Category: Free Essays

Consumption has always been an important aspect of human society, in different ways at different times and in different places (Clarke 2003). The consumer revolution, the birth of which is a subject of debates (McKendrick claims to have discovered it in the eighteenth century England, Williams- in nineteenth century France, and Mukerji- in fifteenth and sixteenth century England), represents not just a change in tastes, preferences, and purchasing habits but a fundamental shift in the culture of the early modern and modern world. (McCracken 1988) The consumer revolution is seen to have changed Western concept of time, space, society, the individual, and the state. Western culture gradually became increasingly dependent on and integrated with the new consumer goods and practices, which appeared from the sixteenth century onwards; culture and consumption began to fashion their present relationship of deeply complicated mutuality.(McCracken 1988) In such a consumer culture, consumption has an important significance to the meaningful practices of peoples everyday life. That is, they not only make their consumption choices from the products utilities but also from their symbolic meanings. Basically, consumption is employed not only to create and sustain self but to locate people in society as well. However, from a critical point of view, seeking to create the self through symbolic consumption can also contribute to the enslavement of individuals in the deceptive world of consumption. The following paper seeks to explore the theoretical approaches regarding the relationship between consumption and the self.

{In the postmodern world} Our Identity is moulded as consumers. (Sarup 1996, p.120)

…Living life to the full became increasingly synonymous with consumption. (Gabriel and Lang 1995, p.7)

The construction of self in modern society is considered to be invariably linked to consumption. The modern society undoubtedly represents a consumer culture, where peoples life functions in the scope of consumption. (Firat and Venkatesh 1995) It is, peoples social arrangement in which the relation between lived culture and social resources, between meaningful ways of life and the symbolic and material resources on which they depend, is mediated trough markets .(Slater 1997, p.8) Hence consumption is of great importance to the allusive practice of individuals everyday life. Along with the creation and maintenance of the self, consumption is also employed in order to locate different individuals in society (Elliott 1994a). The various material goods that people buy, the ideals and beliefs they held show who they actually are and whom they identify with. Indeed, people consume various things not only for satisfaction of personal needs but also for creation of their self-creation projects (i.e. for sense of significance in their pursuit of being ), which may be achieved symbolically through mundane consumption. The validity of this is confirmed by a considerable amount of literature. Lang and Gabriel argue that whether one is looking for happiness, identity, beauty, love , et cetera, there is a commodity somewhere which guarantees to prove it. In McCracken point of view, different products embody qualities that reach beyond their attributes or commercial value, which means, they are capable of carrying and accommodating cultural meanings. Symbolically, people use these meanings in order to create cultural idea of the self, to obtain and maintain lifestyles, to represent social connections and to promote changes in society and the self. (McCracken 1988) In other words, people consume these cultural ideas in order to exist in this culturally composing world. McCracken (1988a, p. Xi) confirms the latter point: without consumer goods, certain acts of self-definition and collective definition in this culture would be impossible.

Shopping is not merely the acquisition of things: it is the buying of identity. (Clammer 1992, p. 223)

Sartre (1998) argues that The bond of possessions is an internal bond of being. (p. 588)

He emphasizes on the idea that people come to know who they are trough what they possess. By actually observing their material possessions they structure and sustain a notion of existential self. The idea of seeing is of vital importance, because as Sartre states to see it is already to possess it. In itself it is already apprehended by sight as a symbol of being . Thus, when see a superb landscape, people are capable of obtaining a notion of possessing the given landscape, and then associating it with their sense of being . This idea illustrates how people acquire a feeling of existing trough window shopping alone. To have is to be concept is also asserted by Belk (1988) and Dittmar (1992). Dittmar (1992, p. 204-06) argues:

Material possessions have socially constructed meanings …this symbolic dimension of material objects plays an important role for the owner s identity. …This suggests that material social reality in an integral, pervasive aspect of everyday social life, of constructing ourselves and others.

Belk (1988) in his examination of the connection between having and being , states that it is a two-fold process working in both directions respectively. Not only do people place their self-identities into their possession but they also integrate the latter into their identities; that is mirrored in the so called self-extensions process (i.e. the extended self). As extension of the self, peoples possessions not only enable them to find their actual characters but to achieve or adjust their sense of continuity from the past. Thus, material possessions act as a capacity to manage individual s life in its current course.

As stated above to have is to be but to have also means to belong . Richins (1994, p. 523) states, Possessions are part of the social communication system and are sometimes actively used to communicate aspects of the self. Undoubtedly, when obtain personal possession that expresses peoples individual sense of identity and their sense of belonging to a group and collective identity. Material things encompass symbolic meanings, trough which a bridging of the self to others in society is possible. Dittmar (1992, p. 11) states:

The notion that we express our identity trough our material possessions, and make inferences about the identity of others, on the basis of what they possess, means that there must be socially material objects as symbolic manifestation of identity.

Nowadays, people are able to use consumption symbolically in order to gain a considerable sense of belonging to various imagined communities (Anderson 1983) or different neo-tribes (Maffesoli 1988). Thus, people consume different products that add to the symbolic means of identification of the self, trough which they associate themselves emotionally with those sharing their lifestyles. (Gabriel and Lang 1995)

Consumption, as it has been stated in the above paragraphs, provides people with symbolic meanings to construct their self and identity, but it also can imprison them to the superficial sense of self and the enduring consumption. Therefore, from a critical perspective, to have means to be enslaved.

If I am what I have and if what I have is lost, who then am I? (Fromm 1976, p. 76)

According to Fromm, seeking to obtain a sense of being trough having hides a risk of losing it since having may not stay permanently. Contrary, he raises the idea that people realize the self by giving and sharing practices, et cetera. To have contributes to peoples enslavement of their own possessions. (Fromm 1976) People become slaves (i.e. commodities) in the realm of goods (Giddens 1991). Faurschou (1987, p. 82) argues:

{Postmodernity is} …no longer an age in which bodies produce commodities, but where commodities produce bodies: bodies for aerobic, bodies for sport cars, bodies for vacations, bodies for Pepsi, for Coke, and of course bodies for fashion total bodies-a total look. The colonization of the body as its own production/consumption machine in late capitalism is a fundamental theme of contemporary civilization.

The belief that people are capable of exercising their freedom through certain choices seems unrealistic. Actually, we all not only follow lifestyles, but in an important sense are forced to do so-we have no choice but to choose (Gidddens 1991, p. 8). Also, Elliot (1994b) states that the pleasure, more specifically the immediate one derived from numerous consumption practices may imprison people in the scope of addictive consumption. Gergen (1991, p. 74-5) shows some apprehension over freedom of consumption:

Yet this same freedom ironically leads to a form of enslavement. Each new desire places its demands and reduces one s liberties. …Liberation becomes a swirling vertigo of demands. Daily life has become a sea of drowning demands, and there is no shore in sigh.

The will and eagerness to be more, to grow more, to accumulate more and more, and more results in suffering and self-destruction of the individual. The only possible way of letting go this degenerated cycle is to accept the idea that to be is merely an illusion. Consequently, people should let go of their will to be , leave alone the desire to have .

Considering all that has been stated above in the current paper about relationship between self and consumption strongly confirms their cooperative coexisting within and in developed societies of the contemporary world. The consumer is seen as caught in a cultural project (McCracken 1988), which main purpose is to achieve a full completion of the self. The consumer machine provides individuals with the necessary cultural materials in order to rationalise their varying ideas about themselves and their social roles in society. All of their cultural notions are embodied in the symbolic nature of goods, and it is through their possession and practices that individual understands the meaning in his own life. As Kavanaugh states, …individuals in a society create themselves or define themselves culturally through the objectification of {a culture s} conceptual models in centrally prescribed phenomenal forms (McCracken 1988).

It is through the systematic endowing of the meaningful properties of objects/goods that individual satisfied the opportunity and responsibility of self-definition. The logic and directions of this process of self and world construction through the nature of goods has been increasingly understudied and since recently it has been drawn accurate exploration. But which still needs further examination.

Relationships between women and men are not simply impossible or difficult. Misunderstandings of social beings are inevitable to occur; when men expect women to think and act as men and women expect men to think and act as women, conflicts becomes inevitable. This does not mean that men and women live in absolutely different realities (Corner, 2008). We can also not conclude that all the conflicts that visit relationships between men and women are solely from lack of knowledge of their differences. This paper endeavors to dig into an understanding of the various relational conflicts that springs from perception differences (Patterson, 2007). The greatest challenges that are facing majority of men-women relationships are failure to be aware of their identities and failure to accept their differences so as to live skillful and full lives. For congruent and cohesive coexistence, men and women must understand their differences and similarities.

2.1 Background of Man-Women Relationship

For many centuries the differences between women and men were socially defined. The lenses of sexism were used to distort the relational differences in which men assumed superiority over the women and maintained their position through domination (FGU). When the goals of equality between men and women became a public demand, people started losing the awareness of the importance emanating from the differences. The vision for equality between the two sexes has narrowed all the possibilities of discovering what truly is in existence within women and men (Corner, 2008). The understanding of the differences that exist can serve as a very important tool in facilitating reconciliation between the two sexes when a conflict erupts. If the different sexes were to understand themselves, then they would with ease devise mechanisms of dealing with their sexual differences conflicts that tampers their congruent relationships.

Dr. Michael G. Conner (2008), a clinical medical and family psychologist has purported that men and women are equal but different. He has supported his allegation by stating that even though men and women have equal rights to opportunities and protection under the law they are different in their physical and psychological making. Men and women differ in their perception to some life concepts and consequently diversified approaches.

2.2 Why the Concern on Relational Conflicts?

Relationship between men and women is not always productive; conflicts between the two sexes prompt one to ask ‘what are the sources of the conflicts?’ we do not refute the fact than men conflict with fellow men as women conflict with fellow women, but our area of concern is a desire to know why the conflicts between men and women differs from the conflict of the same sex. Science has endeavored to explain the biological reason behind the differences. McCarthy (2008) did a research that was meant to identify whether the behavioral difference between men and women has any biological explanation. He identified that the behavioral difference is as a result of the distinct mind between the two sexes. He pointed out that female’s and male’s brain appear to be constructed from strikingly different blueprints. The recent neurological studies have identified that the differences in the circuitry that wires the brain and the chemicals that transport messages inside the brain is so vast that one has to conclude that there are two types of brains. People act and react from their perception towards a given situation hence behavior. This acts as a source of conflict between men and women.

2.3 Approach and Intervention

This paper shall explain the various sources of conflicts between men and women derived from their perception differences and explain the intervention measures that can be employed to overcome the conflicts. The hypothetical intervention applicable in overcoming relational conflicts emanating from perceptional differences include: Empowerment; doing away with the ignorance, Communication; sharing perceptions hence overcoming the challenge of relational conflict, learning to be listeners of each other, acceptance of the fact that perception differs, being flexible over conflicting issues and learning to negotiate over issues in dispute.

A research was conducted to identify whether reaction differences between male and female is biological or a result of socialization process. It involved two months old male and female infants prior to the socialization process. The research identified that female infants are more responsive to sounds of a person in distress than male infants. Male infants were more responsive to objects as opposed to female infants who were more responsive to faces (Yarborough, 2006).

3.1 Differences of perception that acts as sources of conflict between men and women
3.1 Processing of information

There are fundamental differences in the manner in which women and men process information. Women can process information more extensively and different pieces of information than men can do; men have a tendency to digest one thing at a time. A study was conducted to find out the truth of this allegation. Man and women were taken to a room for some few minutes and then later were asked what they observed. Almost all men could just remember the general appearance of the room, while the women remembered distinct details such as the position of a flower vessel, the photos on the walls, the cleanliness of the table clothes, the model of television among other details. Such a pronounced capacity to information processing has acted as a major source of conflict between the two sexes (Gilligan, 1982). For example, a woman may be talking to the husband while watching the television and still noticing what the children are doing. She may ask the husband a question who is engrossed on the TV and simply because it’s hard for him to engage in a serious conversation while watching the television, he may not give the right answer. The wife may think that the husband is ignoring her leading to relational conflict. Research has identified that relationship between boys and girls to be sour many times. Many girls perceive the conversations with boys very boring. This is because girls can process diverse information at the same time but the boys can only deal with one thing at a time. The boys find the conversations as time wasting since they become confused during the talks, they would rather engage in sport activities rather than engage in a conversation with some girls who may be engaged in three topics at the same time.

3.2 Reading of sexual cues

Research has identified that men are more responsive to sexual cues than women. This means that during a conversation men can read sexual cues more readily than women. Men have been found to be more sensitive to sexual signals than women. This difference acts a source of relational conflict between men and women. During a conversation between a husband and wife, the husband may expect the wife to read in between the lines his expression of desire for sex but the woman may not see from such a viewpoint. The man may conclude that the wife is not interested or is repelling him (Yarborough, 2006).

3.3 Appearance

Men and woman differ to a great extend in their perception towards appearance. They mostly appear to be fashion phobic. Mostly this emanates from hoe they are perceived by the other men. Men fear that they would appear to be too foppish or narcissistic if they are too overly concerned about clothing (Booth, Crouter, & Clements, 2001). Those selling fashion to women have to approach men from a different perspective. Women and fashion are inseparable. When a woman has the most recent wearing she is adored and envied by fellow women. She is moralized to ask and need more to maintain the glory and celebrity. Their men partners do not seen to understand why their women spend all they have to be fashionable hence a source of conflict (Yarborough, 2006).

3.4 Keenness to Details

Studies have identified that women and men differ in their thinking: Men are macro thinkers while women are micro thinkers; this means women attention are to details in al issues that they deal with while the men are concerned about the end product. For example a woman will concentrate on all the adverts on various types of oils that are in the market to ensure that she applies the right oil to different parts of the body. She will buy different types of hair shampoos, hair oil, hand oil, face oil, legs oil, and body oil. A man will just use one type for the whole body (Sabbatini, 1997). The keenness to details have caused many relationship breakages between men and women as men feels women are too inquisitive in attempt to ensure all things are okay. A woman on the other hand feels a man is irresponsible hence she can not cope with such levels of recklessness.

Researches have identified that women’s two spheres of brain communicate better than they do in men. The studies have identified that women pull in information from both halves. This distinct feature allows women to give more sophisticated emotional responses (Sabbatini, 1997). This makes women to be better in reading subtleties and in talking on emotions. Relational conflicts crops up when a woman is facing an issue that she feels the male partner should feel with her and consequently offer the appropriate moral and emotional support, but simply because men have different perception on emotional issues he may fail to respond as expected stirring a woman to think that the man cares less hence a source of conflict (Ligate & Tucker, 2005).

3.5 Response to threats

Men and women respond to challenges and threatening situations differently. There are many studies that show that many women responds to fears and threats by running away from the threat while men confront the situation. Many researchers have argued that this is a question of socialization, while others have argued that it’s an innate trait emanating from inborn perception characteristic. Conner (2008) has argued the physical differences between men and women are the reasons behind their differences in perception hence dissimilar approaches to threats. Men have greater upper body strength with build muscles and thicker skin; this propels them to believe in themselves. The relational conflicts emanates from a situation where the two sexes are faced with threatening situation that requires an endorsement of the two to face the challenge, if a woman flees the man fail to understand the reason for the reaction perceiving such a move as an act of betrayal (Kuriansky, 2001).

3.6 Approach to problems

Women and men approach a problem with similar goals but with dissimilar considerations. Even though men and women can solve a problem equally well their approach to the problem varies to a great degree. A woman believes in sharing and discussing a problem so as to explore, deepen and strengthen the relationship with the person she is interacting with. For women, their greatest concern is ‘how the problem is solved’ rather than the final solution. The approach that will be used to approach a problem is a determinant of strength or the weakness that will exist in a relationship between the parties involved. Men have a very different approach to a problem. A man will approach a problem as an opportunity to prove his competence as well as his strength to solve problems and commitment to relationships (Berry, & Traeder, 1995). The manner of solving a problem is not of concern as arriving at the solution efficiently and effectively. Men have a tendency to dominate or assume authority in the process of problem solving. They are often destructed and are less concerned with quality of relationship while solving a problem. The different approaches to problem solving are a source of conflict. If a woman attempts to dominate, men feel they are abased and may not take it on a light note. Women may also feel offended if a man cares less on the relationship in problem solving.

4.0 Applied Hypothetical Intervention
4.1 Overcoming Relational-Conflicts between Men and Women

Men and woman differs in one way or another, this paper has explained why men and women differ, the issue of perception: women have shared ways of dealing with diverse situations which differs from men’s approach; these differences are brought about by difference in the way women perceive things being different from the way men view things. As it has been clearly showed in this paper the differences in approaches makes men and women conflict. Men can not live differently from women, they have to co-exist amidst their differences, this calls for adoption of strategies that will facilitate a comfortable or conducive coexistence.

4.1.1 Overcoming Ignorance

One of the greatest causes of the relational conflict between men and women is ignorance: Conflict is inevitable for somebody will feel unfulfilled or offended if a partner or a colleague seems not do things the way you want them done. The reason as to why people feel offended is because they do not know that men and women have diverse perception (UNESCO, January 2002). There is a need to create awareness; as a mitigation measure, social psychologist should put pen to paper on perception differences and use all the available channels of communication to Create awareness. Couples facing relational conflicts should be helped to understand themselves and understand their partners, if somebody understands how his / her partner sees and approaches diverse concepts, he / she will make efforts to see the concept in question from their point of view (Cameron, 2000). Lack of flexibility to accommodate a partner emanates from the ignorance; one wonders why can’t the partner understand a concept that seems so simple?

4.1.2 Use of Communication

Conflicts are worsened by lack of communication between the conflicting parties. If both sexes in a relational conflict were to learn the art of communication; the perceptions diversities could easily be overcome. Many conflicting partners engage in looking for a ‘way to avoid a conflict’, hence the act functions as a part time solution to the problem; partners avoid sharing their views which they make out as contrasting with their partner’s (Booth, Crouter, & Clements, 2001). Conflicting perception and approaches to relational conflicts between men and woman can easily be dealt with by handling a conflict in such a way that will bring growth and constructive solution; accepting the truth about the diverse perception and agreeing on the mode of settling conflicting issues. Councilors should advice people to learn to speak out their hearts, what is their feeling towards a given concept, and why they feel that a desired approach to a given challenge is varied and most workable. Such a strategy calls for flexibility where the partners consent that either could be right hence each should be given an opportunity to support his/ her take. Conflicting partners should not avoid discussing an issue in conflict for such a move worsens the already heated conflict. Both men and women should always take the responsibility of fixing an issue in question at home, workplace or social gatherings (Academic leadership. Com 2010).

4.1.3 Listening, Acceptance, Accommodation and Flexibility

If men and women accept the reality of their perception differences they will get into a position of accommodating each other. Our diversity in perception should not act as a source of conflict rather as an opportunity to learn. It’s only when one learns to listens to the other sexes’ point of view will he/she have a wider perception, of course it again requires flexibility, consequently accommodate the partner’s ideas. In this endeavor both people have to learn to be compromisers. If a situation presents itself that has diverse ways of approach according to the different perceptions, after the sharing of the diverse perceptions, one of the partners will have to compromise their belief so as to avoid conflicting by endeavoring to see things from their partner’s point of view. Negotiation is also very important in arriving at a consensus over an issue in conflict (Phobias-help.com, 2010). After the partners agree that they can never think the same, they should negotiate for a common ground. This is achievable by avoiding competition of ‘whose idea wins’ for such will extrapolate a conflict.

5.0 Conclusion

Conflicts in the society are inevitable, but with the right intervention measures they can be reduced. Relational conflicts between men and women have been so pronounced some times leading to loss of life and property. Many marriages have been broken since the parties involved could not bear the diversity of perception. Men and women continues to conflict because of their dissimilar takes over issues of life. Studies have identified that men and women have different biological makings that causes perceptional differences. The perceptional differences act as sources of conflict.

For fruitful coexistence between different sexes there is a need of acceptance of our diversified perceptions in order to develop mutual existence mechanisms. People should employ all the available resources that will facilitate understating acceptance and mutual relationships between sexes. If the parties in conflict were to accept their differences and face them together without pointing figures at each other and ensure that communication between them is kept on toes overcoming the challenges would not be a big deal. There is no solution that can never be reached if people would learn to be listeners, flexible and accommodating of their partners (Corner, 2008).

6.0 References

Academic Leadership. Com. (2010). Conflict Resolution Menu. Retrieved on February 1, 2010 from: http://www.ohrd.wisc.edu/onlinetraining/resolution/aboutwhatisit.htm

Booth, Crouter, & Clements. (2001). Couples in conflict: Penn State University Family Issues Symposia Series. New York NY: Routledge.

Cameron, D. (2000), Good to talk? Living and working in a communication culture. London: SAGE.

Corner, M. (2008). Understanding the Difference between Men and Women. Retrieved on February 1, 2010 from: http://www.crisiscounseling.com/Relationships/DifferencesMenWomen.htm

Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: psychological theory and women’s development.

London, UK: Harvard University Press.

Greenberg, Bruess, Conklin. (2007). Exploring the dimensions of human sexuality. New Jersey, NJ: Jones & Bartlett.

IFU (INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN). Workshop on Conflict Resolution Facilitator’s Guide. Retrieved on February 1, 2010 from: http://www.ifuw.org/training/pdf/conflict-facilitator-2001.pdf

Kuriansky, J. (2001). The complete idiot’s guide to a healthy relationship. Complete idiot’s guide to. New Jersey, NJ: Alpha Books,

Legato, M. & Tucker, K. (2005). Why men never remember and women never forget. Washington, DC: Rodale.

McCarthy, M. (2005). Women’s brains are different from men’s – and here’s scientific proof. Retrieved on February 1, 2010 from: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/womens-brains-uareu-different-from-mens-ndash-and-heres-scientific-proof-870849.html

Peterson, J. (2007). Female Perception vs. Male Perception. Retrieved on February 1, 2010 from: http://www.lifescript.com/Life/Relationships/Marriage/Female_Perception_vs_Male_Perception.aspx

Phobias-help.com. (2010). How Do You Deal With Conflict? Retrieved on February 1, 2010 from: http://www.phobiashelp.com/effective_communication_skills/How_Do_You_Deal_With_Conflict.html

Renato, M. & Sabbatini, P. (2003). Are There Differences between the Brains of Males and Females? Retrieved on February 1, 2010 from: http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n11/mente/eisntein/cerebro-homens.html

UNESCO. (January 2002). Best Practices of: Non-Violent Conflict Resolution in and out-of-school. New York, NY: United Nations Education Science and Culture Organization.

Yarborough, M. (2006). Differences in Men & Women’s Perception. Retrieved on February 1, 2010 from: http://etransgender.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=197

Introduction

As the only male in a group of four female working on a presentation, the learning experience gained reflectively looking back was invaluable. How I got on in the working process while engaged in the completion of this presentation represented a process of understanding the difference in dynamics of working within a group situation whereby my initial impressions of the progress being made differed from the manner in which each individual approached the situation.

The following will offer a reflection on this situation.

At first, I felt as if I was the only one actively engaged on the project, gauging that the others were being flippant in their approach. Tavris and Wade (1984, pp. 71-73) offered some insight into this as they advise that men are more aggressive than women. They point to the example that this difference is detectable as early as age three when children start playing with one another (Tavris and Wade, 1984, pp. 71-73). Their analogy stated that little boys from the start show more physical aggression, play aggressive, have fantasy aggression and utilize verbal aggression (Tavris and Wade, 1984, pp. 71-73). This, they point to is the male aspect of winning, which means getting started earlier and taking over (Tavris and Wade, 1984, pp. 71-73). Fay and Tokarczyk (1993, pp. 78-79) developed my understanding further in adding that women approach work in a different manner, as they are more social beings. Dale and Lynne Spender (1986, p. 32) dismiss the mythical talkativeness of women indicating that in mixed sex conversations that women only talked ten to twenty percent of the time gauging their situation. They added that women, after feeling comfortable in a group setting will then set about the task at hand, however, they have privately thought about the problem and have definitive ideas and approaches to discuss when that time arrives (Spender and Spender, 1986, pp. 34-35).

Lunneborg (1990, p. 21) offered the following insight to this start of the project situation that I seemingly was so preoccupied with. She states that women tend to spend time gathering and thinking more about the information aspects in singular fashion, gauging the situation against their own personal skills and formulating approaches as they consider what they either know or have gleaned from other members of the group (Lunneborg, 1990, pp. 23-28). These dynamics helped me to understand that my learning style was simply too male oriented to at first take in the significances of how women approach problems and solutions.

I learned that the first thing I should have done was approach the first session as an introduction to my co-workers, asking for inputs on how to set about the presentation as a group process, instead of feeling that I was the only contributor. Novarra (1980, p. 51) advised me that women manage in a less academic fashion. They, women, are “… accessible, unstuffy, informal, direct in getting to the point, spontaneous, averse to wrangling, sympathetic and not long winded or pompous”. Nickles and Ascroft (1981, pp. 206-207) referred to the foregoing style as ‘beta’. They, women, utilize power for the good of the group as opposed to the individual, and that good management represents sensitivity in the creation of a work environment that fosters growth and learning (Nickles and Ascroft. 1981, pp. 206-207). They offered additional insight in that ‘Beta’ power cares more about the quality of work life and uses flexible schedules, job sharing and the decentralization of authority (Nickles and Ascroft. 1981, pp. 206-207). Leaders are not needed at the top of the hierarchy in making decisions, as it is a shared process.

Howe (1975, pp. 127-171) advised me that women are more democratic, egalitarian and cooperative. In working with men, or in this case a male, women tend to slow things down to create a pace that reflects thinking and sharing. She added that women have an alternative view of power that is based upon sisterhood, and that in a group situation the usual first steps in the process entail an informal discussion as the parties get to know one another for later interaction as opposed to the male method of the big dog taking over and letting other things fall into place.

As I saw the collective approach take hold later in the process, the understanding I gained after the fact made me better understand the dynamics of working with women and how my initial impressions were male based. The difficulty I felt I had in maintaining group focus was my male approach as opposed to the reflective and group sharing approach women utilize to address working situations, which are similar in context to their approach of problems in any form.

Conclusion

The apprehension I experienced in working with a group of four females taught me that there are differing ways in which the approach to a working situation can be handled. As the only male member I thrust myself into thinking into feeling that I needed to take charge, even though I held back on that action. Upon reflection, that was a wise choice as the group dynamics later showed me that the work at hand was being handled, but in a different manner than I was accustomed to. The lack of individual conflicts, the overall courteousness of the group, and the process of producing the piece was an enjoyable and productive session. My feelings of getting a late start did not account for the accelerated pace of development as a team whereby ideas, solutions and contributions flowed naturally without power struggles, thus shortening the time frame to get things accomplished.

In retrospect the entire experience enabled me to take away from the process a new set of techniques and understandings with respect to group dynamics that was not just applicable to women, but groups of any gender composition. My concerns regarding being the only male in the group were facets of my own imagination as the females did not and were not focused on gender differences, they were focused on meshing the group into a cohesive unit, whereby the synergy would be greater than the parts.

Bibliography

Fay, E., Tokarczyk, M. (1993) Working Class Women in the Academy. University of Massachusetts Press

Howe, F. (1975) Women and the power to change. McGraw Hill

Lunneborg, P. (1990) Women Changing Work. Bergin and Garvey

Nickles, E., Ashcroft, L. (1981) The coming matriarchy. Seaview Books

Novarra, V. (1980) Women’s Work, men’s work. Praeger

Spender, D., Spender, L. (1986) Scribbling sisters. Camden Press

Tavris, C., Wade, C. (1984) The longest war: Sex Differences in perspective. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Since 1960, the feminization in the European work force is a phenomenon unquestionable. Indeed, today in France of 100 employed people, 47 are women contrary to 1962 where they were 34. In spite of this increase, sex is a significant decisive of professional position in working places (De Curraize, Y., Hugouneny, R., (2004)). This gender discrimination results through the gap of salaries between men and women. We consider in this study gender that gender gap defines oneself as a ‘measure of the difference between the earning of men and women’ (Andrew Barnard (August 2008) p.18). Certainly, a number of significant review and reports have revealed that women in both full time and part time work earn less than men. Therefore, it remains professional disparities between men and women. To understand this gender discrimination, our analysis focuses on pay according sexes.

Firstly, a current situation regarding women work will give basing on factors and reasons that have contributed to this situation. Secondly, a legal position will be analyzed through government initiatives set up to reduce this issue. Finally, the measures that organizations should and could take to eliminate gender pay gap will be examined.

First of all, this part will focus on the current situation regarding women work and will find the factors which are contributed to this situation.

Above all, it is necessary to define payment to understand our subject. Indeed, payment defines oneself as an income and all contractual terms and conditions including a basic salary and other benefits for example bonus, pension scheme, company car that could receive an employees.

Today, the pay gap between men and women tend to decrease but it remains narrowed slightly. Indeed in the UK, the statistics revealed that pay gap between sexes is 12,2 per cent in 2009 while in 2008 it was 12,6 per cent. Therefore, sexes’ pay gap decreased however it has not removed. Moreover, according to Employee Benefits’ in Salary Survey (2009) the mean salary of men including rewards differs from ?16,000 above the mean salary of women. (Jones, Ben (December 2009)). Furthermore, in regard to the median earning, it is noticeable that the average pay of man in 2006 is ?11.71 contrary to women which is ?10.24. Anon (11/9/2006) Sexe’s pay gap shrinks. We could wonder if the women work is being valued equally to men. According to Anon (01/11/1999), the women work is 20 per cent less valuable than men’s work.

However, it is difficult to understand the pay gap if pay is not associated to observable factors. In fact, to analyze difference of income between men and women, we have to add ‘the age, the region the occupation industries and sectors” variables (Andrew Barnard (August 2008) p.23). According to Appendices 1, 2 and 3, it is to say that these variables have a significant impact on earnings.

Firstly, if we focus on age effect on earning according to gender we can see that men progress faster than woman until 21-22 years old, then earnings increase at a similar rate until age 40 and after 46 years women earning are high than men. (See appendix 1) This tendency can be explained by the fact that women tend to return later to the working market due to their career breaks when they are pregnant. Secondly, if we choose the variable of occupational effects (See appendix 2) it is argueable that there is a difference of earnings between men and woman in managers and senior officials higher than administrative and secretarial occupations. In fact people who work within professional and technical occupations, career breaks are damaging people future earnings less who work within professional and technical occupations that means career is more flexible compared to senior officials occupations. Finally, in appendix 3 it can be seen clearly that women are submit to discrimination in manufacturing, agriculture and fishing, energy and quarrying sectors due to their lack of skills in this sector. Only, the public sector offers roughly the equal earnings according gender.

Finally, we can study the mentality of European Union members that know their feelings about the subject and know if for them it is natural that women work less than men in nowadays. (See appendix 4). The survey reveals that European’s opinions differ from one country to another. In France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal the majority of pooled people are discordant to this statement. Contrary to Greece, Bulgaria, Lithuania which are agree to say that it is normal that women work less than men. (European Commission (2009)) the results of this survey show very well that the mentalities are difficult to change and this contributes to discriminate women working.

Discrimination occurs ‘when one person’s wage is different from another otherwise identical person’s for reasons of non-productivity related characteristics such as gender’ Andrew Barnard (August 2008). Therefore, it is questionable why women are paid less than men. Andrews Barnard thinks it results from a “combination of discriminatory and economic reasons”.

According to De Curraize, Y., Hugouneny, R., (2004), allocation of time between productive and domestic spheres is often in favor or men. Indeed, the salary of women is often a supplementary salary whereas men are specialized in working area. Moreover, stereotypical perceptions of women still remains through a lack of flexibility due to their needs to reconcile demands of career and family, some negative effects of masculine organizational culture. As reported by the minister of employment, social cohesion and housing (2006), women are less paid than men because their working time is lower than men’s men working time. Indeed women work more frequently than men in part-time, they are doing more complementary hours but less lucrative than supplementary hours. In other part, men in average jobs are paid more than women in such that their supplementary hours are also in average better pay.

Moreover, the pay gap between men and women is not only due to discrimination. Indeed, Hakims (2004) argues that it is a scientific theory. Men and women have different main interests and they find their fulfillment through differ balance. Of 100 women, 20 are work centred, 20 are home centred and 60 are adaptive. And on 100 men 30 are adaptive, 60 are work centred and 10 are home centred.

Furthermore, it can be add also that women have a profile career easier to “damage” than men. The presence of children is of course a reason to cease activity particularly in women less qualified. Concerning women who have a high level of studies, maternity has an effect of working length with a transition of part-time to conciliate work and family life. Finally, women are concentrated in less lucrative fields often they are focus on health, social, teaching jobs at the expense of scientific and engineer field therefore we can speak about of occupational segregation (De Curraize, Y., Hugouneny, R., (2004)). Finally, Goldberg (1973) thinks that the male dominance in the working area could come from their hormones. Indeed, their attraction of competition, assertiveness, and dominant are due to their testosterone. Therefore, it is obvious for them to be in high hierarchy.

To conclude this part, we can consider that discriminal in pay, occupational segregation and the unequal impact women’s family responsibilities are three main factors which contribute to the gender gap.

In this second part, a legal position regarding women work will be given through government initiatives. The main actors who contributed most to progress in the area of gender equality according to survey of European Commission (2009) are associations representing women’s interests, national equality organization, trade unions, the European Institutions (European Parliament, European Commission, European Council), National public authorities, NGOs, and Employers’ representatives. Firstly, we will see that some convention, laws and ratification will create to reduce gender discrimination.

Firstly, on the European level, some texts have been ratified. First of all the principle of equality between men and women defined in article 119 of Roma Treaty (1957) which announces the equality of pay without discrimination based on sex. This implies a payment given for a same job being establish in the basis of the same unit of measurement and that the payment given for a job paid being the same for the same work position.

On the national level, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) and United Kingdom Parliament have enforced The equal pay act in 1970 which is amended in 1983 based on prohibition of any less favorable treatment between men and women in terms of pay and conditions of employment. The term pay is interpreted in a broad sense to include, on top of wages, things like holidays, pension rights, company perks and some kinds of bonuses. Also, Sex discrimination Act dated of 1975 protects men and women from discrimination on the grounds of sex or marriage. Moreover, this Act is mainly in relation to employment, training, education, harassment, the provision of goods and services, and the disposal of premises. Other amendments have been introduced by the Sex Discrimination Act 1986, the Employment Act 1989, the Equality Act 2006, and other legislation such as rulings by the European Court of Justice. In February 2001, the EOC sets up Equal pay task force publishing a report to eliminate gender pay gap and almost try to understand it, take evidence and suggest commendation about how to close the gap through amending social economic and labour market policies to complement equal pay measures for instance flexibility, training opportunities. This report lays down 5 multi-levels to addressing the issue. The first one is ‘raising levels of awareness and developing a common understanding of what the pay gap means’, the second is ‘reforming and modernising the equal pay legislation’, then ‘capacity building to ensure that employers and trade unions know how to implement equal pay’, the fourth is ‘enhancing transparency and developing accountability for delivering pay equality’ and the final one is ‘amending social, economic and labour market policies to complement equal pay measures’ (Equal Pay Task Force Report (2001)). The law of 23 March 2006 has the same goal of Equal pay task force however this law leads to a sanction when there is no plan of curbing professional inequalities in companies. (Gottely-Fayet J. (Mars 2010))

James Purnell, Minister of State for Pensions Reforms (March 2007) would allow men to share more domestic responsibilities. As reality has proved that men are already doing more within the household, but they still do less than women. This pensions reforms stands for tackle to ‘stereotypical career paths (job ‘suited’ to women for example Women and Work Commission- Five ‘C’s), remove stereotypes embedded in organizational culture for instance women in support roles and reduce stereotypical view of men as managers’ (Managing diversity for equal diversity course slides). We have to notice also the Government’s Ten Year Childcare Strategy (2nd December 2004) which is setting up to improve parent’s life. It relies on 4 principles which include the choice and the flexibility which is means that parents have a large choice about balancing work and family life, the availability concerning families with children aged up to 14 who need it, an ‘affordable, high-quality childcare place’ is available in order to meets their expectations, the quality where a ‘high-quality provision with a highly skilled childcare’ is promoted and finally the affordability where families could be able to ‘afford flexible high-quality childcare that is appropriate to their needs’ according to the Government office for London (2004). And finally the Equality Act 2006 allowing to the British Government to introduce regulations outlawing discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation in goods and services in both Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the Sexual Orientation Regulations 2006) and a provision relating to the creation of a public duty to promote equality on the ground of gender. Finally, can be seen that government shows the will to remove discrimination through creative equal opportunities initiatives based on career-break schemes, work place nursery, women-only training programs, special holidays, work-sharing and part-time employment. (Firth-Cozens, J. and A. West (1990))

Government initiatives against discrimination are not enough to succeed to reach a total equality between men and woman. Indeed, other strategies within companies can be used to combat pay gap.

Firstly, according to Jones, Ben (December 2009) a greater transparency is necessary in the companies, the availability of pay showing detailed job evaluations. For instance, in the public sector equal pay monitoring is a compulsory requirement. Employees have to make audits to publish gender gap in order to aware on discrimination, review existing policies within their companies and to re-examine how your staff are paid. The audit results will help to identify and address pitfalls in pay systems. It will also suggest good basis for create new policies or improving old ones. If companies are enrolled in fair pay this allow to have a positive impact on staff motivation and retention. It will also improve trust in the employer/employee relationship. EOC Equal opportunities commission (2009) pointed out.

Some others measures should be taken to reduce the pay gap between men and women like impose penalties on company guilty of gender based pay discrimination, intensifying efforts to combat prejudice and generally negative accepted areas concerning women that is means challenging stereotypes; facilitate responsibility women positions through formal monitoring programs, remove barriers of inflexible working; improve access for women and men to sectors and jobs in which they are under-represented for example apply a fair recruitment and selection procedures and finally enhancing the standing of the sectors or jobs in which a majority of women are employed like combining work and family life, lifelong opportunities for women in training and work, embedding quality part-time work and improving career’s advice. European Commission Survey (2009) p.67

Moreover, EOC proposes a guide to employers on equal pay between men and women under the sex discrimination ordinance. Indeed, company can enroll in Equal Pay Policy in order to have a ‘good employment practice to maintain open communication with staff’. This policy permits to ensure to employees a clear understanding on problems relating to their career within their organizations and understand principles affections their remuneration throughout their working life within their company. The Equal Pay Policy should cover the following requirement in order to combat pay gap:

Some commitment are recommended like ‘organization’s commitment to support the principle of equal pay between men and women, an outline of the policies and practices undertaken by the organization to ensure pay equity, a commitment to carry out equal pay self-audits periodically and to take corrective actions if necessary, another one to provide resources to monitor equal pay practice in the organization, an account of actions taken and results obtained to validate compliance on equal pay under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance and the establishment of a mechanism to provide assistance to staff to address equal pay concerns’.

To sum it up Governments, organizations and institutions show their will to reduce and remove gender gap thanks to some Acts and laws such as the Equal Pay Act, Equality Act or Government’s ten year child care strategy. Also, some strategies are implemented within companies like the development of a certain transparency, audits, fair recruitment, and career advice. In spite of the reduction of gender pay gap, we notice that it still remains through some statistics which show discrimination in pay, occupational segregation and unequal impact women’s family responsibilities.

There are good reasons to be optimistic about the future because the majority of Europeans consider that it is not normal that a women work less than men therefore the mentalities are changing however to combat women work discrimination it is questionable if the image of the women should be less stereotype in the media?

Appendices

Figure 1
Andrew Barnard (August 2008) Modelling the gender pay gap in the UK: 1998 to 2006
Figure 2
Andrew Barnard (August 2008) Modelling the gender pay gap in the UK: 1998 to 2006
Figure 3
Andrew Barnard (August 2008) Modelling the gender pay gap in the UK: 1998 to 2006
Figure 4
European Commission (2009), Gender equality in the EU in 2009

What is euthanasia?

There are a lot of definitions of euthanasia which have the similar meanings with each other, and here are some definitions from different say.

From Medicine Net.com

“The word “euthanasia” comes straight out of the Greek — “eu”, goodly or well + “thanatos”, death = the good death — and for 18th-century writers in England that was what euthanasia meant, a “good” death, a welcome way to depart quietly and well from life.”

(Medical Net.com, Medical dictionary)

From Answer.com

“The act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition, as by lethal injection or the suspension of extraordinary medical treatment.”

(Answer.com, the world’s leading Q&A site)

From wiseGEEK

“Euthanasia is the process of painlessly helping a terminally ill person to die.”

(wiseGEEK)

Legalization of euthanasia

The legalization of euthanasia is not common, it still cause intense debate among people. Up to now, there are two countries accept the legalization of euthanasia, Netherland and Belgium.

Netherland is the first country that legalizes euthanasia, the House of Representatives in Netherland approved the proposed law of euthanasia on the 28th of November in 2000 and, finally the Senate in Netherland allowed the legalization of euthanasia on the 10th April in 2001.

Belgium is the second country that approves the legalization of euthanasia. After two days debate, the lower house of the Belgian parliament approved the bill by 86 votes in favors, 51 against and with 10 abstentions. The Belgian parliament finally passed law partially legalizing euthanasia in 2002.

Though these two countries allow euthanasia and mercy killing that carry out by doctors, they set up strict rules to govern it. For examples, the person who request to euthanize must be conscious and he or she must has suffered from the prolonged physical and mental pains of terminal illness, more than one medical opinion are needed to approve each case of euthanasia.

Moreover, actually there are some places which are allow people to commit some kinds of euthanasia. For instance, physician-assisted suicide is allowed in Swiss, doctor can remove patients ‘respirator in some special cases and, terminal patients are allowed to decide continue the treatment or not by themselves in Denmark.

On the other hand, there are still lots of countries fight against the legalization of euthanasia, including Italy, Vatican, Russia, German and Britain..etc.

Reason for euthanasia

There are a number of reasons for euthanasia, including the pains that the patients suffered, the “dead life” that patients had, the family suffers and the economic burden to the society. More detailed explanations will carry out in the following paragraphs:

The prolonged pain that the patients suffered

People always say life is a divine gift to everyone, gifts should be enjoyable, and people should live enjoyably. However, for those who suffer from terminal illness, they have no hopes and they suffered from the great physical and metal pains in every moment, they are not enjoying their life, but being torturing. For those terminal illness patients, living can be a torture and euthanasia is an ideal way to die, people can die without any pains. So why don’t people choose to die peacefully rather than live with pains?

Prolonged death is not life

Comatose patient or vegetable refer to person who is physically alive but mentally inactive. They can’t move, can’t do anything but just in coma condition all the time, it is not a life real indeed. Though they might recover, the probability is very small. Without own thinking and the ability to move, that means they are not really living.

The pain and pressure that the patients’ family suffered

Although terminal patients and vegetable are always being take care by the nurse and doctors and live in the hospital, it doesn’t mean that their family members no need to take care of them. Since the staffs are not only take care of one terminal patient, so they can provide limited care only. For example, terminal patients and vegetable needs people’s care, it is important to have somebody talk to them even they can’t response, that’s what their family have to do. It is not difficult to imagine how tired they are keeping go to the hospital everyday and sometimes might be have to go there several times per day.

So, euthanasia is not only a way to escape for the patients, but their family as well.

Economic burden to the society

As the report mentioned above, prolonged death is not life, so it is necessary for people to consider continue spending money on those patients or not. Terminal patients and comatose have a very low chance to recover, however, the medical expenses for maintaining their life is quite heavy. Generally, the expense for a comatose is $8000 – $10000 per month, it seems that the cost is not so high. But, there are number of patients, let’s take America as an example, the medical expenses spent on those patients cost 10 – 70 billions US dollars each year because of the large amount of patients. Although it is merciless to include the economic factor in the reasons of euthanasia, we are living in a century which is utilitarianism always comes first, we have to accept this ruthless fact.

Arguments against the legalization of euthanasia

After listing the reasons for euthanasia, it comes to another controversial issue which is related to euthanasia, the legalization of euthanasia. Up to now, there are only two countries legalize euthanasia, it reflects that the legalization of euthanasia still need more discussion and the report is going to point out the arguments against this issue. There are three arguments against the legalization of euthanasia.

Euthanasia can be considered as murder

Law functions as a tool that maintain the peace of the society and delimit the truth and falsehood in the society. Therefore, when considering the legalization of euthanasia, we must ensure it is not conflict with the existing law. Murder means someone kills the others, it is illegal in all countries. Euthanasia ends people’s life, actually it is a kind of murder too, and the legalization of euthanasia indicates the legalization of murder as well. To adhere the principles of law, euthanasia should not be legalized. Also, the concept of euthanasia is conflict with the ethics and violates the humanism, it is a uncivilized behavior that causes the wrong values in the society.

Life must be protected and promoted in all circumferences

life is a divine gift that no one has the right to take it away, except god. Life is precious to everyone, that’s why we have being taught that killing people is definitely wrong when we were children and we also set up law to punish murderer. All these things are used to protect our life. Furthermore, a positive outlook of life should be promoted instead of treat the end of life as a way to escape. This positive attitude is what an improving society should have, look forward to the future and never give up in any situations.

A favor is provided for lawless person

The legalization of euthanasia allows people to end their life, at the same time, it allows people to end the others’ life too. As a result, there are lawless person can make use of this law to achieve their evil wants. For instance, people who don’t want to provide for their aged parents may make use of euthanasia to end their parents’ life and, euthanasia can be a tool that help the lawless person to get the inheritance earlier by ending their parents’ life.

Data from survey

A survey on euthanasia has carried out, there are totally 30 people who come have different nationalities, religions, genders and ages do the survey. The survey consists of 7 questions, which focus on different aspects of euthanasia and some statistics will show below.

To ensure all interviewees know what euthanasia is, the above question is the first question of the survey and the pie chart shows the result. According to the statistics, 70% of the interviewees know the term “euthanasia”, 27% of them are not quite sure what euthanasia is and only 3% of them don’t know what euthanasia is. This result reflects the issue of euthanasia is quite popular among people, but there are still some people not sure what euthanasia is. During the survey, we found that the reason of most people chose the answer “NOT SURE” is they don’t know the difference between euthanasia and suicide. It can be concluded that most people know the term “euthanasia” but there is still misconstruction about euthanasia existing in the society.

According to the statistics, the total number of people who think euthanasia is in conflict with moral values is 13, slightly higher than the number of people who answered “NO”. The distribution of the statistics is that the people in the age group of 18-29 are tending to answer NO while people in the age group of 30-40 and 41 or above are more likely to choose YES. It indicates the different thinking and values between the younger people and middle -agers and old people. In the youth’s values, they mostly think there is no conflict between euthanasia and their moral values, but in middle-agers and old people’s eyes, it is an irreconcilable conflict. Another remarkable point is people aged above 30 are generally having their stand on this question, only 1 of them has no stand on it. Comparing the number of the other age groups, the younger age groups have a total number of 4 people choosing the answer NOT SURE, it is obvious that the younger are not having definite view. This phenomenon occurs can be explained by the age of people, it is a comprehensive fact since people mental is mature with their age.

The general trend is people are not agreeing on the legalization of euthanasia. Referring to the statistics, 9 people agree legalizing euthanasia, 14 people disagree the legalization of euthanasia and the rest of them have no stand.

Among five groups of people from different countries, Chinese’s attitude on the legalization of euthanasia is the most clear and definite. There are 16 Chinese interviewees in total, 4 of them agree the legalization of euthanasia and 10 of them do not, it shows that more than 50% of them oppose the legalization of euthanasia, it is a definite statistics compare with the result of the other countries. On the contrary, Australian is more likely to agree the legalization of euthanasia, there are 4 people out of 8 people in Australia agree to legalize euthanasia, while the other 50% of the people are disagree or have no stand.

Apart from the above two nations, the other nations are having an indefinite attitude, people from Japan, Korea and France are tend to choose “NOT SURE”. Referring to the result, there are 2 Koreans, a Japanese and a French chose “NOT SURE”. It reflects these three nations don’t have an identical attitude on this issue.

In this question, more than one answer can be chose, so the above result has more than 30 votes in total.

According to the result, there are 28 interviewees think that the family members of a person should be authorized to decide the person commit euthanasia or not, nearly all of the interviewees chose this option. The number of people chose the option, himself or herself, is slightly fewer than the option, family members, just 3 more people have chosen family members than himself or herself. It reflects people concern on the patients’ family members decision the most, even more than the patients himself or herself.

Doctor is the choice that falls behind the option, himself or herself, there are 14 people chose this option. It reflects that though doctors are providing professional medical advice, most people don’t consider them to be the one who approve the commitment of euthanasia. It can be explained by the identity of doctors, since the doctor is just the person who cures the patients, the relationship between the family members and the patient is much closer than doctors and the patients. The least popular choice is his or her friends, there are only 2 people chose this choice. It is not difficult to understand this result, it is because friends are outsider in this case.

Conclusion and Recommendation

In this report, a lot of researches and a survey about euthanasia have been carried out. After researching into the issue of euthanasia, euthanasia can be concluded as ending a life without pains and there are both pros and cons on the legalization of euthanasia.

Referring to the result of the survey, there are several discoveries after the analysis. To summarize, most people know the term “euthanasia” but there is still misconstruction about euthanasia existing in the society, older people are more likely to think the euthanasia is in conflict with their moral values while the younger do not, the general trend is people are not agreeing on the legalization of euthanasia and family members of a person is the one that people think they should be authorized to decide the person commit euthanasia or not.

Base on the above conclusion and findings from report, a number of recommendations have raised. Firstly, I recommend people spend more time on knowing the true meaning of euthanasia since it is a popular issue in the society, but there are still some people misunderstand the term “euthanasia”. At the same time, it is the government’s responsibility to ensure their citizens have enough understanding on the public issues, so I suggest the government try to use different ways to teach people a correct meaning of euthanasia. The last thing I would like to suggest is the government has to consider twice before legalizing euthanasia because it is an issue that affect a lot of aspects, like ethics and religion. If the government legalizes euthanasia thoughtlessly, the society may in a state of chaos.

It is remarkable to say that population studies weren’t that popular prior to the Second World War. People weren’t concerned about how a population grows. In fact their evolving population was considered a mathematical research rather than a demographic one. After the Second World War though, demography has become a well developed discipline introducing to the post war populations may information regarding their change/evolution.

Various studies show that after the First demographic transition, between the 1946 and 1964, women were more likely to have numerous children. The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) had an extremely great increase and populations have grown by approximately a 2%. Unfortunately, after that period, things had changed and the total fertility rate had declined dramatically.

So, do couples actually want to expand their family names? Do they really want to have a baby under these conditions and way of nowadays living? Population growth is one of the most important issues demographers have to deal with, within their careers, making them extremely concerned that we might have a nice probability to become extinct as a race.

Many theories and studies are published every year, in journals, books and in various types of report showing that low fertility is a potential problem for the population growth, societies and even individual families.

Having that in mind and doing my own personal research based on the reasons causing this phenomenon, I came across the following article that influenced me and raised lots of questions in my mind as an active society member: “When people respond to lower mortality rates by having smaller families, economies change fundamentally, usually for the better. As the fertility rate falls, the number of working-age adults’ creeps up relative to the rest of the population, laying the foundation for the so-called “demographic dividend” (The Economist, ‘fertility decline, the demographic dividend, poverty and inequality. Demography and Inequality’) .

AS the article regards, having a low fertility rate creates a more satisfying economic living. This phenomenon actually affects the Italian population. It is noteworthy that the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) throughout the years in Italy has become one of the lowest fertility rates among Western European countries. TFR has declined from 2.45 to 1.63 (OECD ‘Low participation countries’). 1,63 is a value well below the initial 2.45 one, provoking a population decrease.

Many reasons such as social, political, economic, psychological as well environmental, are responsible for Italian young adult generations to maintain the fertility levels offensive. In this essay I will discuss the reasons causing low fertility rates in Italy.

Main Body:

To understand how people became aware of the low fertility situation, we have to explain the Demographic Transition theory. With Demographic transition theory we mean the industrialization progress. We define the change from a pre-industrialized establishment, of high rates of mortality and fertility to a post-industrialized one, with both fertility and mortality rates low.

In 1929 a famous English demographer, Warren Thompson, developed a theory that distinguishes 3 different types of countries based on their population growth rates:

Group A: The countries with falling rates of increase facing a strong population decline.

Group C: The countries which neither birth nor death rates were controlled, also known as Malthusian.

Group B: The countries with the imaginary population growth. In these countries, the death rates were increasing rapidly while the birth rates remained constant. At a first place the death rates increase provokes an illusion that the population is growing. Within the years though, because of the fixed birth rates, the population actually has decreased.( Dudley Kirk (1996): Demographic Transition Theory, Population Studies: A Journal of Demography, 50:3, 361-387)

It is not a surprise that the Italian population is part of the second group (Group B). In the early 90’s Italy and other European countries had a fertility decline to significantly lower levels, known as one of the lowest-low-fertility countries. In the following graph we can see the Italian fertility rate going. It illustrates a slight increase from the 50’s until the 65’and a significant fertility decrease from the 70’s until today: C:UsersxanthisDesktopMSC Social StatsUnd.pop.changeessay1 articlesUntitled.png

Source: Country Profiles WFR2009 (Italian Part).

Nevertheless, the question remains unanswered: Why fertility declined in the first place?

The idea of new industrial societies, undoubtedly introduced the small family belief. With technological development, new skills were needed and as a result new opportunities for getting different jobs appeared. Obviously, to be up to date with the technology improvement, education has become of crucial importance and new economic roles appeared for women as well. As a result women became independent from childbearing while high child-rearing costs were introduced.

By the time, industrial and technology improvements created a fundamental decline, -within the young adult’s Italian population -, of motivation to subjugate. Fairly enough the young adults are not motivated since having a child nowadays causes lots difficulties to a couple. Despite the fact that childbearing is one of the most important and positive experience of a couple’s life, young adults cannot afford it. It seems that everything is moving around the economic status of a couple, since taking a birth decision is highly related with the economic income and employment. Female employment in Italy is generally low even for-part time workers. Most of the Italian women have as a first option to leave the labor market after having a baby rather than combine the child caring with their jobs. That incompatibility of labor force participation and childbearing is created due to non flexible labor markets. The employed Italian females have to deal with the following problems in a family centered society such as in Italy: Society is organized in a way that suits more the male adults. In fact scarce child rearing facilities exist because of the above philosophy. It is believed that in a family the bread-winner is the male. As a matter of fact, the care of a child is by law considered a woman’s responsibility.

Furthermore, mothers don’t have any state support for a new child and working, while having a child violates the social norm. Another problem that it may sound a bit old-school, also affect women’s labor force participation. Women have a double workload as they also do most of the household work. Most of the men decide to move from their parental house when they have to move in with their partners. They do not experience their selves the opportunity to leave alone and take care of their own place, so as a result they do not know how to behave properly with house works (Demographic patterns from the 1960’s in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, A review.(Rydell, Ingrid, presented at seminar at Institute for Future Studies: October 2002,Dalla Zuanna 2001).

This economic uncertainty in early adulthood, delays the process of leaving the parental home. Most of the working adults leave home at the age of 25-29 when they feel, barely, independent economically. Italian families encourage the late departure from the family house because of these economic conditions. This late departure has a direct effect on fertility since leaving your household in a late age means that probably the marriage age will be delayed as well and so a shorter time interval it can be used for childbearing.

Whereas to lots of sexually transmitted diseases the pharmaceutical/chemistry section has raised and created new methods that help young adults avoid unwanted pregnancies. The separation of sex from childbearing is caused exactly by the use of these methods, the contraceptive ones which contribute to low fertility levels.

Ageing is one of the most important reasons causing the reduction of population increase. As I stated before, based on Warren Thompson’s theory, Italy is included in the Group B countries. Younger people may want to downsize the welfare state given the increasing challenges involved in supporting the old population. Due to fewer young adults, a large proportion of older voters exist and so there are no changes in the system. Labor force productivity is also affected by ageing. Having small numbers of young adult workers, older ones cannot be replaced and as a result productivity of work force becomes weak.

Conclusions:

As seen, in this piece of essay, low fertility may be a strong problem for the population growth and create lots of disadvantages. This argument has 2 schools of thoughts. Many argue that if population growth existed, and remained increasing then lots of benefits would have affected the population. In example, large number populations support a larger number of people who are free to talk and express their ideas. More people brainstorm helping the world progress within technology, science and belief. In addition, larger numbers create a generic diversity. Diversity is particularly important, while learning about diseases and disorders. Work force also may be affected. Large number of workers can decline dramatically the unemployment rate since having a large number of workers creates opportunities for new working roles and places.

Furthermore, extending the housing market, so that more young people could set up a home would probably increase young adult’s fertility rates. Also population growth control could reduce poverty. It is notable to say that extremely large populated places are victims of higher numbers of poverty. While a population grows, more demands are being asked by many and as a result they will have to depend on state benefits in order to survive.

This in turn puts further effort on resources. Controlling population growth may result a positive factor since resources would be spread evenly.

On the other hand, as others argue, low fertility and ageing may be viewed in a positive way. A smaller population means less pressure to support. Fewer houses, roads, bridges and buildings would cause less money to spend for their maintenance and in that way government can spend money on other, less urgent, aspect, in example children education. Having fewer kids, the educational investment per child becomes larger and as a further result the labor force productivity will increase.

Moreover, some argue that less and old people provide better environmental living. Older people consume less damaging energy for the environment. In fact having a smaller population gases, air pollution and oil of the well known destructive issues of the environment can be less damaging. Fewer people help in saving the earth. It also helps in decreasing carbon dioxide (co2) and other gasses. Additionally, small population may keep some countries survive. Customs and traditions may be kept alive while interacting in small number populations.

Concluding when a country has too many wastes, there would be not enough space to store the others. Since there are more people, the resources would not be enough for those people. Many believe that resources should be divided equally between the people of a population.

When a disease attacks a country with a big population, probabilities are higher for an easy spread of it.

My personal opinion is that low fertility is a potential problem for the general population growth. Generations must change and evolve. Surely having smaller populations has lots of benefits but it has a huge disadvantage, smaller populations are more controlled by the government. Over the years I believe that next generations will be more comfortable as a whole than the previous ones. Today’s children are richer in things and education than their parents were as youngsters and today’s children’s children would be more comfortable than nowadays ones. It is always evolving for the better.

Concluding, I couldn’t agree more with the following statement that I found in an article: ‘Demography is too important to be left to demographers’ (Dudley Kirk (96): Demographic Transition Theory, Population Studies: A Journal of Demography, 50:3, 361-387). Populations must be aware of that situation and reproduce man kind.

Abstract- In India, The realities of rural life in India are difficult to comprehend. We are now witnessing a steady improvement in the enrolment of women in schools, colleges and even in profession institutes. Their health is better as compared to earlier decades. In this decade, women are entering into the job market in increasing numbers field showing their skills even in non-traditional sectors like police, defence, administration, media and research fields. In the political field, the reservation for women is a significant step forward towards their political empowerment. When thirty-three percent reservations for women in Parliament becomes a reality, women’s voice will be heard in the highest forum of democracy. The day, women of India will reach zenith in their empowerment. People were not allowed to share own property, they did not have a Share in the property of their parents, they had no voting rights, and they had no freedom to choose their work or job and so on. The present seminar has been planned with a view to discuss the various issues related to the Empowerment of Women and to suggest measures for achieving this end. In India population according to the 2001 Census, the percentage of female literacy in the country is 54% up from 9% 1951. In order to help women to be in popular, they necessary to be empowered. There is a condition for empowerment of women is to the transform a developing country into a developed country. In this paper we are highlighting that in India country women’s strength is critical and we explain the critical value of women how improve their value & status for some ways.

Keywords- Economics, Status, NGO, PEP, Improving,

CEDAW,

Introduction

In the empowerment of women include many things – economic opportunity, social equality, and personal rights. Women were deprived of those human rights, often as a matter of tradition. In rural areas, women are generally not perceived to have any meaningful income generation capacity, and hence, they are relegated mainly to household duties and cheap labour. We are now witnessing a steady improvement in the enrolment of women in schools, colleges and even in profession institutes. Their health is better as compared to earlier decades. In this decade, women are entering into the job market in increasing numbers. They are showing their skills even in non-traditional sectors like police, defence, administration, media and research fields. Twenty-six laws have been enacted so far to protect women from various crimes [7]. In particular define empowerment is depend just like that power cannot change if power cannot be change. If this is inherent in neither positions or nor people, then empowerment impossible, nor is empowerment conceivable in any meaningful way. Bookman & morgen et.al [5] in 1984 defining that empowerment status of women level on that time, women level on that only born child and work at home [4] VARA LAXMI is definition in an article way by A Sustainable approach for Women Empowerment through Micro-finance, the micro-credit or micro-finance has got much avowed attention among government circles, voluntary sector and the academia. More importantly after the success of Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank started by Prof Mahammad Yunus who bestowed with the Nobel Peace prize for 2006, for the efforts to create economic and social development from below. There is also mounting evidence to show that the availability of financial services for poor households – such as micro-finance -can empower the rural people to achieve their goals and enhance their lives accordingly. It is assumed that women’s control over income will lead to increased well-being for women and their children. This individual economic empowerment is also assumed to lead to wider social and political empowerment. [8] NGO plays an important for role for improving empowerment. This Asian-foundation organization two running program MDG-3 (Gender, Equality and women empowerment) & the convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) for women empowerment.

CONCEPT

In India, the empowerment process has already begun. For centuries women were not treated equal to men in many ways. While a small minority of people in major cities have benefited from the information revolution of the past decade, the lives of most people in rural India (over 650 million) have hardly improved. Now that we have come out of those dark days of oppression of women there is a need for strong movement to fight for the rights of women and to ensure that they get all the rights which men have or in other words a movement for the Empowerment of Women. Twenty-six laws have been enacted so far to protect women from various crimes. These are very positive signs which imply that women can be leaders. Though some women have shown their mettle yet a large number of them have to sharpen their leadership qualities in various ways. The recent law on the ‘protection of women against domestic violence’ satisfies the long pending demand of the women activities. But a lot of work has to be done as there is a category of women (who consider themselves highly educated) that proudly accepts that they don’t have digital literacy even though they own a computer, they cannot even operate bank accounts or make travel arrangements for family or handle hospital admissions even during emergencies. Even for a simple task like social visits or shopping generally they need the company of their husbands. Women should remember that they are also rational, intelligent and thinking human beings. Dependent women are not empowered women. If modern women think that they are empowered, it’s a myth for them. Empowerment means to inspire women with the courage to break free from the chains of limiting beliefs, patterns and societal or religious conditions that have traditionally kept women suppressed and unable to realize their true beauty and power.

Different Levels of Empowerment

In line with most theorists on empowerment the one has to view empowerment as taking place on different levels and that change on all levels is necessary if the empowerment of women is really to occur. We have to relate empowerment at three levels: empowerment on the individual, group, and societal/community level and the interaction between these.

The individual level deals with individual women’s abilities to take control over their lives, their perceptions about their own value and abilities, their abilities to identify a goal and work towards this goal.

The group level deals with the collective action and sense of agency that woman experience together, in a group.

The societal level deals with the permissiveness of the political and social climate, the societal norms and the public discourse on what is possible and impossible for women to do, how women should behave etc.

The different levels are seen as connected and mutually reinforcing, e.g. when empowerment on individual level occurs, this will have effect on the group and societal level. Women who are empowered on an individual level will most likely go on and affect the other levels. Empowerment on a group level e.g. women organizing around a particular need is likely to have effect on the individual empowerment of the women in the form of increased self esteem and sense of agency.

Historical Background of Women Empowerment in India

The status of Women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few millenniums. In early Vedic period Women enjoyed equal status with men. Rigved & Upanishads mention several names of women sages and seers notably Gargi & Maitre. However later the status of women began to deteriorate approximately from 500 B.C., the situation worsened with invasion of Mughals and later on by European invaders. Few improvement movements by Guru Nanak, Jainism, Raja ram Mohan Rai, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Pandita Ramabai and others did give some relief. It is not that Britishers didn’t do anything for improving the condition of women. Some laws were enacted such an “Abolition of practice of Sati”, Widow Remarriage Act 1856 etc.Feminist activism picked up momentum in India during later 1970’s. Later on many groups and NGO’s have been working for the Empowerment of women. We are proud that in India Women got voting right much before USA and some other European countries.

Empowerment of Women in Rural India Today

The realities of rural life in India are difficult to comprehend. While a small minority of people in major cities have benefited from the information revolution of the past decade, the lives of most people in rural India (over 650 million) have hardly improved. A majority of villages do not have sustainable economies, and only through oppression of women and lower castes can the landlords, upper castes, and government officials support a better life for themselves. Private initiatives are lacking as the government, to preserve its power, has placed obstacles and disincentives at every step. For example, modern healthcare for all of rural India is a free government service, but the reality is that the delivery of primary health care has failed miserably. A number of charitable institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have played a positive role, often assisted by government grants and foreign donations [2]. NGO, s and civil society at large in order to use the research document as a springboard to launch a sustained advocacy strategy to achieve the MDG-3 target of 33% of women in parliament. Our operating premise is that improving, economic and political opportunities for women improve societies as a whole. The foundation seeks to identify change agents build constituencies for reform around key issues affecting women’s states and promote internal efforts to identify and solve problems [8].

Empowerment of women involves many things – economic opportunity, social equality, and personal rights. Women are deprived of these human rights, often as a matter of tradition. In rural areas, women are generally not perceived to have any meaningful income generation capacity, and hence, they are relegated mainly to household duties and cheap labour. Without the power to work and earn a good income, their voices are silenced. Even in matters of sex and child bearing, women often do not have the ability to oppose the wishes of their men.

Birth control and reproductive health of women are behavioural issues affected mostly by economics, access to health care, and education. Until this reality is accepted, the desired changes may not be attainable in the foreseeable future.

In a society where men control the destiny of women, how is it possible to empower women? Simply encouraging women to resist the wishes of men would not only fail, but would create mistrust of any goodwill attempts from “the outside” to help rural communities. Women will gain power only when both men and women begin to respect and accept the contribution of women. Developing women’s capacity for income generation without threatening men is key.

Two Stories (First story)

First story based on The George Foundation placed in Bangalore, India and founded in 1995, was established to help alleviate poverty, promote health and a clean environment, and to strengthen democratic institutions and values in India. We have come to know of the following two events, among many others, in the course of our work with the families of the children in our boarding school, Shanti Bhavan. The first case involves a young pretty mother who was living with her son in a small hut. Her husband had earlier abandoned her, and she was not able to return to her parents as they considered her “unworthy.” One morning, she accompanied two men from the city who promised employment for her in the Middle East following an interview at an office somewhere, only to be gang raped and then returned to her village after a few days. Her absence was noticed by her neighbours, who blamed her for the outcome and accused her for the separation from her husband. Feeling shame, and finding that she could no longer live in the community, she set herself on fire with kerosene.

Second story

The second story is about a middle-aged woman whose husband had more than one “wife,” a common practice in rural India though not officially allowed. One of his wives contracted AIDS somehow, and while her illness had become generally known, he continued to have sexual relationship with his other wives. He made no effort to medically test or to take adequate protection measures for himself or his other women, and soon all involved contracted the disease. These two real life stories represent the endless number of lives lost from ignorance, the low status of women and their inability to control their destiny.

Some example work improving & reason for failure

Dharmapuri District in Tamil Nadu State, India, has been identified as one of the most backward districts in the nation in terms of health and development. This District is remote and the project described below is carried out in an area about 24 kilometres from the nearest city, Hosur. Infrequent and irregular public transport hinders quick access to government emergency health services. Education facilities are limited to government primary schools of poor quality, and the nearest high school is located 10-15 kilometres from many of the villages served by The George Foundation’s projects [1].

Reason: – In Dharmapuri District the Foundation has attempted to facilitate the development of a model community consisting of several villages that prosper from sustainable and integrated economic activities. Health and education facilities are being renovated, and economic opportunities are being shared, especially among the socially disadvantaged castes and women [1]. In this article Transitioning from a command and control culture to employee empowerment requires a commitment to long-term change. Too often, management fads and quick fixes in the name of empowerment have been implemented rather than relevant changes in management systems, structures, and cultural values. To be successful, empowerment must be seen as a long-term program of employee participation and involve-ment.but this type of program cannot run for long time [10].

Why is there still a Need for Women Empowerment?

In spite of the various measures taken up by the government after Independence and even during British rule the Women haven’t been fully empowered. We may be proud of women in India occupying highest offices of President, Prime Minister, Lok Sabha Speaker, Sonia Gandhi, and Leader of the Opposition or women like Ms. Chandra Kochar occupying highest positions in the Corporate Sector but the fact remains that we still witness dowry deaths, domestic violence and exploitation of women. Some create history in space & sport like Sunita Williams & Saina Nehwal, Sania Mirza & Anju Bobby George The female feticide is common phenomenon. The male female ratio though improved over last few years is still far from satisfactory. It is 940 women per 1000 men for India in some states it is as much lower as 877. These are the states where female feticide is maximum. The female literacy rate is also lower than the male literacy rate. The ground reality is deprivation, duration and exploitation of women specially women from rural areas and those belonging to deprived sectors of the society. The Urban elite class women have no doubt been benefitted by the efforts of women empowerment.

IV. Way of Improving Empowerment of poor women in India

The World Bank has been the major source of external funding through loans to governments (never directly to private institutions) for specific projects. Very few projects have ever met their goals; in fact, most rural projects have been dismal failures. Unbearable bureaucracy, terrible inefficiency, and corruption at all levels of the government have wasted much of the money allocated to rural development. Furthermore, the local officials who manage projects that target women do not themselves believe in the potential of women. Yet the process continues, without an alternative. International agencies continue to pour money into these programs, only to benefit the middlemen. Clearly, a new approach is required to have an impact on the lives of women in rural India, and to ultimately help stabilize population growth [1]. In this article the people empowering People (PEP) program uses the definition of empowerment to connect research, theory and practice. The PEP program builds on theory of critical adult education developed by Friere (1970), Horton (1989), and others. The focus is on the connection between individual action and community action encourages individual change through training sessions and discussions and supporting action through participants give people the opportunities, resources and support that they need to become involved themselves [7]. Nanette Page review in own article about PEP, empowerment as a multi-dimensional social process that helps people gain control over their own lives. In PEP as in we strive to teach people skills and knowledge that will motivate them to take steps to improve their own lives-to be empowered [3]. President Pratibha Patil said that women empowerment is of utmost importance if we want women’s progress. He said “Creating the environment which imparts equal status to women in family, society and country is the sole motive behind various facets of programmes being run for women empowerment. We have to work towards making them able to take their own decisions,” .Stressing on the importance of education, the President said, “Education is the first tool of empowerment. Right to Education, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan have ensured that education is available to children between the age group of six and 14. Be it a boy or girl, every child must get education. It is these educated women who can in turn educate other women and teach them independence and self-confidence [9]. In this report develop the empowerment improving mater from Financial Inclusion. MasterCard embarked on an initiative to further the process of women’s empowerment in the country in partnership with SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association). SEWA is a leading Indian organization that works towards helping women in securing employment opportunities, empowering them to be self-reliant with supportive services. I had the unique privilege of participating in SEWA’s activities and witness their success first hand at the recent inauguration of the seventh Rural Urban Development Initiative (RUDI) processing centre at Bodeli, near Vadodara, Gujarat supported by MasterCard. Through this program we will provide full-time employment opportunities for women in 100 adjoining villages to begin with and will expand to a catchment of 300 to 500 villages in Gujarat. This will help benefit approximately 2,000 farmers and 400 SEWA members [11].

Women’s Economic Empowerment through Co-operative Farming, Vocational Training & Business Development

Due to the lack of specific implementation plans and faulty representations, local communities have not adequately accepted government and private schemes for the upliftment of women. Women have not actively participated in their own emancipation due to their lack of economic independence and rampant illiteracy. Therefore, The George Foundation decided to address this important issue of women’s empowerment in India by raising the status of women in Hosur Taluk through economic empowerment and education.

Krishnagiri District is the most backward district in Tamil Nadu. In the geographical location selected, there are no high schools, no private schools, inadequate primary health sub-centres, and no NGOs. Roads, water supply, drainage and communication network are inadequate to augment economic development. Fragmented land holdings are not conducive to commercial farming. Child labour is rampant in this socially backward area. Population statistics of our country clearly indicate that quality education is out of the reach of the poor and marginalized irrespective of their innate potential. Women are often exploited by their communities. They have very little voice and no knowledge or means of improving their social and economic status.

In the villages of the area, the caste system is deeply entrenched. The lower caste colonies are ostracized and basic facilities are denied to them. Female infanticide is a common practice and women are punished socially for bearing girl

Children Gender biases are very evident in the preferential treatment given to the male child.

Rain-dependent agriculture, home-based animal husbandry, silkworm rearing and brick making are the main income generating activities. Fisheries, horticulture and industries have been established in a few select areas such as Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri and House. Rural folk find it difficult to travel to these cities in search of jobs. The average family income level is below the poverty line.

One of the popular schemes employed by several NGOs, and supported by some international and bilateral agencies, is the so-called “micro-finance” or small loans that usually range up to $100 (Rs. 5,000) per woman to start some form of business. Notable successes have been recorded, and the program has received considerable world attention. Most poor women entrepreneurs are said to have been able to make their businesses successful, and repay the loan. However, our experience in this area with lower caste poor women has been somewhat different.

Poor women, especially from backward communities and lower castes, are mostly illiterate, untrained, and have very little social and economic status. In India, there are over 350 million such people, mainly in rural areas. The unemployed are nearly 200 million people, a great majority of them belonging to these deprived sections of the society. Without meaningful skills, social status, and economic power, they are unable to do any business on their own even with financial assistance.

To start even a small rural business, it takes no less than $500. According to some studies conducted by the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Ahmadabad, the average capital need for a one-person small business is in excess of Rs. 1 lakh ($2,000). Further, the chance of making any business successful is very small – the odds are barely 1 in hundred for an educated person. Uneducated lower caste rural women find it almost impossible to starting any such entrepreneurial work without adequate capital, proper training, and on-site daily support.

Based on our understanding of the problem faced in our rural community, we have devised a scheme for empowering poor and socially deprived women. The key ingredients of this program can be summarized as follows:

Adequate training in an area where the women have natural abilities and understanding (for example, farming and cattle rearing)

Use of superior technology to obtain better output and higher profits (modern farming techniques, such as use of proper fertilizers, deep ploughing, drip irrigation, etc.)

Creation of financial assets through savings (from profits generated from sale of produce, over and above wages received)

Ownership of physical assets (use of financial assets to buying cultivable land – A? acre per family)

Sharing of resources such as wells, tractor, etc. among several farmers

Provide a support system that addresses concerns, difficulties, know-how, etc.

Access to information and markets (knowing what high-value crop to grow and when, which markets offer higher prices on a given day, tie up export contracts, etc.)

Only when these requirements can be met, we believe poor illiterate rural women can be expected to turn into entrepreneurs.

The George Foundation has purchased/least 250 acres of land. An executive committee composed of representatives of The George Foundation, village panchayats, and agricultural consultants has been formed. Under its direction, the soil is being prepared for crop cultivation. Superior seeds of selected crops have been purchased. The panchayats members are highly motivated about this project.People from the surrounding villages is participating in the preparation of the land for farming. This program will be expanded to cover the neighbouring state of Karnataka in its later stages.

Members of the village panchayats, the village administrative officer and the block development officer have been with the project from its planning stage. The geographic community and the community of beneficiaries, particularly poor rural women, were involved in planning and implementation of the project.

Changing Social Institutions to Improve the Status of Women in Developing Countries

Figure 1 highlight how social institutions affect the economic role of women, i.e. their chances to have access to the labour market and to better paid and more qualified jobs such as professional workers, technicians, administrators and managers. Social institutions can exert their influence in two ways. Traditions, customs and social norms can constrain women’s activities directly – by not allowing them to start their own businesses, by refusing them jobs that involve contact with or managing men, or by simply not allowing them to leave the home alone. All these direct factors lead to an exclusion of women from entrepreneurial activities that are often the first step towards independence, self-esteem and liberty of choices. Morrison and Jutting (2004) analyse empirically the relationships between social institutions and the economic role of women. They measure the depth of discrimination caused by social institutions with economic (ECO) and non-economic (NON-ECO) indicators (for explanation, see Box 1). They find that the higher the value for ECO and NON-ECO variables the lower the probability that women will play an active role in the economy. A further econometric analysis puts into question the widely believed view that a rise in income will generally facilitate women’s access to the labour market [2].

Figure-1

Conclusions

The Empowerment of women has become one of the most important Concerns of 21st century not only at national level but also at the international level. Efforts by the Govt. are on to ensure Gender equality but Government initiatives alone would not be sufficient to achieve this goal. Society must take initiative to create a climate in which there is no gender discrimination and Women have full opportunities of Self decision making and participating in the Social, Political and Economic life of the Country with a sense of equality. Then only the Vedic verse “Wherever Women is respected, God resides there” would come true. The best gift parents today can give to their daughters is education. If women choose to be ignorant then all the efforts taken by the Government and women activists will go in vain. Even in twenty-fifth century, they will remain backward and will be paying a heavy price for their dependence, so, it is a wake-up call for women to awake from their deep slumber and understand the true meaning of their empowerment. In the end I would like to conclude with the following words, “Women as the motherhood of the nation should be strong, aware and alert”.

Despite the difficulties that are likely to be encountered, we believe it is possible to bring about major improvements to the lives of women in rural India. Well-planned and properly managed private initiatives can succeed in empowering women, provided the approach taken is sufficiently holistic. The time has come to go beyond small pilot projects that hardly ever lead to major undertakings. There has been much needless suffering for too long by a majority of the world’s population. It would be a noble and worthwhile effort to prove the concept on a large scale, probably for several million people in an area. That would require considerable organizational skills and management talent, with a clear focus on accomplishing set goals in a time-bound fashion. The success of such a program would be the model that international funding agencies and philanthropic institutions can build upon, and serve as a departure to the failed policies and programs of the past.

Critically analyse the way social problems are constructed and prioritised for intervention. Distinguish between the realist and construction approaches to social problems and offer an assessment of their value. Apply the relevant social theory to a contemporary social problem such as prostitution.

Outlined below is a critical analysis of the way in which social problems are constructed and prioritised for intervention. This critical analysis will aim to distinguish between the realist and the construction approaches to social problems, going on to assess the value of each approach in turn. Then the social theory deemed to be the most relevant would be applied to a contemporary social problem.

The realist approach to social problems is an approach that stresses that there is usually underlying causes of issues or phenomena within modern societies. The realist approach to social problems assumes that such problems have short – term and also long – term causes that are actually found ingrained into the social structures of modern societies.^[1] The starting point of the realist approach to social problems stress that the underlying social causes of such problems as crime, illegal drug taking, and prostitution are generally more important over the long – term rather than the sometimes more obvious short –term causes of the phenomena being examined.^[2]

Advocates of the realist approach to social problems frequently contend that sociologists should always delve deeper into the specific social problems that they are evaluating. The realist approach to social problems implies that sociologists delve deeper to find out the affects of factors such as deprivation, discrimination, prejudices, and also poverty.^[3] According to the realist approach to social problems these factors whether own their own, or in various combinations with each other are the real underlying causes of social problems. Therefore in many respects the realist approach to social problems has a great deal in common with the Marxist approach to social problems and all related issues. The main difference being that the Marxist approach to social problems would always contend that class and economic conflicts or developments are the root causes of every social problem.^[4]

The Construction approach to social problems examines the causes of all such social problems from a different perspective than the realist approach to social problems does. Whereas the realist approach to social problems contends that there are nearly always underlying factors causing these social problems, the Construction approach to social problems does not automatically that to be the case. Thus in contrast to the realist approach to social problems the Construction approach assumes that social problems are specifically constructed and that they could actually have causes that are as straightforward as they appeared to be at first glance.^[5]

The Construction approach to social problems argues that these problems are often constructed at the same time as the societies that they are found inside, and sometimes constructed after the society in question has already become well established. In the Construction approach to social problems it also often implied that the issues that are deemed to be social problems are classified as such due to the prevailing social and moral values within any given society. What is regarded as a social problem in one society might be regarded as being partly or entirely acceptable in another society.^[6]

For instance different societies have different attitudes towards issues such as homosexuality and prostitution, with more liberal minded societies perhaps not regarding them as social problems at all. Under the Construction approach to social problems various social issues and whether or not they constitute social problems depends upon the subjective values of prevailing social and moral attitudes.^[7] Societies are not always entirely agreed as to which social issues can be regarded as being social problems. The Construction approach to social problems therefore finds it useful to argue that it is the strongest or prevailing social and moral attitudes that construct and prioritise social problems and labels them as such.^[8]

The best of the approaches to social problems to be used to construct and also to prioritise the social problem or problems being examined would be the realist approach to social problems.^[9] The strength of the realist approach to social problems is that it would offer the chance to gain an understanding of the underlying causes of social problems. The realist approach to social problems such as drug taking and prostitution gives more extensive explanations than those provided by the Construction approach to social problems does. ^[10]

The realist approach to social problems offers a deeper insight into the underlying causes of problems like prostitution. To begin with the realist approach to social problems would make the sociologists examining the issue look into all the possible underlying causes of prostitution.^[11] When following the realist approach to social problems like prostitution sociologists would evaluate the parts that addiction, alienation, desperation, discrimination, sexuality, and violence played in making the problem better or worse.^[12]

In other words the realist approach to social problems would contend that prostitution was a social problem that demonstrates the unfair, harsh, violent, and frequently hypocritical ways social problems are formed and also understood are actually common in contemporary modern societies.^[13] The realist approach to social problems would contend that prostitution has been around for thousands of years in virtually every society that has ever existed, its most obvious cause being that people will pay for sex, and that other people will exchange sexual services for cash payments. According to the realist approach to social problems prostitution has more underlying causes such as prostitutes selling their bodies to make a living, to pay for drink or drug addictions, and more sinisterly they are physically forced into doing it. Whether or not prostitutes undertake their role freely or are forced into it the realist approach to social problems would nearly always argue that they are being exploited for the financial gains of others. The realist approach to social problems or at least its advocates would contend that prostitution will probably never go away, and the main aim of society should be to protect prostitutes from exploitation, violence, and sexually transmitted diseases.^[14]

Therefore to conclude the realist approach to social problems is better than the Construction approach to social problems as it allows sociologists the chance to evaluate social issues and social problems in greater detail. The realist approach to social problems offers a better understanding of the constructing and the prioritising of prostitution as a social problem.

Bibliography

Abercrombie N, Hill S & Turner B S, (2000) The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology 4^th edition, Penguin Group, London

Abercrombie N, (2004) Sociology, A Short Introduction, Polity, Cambridge

Cavadino M & Dignan J, (2002) The Penal System An Introduction, Sage Publications Lawson T & Heaton T, (1999) Crime and Deviance, MacMillan, Basingstoke

1

Rationalization and Weber’s Possible Interpretations

Rationalization is not a term that Max Weber defined in his book Modernity and Society. However, it is possible to speculate that the most plausible interpretation for what Weber meant by rationalization is, the replacement of traditional ways of doing things with new calculated ways. Two examples of these calculated ways of doing things can be seen in his writings on capitalism and bureaucracy; in which he highlights that capitalism has changed the economic structure of the West and bureaucracy, has changed the organizational structure in the West. One alternative interpretation that can also be taken from his book is that rationalization is the advancement of scientific reasoning through empirical evidence; which is a shift from previous emphasis on just spiritualism and mysticism. This paper will demonstrate that his interpretation does not hold much foundation in Weber’s writing and in fact, the most likely interpretation is the one regarding a shift to more calculated ways of doing.

For Weber, calculation of human actions comes up immensely in his writing, and this ability to calculate and move from old traditional norms can be seen in the rise of capitalism and bureaucracy. Human beings systematic shift from bartering goods to a more sophisticated and logical way created a capitalistic society. Weber’s claim that capitalism is the essence of rationalization can be seen when he states “Also capitalist businessmen, not only as occasional entrepreneurs but as persons oriented permanently to business, have been ancient, enduring, and highly universal figures” (Weber, p. 57). He is referring to the old ways business was done which was not sufficient enough to survive in a more progressive Westernized world in which capitalism replaced it because it is a more rational way of viewing the economy. This is quite significant because he touches upon the theme of calculating the market and using that to one’s advantage to better understand the economy. A supporter of the scientific interpretation might state that capitalism is not in fact a better way of organization because it causes many problems for individuals such as the inequalities that it produces. Thus might add, science through empirical evidence helps individuals unlike capitalism. While capitalism existed in places like China and in the Middle Ages it did not have the “spirit” as Weber describes it. This spirit that Weber speaks of is to have a duty to prosper through financial gains. When capitalism does prosper it is because individuals accept internal a certain way for doing things and realize that a capitalist society is right for them to achieve their goals and desires. He says “commercialisation would not have existed if capitalist-rational organization of work had not been there. One reason is rationalization is the enhancement of capitalism; it is the improvement of capitalist industrial firm.”(Weber, p.18). This illustrates his profound confidence in capitalism as rationalization, which is a shift to more systematic calculated ways of thinking about and doing actions.

Another example that can be used to support the calculated ways interpretation is Weber’s writings on bureaucracy. Bureaucracy’s ability to handle the tasks of an increasingly complex society with relative ease, has significantly changed the social life of individuals. Weber highlights the superiority of the bureaucratic system when he writes “the decisive reason for the advance of bureaucratic organization has always been its purely technical superiority over any other form of organization”(Weber, p.198). In a sense, Weber is praising bureaucracy with the formulation of a structural hierarchy chain of command that makes time more efficient and individuals know what goals must be accomplished as opposed to the old ways of doing things where the structure was not as defined. One might say that Weber does not support this because he states “Bureaucracy both in business offices and in public service, promotes the rise of a specific status group, just as did the quite different officeholders of the past” (Weber, p.202). Weber is stating that bureaucracy is nothing different from the old ways of doing things because it creates a hierarchy where individuals are still at the bottom. At first glance this might present a reasonable challenge but after further analysis, its flaw is evident. This would not be a sufficient argument because Weber states “according to all constitutions he can be dismissed or resign at any time”( Weber , p.204), the “he” Weber is referring to is a high official in a bureaucratic system. He essential debunks the argument raised that bureaucracy creates a hierarchical society that individuals will always be able to retain their power. When in actuality unlike the traditional ways where power was secure and did not fluctuate, bureaucracies are deeply infringed in Western legal systems that inhibit people from keeping their power if that majority wants them out. The reality is that because of the effortless movement of ideals and people, bureaucracy enables individuals to cooperate in an efficient manner, which is a result of rational behaviour. Weber accepting the bureaucracy has had a tremendous impact on his entire writing because from a sociological perspective, it allows individuals to work together more harmoniously because of the constant flow of activity as previously described.

In a traditional society, human beings were focused on mysticism and spiritualism as a means of discovering everything in their surroundings and as a result they lacked comprehensive knowledge of their environment. An alternative interpretation to what rationalization might have meant to Weber is that it is the move from spiritual and mystical ways of seeing the world to a more scientific and empirical way of understanding our surroundings. A scientific interpretation might be seen as plausible because Weber’s admiration for science can be seen when he states “Every scientific “fulfillment” raises new “questions”; it asks to be “surpassed” and “out-dated“ (Weber, p.56). This is a very relevant reason for this interpretation because with scientific rise, one is able to ask more insightful questions than previously thought of. However, a disadvantage to an individual taking this interpretation is that although Weber supports scientific reasoning, he does not believe that it is only unique to Western society. “Empirical knowledge, reflection on the world and the problems of life, philosophical and theological wisdom of the deepest kind extraordinarily refined knowledge observation – all this existed outside the West” (Weber, p.53). This raises a huge flaw in rationalization with this interpretation because if rationalization is the move from better ways of thinking and more systematic calculable ways, then why would other individuals than the West develop it? A more unique perspective is to adopt the first interpretation where capitalism and bureaucracy are primarily found in the West. Weber, throughout the chapter entitled Scientific Vocation, makes reference to science not being able to answer the questions that govern a person’s regular life and it falls short in this area. Weber, a sociologist, would be primarily interested in the social aspects of rationalization – something that science does not offer an answer to. The scientific interpretation would not be a suitable explanation for what Weber meant by rationalization.

It is clear that Weber did not provide a direct definition for what rationalization meant. However, it is possible to conclude that because of his strong interest in capitalism and bureaucracy, he meant rationalization is the ability to calculate and systematically change the world. Although some might propose the alternative interpretation that Weber might have meant that rationalization is the transformation from mysticism thinking in the world of how religion used to be and towards more scientific knowledge. This interpretation would not be a substantive one to explain the other forms of rationalization that Weber describes throughout his book.

References:

Weber, M. (2005). Max Weber: Readings and Commentary on Modernity. S. Kalberg (Ed.).

Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Over the years, there have been various explanations to the causes of mental illness; while some have indicated genetic causes, others have identified socio-economic causes and others have explained it using a stress-vulnerability model. Sometimes it has been explained as a combination of these factors but irrespective of these explanations which could be argued, it has been substantiated by various studies. One cannot dismiss the strong association of cultural and religious beliefs and practices in the explanation of mental illness and how these explanation and beliefs can influence treatment options sought by the individual and clinicians’ attitudes and responses. In some instances, people experiencing mental illness may have delusions of religious content as this can obscure valuable diagnosis and required treatment to be given (Cinnirella and Loewenthal, 1999). Although, religion in certain instances does not have association with mental health disorders, when it does, some close associates of the person experiencing mental health difficulties see them as someone who requires treatment, while others think they have a good doctrine or fundamental ideas and will seldom seek medical or psychological intervention (Johnson-Hill, 1995).

Rastafarianism is a way of life predominately allied with people of the Afro-Caribbean background. The movement turned religion, began in Jamaica in the 1930s, came into view as a proxy to the governance of western colonial authority and values. Teachings of Marcus Garvey, who advocated and championed the interests of people of African descent in the Diaspora, inspired the movement (Chevannes, 1998). There are over a million worldwide followers of Rastafarian religion. It has been estimated that about 5,000 Rastafarians are living in England and Wales in the 2001 census and there are considerable followers of the faith in communities predominately in London, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol and Nottingham (BBC, 2009).

The primary aim of the religion is to bring about the elementary transformation of an unjust society. Ethiopianism is an idea that merges Ethiopia and the whole of the African continent which occupies followers of the Rastafarian faith with dreams of a return to their ‘heaven on earth’ (Chevannes, 1994). Johnson-Hill (1995) stated that everything about this religion, the use of the ‘holy herb’ (cannabis), the use of the term I, meaning ‘We’, and songs are all intended for the Oneness (divine self) within inner self discovery which acts to strengthen the individual. All these aid the Rastafarian to engage in purity of the mind and be regarded as person of self worth (Murrell, Spencer and McFarlene, 1998).

The rise of Bob Marley, who was a practicing Rastafarian made the movement/ religion very popular not only in the Caribbean but the whole world and has attracted a considerable number of followers mainly blacks, and some white people who claim to have affiliation with Africa, to the ethics and practices of the Rasta faith. The inclusion of white people to the religion has led to a change in their philosophy of skin colour to an orientation of the mind and self- determinism (Johnson-Hill, 1995).

Their strict teachings and practices, like any other religion may have protective factors against mental illness however it does not exempt an individual from experiencing mental health difficulties. This article will attempt to highlight the origin of Rastafarianism, spiritual practices and its impact on mental health and mental health practice.

Origin of the Rastafari Religion

Marcus Garvey was one of the founders of the religion. His middle name ‘Mosiah’ which was interpreted by people as a link between Biblical Moses and the Messiah was very significant to his followers and turned the United Negro Improvement Association to a worldwide movement. Garvey used Biblical suggestion of Ethiopia as a place of return to Africa and also predicted to his followers to “Look to Africa for the crowning of a Black King; he shall be the Redeemer” (Murrell, Spencer and McFarlene, 1998). As Barrett (1988) pointed out, this prophecy to all of Garvey’s followers existed in their minds until in 1930, when Ras Tafari the great grandson of King Saheka Selassie was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia. He took up the name Haile Selassie (Might of the Trinity) and other titles as “King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God and Light of the World and placed himself in the dynasty of King Solomon (Murrell, Spencer and McFarlene, 1998).

Many Jamaicans and followers of the United Negro Improvement Association saw the coronation as a revelation from God and the fulfilment of the prophecy predicted earlier by Marcus Garvey. The fundamental idea of Ethiopianism and Messianism were put together by the Garvey movement whose task was to rebuild Africa shattered by the invasion of the colonialists (Chevannes, 1998).

Rastafarians soon accredited themselves as part of the twelve tribes of the biblical Israel and identified with Haile Selassie as the redeemer or messiah who would lead them away from the white oppression (Babylon) with a promise of a return to Africa (Barrett, 1988).

Johnson-Hill (1995) pointed out that although some followers of the faith returned to Ethiopia, others now see this mission as a psychological self discovery and personal attribute to Africa; its culture and way of life.

Rastafarian beliefs, rituals and practices

The Bible is of great importance to the practice of Rastafarianism but only some of its content is peculiar to the religion. However the Rasta believes in the Bible as having higher power to expose evil. They have nurtured for themselves a wide range of beliefs and spiritual practices with support from their interpretation of various texts in the Bible (Murrell, Spencer and McFarlene, 1998).

The Rastafarians are persuaded that God is black and support their doctrine with Biblical text in Jeremiah 8:21. A reverence of Haile Selassie is very vital to the Rasta as he is perceived as a living god and returned messiah linking him to the lineage of King Solomon. The distinct characteristics of Haile Selassie is divine to the followers of Rastafarianism but to some he is an incarnation of God who is called Jah or combined as Jah-Rastafari which they support with Biblical verses in Revelations 5:2-5, Psalms 68:4 and Psalm 87:3-4. (Barrett, 1988).

Chevannes (1994) points out that twice every week, the Bobo Shantis’ who are the strict followers of the religion use prayer and fasting and drumming as an essential part of the Rastafarian faith. On these occasions, nothing whatsoever passes their lips from noon to sunset amid worship in their temple. Prayer is predominately done three times every day, where the believer prostrates facing east at sunrise, noon and sunset. These religious beliefs and practices clearly have implications for mental health practice.

The general believe in the Rastafarian religion is peace and their denouncement of violence. Sometimes this non-violent way of life is highly unachievable due to their socioeconomic strata and the militant affiliation of one section of the religion, the Nyahbingi order that might support violence. The Rastafarians lifestyle and day to day activities began as a deviation from society’s norms and the formation of a cohesive unit. Protest against authority brought about violence in the early days of the founding of the religion (Johnson-Hill, 1995).

The Bobo Shantis (a sect of Rastafarianism), are self mindful non violent people who wear their dreadlock hair under turbans. They desist from amassing wealth and property with a notion of living a very simple life similar to the lifestyle and practices of the ancient Israelites while observing the Sabbath weekly from Friday evening through Saturday evening (Murrell, Spencer and McFarlene, 1998). Another division of the Rastafarian religion is the twelve tribes of Israel which have larger and diverse followers. Each tribe is associated with a month of the year according to the names of the twelve tribes of Israel and members are deemed equal in status although they may function differently (Barrett, 1988).

In the Rastafarian religion, women are seen as less superior beings and obtain the faith’s thorough divine wisdom through their husband, or partner (Barrett, 1988). This indicates the possibility of Rastafarian men treating women inhumanely and possibly preventing them from accessing mental health services and treatment. There are some traditional practices which bear similarities in the practices of Rastafarians where in the public place, women must wear ankle length dresses, and hair must be covered during ritual proceedings. Rasta women are exempt from cooking when menstruating and in certain situation they are placed in seclusion (Chevannes, 1998). Although these are beliefs and custom held by the Rastafarians, it is evident that it can cause oppression to the woman, and can be a contributing factor of mental illness.

Another belief or practice that can have implications for the treatment of mental illness is the Rastafarians placing a valuable importance on nature. It is seen as an endowment of Jah for healing and sanctification of mankind (Murrell, Spencer and McFarlene, 1998). As a result of this view, they reject unnatural things relevant to life including medical treatment, rather preferring the natural herbal use. The use of cannabis referred to by the Rastafarians as the herb, weed or ganja is believed to have been found on the grave of King Solomon and it is to aid in gaining insight into life, have a clear conscience and meditating in worship (Barrett, 1988).

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS
Cannabis and mental health

A feature that people attribute to Rastafarianism is the use of cannabis. To the Rastafarian smoking cannabis is a special spiritual experience and help in their meditation as well as enlightens their mind. A procedure referred to as reasoning. The ritualistic way involving cleansing and prayer before using cannabis is sacred to them. Smoking cannabis without purpose is regarded as disrespectful to a Rasta (Barrett, 1988). To the Rastafarian, it is their right to use cannabis but its cultivation and possession according to the law is illegal and warrants a police caution or arrest (Home Office, 2009).

In a medical context, the association between cannabis sativa commonly known as cannabis, marijuana, weed, or herb and psychosis has been raised. Cannabis sativa is exceptional for producing different types of cannabinoids but the most powerful type associated with psychosis is the Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which also contains carbon monoxide and carcinogens found in tobacco (Ashton, 1999). The THC content in cannabis has dramatically augmented over the years due to the advanced ways by which the plant is cultivated. The increased potency of cannabis nowadays may expose users to high doses of THC.

In a study conducted by Reilly et al., (1998) using 268 long term users of cannabis with regular usage of at least three times per week, the subjects gave reasons for their cannabis use as mainly for relaxation, having a feel good effect and to alleviate stressors in their day to day lives. They however reported feelings of anxiety or depression, lack of motivation, exhibition of paranoid ideation and some also reported respiratory symptoms. Beer (2007) explained that certain individuals with a Valine modification in the dopamine-regulating COMT (catechol-O-methyl transferase) gene are vulnerable to developing psychosis and cannabis can exacerbate psychosis in individuals with this defect in their genome. Experiments conducted by D’Souza et al (2004) described the existence of positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia in the healthy people in their study who were given cannabis intravenously and also a transient acute psychotic episode in others. Early commencement of cannabis use on a frequent basis was noted as a strong predictor in the individual’s future addiction to cannabis and an important relation to depression (Kalant, 2004). He further showed that there is evidence that memory and information processing in the children of women who are chronic users of cannabis were permanently affected and a susceptibility to other illicit drugs dependence in later life owing to early exposure.

Still exploring the impact of cannabis use on mental health, Ashton (1999) has indicated the pharmacokinetics of cannabinoids as it enters the lungs into the blood stream and the effect it precipitates. As the cannabis smoke is inhaled or taken orally, its effect is noticed within minutes and evoking a physiological and physical effects in users. In the bloodstream, the cannabinoids are circulated quickly to parts of the body requiring high blood demand like the brain, liver and lungs. In the brain, cannabinoids like THC act as agonist at the CB1 receceptors which is only found in the brain and a second one is also located in peripheral tissues especially in the immune system (Iversen, 2003).

Studies have shown that these CB1 receptors are predominately confined to axons and nerve terminals but not in the dendrites or body of the neurons. These receptors have a presynatic mechanism in origin and modify the release of neurotransmitters which are mainly found in the basal ganglia, cerebellum, hypothalamus, anterior cingulated cortex, hippocampus and cerebral cortex (Levenes et al., 1998). Chronic cannabis use is linked to memory, learning impairment and cognitive function which are allied with the cortex and the hippocampus with subsequent mental health deficit (Iversen, 2003). Impaired judgement by these users relates to disruption in their decision making. This effect of cannabis on the brain explains the effect of the amount of dopamine released corresponds to the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia whereby excessive production of dopamine is associated with symptoms of schizophrenia (Johns, 2001).

There is an extensive research highlighting the adverse effect cannabis has on one’s mental state most especially in chronic or regular users. The capacity of cannabis is to generate a ‘high’, a notion widely associated with its use. Its abuse or addiction is related to substantial pre-morbid psychopathology (affective and personality disorders as well as psychotic disorders). The intense reaction it gives is ecstatic otherwise a euphoric, detached and relaxed feeling which may persevere with perpetual use of cannabis (Johns, 2001).

Patriarchal structure and mental health implication

While the woman signifies an enchanting pleasure to men and also satisfying their partner’s desires by not showing dissatisfaction or allowed to complain about anything in the Rastafarian faith, she is thought to denote a specific hazard to their men. “Rastafarians believe that a woman is of such wayward nature that only through her male spouse, her ‘king-man’, may she attain the enlightenment of Jah” (Chevannes, 1998).

Using Biblical context of Adam and Eve and Samson and Delilah’s experiences, Rastafarian men do not trust their women folk. This feature of the Rasta faith which has society’s condemnation is the issue of dissimilarity in gender and a patriarchy practice. In certain Rastafarian communities, some of these sexist ideas results in women being marginalised, seen as inferior and a source of sin. There is a concept about women being submissive to their men folk and always show respect as well as do what they ask which is very contradictory or antithesis to their belief about human equality (Johnson-Hill, 1995). This oppression and control can lead to emotional and physical abuse in the women. Domestic violence arises when a partner considers dictating and gaining control of the other partner. Most often abusers are of the male gender and the need to dominate may arise from low self esteem, extreme inferiority issues in socioeconomic and educational status, excessive anger and jealousy. Intense traditional beliefs or cultural practices may influence people’s behaviours as they grow either witnessing these practices of abuse from childhood or being victims of abuse themselves and the subsequent development to think it is right to control and abuse women (Briere, 1996).

This occurrence of jealousy, insecurity and all forms of abuse with the situation of intimate relationship are common (Spiegel, 2003). Abuse is often thought as a physical abuse but emotional and verbal aspects can be as damaging as that of the physical. In many situations of abuse, these women will seldom report such incidences and only in serious proportions resulting in injuries and death reaches the attention of the authorities. Women experiencing this ordeal of pain and trauma in their relationships are referred to seek mental health and psychological interventions (Salter, 1995). In a cross-sectional survey comprising of 432 women who attended walk-in clinics, Maharaj et al (2010) used the Woman Abuse Screening Test (WAST) and showed a major association between abuse in mental health disorders in the patients especially depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder.

A longitudinal study conducted by Roberts et al (1999) with women aged between 16 to 74 years, who were treated at the accident and emergency department investigated the features of symptoms and precedents of mental illness associated with domestic violence and abuse. Their findings showed similarities with other results highlighted in other research which identified that women who suffer abuse in their adult lives suffered an impact on their mental health and other women who experienced similar abuse in their childhood as well as adult life also had a significant difficulty in their mental health than women in the control group who were women not abused in any form. These studies clearly indicate an association between abuse and mental health problems. It also indicates that addressing the issues of abuse is paramount to religious beliefs and practices in mental health practice. The other implication it has on mental health practice is; professionals’ ability to carry out accurate risk assessment and subsequently manage risk in the light of these complex beliefs and practices.

Rastafarianism and the vegan’s syndrome

The Rasta believes that it is wrong to eat the carcass of animals because then the body is being converted into a burial ground (Chevannes, 1994). Most Rastafarians will not eat animal meat, some will eat fish but not eat shellfish and the consumption of milk by some is viewed as not coming from dead animals. They will not eat fruit that has been altered from its natural form nor any food that has been processed. In vegan diet, there is a low concentration of vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is a vital component of the synthesis of DNA and has been implicated in various neurological and psychiatric disorders (Lerner and Kanevsky, 2002). Vitamin B12 contributes an important part in the maintenance of homeostasis in the nervous and the transport systems (haematology). The daily dietary recommendation is 2.5 µg and only produced naturally by some microorganisms unlike humans who have to obtain it from their diet especially in dairy products, eggs, fish and meat (Catalano et al., 1998). A decline in the level of vitamin B12 causes anaemia, a rise in mean corpuscular volume (MCV), haematocrit and haemoglobin and some patients are found to have normal blood levels but deficient in this vitamin which can prove difficult to diagnose. Its role in the disorders of a neuropsychiatric is understudied, however several research cited by Catalano et al (1998) in their article has postulated toxic levels in homocysteine, axonal demylenition of neurons are a cause of deficiency in vitamin B12 and an association with mental health difficulties. It has proven a challenge to diagnose, as the psychiatric symptoms sometimes can present with or without hematologic or neurological appearance (Sabeen and Holroyd, 2009). There is a correlation between vitamin B12 deficiency and different types of psychiatric and neurological deficits. Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) plays an important role as a coenzyme in human metabolism which contributes to the synthesis of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin and noradrenalin. Defects in these neurotransmitters can lead to a decline in mental state and subsequently evolve into a psychiatric disorder (Hutto, 1997).

Symptoms of a psychiatric nature that is accredited to a deficiency to vitamin B12 are a decline in cognitive function, confusion, delirium, depression, acute psychosis (agitation, paranoia, hallucination) and a rare schizophrenia presentation. In the older adult patients, there are reported cases of dementia and catatonic presentation and other patients presented with neurological deficit like paresthesias, ataxia and other sensory impairments (N. Berry, Sagar and Tripathi, 2003).

Recommendations

It is very evident that the religious beliefs and practices of Rastafarians have implications for mental health and mental health practice. It will be recommended that;

Practice

Rastafarians have nurtured a phonological scheme of words into a new framework of the English language which is heavily accented. This exclusive way of communicating might obstruct the clinician’s task in mental health assessment of a Rastafarian. Health professionals ought to be aware of the variations in making accurate assessments. This will include sometimes consulting people with in-depth knowledge.

Secondly, a thorough spiritual assessment needs to be considered especially if the patient is a practising Rastafarian as spiritual practices like chanting, fasting and their dietary needs to be adhered to and some of the beliefs and practices can be construed as symptoms.

Raising awareness of vitamin B12 deficiency and its relation to psychiatric symptoms among healthcare professionals is essential to provide understanding to the vegan syndrome in these people who presents as anaemic or neuro-psychiatric disorder or both. Training regarding this causality of deficiency in vitamin B12 and psychosis should be ruled out when these group of people present with symptoms of a psychiatric nature.

During any psychological or psychiatric assessment of the Rastafarian women, clinicians should be aware of the possibility of abuse and in- depth exploration into the likelihood of abuse in order to safeguard the individual. Psychological intervention could also play an important part in ensuring their well being if identified of suffering abuse.

Cannabis use and its association with psychotic illness should not be undermined. Patients and their carers need to be educated about the risks of cannabis use. Staff should set up groups to educate and help patients to be abstinent.

Training and Education

In pre qualification training, health professionals need to be educated on the existence of such beliefs and practices and its impact on mental health assessment and management despite this group being little. Subsequently, post qualification training in religious, cultural and spiritual needs has to begin exploring the needs of this minority group. Furthermore, training in techniques such as motivational interviewing will be invaluable.

Education of the general public as a whole is also important, and followers of the Rastafarian faith should be encouraged to include products like milk or take vitamin B12 supplements in their diets.

Research

Further research into the Rastafarian beliefs and practices and its implications for mental health need to be carried out as this is limited and almost non-existent

Conclusion

It has been established that the beliefs and practices of Rastafarians has implications for mental health and mental health practice. The differences between Rastafarianism and other “typical” religion are myriad, including: no set membership, no ordained or commanding leader, and as a whole there is association with the outside world.

In certain societies, Rastafarians have been described as a religious group exhibiting delusions. The negative analysis needs to be questioned because it suggests a misinterpretation of the ideals of the religion and encourages the incorrect concept that their beliefs are atypical to notions of other religious movements. Despite these diverse ideas, it should be highlighted that Rastafarians, like other religions; Christians, Muslims, Buddhist etc are susceptible of having mental health difficulties. Diagnosis and management should be based on clinical examination and a holistic understanding of the person, in order to provide an appropriate medical, religious and cultural sensitive care.