avatar. As this physical difference is not real in the synthetic world, this reluctance can be explained by the general assumption about the effectiveness of the female avatar. However, the study does not indicate whether this is arises from a prejudice on behalf of the population or simply the numbers indicate that more male players choose male avatars.

They were shortcomings and left out concerns in those previous studies which can be looked upon on the basis of variables and introducing more measurable models which could relate and interlink the variables in appropriate and a strong way.

Describe cultural variations in family arrangements and critically examine psychological research on the effects of these family arrangements on children’s development. Marriage is the basis of households that are formed; a neolocal household consists of a married couple creating a new home. One main family type arrangement is the nuclear family. Lee (1987) this arrangement consists of three main positions. The members being within the household sets a presence, so the number of members does not make a nuclear family more compelling. In a patrilocal family, the new couple join the house of the husband and form a new home. In a matrilocal family the home is set up in the wife’s birth home. Matri and Partilocal families are also extended/joint families; this is where members of different generations also live in the house. The older generations uphold a power role and are highly respected.

The joint/ extended families usually consist of three or more generations in one house. However, there are “non- residential extended families” this arrangement is where they live near to the home and communal activities and eat with the other household. Extended family arrangements has its advantages such as being supportive in hard times, however there are disadvantages such as them becoming interfering in the independence and restrict the other younger members life Goodwin, Adatia et al 1997.

Family structures are mostly dependant on social and economic circumstances as well as cultural values. Joint families are more likely to see having a bigger family as an important source of secure labour and importance. This is mostly deemed to be important when the wage labour is not the principal economic form. A hierarchical and authoritarian structure is often developed gradually within a joint family structure; this is in order to operate in a smooth manner, and to stress obedience and respect for authority and family reputation. Stropes-Roe and Cochrane, 1989.

Extended family living situations have often been exaggerated; this was noticed by Goode 1963, when he researched family systems. An example of this is from family structures in China, whereby the family structure was under attack as the newer generations saw this structure within the household as a negative issue, as they stated that “aˆ¦.the traditional family is being wiped out without being replacedaˆ¦.” Levy 1949. In the rural areas of China the extended family arrangement is becoming extinct, as the census revealed that the nuclear family is becoming a more common arrangement, reasons for this change may stem from economical reasons, as high mortality rates have increased in the poorer regions due to financial issues which made it difficult for families to extend their homes to accommodate for more people.

However, as this change was occurring in China a new form of living developed, this was known the “stem family”. Stem families consist of parents, their unmarried children and one married child with a partner and children. This arrangement suited children living with their parents due to the lack of housing made available to new buyers and the newly married couple may take advantage of the free accommodation whilst saving to buy further accommodation and the babysitting facilities whilst both parents attend to work. However, instead of contributing more to the elders within an extended family, the young would now benefit more and taking more than they are returning Tsui 1989. This shows that Chinese families can adapt very well in order to suit the socio-political conditions and the environment within the modern family. Overall this demonstrates the functional value of family which is to provide solidarity and material support in difficult times Yang 1988.

Also like China the extended family arrangement is rare and only dominant amongst large landowners as they are able to support their large families. Research carried out from Al-Thakeb 1985 found that the extended family has never been the main family structure amongst families living in Arab cultures. This was found by studying nine different Arab countries. Although Al-Thakeb stated that the extended family has never been the main family form in Arab cultures. Due to the family being an independent wedded family this does not mean that the family bonds are weak. As in Arab countries it has been known that the relationship between family members is strong, due to living in close areas to their brothers and sisters, so this arrangement has its rewards as economic cooperation and emotional support is available for the family members.

Within the Iran households, housing is a major problem which results in extended families being reduced in size, whilst intensive migration among the rural population has led to the weakening of larger household groups. In turn has led to the separation of extended families, whereby new couples leave their parents and form their own household separately.

Meanwhile in Japan a different concept has been applied within household arrangements. The Japanese family structure is like the American family household arrangement; a nuclear setting. Economical reasons are adapted within families here as well, as the retired parents are more likely to live with their children due to economic reasons.

However due to many cultural variations in family arrangements, children’s development in society may differ; although there are some similarities as well. The difference in how parents socialise with their children, affects the child’s socialisation on children’s development. There are many different parenting styles that are adopted. Steinberg et al 1989 put forward suggestions of three different parenting styles. The first one being psychological autonomy which is the degree to which parents encourage their children to be independent. The second description is parental involvement this is where parents are actively involved in their child’s lives. Lastly, the third style is behavioural control this is measured by the degree of how much the parents try to control their child’s behaviour and activities.

There are two main types of societies within cultures, one being collectivist: this is where the society is involved with the community’s life. The community encourages obedience to authority. In collectivist societies obligation is highly ritualised. The family arrangements that tend to stem from these societies are extended/ joint families mainly. On the other hand there are individualistic societies whereby children are encouraged to develop their own opinions. The family arrangement that mainly stems from this society is the nuclear family. Research into comparing the different society’s views on parental upbringing. Larano 1997 conducted research in Canada. Children from different ethnic minorities a list of individualistic and collectivist activities and a parental monitoring scale. The results found showed that collectivist children perceived their parents as being more controlling and less involved with them than individualistic children. This research suggests that the children may have come to these conclusions as they live a particular life, for example if a child lived the collectivist extended family life, then it could be argued that the child may perceive the other way of doing things as the better way as it differs from the norm they have to abide by.

In China there is continuing evidence for strong parental nurturance and support even when the child has grown up, although the Chinese parenting style is largely authoritarian and involves high levels of regulation from parents in order to ensure “proper” behaviour. This doesn’t mean that children fail to develop autonomy, but may mean that they do so at a later age than children in the more individualistic cultures was found by Schneider et al 1997.

One comparison that has been made into the difference between how a child is brought up in cultural difference within families is between Japanese and Israeli families. In Japan children are strongly bonded to their families, with the Japanese mother keen to harmonise her needs with those of her child, which shows the family arrangement between mother and child to be an important one, with the child growing up with a close bond with its mother. Japanese children are constantly in contact with their mothers and are rarely left alone Tobin 1992. Babies are often carried around on their mother’s backs and there is a constant non-verbal interaction between parent and child. In comparison the Israeli mothers put forward a more independent upbringing style, and favour the idea of children being independent and self sufficient. As a result of this the Israeli mother may encourage the child ability to be alone as an example of their child’s emotional independence, while the Japanese mother may value the child development of social relationships.

In Britain different ethnic groups have different attitudes towards the socialisation of their children and their development. Asian families tend to be based with an extended family arrangement. Asian families and in particular Muslim, parents are highly protective of their daughters, fearing British society’s drugs problems and its undue emphasis on sex Singh Ghuman 1994.

In some cultures polygamous marriages are accepted, this is where a person may be married to more than one partner. On the other hand in most cultures monogamous families are more commonly recognised; one single partner. However, it would raise the question as to whether such a family arrangement affects the development of children Alean Al-Krenawi et al investigated this matter. 146 participants were involved in the study; they consisted of children who were involved in either polygamous family or a monogamous family. The children were tested through a questionnaire which was later analysed. The children from monogamous families had higher levels of learning achievement than the children from polygamous families, which in turn meant that the monogamous children adjusted to school framework better, unlike the polygamous children as much. This shows that these children suffer a disadvantage from living within such a large family, as they experience an overall educational disadvantage and social difficulties as well. The Results also showed that the conflict rating of the children from a large family background; polygamous had a higher rating. It was also found that the father’s level of education tended to be inversely correlated with family size in terms of both number of children and number of wives.

These results show that due to these learning difficulties children are faced from living in such situations, that now the teachers my become aware of such problems, as it may be assumed that children from polygamous families may drop out of school early, and may be more at risk of falling for bad habits such as drugs and theft. It was stated that the problem should be overcome by focussing on the recognition of polygamy as a particular risk factor, along with the expectation that over time higher levels of paternal education may well lead to smaller families and more attention to the emotional and social needs of the children. Due to the findings issues within the polygamous families such as tension caused from other wives and step siblings, could be worked on, as it may be an issue affecting the children’s development. It could be argued that the wives could perhaps be encouraged to perceive one another as partners rather than opponents, and in turn the half siblings could also follow this principle to help improve the overall family relationship within the household.

However there are limitations to this research such as, individual differences have not been considered as some children may just not be very into school life, and that the failure to achieve well isn’t to do with the family arrangement at home. Another limitation is that the polygamous families that were researched only had two wives, so it cannot be widely generalised to polygamous families as they differ in sizes, therefore it cannot be stated that even larger polygamous families have a bigger affect on children’s development. A further limitation is that the study was based on a sample of one race, which again makes it harder to generalise the results to other races. With all these limitations it must not be forgotten that the research still shows us that living arrangements and differences such as monogamous and polygamous families do impact the children educational development at school to some extent.

Nuclear and extended families affect children’s development as some research has suggested that these living arrangements may cause some psychological stress in childhood. An examination of lifestyles within the inner cities of non-industrial countries highlights the changes in family life this was noted by Abdel

Rahim & Cederblad, 1980

An example of this is from Sudan families as they traditionally consist of three or more generations, with siblings living side by side and sharing domestic duties and economic responsibilities. Marriages occur early and are arranged by parents; they are frequently between cousins or other family relations Abdelrahman & Morgan, 1987.Authority in these extended households usually rests with the grandfather. The grandmother plays a central role in child care and the transmission of cultural identity to her grandchildren. In turn, the extended family is embedded within the wider communal structure of the tribe. This type of social structure encourages conformity to standards of conduct which are seen to be acceptable according to tradition and so promotes social stability. At the same time, gives a sense of communal responsibility for the upbringing of children. Up until the age of weaning a mother has the main responsibility for care. After weaning the responsibility for care and discipline is shared within both the immediate family, and to a lesser extent among the other responsible adults living with the immediate family.

In the research conducted by Abdel Rahim & Cederblad, 1980 the relation between emotional and social development and family structure in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, was examined. Children between the ages of 4 and 9 living in extended and nuclear families were compared on mothers’ ratings of a range of childhood problems. Analysis revealed that children in nuclear families had more conduct, emotional, and sleep problems, poorer self-care, and were more likely to be over dependent than those living in extended families. They were also less likely to be breast fed, to be weaned later, and to have grandmothers involved in child care. Linear multiple regression revealed that, of these 3 childcare factors, grandmother’s involvement was the strongest predictor of normal social and emotional adjustment. The possible protective characteristics of the extended family are discussed in relation to the importance of the grandmother as maternal advisor, social support, and socialization agent.

However this research does face some limitations such as results of the study may be influenced by factors not studied here. First, it is possible that mothers’ reports were affected by some systematic bias in reporting. Although both groups reported spending the same amount of time with their children, reporting bias may be due to differences in the mental health of nuclear and extended family mothers Lancaster, Prior, & Adler,1989 or variation in the standards of conduct deemed acceptable by them Sonuga-Barke, Minocha, Taylor, & Sandberg. These questions centre on the relation between actual deviance and parental perceptions and cannot be addressed without direct observation of the child’s behaviour.

Second, the relation between child development and family structure reported in the study might be mediated by the effects of stressful life events, such as migration. In a recent study. El Farouk (1991) examined the makeup of a representative sample of the large (34% of the total population; Population Census Office, 1989) migrant population living in Khartoum. More than half of the 266 migrant families studied included three generations. This is similar to the proportion found in the non migrant population and suggests that migration would not selectively affect childhood adjustment in the nuclear families in the present study.

The findings imply that the meaning and protective significance of factors

is conditional on cultural context as well as developmental status and history. Global ideals of human conduct operating within different cultures directly influence the meaning and significance of personal and intergenerational

relationships within families. The impact of family life on child development is mediated by a set of beliefs about the extent to which a particular family structure is consistent with those ideals. In Sudanese culture, as in many traditional societies, social life is governed by ideals of communal interdependence, intergenerational harmony, and social conformity motivated

by feelings of collective responsibility and filial piety. In extended families, the physical proximity, emotional intimacy, and (grand-) parental authority are consistent with these ideals.

So far the issues that have been mentioned are that family arrangements can affect children development in educational aspects such as the children’s performance at school, and the differences between nuclear and extended family arrangements in regards to development. Another aspect that some research has found that family arrangements may affect is the nutrition and physical growth of children in their development this was researched by Tinkew and DeJong 2004. They looked into the influence of household structure and resource dilution features. The study aimed to compare the impact of different types of household structures such as single parent, multiple parents, extended and cohabitating, and the influence this had on children’s nutrition. They also aimed to investigate whether household structure and household resources interact to affect child nutrition.

The results were collated from the Jamaica 1996 Living Standards Measurement Study Survey and other sources. The findings showed that living in a single parent household and cohabitating household increases the odds of stunting for children. The analysis also indicates that children in single parent families with low income and have siblings are more likely to have low height for age, as well as low income extended families with siblings. The key policy implication that is shown through this study is that household structure is important for understanding children’s nutritional outcomes in the Caribbean. This research was beneficial as it highlighted that household arrangements does have some impact on children’s development in regards to health issues.

However, it can be criticised as the findings would be more reliable if a larger sample was used and the use of longitudinal data was used instead of cross sectional data, as this would be useful for capturing changes over time in children’s nutritional statuses as well as changes in household structures. Longitudinal data would be especially useful for understanding how changes in household structure can influence child nutrition given the variability of households in the Caribbean, and other changes in composition across the developmental cycle of the household. It has been suggested that further research should also include measures of parental time allocations which would improve the understanding of how time used as a resource is used to affect child nutrition. Household structures effects could work through a variety of mechanisms, and a careful study of these processes is needed especially with regard to future research on this issue in the Caribbean context. In regards to whether this research is useful, it shows us that there can be some cultural family arrangement issues that are proven to impact the nutritional development of children showing us that there aren’t just psychological differences; which most research suggests there is.

Overall it could be suggested that there are many cultural variations within many different family arrangements. However, it is not completely clear whether the family arrangement directly affects the child’s development for reasons such as every child and their development is different and we therefore cannot pin point what factors specifically affect development. Other factors such as sexual orientation, wealth of families, social status and class are all areas that could be researched further to help link the affects within child development.

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In what ways does education affect social change between one generation and the next?

From 1891 every citizen in the United Kingdom was given the right to free education. Today, education is seen to enable every individual to effectively participate in activities of society and make positive contributions to its progress. Traditionally, earlier educational institutions taught its students a way of life through social control. It was largely associated with religion and was characteristically quite static. Now, education is seen as a way of preparing for the development of science and technology. From education we learn and transmit values and develop our culture. It gives us the ability to expand our social status and future work prosperities. Education is constantly changing along with society. In this essay I will convey the relationship between education and social changes such as class, gender and work prospects over time.

Originally schooling was only for the privileged such as the British nobility who studied classical subjects because they had no need in practical skills. When the Industrial Revolution came around it bought about the need for an educated labour force. Durkheim felt that the role of education was to allocate and prepare people to different and specialised roles within the Division of Labour. Throughout education there has been an ongoing theme of the correlation between educational success and social class.

“Parents and caregivers see education as a way for their children to improve on their own lives by building and understanding of their place in the world” (Lauder, H 2006 p.1).

It is seen that children from higher socioeconomic classes are likely to receive better educational life chances than that of children from lower classes. This has occurred through inter-generational mobility where parents pass down their perceptions and advantages in life to the next generation. A reason for this is that if you are of higher class you may have the opportunity to go to an elite private or grammar school where you are not only taught academic subjects but also learn mannerisms, patterns of speech and social graces linked with the British upper class. Pierre Bourdieu suggests that the primary role of any type of education was social reproduction (Macionis, J P.542). This may be because living in a middle to upper class prepares you in coping in such a demanding educational intuition. Young people from a lower class background are bought up around different language experiences, behaviours, attitudes, ideas, values and skills. For example, in the 1950s if you were of lower class and finished education at high school you would either get a job in manual labour such as mining or start an apprenticeship. Many of the higher class would typically continue in education to a specific profession or work in their father’s footsteps of his business.

Over time there has been an increase in the proportions of people from all social classes attaining high educational qualifications but the association between your origins of social class and educational achievement hasn’t significantly changed throughout generations. Better educational opportunities still mean a better qualification but the educational expansion experienced has benefited social classes equally without reducing social inequalities.

A major social change within education is gender equality. Women were completely excluded from education until the late nineteenth century (Billington, R. P. 139). For generations, there has been an overwhelming pressure on boys and girls to conform to gender stereotypes and roles beginning at birth. In previous generations it was seen the norm, for example for men to fight for their countries in world wars and for the women to child rear, care for the elderly and learn good housekeeping. One of the sociological explanations for this is that the definitions of gender in culture are learned. A Marxist view was that these views were derived from capitalism and patriarchy where the man is seen to be head of the family and is in control of work, marriage and property. State education reinforced the traditional male and female roles, splitting males to focus on the labour market and teach women to be good homemakers. Many feminists argued against this view of inequality within gender and felt that,

“The Curriculum should represent women fairly, and that they should be seen as legitimate and equal citizens of the state” (Lauder, H. P. 16).

It was thought that women’s increased participation in education would make a progressive and profound feature of social change. This is now the case as Arnot et al (1999) suggests that girls are now outperforming boys in every subject across the curriculum. This is a vast change where in previous generations men were seen as the only ones worthy and capable enough to gain an education.

Education for past generations was seen as a process you went through and in the end there was a job waiting to be taken. Many left school at the age of sixteen and worked their way up the economic ladder to provide for their family comfortably. Recently, there has been a large transition of elite to mass educational systems as new universities are built. Governments began giving students large incentives to attend to compete with the strong international knowledge economy. This also meant that people from various different backgrounds, races, genders an opportunity to gain a degree. Martin Trow felt this, “fundamentally changed higher education’s role in society”. Within the last forty four years there has been an increase of two million students coming into Higher Education. A set back however is, the demand for ‘knowledge’ workers has failed to keep pace with the rapid increase in the supply of university graduates. The Labour Force Survey found that 80 per cent of men aged 16 to 64 and 76 per cent of women aged 16 to 59 reported holding a qualification (The National Statistics online).

In today’s generation, your education is seen as a competition not only with fellow classmates and family but within British Labour market. This accessibility meant many students coming to university were the first generation in their family to attend, a big social change in terms the development of education. Now, in this post industrial society there are narrow economic opportunities for the lower/middle class, with a struggle to distinguish yourself from others with similar credentials.

Identity is described as a sense of self, as being a consistent and unique person. (Fernald, 1997) Defining individual identity involves being aware of and understanding an individual’s experiences, perceptions, feelings, sensations, images and memories. One’s understanding and explanation of them, the choices and decisions a person makes, and the action they take in responding to changing conditions, needs, demands and challenges is another important aspect of identity. Beyond their mental and physical constitution, human beings consist of personal experiences, perceptions, feelings, images and memories (Dorscht, 1998). As digital technology is a vast area to cover, I will primarily focus on the internet and people’s ability to connect with others.

Paul Magnarella, of the University of Florida proposes that, as societies become more complex and differentiated, due to technological developments, more specialists are needed, and social integration is becoming based on the interdependence of specialized functions (Magnarella, 1997). Modern humanity is adjusting to life within the global community. This has far reaching impact in how personal, social and cultural identities are formed and maintained. As the technology of the twenty-first century speeds up and expands access to information and virtual environments, constraints upon individuals to exclusively rely upon, and respond to their local physical environment is diminished (Jones, 1997).

The availability of information and technology has affected the development of individual and group identity. It is only very recently in the time line of human evolution, that individuals and members of society have been exposed to cultures, attitudes and ways of thinking that are not insulated. There has been a great deal of attention paid to the development of self in this technological society. The volume and variety of relationships now available to the average person, through the Internet, at an interpersonal level, enables the individual an opportunity to construct a new self or identity for every occasion, with very little is expected in return (Eyck, 1998).

Sociology is the study of human behaviour in groups, and focuses on the influences of social relationships on attitudes and behaviour. In the Sociological Research Online Journal, Schroeder examines the social aspects of multi-user virtual reality. He states that there is stratification in cyber-space communities, with “insiders” and “outsiders” with different behaviours, roles, and statuses. Schroeder regards the possibilities for extending new opportunities and experiences in both the natural and social worlds as sociologically relevant (Schroeder, 1997). The way in which individuals perceive themselves and their place in the world, is fundamental to the topic of identity. Researchers have described control as an individual’s “belief” that they could cause good or bad events. (Shapiro et al.) The schema theory is described as facts or experiences that are clustered around topics, which provide a frame of reference for individuals to draw upon when making judgments (Wresch, 1996). When an individual combines this schema with the way they selectively value the limited information allowed into their consciousness, it further defines one’s sense of identity. One point proposed is, that by role-playing or testing scenarios in cyber-space, some people are better prepared to function in similar real life situations.

Another issue is that of gender switching on the web. Anthropologists describe gender as the cultural elaboration and meaning assigned to the biological differentiation between the sexes (Haviland, 1997), in the sense that one’s sex is biologically determined, but one’s sexual identity is culturally assigned. In sociological terms, gender roles are expectations, regarding the proper behavior and activities, and attitudes of males and females. (Schaefer & Lamm, 1997: 37) In cyber-space you can assume multiple identities, change gender and explore different facets of your personality. Turkle quotes Jung, saying “Jung believed that for each of us, it is potentially most liberating to become acquainted with our dark side, as well as the other-gendered self, called anima in men and animus in women” (Turkle, 1995). In role-playing and gaming, such as the online fantasy game, Second Life. It may be seen as an exercise in fantasy, and a way to create and gain mastery over a persona the individual is in control of. Second Life is a free 3D virtual world where users can socialize, connect and create using free voice and text chat.

One definition of society is a fairly large number of people who live in the same territory, are relatively independent of people outside it, and participate in a common culture (Schaefer & Lamm, 1997). In cyber-space, people are forming virtual societies. A sense of familiarity and belonging is created, through interaction and virtual proximity. Participants in Second Life refer to their virtual communities as “cultures”. Culture by definition is, “A set of rules or standards, shared by members of a society, which when acted on by the members produce behaviour that falls within a range of variation the members consider proper and acceptable” (Haviland, 1997). To deviate from the rules can result in punishment or expulsion from the culture. There are both “IC”, in character, guidelines for behavior, and “OC” or out of character codes to be followed. These people feel that they know each other. They interact both in and out of character and, in some cases have arranged meetings in the Real World.

Sherry Turkle (Turkle, 1995) puts forward the idea that computer mediated communications have saturated society with both alien and local cultures. Turkle points out that through such widespread social contact, we are adjusting to and assimilating other cultures beliefs and norms to such an extent that we as a society are being deprived of traditional social structures and norms.

In this information age, one may locate diverse friends, create an alternate identity and explore avenues of study and areas of culture that were never an option a generation ago (Turkle, 1995). Culture lag is defined as a period of maladjustment during which the non-material culture adapts to the material culture and foreign ideas are often viewed as threatening. (Schaefer & Lamm, 1997) This definition could be paraphrased by stating that some individuals suffer from a period of confusion while the previously non-technical culture is adapting to new technology. This techno-culture lag appears to be more problematic to those who have not had as much experience with the technical and Internet related fields, than for example, the average secondary school student. The modern teenager sees the Internet in much the same way the children of the 1960’s took television for granted.

From a sociological view our individual culture provides us with a predisposed way of thinking and behaving when communicating. Our vocabulary is affected by our culture, in that we tend to have more words or ways of expressing ourselves, relative to the degree of importance we attach to a given subject. (Haviland, 1997) The way in which we communicate also guides our thinking and behaviour. This can be a potential source of problems when communicating outside our own culture. Phrases and words that are intended to convey a particular meaning may be misinterpreted and cause embarrassment or offense to a person of a different culture. The absence of body language and gestures when communicating by computer, whether through email or chats, seems to be guiding communication to a more generic form and adding a whole new vocabulary of technological terminology.

Modern humanity is part of a networked society, whether directly or indirectly. Its views of the world, its cultures and individual identity are all being reshaped through the impact of the Internet in our lives. People have become cyber-chameleons, adjusting to whoever they are communicating with. This flexibility is characteristic of contemporary society. One generation ago, it was common for a person to be born, live, and die in one community, while being married to the same person and working in the same job. In today’s society it is not unusual to change jobs, and move, remarry and adapt multiple times.

Societies suffer a cultural loss when they homogenize and streamline their identities in order to communicate and interact globally (Featherstone & Burrows, 1995). The modern self is bombarded with instantaneous images of far off peoples, events and cultures and distant happenings. This places the producers of this information in the position of becoming manufacturers of reality (Eyck, 1998). It is more important than ever that the individual become aware of how to distinguish fantasy from reality and evaluate the information that is being served up to them (Balsalmo, 1996). The distribution of knowledge and power has made it more difficult for powerful social institutions to wield the power they once did. Knowledge is power, so perhaps to spread knowledge is to distribute power. One’s awareness of choices and decisions, of action and responses, and understanding of what they indicate, and how they interact and relate is what finally comprises an image of oneself, an identity.

Canada is considered a prestigious member of the First World, with a thriving economy and industry, high standard of living and democratic government that supports and protects its citizens. When countries of the global south are compared to Canada their disparities become enhanced. However, even as these comparisons are interestingly eye opening, the world’s eyes seem to only quickly glace within Canada itself, overlooking incredible contradiction. Within Canada people are suffering greatly, in particular the Aboriginals of Canada who have been marginalized and exploited since the colonial age. These people have been suffering internally for centuries as their relationship with the First World has left them with a shattered culture and a society polluted with social issues. This issue interests and concerns me deeply because I was born in Prince George, British Columbia, a small, polluted and troubled town that taught me a great deal about the hardships of the First Nations. My father worked in the school system and encountered many children that came from the reservations, it quickly became apparent that the situation these children were facing was dire. Many of the First Nations students were struggling with domestic violence or other types of trouble at home mainly concerning alcoholism; sometimes this resulted in movement to foster care which simply troubled them more. As I witnessed all of the hardships these peoples faced I felt overwhelmed and confused that in a nation as developed and diverse as Canada one group had to endure so much. When I entered into Development Studies 100 this year I began to learn about colonization and in particular theories like underdevelopment, which highlight its injustice and huge negative impacts. These theories helped to clarify the idea that many of the issues I observed can be traced back and attributed to European contact, connection, and corruption of the Aboriginal peoples. I think such historical understanding and relationships are important so that we can appreciate the current respect and celebration or multiculturalism in society but still be aware of the repression, exploitation and critical dissection of the Aboriginal culture that occurred and its results. Many issues have arisen from the colonial contact of Aboriginal Canadians but I am going to look specifically at the effects of the introduction of alcohol. I am going to demonstrate how alcohol played a pivotal role in the breakdown of traditions and cultural values which gave rise to various social issues resulting in an exponential number of dysfunctional families.

Theoretical Framework

The underdevelopment theory can effectively be applied to analyze the experiences of Canada’s Aboriginals; it explores how elements of colonization created a dependency between the powerful core countries and weaker peripheral people (Frank, 1969: 112). Andre Gunder Frank demonstrates the flaws in colonial relationships by illustrating how devastating they were on those countries and people that were exploited and points out the ridiculousness of the, “largely erroneous view that the development of underdevelopedaˆ¦ must and will be generated or stimulated by diffusing capital, institutions, values, etc., to them from the international and national capitalist metroples” (ibid: 108). By invading and implementing core countries’ values and policies on weaker peripheral countries the forced change nurtures unequal relationships which benefit the developed, resulting in devastating dependency (ibid: 107). This theory can be effectively applied to outline and understand the strategies employed by the British to weaken the Aboriginals of Canada which resulted in the breakdown of their culture and contributed to the growth of many disparaging social issues. Although there were many practices used by the British to gain power and control over the Aboriginals I am going to focus on mainly the introduction of alcohol and how it was wielded as a weapon against the weak.

Historical Context

Colonialism in Canada faced the same issues as many other colonial ventures, the problem of the people who were there first and how to eliminate them as a threat to success. The British used a large amount of colonial policy to weaken the Aboriginal population, discriminating against them both socially and legally, marginalizing them meant more profit for the colonizers (Barsh, 1994: 2). Such policy made their employment limited, lost them control over many resources and more broadly weakened their status (Blackstock, 2000: 4). However it was not just legal documents that gave the British power and control, there were also more hidden and manipulative methods employed, in particular the trading of alcohol (ibid). Edwardo and Bonnie Duran explore this issue thoroughly by demonstrating that although British colonialists were not the first to introduce alcohol to the Aboriginals they distorted the use of it for their own benefit (1995: 136). Alcohol was present in some Aboriginal communities before colonization but it was used infrequently and mostly for ceremonies and other rare occasions (ibid). The British colonizers and traders introduced heavy drinking and intoxication by the 1800’s huge numbers of Aboriginals had developed dependence and alcoholism (Duran and Duran, 1995: 122). This was the result that had motivated the British, they aimed to develop a desperate market that would give them power and control (ibid: 125). They introduced alcohol as a way to control and dominate trade and it was one of many elements they used to gain complete power (ibid: 122). The relationship alcohol created led to huge change to the Aboriginal culture and traditional way of life. This manipulation becomes even more apparent when related to the dependency theory. By analyzing the relationship from a perspective of benefits to the colonizer and hindrance to the Aboriginals it is clear that a form of destructive dependency was created which still echoes today.

Distortion of Culture and Tradition

By introducing such a destructive element as alcohol to the aboriginal culture the colonizers can be implicated as responsible for the breakdown of a way of life. Early reports of Aboriginals reactions to alcohol have stated it changed their attitudes and made them violent, promiscuous and wild (Duran and Duran, 1995: 123). As abuse of substance grew so too did the distance between the Aboriginals and their traditional values (ibid: 138). For example the Aboriginals always saw sexuality as a sacred element pre-colonialism but the introduction of alcohol led to a decline in respect of this traditional standard, as evidenced by the drastic increase in sexual abuse (Hylton, 2002:6). Child care was also an extremely important and revered part of Aboriginal culture but as alcoholism became more common instances of neglect and child abuse swelled (Duran and Duran, 1995: 159). Alcohol was taking them away from their traditional norms and standards and disseminating their value system, leaving them weak and disconnected at the hands of the colonizers (Hylton, 2002: 8). The trauma of colonial processes and mechanisms in general, and the destruction reaped by alcohol more specifically led to the distortion of traditional Aboriginal culture which brought about an abundance of detrimental and unhealthy internal issues and went on to destroy the family unit.

Growing Social Issues

Alcoholism is one of the most harmful problems plaguing contemporary Aboriginal life (Duran and Duran, 1995: 106). This is because with it comes many physical, emotional and psychological issues which have widespread consequences. When alcohol and mass consumption was introduced it caused social and cultural distress, leading to a breakdown of traditional culture and norms (Barsh, 1994: 21). Without guiding principles and the comfort of their culture, the intake of alcohol, which is a depressant, bred violence, confusion and illness. In short the alienation from their culture via colonialism and its legacies, alcohol in particular led to self destructive behaviour (ibid: 35). Levels of sexual and spousal abuse are both alarmingly high in aboriginal communities and the presence of both can be linked back to colonial causes (Bopp and Bopp, 2003: 27). In fact before colonialism it is reported that tribes lived harmoniously and sexual abuse was not present in communities (Hylton, 2002: 17). This is contrasted by the fact that a 1999 study reported that 75% of Canadian Aboriginal girls under 18 had been sexually assaulted (Bopp and Bopp, 2003:27). Another statistic that demonstrates the warping of Aboriginal values and relationships but colonial policy is that 38% of Aboriginal spousal homicides involve alcohol abuse (ibid: 24).

Alcohol has also had effects on personal areas like mental and physical health of

Aboriginals. Alcohol is closely related to depression which is widespread and both are large contributing factors of suicide among Aboriginals (Barsh, 1994: 28). An article in the Edmonton Journal claimed that the suicide rate among Aboriginal Peoples of Canada an epidemic (Aboriginal suicide rate ‘epidemic’, 2007). To support this claim it produced haunting statistics, such as the suicide rate of Aboriginal youth in some isolated communities being eleven times higher than the Canadian average (ibid). Alcoholism is also one of the leading public healthcare concerns for Aboriginals (Duran and Duran, 1995: 106). Abuse of alcohol has serious consequences, which can be observed in a large amount of Aboriginal peoples, including cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes, and fetal alcohol syndrome (ibid). As demonstrated by these statistics, alcohol has had severely harmful effects on the Aboriginal peoples, both on an individual level and within group settings and dynamics.

Deterioration of the Family Unit

The introduction and integration of alcohol into the aboriginal culture has had significant influence over changing family dynamics. Upon investigating the distortion of culture and traditions it has been made clear that traditionally the Aboriginals of Canada had close and respectful relationships; however, the introduction of alcohol led to the loss of these norms and a growth of destructive issues (Duran and Duran, 1995: 159). Problems caused by alcohol often manifest themselves in the home; as Aboriginal peoples feel more socially disintegrated they retreat into their homes where frustration is expressed through violence and abuse (Barsh, 1994: 35). The prevalence of mental and physical illness caused by alcohol also has negative impacts on the family as it hurts them financially and emotionally, so that caring for each other becomes more difficult (Hylton, 2002: 17). Due to all these obstacles and problems it has become very difficult for Aboriginal families to live in a positive or functional manner. As a result, many families are separated, three times more Aboriginal children are in substitute care than non- Aboriginals (Barsh, 1994: 27). Alcohol has created an unhealthy and destructive atmosphere in the homes of many Canadian Aboriginals, sadly resulting in fractured lives and relationships.

Weakness/Bias

When researching and analyzing the data and information on alcohol and Aboriginals there were several issues I encountered that could have affected the integrity of my work. The majority of the statistics and data I recovered was relating to the large and homogenized group of “Canadian Aboriginals”, by using this information it is possible I made generalizations. Every Aboriginal tribe and community is unique and has had different experiences. Alcohol has taken tolls in different ways depending on the location and specific demographic. This means that there was plenty of room for error in my work, as unique experiences were not really explored or addressed. However, in order to illustrate my ideas and the conclusions of my research on the affects of colonialism and alcohol on the Aboriginal home it was necessary for me to draw from the data, although it created some generalization. Therefore the quality of my research has been weakened slightly by the sweeping nature of some of the data and information collected and the manner in which it was presented by not exploring specific experiences.

Conclusion

This research paper set out to demonstrate that within the advanced and highly developed nation of Canada a group of people are suffering as a result of specific colonial processes that occurred centuries ago. The colonial introduction of alcohol to the Aboriginals of Canada created a chain reaction, building a dependency and shattering a culture which gave way to a breakdown of family dynamics. This paper illustrated the path that led to the current issue of dysfunctional and broken homes for Aboriginals, looking at several causes and contributing factors. It can be concluded that the introduction of alcohol and mass consumption to the Aboriginals by the colonists led to distortion and destruction of their tradition which deteriorated their culture. These processes gave way to many social issues which all cumulatively delivered a devastating blow to the dynamics of aboriginal families. This demonstrates that historical conflicts and manipulations has been the cause of the current struggles of Aboriginals. By demonstrating this it becomes clear that even in a nation as developed, modern and seemingly accepting, the underdevelopment theory can still be applied. It proves that even in a country with civil and human rights, democracy and equality, a country that many praise and admire, exploitation still occurs. This is an important point to raise because there is a common misconception that Canada is a gentle peacekeeping nation; yet Canada has a history of internal colonialism, so brutal that it has resulted in the decline of functionality for many families. Having demonstrated this, issues are raised on how to approach the problems facing Aboriginal society. How much responsibility should the government take for the personal and social dysfunctions that colonialism and alcohol created? (Smillie-Adjarkwa, 2010). How should the individual and communities approach the issues? Are traditional healing methods enough, or is external intervention necessary? This issue reflects the complexity of development issues as it illustrates the inequality and disparity that can occur within a developed and thriving nation. This paper has addressed and explained a very perplexing issue, that of a Third World within the First. This is important information for every Canadian and more broadly any person who cares about the world and those who inhabit it, we must be aware that the legacies of colonialism linger in even the most unlikely of places. Even the praised nation of Canada has a dark shadow in its foundations caused by the suffering and manipulation of colonialism, these elements are still reflected in current society by the disadvantageous position of the Aboriginal peoples.

As the most populous country in the world, the People’s Republic of China has been adopting the One-Child Policy since 1979 in order to improve the problem of overpopulation which is seen as an obstacle of the growth and development of the country. While the Chinese Government emphasizes its achievements of population control in China, the controversial policy has been widely criticized for its negative influences. This paper presents the One-Child Policy’s effects on the position of women. “Women’s position” in this paper is basically defined by women’s rights, freedom, respectability and social status .I will first briefly introduce the policy, then analyze both the positive and negative impacts with relevant data and statistics, and lastly come to a conclusion.

The Policy and Population Growth

Introduced in 1978 and implemented since 1979, the One-Child Policy is a family planning policy adopted by the Chinese Government in order to improve China’s over-rapid population as to prevent its unfavourable effects on economic and social development of the country.(Information Office of the State Council Of the People’s Republic of China 1995) The policy restricts married urban Chinese couples from having more than one child by imposing monetary penalties on families with extra children yet exemptions are allowed for couples who belong to ethnic minorities, live in rural area or do not have any siblings.(BBC News 2000) The One-Child Policy is considered successful in terms of its control on China’s population growth as the birth rate in the county has been greatly decreasing since the introduction of the policy. (see Figure 1) “Compared with 1970, in 1994 the birth rate dropped from 33.43 per thousand to 17.7 per thousand; the natural growth rate, from 25.83 per thousand to 11.21 per thousand; and the total fertility rate of women, from 5.81 to around 2aˆ¦According to statistics supplied by the United Nations, China’s population growth rate has already been markedly lower than the average level of other developing countries.” (Information Office of the State Council Of the People’s Republic of China 1995)

Figure 1. Changes in the total fertility rate in China
Source: National Population and Family Planning Commission of China (2006)
Violation of Women’s Reproductive Rights

Despite its success in population control, the One-Child Policy gives rise to criticisms among which one lies in its violation of women’s reproductive rights. Reproductive rights are a subset of human rights first recognized at the United Nation’s International Conference on Human Rights in Teheran on 13th May 1986. According to the 16th article of the Proclamation of Teheran, “Parents have a basic human right to determine freely and responsibly the number and the spacing of their children”. Dixon-Mueller (1993: 12) suggests that reproductive rights can be defined as three types: “1. the freedom to decide how many children to have and when (or whether) to have them; 2. the right to have the information and means to regulate one’s fertility; 3. the right to control one’s own body”. Reproductive freedom is “the core of individual self-determination”.

The One-Child Policy does not only violate women’s rights by limiting the number of their children but also leads to forced abortions in the country. Under the enforced policy, every 2.4 seconds there is a woman undergoing a forced abortion in China and this makes a total of about 35,000 abortions per day. (Phillips 2010: 1) Abortion is legal in China and as reported in China Daily in 2009, 13 millions of abortions are performed in China every year, which largely exceeds those performed in other countries such as the United States and Canada. (see Figure 2). There is a direct relationship between the One-Child Policy and Chine’s abortion rate. Posten&Yaukey (1992: 290) point out that the abortion rate in China increased by nearly 50% between 1978 and 1979 when the policy started being implemented. It is widely known that abortions can cause women health problems, not to mention its negative impacts on emotional and mental health. Ms. Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, criticized that “The one child policy causes more violence toward women and girls than any other policy on the face of the earth.” (Jiang 2009)

Figure2. Abortion statistics in China, U.S.A., U.K., Canada and Australia
Source: Jiang (2009)
Unwanted Daughters and Sex-Selective Abortions

A saying among peasants in China goes like this:”The birth of a boy is welcomed with shouts of joy and firecrackers, but when a girl is born, the neighbours say nothing”(Westley&Choe 2007: 2) In spite of China’s modernization over the past decades, it is still common for Chinese parents to prefer sons to daughters. (Wang 1999: 197) Such a preference indirectly leads to sex-selective abortions as female fetuses are usually considered less precious than male ones, especially if the couples are allowed to have only one child. With fetal screening technologies such as ultrasound, amniocentesis and chorionic villi sampling, the sex of unborn fetuses can be recognized before their birth. Such technologies and available abortions result in the possibility that couples selectively abort female fetuses in the hope of having a son instead.(Westley&Choe 2007: 3)

Beside sex-selective abortions, China’s infant mortality rate is another thing to look into. Generally the mortality of male infants is expected to be greater than that of female ones as male infants are biologically weaker than female infants.(Li, 2007: 2) This assumption is also proved by the world’s infant mortality rate by sex.(See Table 1) However, as shown in Table 2, China goes in the reverse direction. It is believed that this unusual tendency is caused by female infanticides and daughter abandonments resulting from the son preference.

Table 1. World’s infant mortality rate by sex 1980-2010
Source: United Nations Population Division (2010)
Table 2. China’s infant mortality rate by sex 1980-2010
Source: United Nations Population Division (2010)
Gender Imbalance – Blessing or Curse?

Together with the increasing female infant mortality, there is a rising trend of the sex ratio in China since the implement of the One-Child Policy.(See Figure 3) It is estimated by the State Population and Family Planning Commission that there will be 30 million more Chinese man than Chinese women in 2020. (BBC News 2007)

Because of the supply-and-demand law that supply decreases t and demand remains unchanged then the value of supply increase, some people assume that if there are less women in China their “values” and social status should naturally rise. However, this law would make sense only if the “demand” of women was high. Poon(2008) points out that when women become the minority in a male-preponderant society like China, China may face “a period of unprecedented male aggression, which would likely render women as victims and women’s status even more precarious and vulnerable to subjugation.”

Figure 3. Rising sex ratio and excess female infant mortality in China
Source: Sun (2005)
Women’s Empowerment – The Mistaken Focus

It is always emphasized by the Chinese Government that the One-Child Policy helps promoting women’s empowerment and improving women’s position as they are “freed from heavy burdens brought about by having many children”(National Population and Family Planning Commission of China 2006). This claim contains two causal relations:

1) Because of the One-Child Policy women have fewer children.

2) Women have fewer children so they can spend more time on their career.

Both of them make sense in a large extent, but is the One-Child Policy a must to control the number of women’s children? Probably no.

Despite that Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the PRC, the One-Child Policy is never implemented in the city, where the social position of women is relatively high. As shown in Figure 4, the fertility rate of Hong Kong kept dropping even and was even lower than that of China. Of course one can argue that there are various factors contributing to Hong Kong’s low fertility rate, yet one can also question whether the One-Child Policy is the only factor causing the decline in fertility rate and the rise of women’s position.

Figure 4. Fertility rates from 1960-2005 in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and East Asia & Pacific
Source: The United Families International (2010)
The Single Child Generation

The One-Child Policy does not only aim to decrease the birthrate but also to improve the quality of the new generation, the future pillars of China. It is commonly believed that having single daughters will raise the position of women as their parents provide them with better and more concentrated resources such as education and materials. It may be true in some ways, but Greenhalgh(2007.) points out that the One-Child Policy has produced “the most materially and educationally privileged generation of young people in Chinese history” who are spoiled and egocentric. “Having been the focus of attention from the family throughout their growing-up years, these children are more dependent on others and easily hurt psychologically.”(China Daily 2005) The new single-child generation in China has already concerning Chinese from the “older” generation. Do better resources necessarily create a better generation? If it does not, how can we expect a decline in qualities of children (both male and female) will result in better positions of women?

Conclusion

The One-Child Policy was claimed to be “a short-term measure” when it was first introduced in China.(Hesketh, Li& Zhu 2005) Now that the policy has already been implemented for three decades, its negative consequences eventually appear and have aroused worries from the society. The policy negatively affects women’s position as it violate women’s rights and enhances the existing favoritism towards male children –

and it is not coming to an end yet. According to Zhao Baige, deputy director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission of China, although it is said that the policy has been slowly being relaxed ,China’s family-planning policy will remain unchanged until at least 2015. (Kumar 2010)

(1631 words)

Explain how new problems have emerged within your society as a result of changes in the functions of the family.

In the UK and other Western countries during the last forty years there has been a widespread experience of changes in marriage, household, and family forms that would not have been thought possible prior to the Second World War (Giddens, 2001). People are less likely to marry than they used to and there is less of a tendency to marry at a young age. The women’s movement which began in the 1960s has, it is argued, led to a rise in the divorce rate and the number of single parent families. There has also been a growth in the rate of women who have children but have not married and in 1997 they made up 42% of all lone parent households (Social Trends, 2000). This paper will look at traditional notions of the family and then at some of the changes in the functions of the family and some of the social problems that have resulted from this

Defining the traditional family

The family might be generally defined as a group of people who are usually linked by kinship^[1] and marriage, who live together, usually, but not necessarily made up of two parents and their children. This type of family is the norm for most people. Murdock (1949) has argued that common to all societies, is the nuclear family, described above (parents and children) or extended family (a wider family membership e.g. grandparents). 40% of all people in Britain in 1996 lived in nuclear families (Brown,1998).

Parsons (1955) has argued that the traditional family serves two major purposes that are common to societies, the primary socialisation of children into the norms and values of society, and the stabilisation of adult personalities. For Parsons the institution of the family provided the mutual love and support needed by individuals in order for them to be fit enough to take their places in society (Giddens, 2001). This has been contested by feminists such as Abbott and Wallace (1997) who argue that family life is experienced by its members in different ways and family life has not been supportive of women because it is generally they who provide other members with support.

Parson’s model of the family where one adult worked outside the home while the other remained to care for the family has been criticised by many scholars as overly idealistic and neglects the ethnic and class differences that occur within a capitalist society (Giddens, 2001). The capitalist system failed to take into account women’s work in the home Abbott and Wallace (1997) contend and this enabled men to go out to work because women were the hidden labour force. Goode (1972) argues that social systems such as the family, are powerful agents of control because to some extent their existence is founded on force. Within social systems such as the family this is often unrecognised. Goode argues it is, not visible because it is effective (1972:512).

Giddens (2001) has further criticised Parsons’ view of the family for neglecting to recognise, and take into account the emergence of different family forms. Fewer people are now choosing to marry and those who do may choose not to have children. Gittens (1992) is of the opinion that in modern Britain:

Ideals of family relationships have become enshrined in our legal, social, religious and economic systems which, in turn, reinforce the ideologyand penalise or ostracise those who transgress it (Gittens, 1992, p.74).

In 1997 when Blair’s Government came to power the ideology of the family that had existed in Britain for almost a century was breaking down and unemployment was continuing to rise. Death, divorce, and the rise in the number of single parent families meant that the traditional ideal of the male breadwinner and the female carer/homemaker were becoming less common.

Single Parent Families

40% of marriages in the UK end in divorce according to the Guardian newspaper 2000,p.3)and there are an increasing number of single parent families in the Western world. There are many different reasons why people become lone parents family structures may change either through the death of a partner, cohabitation or remarriage which leads to reconstituted families. Second marriages however tend to have a higher divorce rate than first time marriages. Some theorist suggest that couples would have lived together prior to getting married, but those who live together may be far more likely to split than married couples. Some of those cohabiting may also have had children and Government figures show that the vast majority of single parent households are headed by women. Because traditional notions of the family headed by a male breadwinner are still prevalent, Abbott and Wallace (1997) suggest that many single parents, who of necessity live off welfare benefits are seen both by those in power as a burden on the state. The concerns of the Welfare State were with the traditional, nuclear family where the man was the breadwinner and the woman cared for the home and children. It was not therefore, set up to deal with single parent households. In this way changing family structures result in an increase in other social problems, particularly poverty (Giddens, 2001).

Families and Poverty

The media and for some Government members refer increasingly to young single mothers as representative of lone parents. In contrast, Crowe and Hardy (1992) and others state that single parents are a varied group because there are a number of different routes to becoming a single parent These involves increased responsibility and many single parents who are without an extended family network are forced to rely on the state system just to get by. These households are very often among the poorest. Giddens (2001) maintains that English speaking countries have the highest number of single parents, and those who are working are among the lowest paid. These are parents who are attempting to be self-reliant and while family working tax credits may seem like a good idea many people have argued that they serve to encourage a dependency culture for people who might prefer to be independent.

In 1991 31% of children lived in households with an income that was less than 50% of the national average (Giddens, 2001). The Social Fund was set up to help the poorest members of society to afford basic necessities such as bedding, shoes, and children’s clothes but this does not help those that most need it because it is the poorest who mostly do not get this funding(Cohen,1996). Single parents who want to join the work force rather than remain in receipt of benefits are often prevented from doing so because of the cost of childcare. The Government claim to support working families’ childcare arrangements does not make provision for older children during school holidays. Without the help of other family members, such moves to join the workforce become virtually impossible. In this way families become part of a growing number of those who are excluded from many of the things that most people take for granted. People who are financially poor are also liable to suffer from social exclusion in other areas. They may live in areas with the poorest housing, and have less access to decent schools and health services.

Conclusion

Clearly traditional family structures are no longer the norm in the UK. This leads to other social problems because the state system is not equipped to deal with either the increased burden on the benefits system or in making the employment and childcare systems more equitable. It might be argued that things are not going to return to the way they were and therefore Government needs to initiate policies that relate to the changed structure in UK society.

1250 words

Bibliography

Abbott, P. and Wallace, C. 1997. An Introduction to Sociology: Feminist Perspectives. London, Routledge.

Chambez, C. 2001. “Lone-Parent Families in Europe: A Variety of Economic and Social Circumstances” Social Policy and Administration 2001, 35, 6, Dec, 658-671

Cohen, R. 1996 “The poverty trap” Community Care; 1 Aug 96, p.26-7

Crowe, G. and Hardey,M.1992. “Diversity and ambiguity among lone-parent households in modern Britain”. In Marsh, C. and Arber, S. (Eds.) 1992. Families and Households: Divisions and Change. London: Macmillan. Giddens, A. 2001. (4^th ed). Sociology. Cambridge, Polity Press.

Gittens, D. 1992 “What is the family? Is it Universal”. In Macdowell, L. and Pringle, R. (Eds.) 1992 Defining Women: social institutions and gender divisions. Cambridge:Polity.

Guardian, 27^th March, 2000 p.3

Parsons, T. and Bales, R. 1955. Family, Socialisation, and Interaction Process. Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press

Social Trends 30 2000. General Household Survey in Giddens, A. 2001. (4^th ed). Sociology. Cambridge, Polity Press.p.181

Walby, S. 1986. Patriarchy at Work. Cambridge: Polity.

1

Critically assess the case that the products of the contemporary pornography industry are both a cause of violence and discrimination directed against women and also ‘intrinsically harmful’.

‘Everyone says: ‘Oh, women want sex soft and pretty, like a Harlequin novel’. It’s as if women are being protected…’

Candida Royalle (2000:545)

It is not the purpose of this essay to defend the contemporary pornography industry which to this day remains a ‘dirty’ and -to a large extent- a male-dominated, exploitative business, but rather to understand the reasons behind this sad reality. Pornography made its first prominent appearance in feminist discourse in the late 70s, when feminist groups such as ‘Women Against Violence in Pornography and the Media’ (WAVPM) embarked upon their anti-pornography campaign in the San Francisco Bay area^[1]. The so-called ‘sex wars’ of the 1980s brought about an unprecedented division within the feminist movement. Anti-pornography writers, such as Andrea Dworkin and Catharine MacKinnon -authors of the famous ‘Minneapolis and Indianapolis ordinances’^[2]– advocated the censorship of pornographic material, on account of its role as ‘a practice that is central to the subordination of women’^[3]. Other feminists put forth a liberal legal argument, invoking the First Amendment to the American Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech. Two decades later, the pornography debate has retained its relevance in feminist discourse. There is still heated disagreement over three interrelated issues: what is the definition of pornography? Does pornography cause violence and discrimination against women? What is the best way to deal with pornography in the policy and legislation arenas? While critically assessing the anti-pornography thesis, I will argue in turn that most sexually explicit graphic material is not the cause but can mirror the misogyny and exploitation that characterizes modern societies; and that far from being ‘intrinsically harmful’ pornography can in fact be employed in the service of feminist ideas.

A necessary starting point if we are to understand pornography would be an analytically helpful definition. But this is itself one of the main points of disagreement between feminists. The pro-censorship side has emulated traditional definitions of pornography^[4] and equated sexual explicitness with violence and female subordination^[5]. Dworkin understands pornography as the platform where sexist ideology thrives by exhibiting male supremacy, discernible in seven interwoven strains: the power of the self, physical power, the power of terror, the power of naming, the power of owning, the power of money and the power of sex’^[6]. Contemporary porn depicts women as the helpless victims of men: bound, tortured, humiliated, battered, urinated upon or ‘merely taken and used’. Evoking the Greek etymology of the word, Dworkin (1990:24) defines pornography as the ‘graphic depiction of whores’, (‘porne’ being the Greek for a cheap prostitute or sex slave). Thus pornography is conceived as something sexist, violent and exploitative by definition; in other words, as an intrinsically harmful phenomenon.

Even at this early stage, pro-censorship analysis seems to rest on shaky methodological grounds. First it involves a clearly circular argument which condemns pornography without trying to understand it, almost like arguing that ‘pornography is bad, because it is bad’. Second, the cross-cultural analysis of Ancient Greece is dubious, if not completely a-historical, since ‘pornography’ is not an ancient but a Victorian neologism, invented in the 19^th century, thus reflecting Victorian sensitivities rather than ancient realities. Third, the definition of porn as a field of violence and sexism logically entails a distinction from other, sexually explicit material that is not violent, demeaning and exploitative, but is based on sentiments of mutuality and reciprocity. Defining this emerging category, usually referred to as ‘Erotica’, is a highly subjective endeavor and obviously unhelpful for an academic or a judge. Equating sexual explicitness to violence, misogyny and other value-judgments is not only counter productive to the search for a descriptive definition of pornography; it is also untrue, since it is often the case that ‘soft porn’ or even altogether non-sexual material can contain much more disturbing scenes of violence and sexism than pornography itself ^[7]. Fourth, most of the anti-porn literature has applied its definitions of pornography in a vague and inconsistent manner, jumping from the ‘graphic depiction of whores’ to the more mainstream concept of porn as cheaply produced ‘smut’ for instant consumption^[8]; and sometimes to a more inclusive definition containing phenomena as diverse as fashion, TV commercials, sex toys and sex education^[9].

Methodological concerns aside, anti-porn definitions of pornography entail positions that appear to contradict the very essence of feminism. Anti-porn pronouncements on ‘good, sensitive Erotica’ vis-a-vis ‘bad, abusive porn’ are essentially pronouncements about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ sexuality. At the risk of caricature, this entails restrictions on sexuality of Orwellian dimensions, and is contrary to the fights of the feminist, gay and lesbian movements for sexual liberation and diversity. One anti-porn author opines that ‘erotica is rooted in eros, or passionate love, and thus in the idea of positive choice, free will, the yearning for a particular person, whereas in pornography the subject is not love at all, but domination and violence against women’^[10]. Statements like this one seem to imply an acceptance of old patriarchical stereotypes of the form ‘men are aggressive and polygamous by nature, while women are passive and monogamous’ and that women do not, cannot or should not enjoy sex in itself. Paradoxically, Dworkin’s (1990) synoptic treatment of the history of pornography exaggerates the passivity and helplessness of female victims and the violence of male domination to such an extent, that it unwittingly reinforces the very binary stereotypes that feminism has historically fought to uproot. Her presentation of women in pornography as ‘whores’, is at best patronizing, if not condescending and insulting towards female porn-workers, who often choose to follow that mode of subsistence. The choices of porn-workers deserve as much respect as those of women working in less stigmatized industries and, perhaps, even greater feminist solidarity^[11].

Pro-censorship argumentation tends to revolve around two rhetorical devices. The first is the exaggeration of the amount and degree of violence contained in pornographic material, through the accumulation of undeniably disturbing images. The slide shows projected in WAVPM meetings and the material articulately described in Dworkin’s book have been handpicked for their shock-value and power to disturb. Drawn primarily from the underground cultures of Bizarre, Bestiality and SM, most of these images are largely unrepresentative of the mainstream market, which is both highly diversified and specialized. Specialization is a key-point because of the basic fact that different people have different ‘turn-ons’. Given that some people may find publicly disturbing, what others view as privately stimulating is no good reason to label porn in its entirety as intrinsically offensive. The second rhetorical device lies in the argument that pornography is not just a representation of imaginary violence but also a recorded reality or as put by MacKinnon, a ‘documentary of abuse’^[12]. Again this argument misleadingly conflates reality with representational fantasy. To claim that every woman -or man- that appears to be abused in a porn-movie is actually abused, is almost as naive as claiming that every man shot-dead in, say, ‘the Terminator’, is actually dead. The anti-porn argument fails to take into consideration factors such as artifice, acting and role-playing^[13]. While genuine case of abuse are not absent from the porn industry, the vast majority of depictions of ‘violence’ occur in a role-playing context which carefully ensures the safety of the actors.

My view is that understanding pornography requires a descriptive definition which, instead of passing judgments over the moral credentials and political consciousness of its participants, focuses on the realities of the porn industry. In this light, modern pornography, as we know it, is the graphic representation of sexually explicit material, mass-produced and mass-consumed with the purpose of sexual arousal. Although it is not ‘intrinsically evil’, this industry is morally no better than the society that produces it.

The effect of sexually explicit material on its viewers and society at large is the second main component of the pornography debate. Anti-porn analysis has insisted on a theory of causality, whereby real rape, physical abuse and humiliation of women by men occur as a direct result of their exposure to the ‘hateful values’^[14] of pornography. In Dworkin’s own words ‘at the heart of the female condition is pornography: it is the ideology that is the source of all the rest;’^[15]. By equating the representation of violence with injurious action, Dworkin evokes what neo-Aristotelian theorists of representation have termed as the ‘Mimesis-model’. Derived from the Greek word ‘mimesis’, meaning ‘imitation’ or ‘reproduction’, the model positions the real both before and after its representation^[16].

At a theoretical level the Mimesis-model can be sufficiently challenged by another Aristotelian concept, that of Catharsis. This would entail that far from reducing men to perpetrators of violence, exposure to the mock-violence of pornography -with all its artistic conventions and restrictions- would relieve them of the violent dispositions that lay ‘hidden’ in their psyche, in the same way that, say, a horror movie may give us pleasure without inciting violence and blood-thirst. The Catharsis-model fits particularly well to the very nature of pornography. Founded on a much-attested human desire for an occasional breach of taboo, porn tends to represent situations and feelings that may well be antisocial and very often remote from what the actual social practice is. Japan -a country with one of the lowest rape rates world-wide- sustains a huge pornographic industry that ‘specializes’ in violence and sexual domination^[17]. The anti-pornography perceptive fails to grasp this crucial distinction between social reality and harmless fantasy^[18]. In terms of empirical evidence, psychological experiments on the alleged correlation between exposure to porn and violent activity are, at best, inconclusive^[19]. Historical and cross-societal analysis is equally unpromising for the Mimesis-argument. Porn, in its modern sense, is a very recent creation^[20]. And yet, the exploitation of women by men had predated it by thousands of years. At the same time, political systems that adhered to the systematic suppression of pornographic representations, such as the Soviet Union or modern Islamic states, had not been less exploitative or violent.

And yet, many anti-porn thinkers have insisted on censorship, despite the fact that this insistence has produced an awkward alliance with moral traditionalists from the Right^[21]. If passed, the 1984 Minneapolis ordinance would have reinvented ‘pornography’ as a criminal offence, distinct from ‘obscenity’. This would have allowed women to take civil action against anyone involved in the production, or distribution of pornography, on the grounds that they had been ‘harmed’ by its portrayal of women. In the passionate words of Andrea Dworkin (1990:224) ‘we will know that we are free when the pornography no longer exists. As long as it does exist, we must understand that we are the women in it: used by the same power, subject to the same valuation, as the vile whores who beg for more.’ If only, pornography was, indeed, the mother of all evil. Then sexism could be uprooted at one, simple, legislative stroke. But unfortunately, sexism, violence and exploitation are endemic to the economic structure of the modern society and pervasive of all our media. Pornography seems to have been singled out as a scapegoat for all forms of sexual prejudices in today’s world. The long-standing social stigma and visual honesty of the industry made it an easy target to right-wingers and left-wingers alike.

Censorship has not worked in the past and there is no reason to believe that it will work in the future. I believe that the only viable solution to the pornography problem is the exact opposite of censorship, namely support for ‘the Politics of Representation^[22]. Women should try to ‘capture’ pornography, as producers, script-writers and directors, in a manner consistent with earlier feminist ventures into other male-dominated fields, such as literature, politics, media, religion, education and science. ‘Going legit’, would not only mean that society as a whole will take a less hypocritical stance to the realities of pornography but also that regulation would guarantee better working conditions for female porn-workers (e.g. unionization, safe-sex, better security, health and cleanliness)^[23]. Most importantly establishing a feminine perspective within the industry would counterbalance the male bias from which it now suffers. Following the example of ventures such as ‘Femme Productions’ -launched by former porn-worker Candida Royalle and targeting a couple market- sexually explicit material written and produced by women can celebrate women’s right to pleasure without complying to sexism and exploitation^[24].

Pro-censorship feminists have been mistaken in defining pornography as problem. The explicit representation of sexual scenes is neither ‘intrinsically harmful’ nor a direct cause of violence. While men retain the reigns of an industry plagued with social stigma, porn will continue to be biased and exploitative. Yet, in the right hands, pornography can become an instrument for feminist action.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barker, I. V. (2000): ‘Editing Pornography’, in D. Cornell [ed], Feminism and Pornography, Oxford Readings in Feminism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 643- 652

Butler, J. (2000): ‘The Force of Fantasy: Feminism, Mapplethorpe, and Discursive Excess’, in D. Cornell [ed], Feminism and Pornography, Oxford Readings in Feminism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 487-508

Carter, A. (2000): ‘Polemical Preface: Pornography in the Service of Women’, in D. Cornell [ed], Feminism and Pornography, Oxford Readings in Feminism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 527-539

Cornell, D. (2000): ‘Pornography’s Temptation’, in D. Cornell [ed], Feminism and Pornography, Oxford Readings in Feminism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 551-68

Dworkin, A. (1990): ‘Pornography: Men Possessing Women’, London: The Women’s Press Ltd

——– & C. A. MacKinnon (1988): ‘Pornography and Civil Rights: A New Day’, Minneapolis: Organizing Against Pornography

Kilmer, M.F. (1997): ‘Painters and Pederasts: Ancient Art, Sexuality, and Social History’,in M. Golden and P. Toohey [eds] Inventing Ancient Culture: Historicism, Periodization, and the Ancient World, London, pp 36-49.

MacKinnon, C. A. (1993): ‘Only Words’, in D. Cornell [ed], Feminism and Pornography, Oxford Readings in Feminism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 94-120

Rodgerson, G. & E. Wilson [ed] (1991): ‘Pornography and Feminism: the Case Against Censorship’, Feminists Against Censorship, London: Lawrence & Wishart

Royalle, C. (2000): ‘Porn in the USA’, in D. Cornell [ed], Feminism and Pornography, Oxford Readings in Feminism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 540-550

Rubin, G. (1992): ‘Misguided, Dangerous and Wrong: an Analysis of Anti-pornography Politics’, in A. Assiter and A. Carol [ed], Bad Girls and Dirty Pictures: the Challenge to Reclaim Feminism, London: Pluto Press, pp 18-40

Russell, D. E. H. (2000): ‘Pornography and Rape: A Causal Model’, in D. Cornell [ed], Feminism and Pornography, Oxford Readings in Feminism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 48-93

Sutton, R.F., Jr. (1992): ‘Pornography and Persuasion on Attic Pottery’, in A. Richlin [ed], Pornography and Representation in Greece and Rome, New York, pp 3-35.

Migration has been an age-long activity which has been going on in different forms and continues to be a vital component of individual and societal development through acquisition and transfer of knowledge and resources. Migration is a global phenomenon which continues to dominate the scenes around the world, while some form of migration is been promoted for economic reasons, other forms face strict restrictions. Migratory movement within and beyond regional boundaries across has been enhanced through globalization and advancement in modern technology (Koser, K 2008).

In Ghana migration is a common activity throughout all the regions, tribes and family with almost every single family having either an international migrant or internal migrant.

This picture reflects in the Northern region of Ghana in a very alarming manner with many young and able bodies migrating to prominent cities in such of improved livelihood.

Background of the study area.

Northern region of Ghana lies between the two upper regions and the Brong Ahafo region and Volta region. It has Tamale as the regional capital with eighteen districts assemblies. The region is characterized by one rainy season with an annual rainfall of about 750 to 1050mm. The rainy season starts around May through to October and the dry season from November to April. The climatic conditions and vegetation type are classified under dry savanna, the region’s environmental conditions are highly influenced by its proximity to the Sahara desert which account for the poor soil type dry weather condition.

The economic activity which is predominant in the region is Agriculture; it employs about eighty percent of the population in the region. With one main farming season, as agriculture in Ghana largely depends on rainfall patterns, the region relies on its rain season for cultivation. The main crops grown in the region such as maize, millet, cowpeas, groundnut, sorghum, cassava, rice and yam are cultivated on subsistence bases. They mostly use labour intensive methods of farming with the simple farm tools and implement.

The region has been behind its southern peers in terms of development for far too long. It is also viewed deprived with limited natural resources to fuel its development process. The south can boast of coastal resource, good soil, with rich mineral and forest resources that accounts for the attractiveness to colonial masters then and investors now. Therefore developments in modern infrastructure and economic activities have been centrally focused in the south which may be attributed to the frequent out migration from the Northern region to no other destination but to the south

The region has historically been faced with out migration, since the pre-colonial era. From the colonial era the north served as labour pool where the needed labour force were fished out to feed the highly labour demanding south, in the mining and the cocoa industry. Males dominated migration then due to the physical demands of the job on the mines and farmers were mostly unskilled. Females were not of significance in terms numbers, those who migrated were mostly accompanying spouses or those migrating to reunite with spouses.

Minimal female out migration from the north can also be attributed to the social-cultural factors such as marriage and family served as barrier in the past to female movement; life was viewed to be mostly around family and marriage. Males were regarded as sole bread winners of the family and females or women as dependents.

However, recent trend of out migration involve more of younger females unlike in the past were female migration was usually for the purpose family reunion; it has been dominated by independently migrated young females. The female numbers from the north has been increasing dramatically and has taken centre stage of recent research into internal migration. Both males and females move to the cities, mostly without any special skills and work menial jobs as head porters, the males use four wheeled trucks in their work (Hashim, 2007).

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Internal migration in Ghana has become a means of harmonizing ethnic differences through interaction, cooperate work and inter-marriages. Migration from regions and districts seen as naturally, economically and socially deprived or deficient in terms of economic activities and basic social amenities to other regions and cities perceived as economically and socially endowed continues all year round in Ghana. Although these forms of movement to other highly rated regions to seek uncertain bright future cut across all regions in Ghana, but anyone may come to conclude that the northern region seems to have a very significant rate of migration ( Boakye-Yiadom and MacKay, 2007). The Northern region of Ghana has seen a massive exodus of youth into other regions for various reasons over the years. In recent years a new trend that has emerged involve young males and females who migrate to the cities of Accra and Kumasi in particular. Notable among these migrants are females who work as head porters. These females face many challenges daily, exploited and live in deplorable conditions on the streets and slums of Accra and Kumasi. Their male counterparts are not exception as they face similar situation.

This case study seeks to examine:

i. the various motivating factors behind this migration trend.

ii. the short and long-term effects migration on Northern Ghana’s development.

Literature Review

Migration and development

Development is wide and dynamic concept with divergent views and assumptions. The concept has been variously defined based on the discourse. Development is seen to be a process aimed at achieving specific targeted goals (Kingsbury, D. et al. 2004).It can be explained as a progressive socioeconomic process for empowering the poor to improve their livelihood(Sen, 1988). It is seen as a process which runs parallel to growth or improved situation livelihood.

Migration

“Migration is defined broadly as a permanent or temporary change of residence.

No restriction is placed upon the distance of the move or upon the voluntary or involuntary nature of the act, and no distinction is made between external and internal migration.”(Lee E.S, 1966)

Gender and migration

Gender represents socially constructed masculine and feminine while sex is the biological determined categories of male and female. It then explains that one’s sex is determined at conception but an individual gender identity develops over a life course and can fluctuate across a wide continuum of masculine and feminine characteristics. Nicholson (1995 in McDowell 1999:13), the differences between the two terms sex and gender sex is the biological differences between a man and a woman and gender describes the socially constructed characteristics of men and women. It is further explained that gender is the social organisation of sexual difference. It then follows that gender is the knowledge that establishes meaning for bodily differences.

According to Moore (1988 in McDowell 1999:7) in analyzing what is to be aˆ-a woman’ and the cultural understanding of the category, aˆ-woman’ vary through space and time and how those understandings relate to the position of women in different societies. To understand this we need to understand the concept of gender and gender relations: that is aˆ-the different ways in which women and men and the accepted attributes of femininity and masculinity which are defined across space and time’ (ibid). She argues that gender is then seen from two perspectives: either as a symbolic construction or as a social relationship.

Gender as a social relation and gender as a symbolic meaning are interconnected and mutually constituted (McDowell 1999:7). We all act in relation to our intentions and beliefs which are always culturally shaped and historically and spatially positioned. The appropriate behaviour and actions by women and men reflect and affect what they imagine a man or a woman to be, as well as women and men who are differentiated with age, class, race or sexuality, and these expected behaviour and beliefs change over time and between places (ibid). Gender role constraints is underpinned by the social expectation that women’s main activities should be close to family care and household maintenance and the assumption that women will interrupt their working lives to care for children and elderly relatives (Tivers 1977 in Jenkins 2005:8). How has these gender role constraints affected married women with children who have left the home to migrate to a new environment to work in the informal economy to provide for the household.

The Gender and Migration Linkage

Prior to the mid 1980s, migration was regarded as a male phenomenon (Sjaastad, 1962; Lee, 1969; Todaro, 1977; Lipton, 1980). Authors such as Stouffer (1976) and Oberai, (1983) assert that until most recently, the physical movement of people from one place to another for employment was predominantly undertaken by men. The Todaro (1969) and Harris-Todaro (1970) models, which are some of the earliest models of migration, also emphasize that internal migration occurs in a dual economy, in which the urban sector draws male labour force from the rural sector. Meanwhile, other aspects of rural-urban linkages such as the gendered traditional division of labour and farm and non-farm employment have often been overlooked (Roca, 1994:102).

Migration was being seen by some researchers and scholars as gender-neutral because it deals with the process of movement of persons (Anarfi, 1982; Sabot, 1988).13 Meanwhile, migration is actually gender-structured because men and women migrate for different reasons, use different channels and most importantly, migration has different consequences for men and women in both sending and receiving communities (Chant & Radcliffe, 1992; Silberschmidt, 1999; Potts, 2000). For those leaving, internal migration can result in either empowerment or, on the contrary, increased vulnerability and even victimization (FAO/UNFPA, 1991:23). Likewise, for those remaining, the departure of men and/or women from the household will have a specific influence depending on the migrant’s status and role within the household prior to migrating, such as being main wage earner, spouse, parent or young daughter or son (Fadoyomi, 1980).

For a rural farming household, in particular, the consequences of migration depends on the socio-cultural and economic context, gender and age of migrant, position of migrant within the household, the agro-ecological environment, the type of migratory movement, whether it is temporary or permanent, and the employment possibilities and self-sufficiency of migrant, and the ability to send adequate remittances to maintain the level of farming prior to migration (Andersson, 2002:78-79). One of the major implications of rural-urban migration is that it is the most able-bodied, relatively young and educated persons that migrate from rural to urban areas. This process, therefore, leaves behind rural communities composed of women, children, the elderly and uneducated, who are faced with the tremendous challenge of sustaining their household livelihood and the rural economy effectively (Findlay & Williams, 1990:65; Anh, 2003:79). 14

The predominantly male out-migration from rural areas may also bring about changes in the agricultural gender division of labour, as the migration process will invariably increase women’s workload on the farm, thereby resulting in the “feminization of

agriculture” (FAO, 1995; Deshingkar & Start, 2003:99).15 The out-migration of men

Discussion

Internal migration within Ghana from north to the south has had a long history. Although all forms of migration takes place for specific reasons based on the experience of people from their places origin. There has been several debate on reasons the northern region is lagging behind in development, some attribute it government’s neglect, conflict and unwillingness of investors to establish in the northern. All but one thing is has to be looked into critically is migration. The impacts of out migration from the northern region on both young males and females migrant as well as the northern region may reflect in the long term.

For any region or place to develop, it will depend on how efficient the resources available to the area will be utilized. It may involve the assessment of disparities or minding the gaps in development between the sending and receiving areas of migrants. Gaps in educational level among the regions will likely determine the sector of the economy that could absorb the migrant. Poverty level in the north influence the trend of migration to other cities as has been estimated to have over two thirds of the population living below the poverty line.

Various reasons that establish relationship between North- south migration and development in the northern region or the northern sector and the southern sector of Ghana, points to the development policy and plan during the colonial era.

Although migration of migration is not only a problem with the northern region but most parts of the country, both males and females migrate internally and internationally.

Out-Migration in other southern regions mostly differs in patterns and benefits. The north-south trend is characterize by young males and females ranging from ages thirteen and above to about 45 year. Between ages 13-25 form the core of the migrant, who are either school drop-out or without any special trade. Over ninety percent are engaged as head porters (Kayayoo) or truck pushers. Their job involves carting goods from the market that has been purchased by patrons to their preferred destination around the market area. Income from their activities is so minimal to even fully support them to maintain good standard of living.

This forces some of the female migrant to resort to prostitution to again extra more income in order to survive. The males sometime join gangs to Many migrant females are relegated to prostitution in destination areas because of their lack of employable skills or due to gender discriminations of employment.

Some have had to offer sex in exchange for jobs, food, shelter and protection, leaving them prone to sexually transmitted diseases. Many young females who migrate from the Northern and Upper regions of Ghana to the capital Accra, to work as head porters (Kayayei) live on the streets. They are exposed to the vagaries of the weather and face constant risks of sexual assault, theft of their meager earnings and rape. Many are forced into prostitution as a means of survival (Apt, 1998). Besides the combination of low wages and the need to save and send home as much money as possible leaves relegates many female migrants to a low quality of life where their own personal needs and health may be neglected. It is estimated that about 45-55% of refugee populations across the world are women. Many of these women refugees are exposed to gender based sexual violence. They are victims of rape, forced impregnation and abortions, sexual slavery and intentional spread of STIs including HIV/AIDS (UNFPA, 2004

Motivations for migration

A research by Ghana Statistical service estimated that about 80% of the combined Northern Ghana population are living in poverty (Ghana Statistical Service, 2007). Therefore the idea to migrate by a family member is relief to the family. Moreover, the declining soil fertility, lack of access to arable agricultural land and the single farming season has also been a contributory factor. Again the peasant nature of farming means low dispensable income for families.

The Increasing economic and infrastructure gap between the north and the south, increasing economic activities in the receiving cities is seen a factor for both male and female migration from the Northern region. Resource deficit and lack of income generation activities to support themselves and their relatives has partly influenced the migration (Anarfi and Kwankye, 2005). Movement from the north to the south to mainly cities of Accra and Kumasi may be due to the fact they have heard of these as the surest place to make it in life. The urge to diversify livelihood options as the region has fewer opportunities to offer the regard migration as an alternative source of livelihood. (Anarfi and Kwankye, 2005).

Network of friends and relative, serve to link friends and relatives with jobs and assist them with all the information needed to establish them in the new location.

Intermittent ethnic conflicts in the Northern region have forced people to migrate out of northern region to the south where the peace prevails with improved infrastructure for instants in 1994 the Kokomba conflict causes of people to move south wards. Those who migrated were mostly women and children when men were actively engaged in the conflict.

Impacts of migration

Remittances from migrant serves as an alternative source of income to families of migrant (Quartey,2006). Unlike international migrants, whose remittance form the bulk of family source of income and may also go into investment in business, housing project to mention but a few, remittances from internal migrants are usually for domestic support of parent healthcare, daily upkeep or childcare. The transfer channels use for transferring monies to family are usually informal through networks again, when a friend or relative is returning home.

Migration changes hands in gender roles with traditional role of women in childcare where women with children leave them in the care of men, parents or relative (Oppong, 1997). Most often the children lack proper upbringing and care when the mother or both parent have migrated out. This usually affects child education and may be neglected when the parent fail to send in money to support the family (Parrenas, 2001)

Migration may lead to lose of vibrant productive labour force that families and communities need most for production in the agricultural, craft and other labour intensive jobs. Thus lose of youthful contribution to development. (Awumbila & Ardayfioaˆ?Schandorf , 2008)

Challenges of migration

Migrants to the cities of Accra and Kumasi face lots of challenges but females are the most vulnerable world only a minority of women are granted refugee status (UNFPA, 2004). This is because gender related causes of persecution are rarely accepted as valid grounds for refugee status. Also women usually lack the literacy or educational clout to complete the usually bureaucratic application process. (Caritas Europa, 2007). The participation of females in migration has led to Migration in Ghana: Thematic Paper 2009 22 the development of a labour niche for females ( domestic work, childcare etc) characterized by low wages, unfair labor practices and exploitation and exclusion of females form certain kinds of work-often of the formal nature (Oppong, 1997).

Poor Quality of Life

Migrants, especially females tend to be the most vulnerable and they face many challenges and tend to live under deprived conditions often times without access to social services in destination communities.

Conclusion

Based on gender analysis and differences as well as diversity in family and economic status of males and females migrate may have similar motivation for migration but may have difference in the experiences.

The region is losing valuable ingredient that needs to be restructured to enhance the development process in the Northern region. New interventions in the area of capacity building for the youth to improve the quality of life in the region needs be on the plan, and well executed. Educational campaigns on challenges migrants go through and the need to will help in the development process of the region may help reduce or stem the trend in the bud.

Credit accessibility and at an affordable interest to assist farmer and others in private ventures could maintain the population flow.

Improved infrastructure, terms of health facilities, roads, schools, potable water will help bridge the gaps in development that attracts the youth.

Therefore the region may develop other gender related programs to help the youth and the region as a whole