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The feminist theory is based on the woman description, their human experience, and the crisis they face in the patriarchal society. It seeks social change in stopping the neglect and women subordination. In this regard, the experiences of women in the society are at the center of feminist theory. Most feminist theory believe that gender is a central component of life, and effects women in different ways and it should be well addressed in the various aspects of life.

Patriarchy is an ideology that the society is under the rule and domination of the males ideas. In that view, society has laid structure and values that subordinate the women. The concept of patriarchy first is based on the value of male status achievement. It argues that males hold the high status roles. In this regard, women are in a lower positions either in responsibility or production , and they appear inferior to men. This form of patriarchy leads women powerless in determining the course of their lives. It leaves a considerable number of women vulnerable to domestic violence. The status inferred to them subjects them to suffering.

In the book, ‘Saving Bernice: Battered Women, Welfare, and Poverty’, Bernice, an actual client of Jody Rapheal, suffers under the welfare institution, which abuses her. She is victimized in an attempt to liberate herself and children from the experience of battering. She faces numerous problems in an attempt to free herself from the batterer. Feminists hold that the patriarchal values, which have taken roots in the society, are responsible for the victimization of women. They hold that these values and cultural practices have subjected many women to suffering and victimization through domestic violence.

The value of male dominance in patriarchy is also argued to play a significant role in the suffering of women. Feminists believe, dominance resides in males, and women have faced it in order to get their way. In lewd of this everything is male thought based which gives men power because women circumstances are not a consideration in some aspects of life which makes it hard for females. This has given men the way to be heavily involved in domestic violence and continue it.

The sufferings of Bernice, an actual client of Jody Rapheal, in the book, ‘Saving Bernice: Battered Women, Welfare, and Poverty’, can be viewed as a product of patrichary , which subjects her to suffering as she seeks to free herself from domestic violence. The author notes that, domestic violence causes the victim to be vulnerable to the welfare bureaucracy. The author also talks about hurdles her client Bernice had to face to escape the abuse she faced. The text brings out clearly the many hurdles that women of the day face to escape, and be self-sufficient.

As discussed in the slides, under ‘feminist analysis’, the society has reinforced patriarchy. This has led to women being denied the power of decision-making. This may be the reason responsible for the sufferings of women in society The slides also present the feminist view that many societies have had problems in defining woman battering as a crime problem. This form of context paves a way for the male dominant gender to have more power, and liberty to engage in this criminal behavior.

The feminists’ theories view social institutions, such as family, job, churches, and other to be responsible for maintaining violence. As discussed in slides, the liberal feminists advocate for women to engage in the labor market as opposed to taking dominance in traditional roles of childcare. Notably, they feel that the traditional family as a social unit has subjected many women to suffering through women dominance in childcare, and the violence that takes place in the family.

The slide on Marxist feminist argues that women’s “labor is reproductive and not productive; therefore, not creating surplus value” because of their reproduction ability. According to Marist feminist capitalism is the evil. In capitalist nations, women are abused whenever they are deemed as reproduction tools to produce the labor for the next generation.

The slide on radical feminism equally portrays a number of practices, which are practiced in the social institutions, such as, family, relationship and child rearing. Radical feminists argue that male power has been reinforced through numerous practices maintained by these institutions. The slide also mentions the practices of housework, marriage, child rearing involving women. As a result of this women end up abused by these institutions, by being allowed and sometimes must to take on some of the practices in certain ways, which subordinates them to their male counterparts.

Feminists believe, the social patterns and institutions in the society play a critical role in affecting the efforts of women to seek to free themselves and their children from social and physical oppression. Social institutions such as the family and home matters maintained within the structures of patriarchy are said to affect the lives of women. This is because men establish the norms and values and beliefs in these social institutions. In addition, laws are as well established by men, which makes it harder for women to leave their violent partners legally. For example, in class we discussed when women attack their violent partner in seemingly harsh ways when the abuse wasn’t currently and physically happening to the male made legal system this would be murder and not a act of self defense and survival. (Tandon 2008 p.123).

In conclusion, the role of patriarchy in controlling women in society, and its influence on the domestic violence is very complex. social institutions encourage as well as sustain violence against women. Whether it be because of gender inequality, a view of liberal feminist. Economic class and their role in production and reproduction, which is a Marist view or lastly which in my opinion it is the most accurate and should not be view as radical because the word radical is viewed unconsciously negatively most of the time that male power is exercised through social intuitions, and jobs women general have in a family setting. However I don’t not think all men are responsible of this but rather the system that was made by men by not meant to be it primary job condones difference between male and female ideas which eradiate hurdles that female have to make all of which is just an indirect outcome that was not foreseen.

In recent years, focus has been on discovering if poverty is ‘gendered’, that is to say to what extent women may be more at threat of poverty than men. In this essay I shall be discussing how women are affected by poverty and what factors lead to women being poorer than men. Peter Townsend et al (1987) have argued that there has been a ‘feminisation of poverty’, this term may be understood in various ways, it may refer to the increased risk of poverty or the increased visibility of women’s poverty it may also refer to the reconstruction of poverty from a woman’s viewpoint.

It is difficult to compare the poverty of men and women because statistics are usually based on households and this suggests that household incomes are shared evenly between adult members. Glendinning and Millar (1987 maintain that men get a larger share in most cases and this may echo their higher earning ability and the fact that in many households men still make the decisions of how money is spent.

It has been shown that women are more likely to be poorer than men, although their poverty has often been masked behind studies that focused on ‘ male-headed households’ Ruspini (2000).

Townsend acknowledges four groups which make up the majority of the female poor, these consist of women who take care of children and other dependents they are unpaid and are unable to take up employment. There are also lone women with children who dip in and out of employment. Then there are elderly women like pensioners who live alone. There are also women with low earnings where the incomes of others in the household do not contribute towards the total household income to enable the women’s income to go over the poverty line. Women unquestionably tend to experience more poverty than men because their labour both unpaid and paid is undervalued, in addition women have always experienced work in a different way from men.

A private and public split has always existed where women were seen as belonging in the private sphere of hearth and home and the ideologically constructed family, whereas men were seen as belonging in the public sphere of the market and the state.

In terms of work, three main reasons for why women’s poverty continues have been identified, the first is because a third of all women of working age still remain outside the labour market almost twice the proportion for men, they do not have equal access to the core of the labour market and they are disproportionately represented within part-time and lower paid jobs and on average women are paid less than men. The New Labour government has aimed to maximize labour force involvement by supporting (the idea of work-life balance) and trying to make it easier for people to merge paid work and family life. In-work benefits and tax credits were introduced as incentives however the working families tax credit has been more beneficial to women earners than those whose main income comes through male partners since it is more likely to be paid through the pay packet. The development of a National Childcare Strategy was also introduced but it does not measure up to the levels of childcare provision to be found in most other European countries.

The second reason involves the responsibility women have for most of the tasks associated with social reproduction in the way of unpaid care work and domestic labour.

The third reason is the sharing of income and resources within families, in the majority of cases this does not benefit women. Individuals can be poor in households with adequate incomes. This finding has important implications for policy initiatives aimed at the relief of poverty (Pahl 1989; Kempson 1996).

Other forms of inequality have persisted within the public sphere, Gillian Pascall (1997) and others have argued that while women now make up a high proportion of the public sector workforce in healthcare, social work and education, they remain under represented in senior and management positions. This is characteristic of the ‘sticky floor’ where women are concentrated in specific occupations with low pay and status and what they do at work is often similar to what they do at home, although the introduction of the minimum wage in April 1999 has been beneficial to women who are dependent on low paid work but not to other wage groups. Though most health service workers are women, most of the surgeons are men and it is largely men who control health and social services including services that concern women, for instance reproductive healthcare, as well as support for informal carers and the education system. This is typical of the ‘glass ceiling’ where women are less likely to hold senior positions and when they do hold senior positions they have to work harder and for longer hours in jobs that are classed as men’s work. In the 1970’s 70 percent of managers were men and today 90 percent of judges are men.

Anti discrimination legislation has sought to outlaw all forms of sex discrimination but this has mostly brought about advances for individual women but has not benefited all women although it has improved the practices of most employers as well as raising public awareness.

While the education system no longer just prepares girls for domesticity, it is tending to equip them for sub- servient occupations especially in the public sector on the other hand it has also expanded women’s options in the labour market.

Despite the fact that women have been allowed to vote and participate in the democratic process on the same terms as men since 1928, in 2000 only 20 percent of Westminster Members of Parliament were women and in 2001 only 28 percent of local government councillors were women (EOC 2001).

Although there has been a feminisation of the labour market, the increase in women’s workforce participation can have disastrous effects on their health because of the double burden they have to shoulder, at home they take care of children and perform domestic tasks which are unpaid as well as doing their paid job.

The General Household Survey of 1998 showed that the majority of carers were women who provided more than a hundred hours of care per week which was far more than any paid worker would do. It has been shown that caring is costly in various ways, for one there is loss of earnings and the rate of adults providing care who are in paid employment is low, the effect is even greater for women than men and greatest of all in the case of a mother providing care for a disabled child Arber and Ginn(1995): Baldwin (1985).

In addition costs that are associated with disability like house adaptations to accommodate special equipment and higher transport costs.

There is also the cost to the carer in terms of the stress and strain (Glendinning and Millar1992; Pahl 2006).

Social policy is beginning to acknowledge the contribution of carers, one way was the introduction of the Carer’s Act 1985 which imposed an obligation on local authorities, however the support that carers receive is still limited.

Financial support is also provided by the social security system with benefits like carer’s allowance and disabled person’s tax credit for low paid disabled workers.

There are also many ways in which care can be paid for Ungerson (2000); see also Ungerson (2006).

The way social security is arranged and its effects on women can be attributed to the architects of the welfare system who were so used to patriarchal assumptions about respective roles of male breadwinners and female homemakers that the National Insurance system for example was founded on the idea that married women would mainly be financially dependent on their husbands and although obvious biased elements have since been removed, the inheritance of the assumptions on which the system was founded remains.

Lewis and Piachaud (1992) demonstrated that women have always been poorer than men by showing the proportion of women amongst adults in receipt of poor relief or social assistance was at around 60 percent and was the same at the end of the 20th century.

Women are the main recipients of most benefits and rely more on means tested benefits even though it means greater personal scrutiny, rather than contribution based benefits like jobseekers allowance, incapacity benefit and industrial injury benefit because these types of benefit rely on the recipient having been employed, and for women their work patterns are sometimes interrupted when they take time out to raise children and therefore their national insurance contributions are affected. Women are also in some cases hidden claimants because they receive benefits as dependents of male breadwinners, and for this reason, the welfare state may also function directly to make women dependent on men, although housing and social security provision has provided at least some measure of independence to women like those escaping from violent or dysfunctional relationships.

Donzelot (1979) has observed that families seem to have extended functions and are subject by the welfare state to greater levels of surveillance and control for example women’s performance as mothers and informal carers may be subject to supervision by healthcare and social service professionals. ‘The family has not lost its functions, but it has lost control. It is still the major arena for the care of dependents, but traditional female tasks are now defined and managed outside the family and by men’. Pascall (1997: 23). This is seen in the cases of lone parents 90 percent of whom are women who will have social assistance benefits withdrawn if they should cohabit and they can be compelled to cooperate with the making of child support assessments against the father(s) of their child(ren).

In terms of work the, mother -as-work policy ignores that child care is also work and lone mothers stand little chance of becoming equal stakeholders because they must be both breadwinners and carers, and the position at present is that lone mothers are likely to be praised for the paid work they do and condemned as ‘welfare dependent’ for the unpaid work they do and the eradication of the Lone Parent Premium to income support which directly disadvantaged many lone parents most of whom are women.

In recent years studies have shown that pensioners are far more likely than the working population to experience ongoing poverty, between 1998 and 2001, 18 percent of pensioners experienced persistent poverty as compared to 7 percent of the working population. Studies have also found that in recent decades older women and those from ethnic minorities are more likely to experience poverty than other pensioners.

Findings from these studies led Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to state in 2002: ‘ Our aim is to end pensioner poverty in our country’. the introduction of a pension credit in October 2003 which guaranteed a minimum income of half of those people in this age group in the UK attempted to meet this goal but the success of this policy depends on all those entitled to claiming the benefit actually doing so Flaherty et al (2004).

The majority of people over state pension age do retire from the labour market, but as longevity has increased the labour markets have tightened and retirement has become in Townsend’s words ‘ a kind of mass redundancy’ (1991:6).

As a group, old peoples vulnerability to poverty is not as great as it was in the post second world war period, but this should not mask the fact that there is now greater inequality between older people than before.

Since the number of old people both as a proportion of the total population and in absolute terms has grown this means that pensioner poverty is still a major issue.

The employment of older people can be sensitive to changes in the labour market conditions and they may be shut out of jobs when the demand for labour falls.

Age concern (see McEwan 1990), argue that older people are frequently subject to discrimination if they choose to re-enter the labour market often on mistaken assumptions about their reliability and adaptability.

Additionally when older people do eventually become frail they suffer the same problems associated with disability.

The lack of provision of universal pension in this country is out of sync with most industrialised countries, although the introduction of stakeholder pensions for people with no access to private pensions and the introduction of free eye tests has gone some way in helping pensioners at a disadvantage.

Feminists tend to view welfare state provision as being important for improving women’s lives but it also reinforces female dependency on men and the sexual division of labour.

Some strands of feminism stress that women are closer to nature and are naturally more caring and less aggressive and they address the world ‘in a different voice’ Gilligan (1982).

Other strands of feminism discard this view and assert that the gendered nature of society is the exact product of power relations and patriarchy. It is a result of the dominance of men over women and can be rejected.

So in conclusion, having assessed and considered all the evidence and studies on gender and poverty, it is clear that although successive governments have through legislation and policies attempted to lessen the poverty of women, the gap between the sexes still exists and women are still very disadvantaged and are poorer than men and a major reason is the structure of the welfare state which contributes to and reinforces the differences.

Gender is a range of characteristics of masculinity and femininity. It can refer to both sex (being male or female), social roles such as gender roles or gender identity. Gender and gender development originate from the moment of conception. When a female egg joins with a male sperm to for either a XY or XX chromosome pair, determining which developmental pathway will be taken (male or female). This will determine the physical sexual characteristics. Our sexual appearance as male or female has a significant and powerful influence on how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us, which is essential when we later develop our gender identity (our inner sense of being male or female). Your gender determines your (expected) behaviour and the characteristics you are socialised into. However there are some disagreements of whether men and women’s gender is resultant of their biology, or the socialisation process they have been through. This is also known as the “nature vs. nurture” argument, whether gender and your gender identities and roles are constructed biologically and naturally or through the effect that people in your life have had over you growing up. In this essay I will be discussing how gender can be explained from both the biological perspective and the social perspective in order to answer the question of whether sociology can in fact explain it.

Clearly there is no doubt that females and males differ biologically, however do we form our gender roles according to the influence and ideas of our society, or do the biological predispositions outweigh the cultural influence?

Biological psychology regards gender identity as a resultant from our biological processes. Gender differences are seen as resulting from sex differences. In other words, women and men act, think and feel differently because of differences in how their brains work. These brain differences may result from chromosomal differences and may also be the result of hormonal differences.

Women and men produce different sex hormones in varying quantities. Besides affecting the functioning of various bodily organs (e.g. causing the menstrual cycle in women) these sex hormones appear to have an effect on behaviour. Testosterone, which is produced in greater quantities by men, affects several types of behaviour, some of which are regarded as ‘typically male’. For example, Dabbs et al (1995) found that violent offenders had higher testosterone levels than non-violent offenders and Coates et al (2008) found that financial traders with higher testosterone levels took greater risks. Women have higher levels of oxytocin than men. Some researchers have linked this to increased sociability. Oxytocin seems to affect the formation of bonds and attachments between people and Klaver et al (2009) found that higher levels of oxytocin are linked to improved memory for faces.

Gorski et al (1985) injected female rats with testosterone for a period prior to birth. After they were born their appearance and behaviour was compared with a control group of females whose testosterone levels had been normal. The experimental group had masculinised genitals (e.g. an enlarged clitoris) and showed masculine behaviour (e.g. trying to mount other females). This showed that male sex hormones had both physiological and behavioural effects, in rats at least. It is clear from a range of studies involving humans and other animals that chromosomal and hormonal differences between males and females affect a range of masculine and feminine behaviours, which supports the biological view. The biological view of gender is supported by those cross-cultural studies that have found universal features of gender. For example, in all cultures studied, men are found to be more aggressive than women, which suggest an innate, biological difference. Similarly, Buss et al (1990) studied what women and men look for in a potential mate in a large number of cultures and found that whilst men consistently prioritised youth and physical attractiveness, women placed a higher premium on wealth and status. These differences may reflect biological differences between women and men that have arisen because of evolutionary processes.

The definition of gender states that it is typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones. It can be argued that gender is the socially constructed expectation placed on a person as a result of their sex. We are born male and female but this does not make us a guy or a girl. Femininity and masculinity do not come from our genetic make-up, therefore the distinction between boy and girl is taught. If this was not the case then surely in every culture and society, every male and female would have the same masculinities and femininities?

In 1935 Margaret Mead conducted a field trip to Papua New Guinea for 2 years in attempt to discover what extent temperamental differences between the sexes were culturally determined rather than innate. Mead found a different pattern of female and male behaviour in each of the cultures she studies which were different from gender role expectations in the US at that time. Among the Arapesh the temperament for both females and males was gentle, responsive and cooperative. The Mundugumor (now Biwat), both males and females were violent, aggressive, seeking power and position. For the Tchambuli (now Chambri), males and females temperaments were distinct from each other. The women were dominant, impersonal, and managerial. The men were less responsible and more emotionally dependant. Through this study Mead separated biologically-based sex from socially constructed gender, demonstrating how individuals gender roles were part of our socialization process as if this was not the case, each of the tribes she studied although they were not close to each other, would have the same gender roles. Findings like this suggest that even though biological factors influence gender behaviour, they are heavily modified by learning.

Parental influences have a significant role in the formation of our gender roles. From the very first day of our lives, boys and girls are treated differently. Parents perceive boys to be stronger and rougher than girls, and girls to be prettier and more delicate than boys. Parents hold boys closer to their body than they do girls. They hold boys closer to their body and spend more time verbalizing and cooing to girls than boys. Parents are acting on their stereotypes of male and female behaviour.

Myers (1995) suggests that gender socialisation gives girl’s roots and boy’s wings. This suggests that girls are socialised to stay at home and boys are socialised to have adventures. Studies of children’s books over the last 50 years have shown that girls are four times more likely to be shown using household objects (e.g. pots and pans) than boys who are five times more likely to be shown using production objects (e.g. machinery) than girls (Crabb & Beilawski 1994). The result is, according to a United Nations study (1991) “everywhere cooking and dishwashing are the least shared household chores” and “everywhere, woman do most of the household work”. These expectations define gender roles.

Lytton & Romney (1991) found that there was a significant difference in terms of encouragement of sex-typed play activities which reinforces the fact that girls and boys are treated differently from a young age. Will et al (1976) gave a boy aged 6 months to adults who he then observed whilst they played with the infant. The child was presented in sex-typed clothes, half the adults met the boy dressed in pink and known as “Beth” and half met “Adam” dressed in blue. Three toys were available: train, doll and fish. They found the doll was most often passed to Beth and she got more smiles, showing the typical gender stereotypes. Smith & Lloyd (1978) extended this study and found that “boys” were most likely to be handed a toy hammer whilst “girls” were given a doll, as well this, the boys were encouraged in physical action more than girls. Parents were also found to give more positive non-verbal responses to their 18-23 month-old children for picking up toys when the selected object was sex appropriate and a more negative response if the object was associated with the opposite sex (Caldera et al 1989).

Children are differentially reinforced with smiles and praise for the kinds of activities associated with their sex. Fagot (1978) found that girls were positively reinforced for activities such as dancing, dressing up and assisting with domestic tasks whilst boys were reinforced for more gross motor activities. To parents, gender is important. Behaving and acting in a way that fits with the femininities and masculinities that come with being a boy or girl. Facially and behaviourally it is often difficult to tell the different genders apart, especially with young babies, this leads to parents dressing their children differently, for example the tradition of girls in pink and boys in blue (Jackson 1992).

Although parents play a significant part in the formation of gender roles, the effect of the media must not be underestimated. Of the many influences of the portrayal of men and woman, the media is the most persuasive and one of the most powerful, woven throughout our daily lives and putting ideas and messages into our conscience at every turn.

A primary way that the media distort reality is through underrepresenting women. In prime-time television there are 3 times as many white men as woman (Barsow 1992), or in children’s programs in which males outnumber females by two to one, or newscasts in which woman make up 16% of news-casters in which stories about men are included 10 times more often than ones about woman (“Study Reports Sex Bias”, 1989). This constant distortion persuades and tempts us to believe that there are more men than women and further to this that men are the cultural standard.

According to J.A. Doyle (1989) children’s television often portrays males as dominant, aggressive and engaged in exciting activities in which they get rewards from others for their “masculine” accomplishments. Television programmes for all ages disproportionally show men as serious, competent, powerful and with a high status position. Highly popular films such as Lethal Weapon, Die hard and all of the James Bond films star men who embody the extreme stereotype of masculinity, reinforcing the long-standing cultural ideals of masculinity with men being tough, sexually aggressive, unafraid, violent and totally in control of all emotions. In no way feminine. On the other hand, males are also underrepresented in many ways through the media. J.D. Brown and K. Campbell (1986) point out that they are typically represented as incompetent at homemaking, cooking and childcare. Each season’s new adverts for cooking and cleaning supplies include several that capture and portray men as incompetent fools, who are clumsy and no better at taking care of children. Media images also reflect cultural stereotypes of woman. Media has created two images of woman: good and bad. Good women are pretty, deferential, and focused on home, family and caring for others. Subordinate to men, they are normally cast as victims, angels or loyal wives and helpmates. The other image of women in the media offer us an evil homebody, being seen as a witch, bitch or sexual character who is represented as hard, cold aggressive, all the things a good woman is not meant to be. A good example of this bad woman character is Alex in Fatal Attraction who is an extreme version of how bad women are generally portrayed. In children’s literature, we encounter witches and mean stepmothers as villains, with beautiful passive females like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty as their good counterparts. These reinforce the social norms for the role of being male or female, from a young age and throughout individuals life’s.

Having seen the Medias stereotypical portrayals of woman and men, we find that the relationship between both sexes is similarly portrayed in ways that reinforce stereotypes, starting with women’s dependence and men’s independence. The Little Mermaid significantly highlights female’s dependence on males for identity, with the Little Mermaid giving up her identity to be accepted by her lover. Analysis of MTV revealed that it portrays females as passive and waiting for men’s attention, while males are shown ignoring, exploiting and directing women (Brown, Campbell & Fisher, 1986). In rap music videos and many advertisements, woman’s primary roles appear to be objects of male desires. Manifesting male dominance and female subservience. Men are usually shown positioned above women and women are more frequently pictures in varying degrees of undress. The media often uses gender as a tool for comedy. The television series Two and a Half men is almost completely about gender, and represents women as objects of sexual pleasure for the main character. Even the theme song “men, men, manly men” foreshadows the overall theme of gender stereotypes.

The final 2 significant ways the media portrays women and men is with men’s authority and women’s incompetence and woman as the primary caregivers and men as breadwinners. One of the most persuasive ways in which the media do this is through commercials. Woman are shown routinely anguishing over dirty floors and bathrooms only to be relieved of their distress when “Mr Clean” shows up and tells them how to keep their homes spotless. Magazines play a key role in promoting pleasing others as a primary focus of women’s lives. K. Pierce’s study (1990) found magazines aimed at women stress looking good and doing things to please others. Telling women how to be “me, only better” by dyeing their hair to look younger, how to lose weight so “you’ll still be attractive to him” and how to prepare gourmet meals so “he’s always glad to come home”. Constantly these advertisements emphasize pleasing others, especially men, as central to being a woman and the message is lined with the warning that if a woman fails to look good and please, her man might leave (Rakow, 1992).

In conclusion it can be argued that sociology will never fully be able to define gender as we are born with certain biological traits that will always be there and unarguably play a part in our gender. However in answering what gender is, there is constant recognition of our gender roles that come with our gender. The masculinities and femininities of being a man or a woman. These are significantly influenced by our exposure to certain socialisation tools starting at a young age with our parents to then being influenced by numerous external forces throughout our lives such as the media. Sociology is not able to provide a clear definition of our gender as it is primarily biological but gender could be seen as irrelevant without our gender roles which come with our sex, which in theory sociology can help explain and define.

In 1990, the concept of glass ceiling pervaded the literature to describe the paucity of women, heading public and private sector organizations (Maume, 2004). Earlier, Morrison et al. (1987) gave new insight to the issues women face in their journey through the executive positions of the corporate organizations. Subsequently, the term “glass-ceiling-effect” became synonymous worldwide with the struggles women face in attempting to move up to the senior, executive and top management positions in corporate organizations (Wirth, 2001). Moreover, in Mauritius Dr. Ramgutty-Wong (1998) conducted a study on the glass ceiling with the title “CEO attitudes towards managers in corporate Mauritius”. Her research work covered the degree of involvement of women in decision making in organizations and whether top managers were aware of the problems that the female employees encountered. Thus, women face the glass ceiling when despite seeing the top jobs; they still cannot reach them due to the discriminatory barriers (Maume, 2004).

2. WOMEN AND THE GLASS CEILING: AN ILLUSION OR A REALITY?

While initially glass ceiling studies were particularly concerned with the failure of women in reaching the senior and executive positions hence, it was essential to focus on examining the reasons for inequality within management positions and career trajectories (Maume, 2004; Morrison et al., 1987). However, Cotter et al. (2001) profound description of the term glass ceiling as a specific form of generic inequality existing at the top level of the hierarchy contradicts others (Reskin and Padavic, 2001; Maume, 2004) claiming that the glass ceiling exist in lower levels and working class jobs. They further explain that immobility can occur in all occupations, but, if female employees limit themselves to certain jobs, then it is more to do with specific inequality and not with the glass ceiling, as it only exists when there is discrimination in career advancement. Hence, Cotter et al. (2001) three criteria for the glass ceiling occurrence suggest that it occurs when despite having similar abilities and potential as men, women face barriers in their career advancements, it also occurs when due to limited promotional prospects; women are discouraged from the initial position on the job ladder, thus raising men’s numbers to survive till the top levels and lastly, while organizations may be willing to pay out high salaries to women, they still hesitate to place them in positions where they can make an impact on organizations profitability, therefore, glass ceiling is created.

3. THEORIES AND MODELS

Theories and models accounting for the emergence of gender-related behaviors in organizations, and thus the creation of a glass ceiling, fall into three categories:

(1) Biological explanations;

(2) Socialization explanations; and

(3) Structural/cultural explanations (Lueptow et al, 2001).

Biological models argue that there are biological differences between men and women. These differences are thought to be a result of an “evolutionary model postulating constant gendered differences based on genetic patterns evolved from adaptation to differing reproductive challenges of early males and females” Today, biological models and evolutionary models usually are not applied in the context of leadership differences between men and women leaders (Lueptow et al, 2001). Thus, biological model state that the differences between men and women is genetic.

Instead, socialization and structural/cultural explanations have received much more attention than biological models (Bartol et al., 2003) and have been called “the most accepted explanation for gender differences” (Lueptow et al., 2001). Both models are social constructionist that accounts for the differences between genders. Social constructionist theories have argued that biological differences definition varies across cultures. Instead, it is the society’s expectations that produce and maintain inequality between genders (Wood and Eagly, 2002). More specifically, authors of socialization theories argued, “gender identity and differences are acquired through various developmental processes associated with life stages, such as schooling and work life” (Bartol et al, 2003), and therefore are based on individuals’ socialization. Thus, the social constructionist model argues that gender differences arise merely due to the perception of society. Women and men acquire differences through their developmental process. For example, level of education and interest in career development and among others. Therefore, these were the theories that depict a picture of the emergence of gender issues in organizations and the creation of the glass ceiling.

4. TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLE

4.1. Definition of Gender.

Gender is a process through which social life is organized at the level of the individual, family and society (Connell, 1993). Thus, gender is crucial in the structure of organizations. Based on individual human experience, gender defines the parameters of how women’s lives are different from men’s (Rohrbaugh, 1981; Nicolson, 1992a), and through the recognition that individuals are in possession of a gendered self or subjectivity through which they themselves interpret their own experiences and operate constraints (Hollway, 1989).

4.2. Stereotyping.

Gender stereotyping is one among the most prominent reasons why women tend to pursue different occupations and why horizontal and vertical segregation of labor markets prevails (UNED-UK’s report, 1998). Gender stereotypes of occupations are manifested in the belief that certain occupations are “women’s” occupations and others are “men’s” (Gatton, 1999). For example, when a decision is made to offer an important assignment to a man rather than to a woman, based on the assumption that women are not free to take on time – consuming tasks because of family commitment. Ultimately, women may be excluded from senior management positions because of perceptions that they will somehow change the management process by virtue of their gender.

5. WOMEN AND EDUCATION.

Marks el al (1997) stated that the educational environments may not be conducive to women’s development. In fact, enrolment statistics for 2009 from the Ministry of Education revealed that at secondary level enrolment dropped to 84 percent for girls compared to 75 percent for boys. Moreover, it is also proven that girls performed better than boys in the examinations namely Certificate of Primary Education, School Certificate and Higher School Certificate. The table below illustrates the differences in boys’ and girls’ performance which is higher at lower level of education and narrowed down as the level increases (Central Statistical Office (Mauritius, 2010).

Pass rates (%) at CPE, SC and HSC, Republic of Mauritius, 2009

Male
Female
Difference
CPE
62.3
74.5
12.2
SC
71.9
82.6
10.7
HSC
74.3
82.1
7.8

Source: (Central Statistical Office (Mauritius, 2010).

However, the number of female students enrolled in tertiary or higher education continues to rise. The entrants of female in undergraduate course in Mauritius 2009 in public institutions are 10912. It increased from 50.76 percent in 2005 to 54.89 percent in 2009. In addition, considering the number of entry of female in tertiary education in Public, Private and Overseas institutions there were a rise of 52.35 percent in 2005 to 54.84 percent in 2009 (Tertiary Education Commission, 2010). Despite this, differences in the nature and quality of tertiary education and training for females and males continue to pose barriers for many female when competing with men for promotion to professional and managerial positions. Eventually, females are unable to break through the glass ceiling.

6. CAREER CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT.

6.1. Career.

A career is more than just the job or sequence of jobs a person holds over a lifetime. A career is the individually perceived sequence of attitudes and behaviors associated with work-related experiences and activities over a person’s life (Felman, 1988; Hall, 1976).

6.2. Women and Career.

From 1900 to 1980, the percentage of women in the work force increased from less than 20 percent to over 50 percent (Hall, 1976; Ross, 1983). It is estimated that by the year 2000, 65 percent of the entrants in the work force will be women (Powell, 1983). However, in 2009, Mauritius had a lesser proportion of women than men who were in employment or economically active. The economic activity rate was 43 percent for women against 76 percent for men. Working women were 182,500 in number and accounted for 35 percent of the total Mauritian workforce. They were mostly engaged (53%) in the teaching, nursing and health-related, manufacturing and trade sectors. They were also working in traditional ‘female occupations’ with 61% of them in clerical positions, sale and service and in ‘elementary’ occupations. On the other hand, a significant proportion have entered executive and professional specialty occupations with 19% in the occupation group ‘legislation, professionals and semi-professionals’ (Central Statistical Office, 2010).

Employment by occupational group and sex, 2009

Source: (Central Statistical Office (Mauritius, 2010).

Therefore, the statistics show that women are still working in lower positioned jobs and that only a few have succeeded to climb up the job ladder.

7. HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES.

7.1. Women and Recruitment.

Until the mid-1980, boys were usually recruited with A-level, girls with O-level. Men were offered greater prospects compared to women who had to do routine office work (Benett and Carter, 1983; Crompton, 1989; Savage, 1992a). This creates occupational segregation and creates stereotypical view on men and women’s role and abilities. However, over the last two decades employment for men has fallen as a result of an increase in women employment. For examples, between 1984 and 1999 the proportion of men who were economically active declined from 88 to 84 percent while the proportion of women rose from 66 to 72 percent in USA (Equal Opportunities Commission, 2001). However, in Mauritius women are over represented among the unemployed. The number of the unemployed women was 25,700 in 2009 compared to 15,800 men. Female, unemployment rate at 12.3% was almost thrice the rate for men (Central Statistical Office, 2010). Hence, due to certain barriers female employees still struggle to crack through the glass ceiling in Mauritius.

7.2. Legislation and Female Employees Recruitment.

In certain job advertisement the employers tend to attract only male applicants by using sexist job titles such as “salesman”. However, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 in USA makes it unlawful to discriminate in an advertisement by favoring either sex. Yet, there maybe exceptions where the job can be performed only by men. Moreover, there are unisex job titles such as directors, managers and officers that are non-discriminatory. Therefore, this enables female also to apply for these high profile jobs and thus, encouraging them to break through the glass ceiling (Armstrong, 2009).

8. BARRIERS TO WOMEN’S CAREER DEVELOPMENT / PROGRESSION.

Barriers which hinder career development of women are complex and varied. Although many women hold management positions, few have made the breakthrough to top – level positions.

8.1 Promotion and Pay.

If women can perform as well as men then, pay and promotion should be identical. Yet, they tend to differ (Tosi et al, 1993). This results as a solid barrier for women not being able to crack through the glass ceiling. Pay and promotion is an essential tool to motivate employees to climb up the job ladder. Unfortunately, as female employees are exposed to barriers that prevent them from getting a pay rise or promotion, they are bound to stay below the glass ceiling. Some authors pointed out certain factors that explain the low progression rate of female employees in terms of promotion and pay.

Salary level is undoubtedly often equated with seniority and power, and if women want to establish themselves in the higher level of the hierarchy, they will have to start by no longer accepting inferior salary scales to men. Unluckily, employers sometimes play on these female attitudes towards pay (Cooper et al, 1992). Similarly, Gerhart (1987) suggests that one of the important factors contributing to the differences in the pay of female and male employees is the starting salaries paid to both for similar jobs.

Second, women are overrepresented in low – paying industries. Ward and Mueller (1985) studied the effects of industrial sector and organizational level on wages of men and women. Women are found in disproportionate numbers in service industries in which there are low profit margins, undeveloped internal labor markets, low job skill needs, and lower wage rates.

Third, in some organizations women may be doing less complex jobs at lower organizational level and thus, they get a low pay. In a study of work assignments in manufacturing plants, Form and McMillen (1983) found that women were more frequently assigned to simple repetitive tasks in which they used hand tools, whereas men were assigned to work on machines that required higher skill and on which they had more autonomy.

Fourth, a portion of the discrepancy can be attributed to different rates of pay and promotion at lower and higher organizational levels. Women do well at lower levels in organization, where their promotion rates and salary progression equals or exceeds that of men (Gerhart et al, 1987). These salary progression rates change at higher levels. Thus, preventing women progress and climb the job ladder.

The research cited above has been done during a period of significant change in the roles and number of women in the work force. Indeed, there has been progress, and luckily, it is likely to continue as the women who have entered the managerial and professional labor force at lower organizational levels have advanced in their careers.

8.2. Training and Development.

Training and development is a fundamental tool that enables employees to acquire certain skills that enable them to contribute in the achievement of the organization’s objectives. However, female employees often show their dissatisfaction towards limited training courses offered to them (Cooper, 1992). In fact, some authors have argued upon the provision of gender mixed or all female management training courses.

Harlan and Weiss (1980) argued that all female management training courses only highlight perceived differences between men and women managers, and prove detrimental in the long run. They suggest the following reasons for this:

Women maybe needing more training compared to men as perhaps, they lack certain abilities.

This may cause tension between men and women as women maybe receiving ‘favored treatment’.

On the other hand, other authors (Davidson et al, 1985) argue strongly that research evidence has proved that all-women management groups are less threatening and enable women not to be dominated by the dominant group namely the male employees in terms of speech, role allocation, loyalty affiliation of managerial skills, confidence building and assertiveness training. Langrish (1981) suggests that the arguments against women-only management training programmes are primarily of three kinds:

‘Real world’ arguments, that is, to be able to work alongside men as successful managers, women should be able to undergo training with men. This will enable them to face the real world.

The ‘special needs’ view suggest that women have special needs hence, should label them ‘different’ that is, inferior to men.

The ‘coping’ argument state that women have to learn how to work with men as their superiors, colleagues or subordinates, the best way can do this is to experience working with them on management courses.

These arguments are relatively weak for the following reasons:

Women are often assigned roles by the management trainers that restrict their learning potential and experience. They are given roles such as mother, seductress, pet or iron maiden-roles (Cooper et al, 1992).

In a gender-mixed training course, women are less likely to be able to develop valuable ways of learning new skills due to the presence of overwhelming numbers of men. In a recent review of women’s training needs, Colwill and Vinnicombe (1991) reaffirmed that in all-female groups, women are more able to admit faults, identify needs and areas where they feel inadequate, and engage in interactions which develop their strengths.

Eventually, Herbert and Yost (1979) believe that training women in managerial skills is of little value, if they are not allowed to demonstrate their skills on the job or not rewarded. Thus, all the arguments show the reason for which female employees cannot shatter the glass ceiling.

8.3. Lack of Female Role Models.

As people seek role models as part of their career development, they often search for individuals with similar backgrounds to themselves. However, this is difficult for many women. Consequently, young women are often said to be disadvantaged by the lack of female role models at the top of organizations (Vinnicombe et al, 2000). Thus, female employees tend to restrict themselves below the glass ceiling as there is a lack of female role model above the glass ceiling. Indeed, a Catalyst (2000) survey of current MBA students in the USA reported that 87 per cent of women and 77 per cent of men said that it was important or very important to feature more women business leaders as role models. However, in an earlier Canadian public sector study of 1,579 senior managers, Javidan et al. (1995) found that female subordinates had no problems in accepting superiors of either sex as role models. In contrast, they found that female superiors were not seen as role models by male subordinates. The critical factor for acceptance of a role model by both sexes was whether the subordinate perceived the superior to be successful or not, but the sex difference indicates persistence of seeing a male to be the manager (Schein and Mueller, 1992).

8.4. Work-Life Balance.

Work-life balance has become a key issue for many of today’s managers, particularly for women (Bailyn et al, 2001). In fact, it is a major barrier that prevents female employees to break through the glass ceiling. Hence, the way in which some high profile women manage their work/life balance has become of great interest in the media, and the few women who do apparently manage this well are role models for many younger female managers. As early as 1978, Shapiro et al. noted that selection of role models was encompassing patterns of how to manage work/life issues as well as “on-the-job” behaviors.

However, younger women may reject as role models the women at the top who do not have children. They are sometimes seen as having given up an essential part of their emotional and social capital to achieve success on masculine terms. Ely’s (1994) study indicated that female managers in male dominated professional firms were less likely to be good role models especially for young female employees as they are viewed as women who were forming themselves in male moulds.

In fact, in Mauritius statistics show that on a typical working day, a working women spend around 7 hours at work and 3 hours 30 minutes during household chores and caring for the children compared to 8 hours and 1 hour respectively for a working man (Central Statistical Office, 2010). Eventually, some women may not be willing to sacrifice their family life and reach the higher level of the hierarchy where there is greater need for commitment and extra hours of work. Instead, they are happy below the glass ceiling as there they can keep a balance family life.

8.5. Incidence of Sexual Harassment.

Sexual harassment affects all female employees in some form or the other. It is a major issue at the workplace as it hinders the development of women within a comfortable work environment thus, preventing women to crack through the glass ceiling.

The European Commission code of practice draws attention to the fact that sexual harassment ‘pollutes’ the working environment; millions of women ,and some men suffer. As a result of this uncomfortable working environment employees take time off, are less efficient, and, in the worst cases, leave their jobs. Therefore it is clear that female employees leave their jobs due to sexual harassment at the lower level of the organization itself and thus, are unable to climb the job ladder.

Brake et al (1992) have taken findings for various types of harassment in various settings, and conclude that female worker or student has at least a 40 percent chance of encountering some form of sexual harassment in her place of work or study.

Eradicating sexual harassment is indeed, a major challenge to attitudes. There is a need to devise formal procedures to deal with such complaints. It is important to ensure that effective measures are made available and to be used in cases of harassment (Wilson, 2002).

8.6. Organization and Culture.

Organizational culture is another barrier that prevents women to shatter the glass ceiling. The masculine culture can be characterized by working long hours, having to cancel holidays due to work commitments, and bullying. Women who leave work at 5pm are considered to be less committed (Liff and Ward, 2001). In organizations, there is no sign of progression towards a friendlier environment which include flexible working arrangements. Female employees fear to voice out these issues as they maybe considered as less committed. Women then continue to have trouble in breaking the glass ceiling. Eventually, according to Wilson (2002) where men and women work in the same industry there is discrimination. Women sew what men cut out, women serve what men cook, women run machines which men service are examples of organizational culture that hinder women advancement.

8.7. Women and Performance Appraisal.

Female employees are unable to shatter the glass ceiling due to their poor evaluation during the performance appraisal system. Some authors have argued the reasons behind such poor evaluations.

Lott (1992) had shown that women are less known to the evaluator; thus, the result is more likely to be negative. On the other hand, where women are known well, as in a situation where someone they know is appraising them, the evaluation would be more positive.

But, Thomas (1987) demonstrated that the words used to evaluate men and women in appraisal are different. Women were ‘less competent, logical and mature’ and their performance required fewer recommendations and only vague praise. Therefore, female employees maybe having less equal opportunities due to their poor evaluation during the appraisal (Wilson and Beaton, 1992).

Alimo – Metcalfe (1993) has also reported significant differences in the perceptions of women and men in appraisal interview in an English context. Women found it more difficult than men to: talk freely about what they wanted to discuss; discuss their relationship with their appraiser; give feedback to their appraiser; and identify their areas of strength.

Besides, research on self-assessment and 360 degree feedback shows that women managers are less likely to overestimate their performance than their male counterparts, they tend to rate themselves lower than men do and lower than their own bosses rate them (Beyer, 1990; Lindeman et al, 1995; Fletcher, 1999).

Ultimately, more general studies of performance show that female give lower estimates of their performance or ability. It has been suggested that this may be due to gender difference in self presentation, rather than self confidence (Daubman and Sigall, 1997).

Surrealism refers to a kind of an abstract art. Surrealism is a product of Dada movement at the onset of the twentieth century. There several kinds of this form of art but the two distinct or major ones are the Veristic Surrealism and Automatism. Automatism is the kind of Surrealism, which received acceptance from the postwar art critics. Others consider surrealism a type of action painting. Artists do not consider surrealism a traditional form of art. Surrealism tends to deal with the inner thinking of the artist than the external visual reality. The Dada movement greatly influenced development surrealism as a twentieth century form art. The works of surrealists have elements of surprise and juxtapositions although the surrealists’ writers and artists consider their work as a means of expressing the philosophical nature of their movement .They also regard their work as artifacts. Andre’ Breton, the leader of the surrealist movement holds that Surrealism is a revolutionary movement. Surrealism emerged from the activities of Dada movement during the First World War. Surrealist movement had Paris as its most important center of operations. During the 1920s, surrealists spread their activities worldwide hence influencing literature, visual arts, music and film of many languages and countries, political thoughts and practices social theory and philosophy. The response by the women of the Surrealist movement to the refusal by their male counterparts to acknowledge the urgency and independence of women is quite evident in the artistic work of the women of surrealist movement. These women use animal imageries to resist and counter male control that is associated with the machine imagery. The use of wild animals as imageries expresses the essentially uncontrollable and wild nature of the female artists. Using nature and wild animals, the female surreal artists hope to counter the force of their male counterparts who prefer the use of controlling machines. Restricting the images and actions of women characterized surrealism especially the hesitation to acknowledge the female artists as independent. The male surrealists did not want to embrace the independent work of their female counterparts. The male surrealists expected the women to be their muse .the male surrealist artists regarded their female counterparts as a muse who is a child, insane or an erotic object and not one that represents an equally creative and capable artist. This woman forced to find ways of expressing their art beyond the confines of male expectations (Kelley, pgs 56).

The women of surrealism were imaginative, bold and quite remarkable in different ways. These women were very active in surrealism even before the1924 in Paris appearance of the first manifesto of surrealism continues to illuminate and expand their artistic influence to date. This research paper highlights the quality, diversity, vitality and range of the female participants in the surrealist movement.

The surrealists acknowledge the contribution of women to the surrealist movement and at times celebrate them but the women do not receive such recognition outside the Surrealist movement for their significant contribution. For example, there are very few books within the United States of America devoted to the subject of women and surrealism .the books tend to capture the contribution of individuals whose paintings and photography work still stand out in the art market posthumously. There is serious neglect on the work and contribution of the surrealist women who expressed their work mostly through written work. This kind of neglect results in the misapprehension of the surrealist movement and the maintenance of old stereotypes. Generalizing Surrealism based on painting alone is quite misleading and is a perfect recipe for misrepresentation of the roles played by the women in the surreal movement. Surrealism as a movement has never been composed of painters only but also includes individuals engaged in other forms of art such as writing. There is glaring evidence of the many women poets, and thinkers who work is yet to receive proper recognition. These women contributed immensely to surrealism through ideas, which is a stimulus to imagination .Their ideas were like a liberating force and a source of inspiration to political, moral and poetic insurgency. The surrealist movement opposed de facto or overt segregation along ethnic, gender and political currents unlike many of the political and cultural currents of the twentieth century. The writings of women involved in surreal movement featured along the writings of their male counterparts. The writings by women for example featured during the issue of La Revolution surrealiste and their work formed part of the exhibitions by the surrealists. The surreal movement therefore benefitted greatly from the services of the women even more than some feminist organization due to their active participation in the movement.

Varo, 1955 .Figure 1(Kelley, pgs 56)

The challenge, success and achievements of the women of the Surrealism movement are of great importance not only to the movement but also to the genuine seekers of inspiration, knowledge and a better world. Some of the writing by the women of the Surrealist movement is striking due to their contemporary nature and the anticipation of the present day cultural and radical preoccupations. The texts written by the Surrealist movement women thirty to sixty five years ago surpass the present day debates. Nancy Cunard made practical attempts to express her anti-racism convictions by engaging in African Jazz and African art rather than join in “whiteness critique”. This way, Nancy made her contribution to the liberation of blacks. The “green thinking” and environmental consciousness that characterize the activities of the surreal movement is quite amazing. The environmental consciousness and desire to live harmoniously with the “wild” is something to cherish. It is equally important to realize that the women in the surreal movement stressed and emphasized the relevance of incorporating ecological concerns into the work of the movement. Wildlife, wilderness and nature form an integral part of the compelling and inspiring themes in the activities of the surreal women.

Leonora 1917 Figure 2(Gale, pgs 40).

Through their work, the women of surreal movement highlight the relation between man and other animals. The women in the surreal movement drew attention to the threats facing the endangered species and expressing their solidarity with the endangered species. Through their work, the women of surreal moment advocates for sustainable lifestyles and non-exploitation of the planet .The women championed for ecological consciousness and dreamt of the realization of a healthy planet. In the dance, plastic arts and films writings and poetry by the women of surreal movement one gets the feel of the natural world as depicted in the new lights. Their caution of a planet in peril is consistent with most of their works highlighting their plight for environmental conservation and protection of the natural world. It is important to note the environmental concerns raised by the women of the surreal movement are manifesting themselves in the present day in form of climate change, which threatens the existence of many plants, animals and the livelihood of humankind. Carrington, Agar, Senard, Rahon and many others represent eco-feminism and forerunners of ecology (Gale, pgs 40).

The women in the surrealist movement reoriented certain aspects of surrealism such the obsession with one’s sexuality to interrogating femininity and highlighting the interplay between sexuality and gender. The women of surrealist movement managed to rewrite the metaphor of the violent disjunction that characterized surrealism into a positive narration of visionary transformation. The necessity and importance of surrealism to the generation of artists before the world is very significant. This group included Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, Toyen, Dorothea Tanning and Rammedios Varo.

Dorothea, 1984 Figure 3 (Dawn, pgs 30).

The contribution of women artists to furthering surrealism goals include liberating consciousness from the western thought full of polarities, from positivism and rationalism to the poetry of transformation, accident, ambiguity and the erotic metamorphosis are evident in their works. This group of women became the initial female adherents of this radical and vanguard movement of the twentieth century to explore sexuality as well as gender issues and to contribute towards the self-structured new narratives through visionary thinking. It is important to note that other women who joined the surrealist movement later after the year 1929-experienced marginalization by from their male counterparts. These women neither were of French decent nor were they present during the Surrealist movements formative years. This group of women who did not consider themselves contributed a lot to the activities and works of the surrealist movement but their participation and contribution is yet to earn recognition. They actively participated in the activities and the exhibitions of the surrealists. Their work continues to circulate in the public domain especially in venues such as the museums, art galleries and exhibitions. The diversity and scope of the work of the surrealist women is evident in their artistic work thus highlighting the various kinds of interactions they had with the surrealists. Leonor Fini did not consider herself as a surrealist despite her close friendship and ties with the surrealists. She is close to several members of surreal movement such as Leonora Garrington and Max Ernst. She also had her work formed part of surrealist exhibitions of the 1930’s. The work of Leonor Fini is rooted in the traditions of metaphysics ,symbolism ,German and Italian romanticism. Her work evolved from her earlier figurative paintings to highly evocative symbolic and personal figurations. The probing and complex portraits from her work reveal powerful draughtsman-ship. Her work veiled romanticism in an n evocative and rich manner. The work was often theatrical, characterized by a visual universe in which women and animals acted as carriers of psychic forces (Dawn, pgs 30).

Leonora’s mother introduced Leonora to the Surrealist movement while she was still a young girl after her mother gave a book on surrealism. She later took up residence among the surrealists .Leonora produced paintings and writings anchored on the belief in transformations, spiritual and psychic journeys. Stella Snead had paintings that bore the imprint of Surrealism even though she joined the surrealists formally. This became evident during the 1936 surrealists exhibition in London. The work had the features synonymous with the work of the surrealists such the startling juxtapositions of real and unreal, logical and illogical, reality and dream, conscious and the unconscious. The younger generation of this group of artists includes Kaye Sage and Dorothea Tanning. She used the metallic colors and abstract forms to relate the paintings to hallucinatory mental landscapes associated with Yves Tanguy and the psychological ‘inscapes’ by Matta (Breton, pgs 67).

Tanning 1944,Figure 4 (Breton, pgs 67)

It is important to acknowledge that most of the women associated with the surrealist movement remain individual and diverse group. Their great contributions to the Surrealism by incorporating new perspective to the work of the surreal movement remain a legacy to behoove.

In conclusion, it is important to note that women played a critical role in development of all the genres of writings and arts. The women were instrumental in shaping the radical and critical outlook of surrealism. Thus, ignoring or overlooking the contribution of women to surrealism is a deception, which amounts to failing to acknowledge the best aspect of surrealist movement.

When a person gets sick they usually visit the doctor, but when an animal gets sick they can’t go to a human doctor, they visit what’s called a veterinarian. A variety of animals can visit the vet, from house pets to farm animals to animals in the zoo. Animals that visit the vet are healthier due to the number of vaccines and technology available; though it may be expensive, it does prolong an animal’s life.

Veterinarians are physicians who help diagnose and treat diseases in animals. With continuous checkups, veterinarians can help control and prevent illness and disease in the animal. As stated by pet care, no matter how careful animal owners are, there will be a time when animals need to visit the vet. Though some believe vets can only offer an examination, they actually can do so much more. Vets are capable of spotting certain illnesses before they take full effect through blood test. They can repair joint or ligament, and they even provide professional grooming. Visiting the vet can prolong animals’ lives with the physicals done, and making sure animals have all their vaccinations. The major benefit for animals that go to the vet is that they are healthy. But the duties of veterinarians just don’t stop at making sure animals are healthy. They make sure the meats people eat are healthy by testing the animal for diseases, monitoring the transportation of the animal, and the slaughtering of the now ‘meat’.

A veterinarian can decide their specialty based off where they grew up at and the location of where their practice is at or will be at. There are three major categories that a veterinarian can specialize in; small, large, and exotic. Small animals are mostly known as the house pets, and they usually go to clinics or private practices. Clinics can be used for the larger animals, but they are mostly used for small animals. Clinics and private practices provide a waiting area, appointments, emergency appointments, and boarding areas. The major difference between a clinic and private practice is that a clinic is run by the government and a private practice is run by one person, the owner. The next specialties for a veterinarian are large animals. These animals tend to be farm animals, like cows, horses, and sheep. The main reason veterinarians do home visits for these types of animals is because of their size, the population they come in because it’s just not one cow at the farm. Equestrian veterinarians can also fall under this category, they focus in just horses. Those veterinarians tend to focus more on the unique horses, like ones that race or designer breed horses. The last type of animal that a vet can specialize in is exotic animals. These animals tend to be zoo animals; they can be monkeys, iguanas, ferrets or potbellied pigs. Depending on if they are located at the zoo, there will be a special veterinarian located at the zoo that runs their own private practice. Depending on the size of these exotic animals, that are ‘pets’ to some people; they would go to a specific private practice for exotic animals only. But, if they are large exotic animals, a specific veterinarian would make a special home visit. Though there are three different specialties, there are veterinarians that will run a private practice for all types of animals and make home visits for all types of animals.

As most people probably already know, the main reason to visit the vet is to help keep their animal healthy and living longer. Animals do age faster than humans do, so it is very important for animals to visit the vet. Just like humans, as the animals gets older their health does become worse. There are many pros for owners who take their animals to the veterinarian. Not only can an owner take their pet to get a wellness checkup, they can also have grooming done. When owners have their animals groomed, sometimes they take them to places where it’s not the best job being done. But taking them to the vet can ensure you that there are professionals back there taking care of the grooming process. Another pro that can benefit the owners and anyone else around the animal, is that taking an animal to the vet not only helps them be healthy but help keeps people in contact with the animal healthy too. Diseases can spread from human to pet and even pet to human. Then the fact that some animals are the meat people eat, so it would be a major pro having that meat healthy and disease free. Insurance can really help out with costs of vet bills for the exotic animals, so that is another major pro. Then by visiting the veterinarian, animals receive vaccinations. If an animal gets a disease or illness after receiving that certain vaccination and they recover, then they can become immune to it, which that will protect them for life. A con about visiting the vet of course is the money. Vaccinations, grooming, dentals, and surgeries are not cheap. It can be hard to afford an animal going to the vet monthly. Then another con about going to the vet would be if the veterinarian found something wrong. While performing their checkups there are possibilities of them finding a tumor or another illness. Then it will be expensive to pay for surgeries or medicine necessary for the animal to recover. Of course, the pros outweigh the cons. Having an animal’s life become longer and healthier is worth the cost sometimes.

Visiting the veterinarian is mostly for the animal’s wellness checkup. A wellness checkup is just checking the animals out and making sure things are normal. The veterinarians evaluate the overall health of the animal and try to detect serious illnesses before they turn into something bad or terminal. Veterinarians check the animal’s ear for unusual odors; they check the animal’s teeth too. Then they make sure the lungs are working properly, the heart rate is normal, and then they check the joints of the animals. Checkups for the larger animals are somewhat different than the checkups for smaller animals. Usually when a large animal is having a wellness checkup or physical they are put a sleep with an anesthetic. After the animal is asleep the veterinarian assistants record the rates of the animal, while the vet focuses on the physical part of the examination. Medicine used in veterinary is similar to humans’ medicine. An animal can catch a simple ‘stomach bug’ and also have many diseases that are terminal like types of cancers. Though a veterinarian can’t help prevent cancer, they can help prevent stomach bugs with the help of vaccinations. A vaccine is a live pathogen or a killed virus that can be injected to help pathogens in the animal’s body produce antibodies. The antibodies are what help make an animal immune to a certain illness or disease. Veterinarians can perform blood tests which help show how immune an animal is to a certain disease. Animals can only become immune to a certain illness or disease if they catch it and recover from it. Sometimes animals don’t recover and then they don’t have the antibodies needed to help make them become immune to it. When people think of surgeries being performed by a vet, they think mostly of removals. But vets can perform many more types of surgeries, like neutering and spaying of house pets. Not only does neutering and spaying make an animal infertile, but by doing that it can help prevent certain cancers in the male and female reproductive organs. Then it has been proven that it reduces the chance of animals running off. They can declaw animals like house cats or even bears have been declawed. Also, bone and joint repair are major surgeries done to help animals. Sometimes joints become dislocated and the animal needs that surgery to be able to function properly. The last type of surgery that can be done is cosmetic, just like humans an animal can have things changed.

Out of all the pros there are for visiting the veterinarian, the fact that just a visit once a month can prolong an animal’s life majorly. Having animals checked out by professionals with this technology in the 21st century just provides accurate information versus the knowledge of most animal owners. For the worst con, it’s not really about the cost for most animal lovers. It’s about losing an animal, so the worst con for visiting the vet is the chances of the veterinarian finding something terminal with the animal. Obviously animals who visit the veterinarians like they should are healthier than those animals that haven’t ever been to a veterinarian. Just like humans, animals can leave germs and get germs. The germs can be in the waiting room area or in the back where the vet clinic boards animals. So even though animals visit the veterinarian they still can become unhealthy by catching a disease there at the vet. Veterinarians can do house calls and come personally to the animal. Making those animals the healthiest; due to them not being in contact with the sick and still receiving the proper care by a veterinarian.

The essay will concentrate on the phenomenon of an occupational gender segregation that women continue to suffer in the labour market in Britain. Firstly this essay will look at some statistics surrounding women in the employment. Secondly, the paper will consider theories that try to explain the occupational segregation by sex. The essay will examined the neo-classical economic theories of human capital and rational choice. Moreover, the paper will evaluate if these theories stands up as an argument to reason the occupational gender segregation. Then the concept of patriarchy which is at the centre of feminist theory will be presented and appraised in connection with understanding the cause of occupational sex segregation. The last theory to be assessed in relation to disadvantage experienced by women in the labour market will be the idea of preference theory based on Catherine Hakim’s study.

Despite over forty years since first Equal Opportunities legislation has been introduced, labour market in the United Kingdom is marked by the sexual segregation in occupations that women so often experience. Labour Market Statistics( 2010) highlights that 42.8% of female employees work in part-time jobs to compare with 11.9% of their male counterparts and 74.4% of all employees in part-time jobs are women; thus part-time jobs tend to be seen as ‘women’s work’. This generates financial consequences for women. Recent survey by Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (2009, p.5) illustrates that the full time gender pay gap is at 16.4% and the part time gender pay gap is at 13.2%. The Equal Opportunities Commission (2006) estimated that the gender pay gap would lose a woman working on full-time basis a cumulative amount of ?330,000, or ?210,000 after taxes over her life. Labour Force Survey (2006, p.5) also points out that women predominantly work in service occupations whereby men mostly work in management occupations and in professions that require high level of knowledge and skills.

The neo-classical economic theories of human capital and rational choice represent a prominent proposition that attempts to clarify the reasons behind occupational sex segmentation. (Blackburn et al., 2002, p.515) The rational theory suggests that employees and employers behave sensibly in the labour market. Thus, people decide to invest in their qualifications and gain work experience in order to obtain the highest level of income possible after assessing the level and quality of their human capital and existing constrains to enter particular occupation (Anker, 1997, p.317). Furthermore, employers look for the highest return possible by increasing productivity and reducing costs. However, the rationality of employers’ actions may cause unequal treatment of women in employment sphere (Kirton and Greene, 2005, p.55). According to human capital theory, women entering labour market offer lower level of knowledge and skills, and less suitable qualifications that employers are looking for compare to men partly due to inequality women experience within education system (Haggerty and Johnson, 1995 p.212 and 216) and partly because women are predominant child carers and are solely responsible for home activities (Anker, 1997, p.317). Moreover, women obtain lower level of work experience than their male counterparts due to temporary or permanent exit from the labour market to look after their youngsters and households (Kirton and Greene, 2005, p.55). Neo-classical theories indicate that house duties make women often to opt for a part-time work, a full-time job that does not require much effort and energy (Blackburn et al., 2002, p.517). Therefore, female workers are often regarded by employers as less committed and less professional (Epstein et al., 1999 in Hardill and Watson, 2000, pp.21-22). In accordance with Polachek’s theory, women usually select occupations that do not carry severe penalties for short-term breaks that women take to care for their children and homes (England, 1982, p.363). Furthermore, the employers often link female employees with higher indirect costs, which the most known is maternity leave. It is said that women are more likely to be late or absent at work than men, possibly due to home responsibilities (Kirton and Greene, 2005, p.57). The women are often associated with high level of turnover as they often quit their jobs after childbirth or in some cases after getting married (Anker, 1997, p.317).Thus, according to Becker (1971 in Anker, 1997, p.320), employers are rational when they abstain to employ women in order to avoid higher indirect costs.

Despite of neo-classical theories’ contribution to explaining occupational sex segregation, there are some issues when these theories are the only one considered. Evidences have indicated that women’s participation in employment has risen in Britain since 70s (Kirton and Greene, 2005, p.60). Labour market statistics (November 2010, p.3) indicates that recent women employment rate stands at 65.7% compare with just 56 % in 1971(Office for National Statistics 2009).An introduction of house appliances such as washing machines, cookers and microwaves has decreased significantly the time required to perform certain house activities in recent decades (Bowden and Offer, 1994, p.728). Moreover, recently more women are force to work to sustain themselves and their children due to a higher proportion of single parent households (Buvini, 1995 in Kirton and Greene, 2005, p.60). Census (2001) statistics have indicated that 90.5 %of households in England and Wales are headed by single women. These changes indicate that women have increased their work experience and in this way they have enhanced their human capital (Kirton and Greene, 2005, p.60). Considering the human capital theory these changes should enable women to enter occupations. However, women still face barriers to enter those occupations (Anker, 1997, p.320), and the reason for that is not explained by the economic theories.

In accordance with economic theories, lower level of income achieved by women is fair as their level of human capital is much lower than that of the male workers. However, pay inequality between men and women is much higher than would be anticipated based on human capital reasoning (Treiman and Hartmann, 1981; World Bank, 1994 in Blackburn et al., 2002, p.517). Furthermore, women’s pay inequality is not only bounded to women with children. There are many professions which also badly reward single women. Although rational choice theory explains that there is a belief that all women will have children, recent researches have highlighted that more and more women are fully dedicated to their careers and decide to have no children on their own (Browne 2000; Franks 1999 in Blackburn et al., 2002, p.519). When looking at indirect costs, they are perceived to be higher for female employees than their male counterparts; however, the evidence has shown that the rate of absenteeism and turnover is very similar for both genders (Anker, 1997, p.319). The argument of human capital theory that women traditionally choose professions that are not costly when suspended for a short-time (Watts and Rich, 1993, p.60) is disapproved by England (1982). The evidence England has put forward indicates that professions with a high rate of women do not necessary carry lower penalties for short-term breaks from work than professions with lower rate of women (England, 1982, p.365).

The neo-classical theories arguments applied alone offers just limited explanation for occupational sex segregation. Kirton and Greene (2005, p.62) have put forward questions that the economic theories do not explain; ‘why do certain social groups on average come to the labour market with lower levels of education and in what are seen as ‘less relevant’ subjects? Why is housework and childcare and elder care almost always the sole responsibility of women?’

The gender theory concept of patriarchy should fill the gaps that exist in economic theories discussed earlier. According to Hartmann (1976, p.152-3), occupational gender segregation is a result of the phenomenon of patriarchy. This concept is concerned with a social situation where women are in subordinate position and are dominated, exploited, and undermined by powerful men (Bender L., 1988, pp.5-6); thus it seems to be ‘intended as an explanation of vertical segregation’ (Blackburn et al., 2002, p.521). Women around the world are generally perceived to be housewives, and men to be main breadwinners in households. This might explain why women are solely accountable for most of the house activities and childcare (Anker, 1997, p. 324). Due to patriarchal system, women joining labour market are affected by their free house work; their incomes are perceived as extra money added to a primary incomes of their husbands. This in turn stimulates the gender pay gap that exists in the United Kingdom (Kirton and Greene, 2005, p.64). The fact that women occupy subordinate positions and perform house duties solely might explain why women enter the labour market with lower levels of education and are more likely to obtain qualifications that are less relevant to the labour market as it is believed that women have a lower desire for qualifications that are appropriate to labour market (Anker, 1997, p.324).

Although the patriarchy theory is indented to comprehend the concept of occupational sex segregation, many scholars have highlighted some limitations when considered separately. Walby’s claim that ‘men have usually been successful in excluding women from the better work’ (1986,p.248) is disputed by evidences seen in the British society where many women work in better professions, and have better working and living conditions than many of their male counterparts (Blackburn et al.2002, p.521) The patriarchy theory reasoning is also looking bad when we take into consideration recent developments in the labour market, where shrinking of the male trades (such as mining, steel and docking) and the expansion of the service sector has favoured women more than men. The evidences have shown that in some parts of UK women account for most then 50% of the entire workforce (Browne, 2000 in Blackburn et al., 2002, p.521).

The preference theory is a connection between gender theory of patriarchy and Goldberg’s (1973, 1979, and 1993) biological theories. Hakim (1996 in Crompton and Harris, 998b, p.144) argues that men are more ruthless and ambitious than women due to higher testosterone levels in their organism. She presents the evidence which indicates that male labour market dominance is strongly supported by both genders. Furthermore, Hakim believes that women are not the same and they differ ‘in relation to their family and work commitments’ (Blackburn et al., 2002, p.523).Their choices between job and home are not limited by any significant restrictions (Hakim in McRae, 2003, p.318) but are based purely on their preferences. Hakim (2002, p.434) assigns women to three groups. The first group involves the work-centred females who are highly committed to their jobs. The second group are the home-centred women. Women belonging to this group are devoted to their families and prefer to stay at home (Blackburn, 2001, p.523). The third group includes the ‘adaptive’ women who juggle job and home or women who have no idea where their careers are going (McRae, 2003, p. 318). Hakim (1996, p.211) suggests that ‘male solidarity wins because women dither, because they are swayed by the dominant male voice and also because women are divided in their preferences and interests’. Thus, the interplay between women’s differences, an argument of patriarchy theory of male domination and women’s diverse priorities explains the women’s employment position in Britain (Crompton and Harris, 1998b, p.144). Hakim (2002, p.435-7) suggests that only small proportion of women are fully concentrated on their careers or families. Large majority of females integrate family and work without fully committing to either (Hakim, 2002, p.434). This view is supported by evidences that have shown that only 10% of first-time mothers remain in full-time work where 90% of mothers mix periods of full-time and part-time work or leave the labour market permanently (McRae, 2003, p.322-3)

However, preference theory also has some deficiencies. Blackburn et al. (2002, p.525) disagree with an argument that women’s choices are not limited by any constraints. They point out that concerns such as possible income and childcare costs have a great impact on women choices that might be far from their preferred choice. McRae (2003, p.333) suggests that the evidences introduced in her paper shows that women are not as diverse as suggested by Hakim in their choices in regards to their work and family lifestyle but they are different in their capacities to ‘act on those preferences’. These evidences are clashing with an assumption of preference theory about female heterogeneity.

This concluding part of the essay offer some general conclusions about the applicability of the theories analysed in this paper for the reason behind the occupational gender segregation in Britain presented by statistical data. Discussed in the paper theories of neo-classical, patriarchy and preference have been very useful to understanding why women experience disadvantage in the labour market. They have offered different and sometimes contrasting arguments. Thus, the main argument of human capital theory is that women are disadvantaged due to their lower level of education and work experience which is a ‘product’ of inequality in a schooling system and sole responsibilities for home and children. Contrary to human capital theory, preference theory has argued that women choose to be committed or uncommitted to their work careers and there are no major constrains to prohibit women from joining the labour market. On the other hand the concept of patriarchy has highlighted that male domination over women in societies is the main reason behind occupational gender segregation. Despite their great value to comprehend the cause of occupational segregation by sex, all of these theories are flawed to same degree and neither should be considered separately. To fully understand the reason for women disadvantage in the employment relationship, there is a need to bring neo-classical, patriarchy and preference theories together.

This research paper will be focusing on “why women should be allowed to work instead of staying at home”.

Back to the olden days, women were confined at home to be a full-time housewife and their spouse were the single bread-winner for the family. It has become a mind frame for the public that women should not be allowed to work as their primary roles were to carry out domestic role and nurture their children. However, women certainly have their hidden potentials which make them capable as the opposite sex. Women should be allowed to work. This can be proven through intensive research and analysis. Based on the research that was conducted, some discoveries were made. Foremost, working women are found to have improvised self-esteem and emotional health due to their multiple roles in everyday lives. Next, job has secured them financially to sustain life. Last of all, women have their rights to step into labour force for personal satisfaction and social necessities. People have to perceive in wider context and accept the fact that women should be allowed to work as women can mould their lives with a sense of empowerment. Discrimination and inequality towards women should be stamped out to preserve their rights for them to unleash their concealed potentials.

2.0 Introduction

Centuries ago, women were considered naturally feeble compared to men and were not allowed to perform arduous task that requires heavier labour. People in the past had the mindset that women were only restricted to domestic house chores and play their part as obedient housewife and care for their children (Women’s International Centre, n.d). Shiner, (n.d.) asserted that role of women in this 21st century is largely determined and they share equivalent responsibilities with men in improving the nations. Great leader such as Queen Elizabeth I of England and Catherine the Great of Russia in the past has proven women are capable as men (Women In World History, n.d).

Yassin, (2009) stated that women are equally important as men and men need to understand the importance for women to work. Mala, (2008) mentioned that working women helps to sustain the family financially and have become influential and successful as men. However, there are some men who disagree women should be allowed to work, because they think that working women pay less attention to their families (Waldfogel, 1998) or maybe they feel submissive with more successful women or maybe they think is their responsibilities to support the family and not the vice-versa (Davidmann, 2009).

It is stated that “working women in today’s world is miracle” because women have to juggle their duties as multiple roles and their presence in working field is significant (Vishen, 2007). Participation of female students in tertiary education has outnumbered the male students and if every graduated married woman is restricted to stay at home being full-time homemakers, the country will be in short of proficient and non-professional workers (Fine, Swahili and Jarjour, 2009). People who are against working women need to view in deeper context that women nowadays are more needed than men on the outside world because women now are smarter, stronger and more instructive than men (DeVeaux, 2010).

It is undeniable that employed women are indeed self-seeking, tougher and intellectual in working life. However, empowered women are not trying to overpower the opposite sex but to survive through the ever-growing competitive surroundings (Shiner, 2009). Women should be allowed to work instead of staying at home as the job would improve women’s self-esteem and emotional health, secure them financially and women also have their right to work. The scope of this research will center in United States of America due to the fact that this issue is rampant over there.

2.0 Body of Report
2.1 A Job Would Improve Women’s Self-Esteem and Emotional Health

There are parties who oppose the statement that “women should be allowed to work instead of staying at home” because they believe that a job will not improvise women’s self-esteem and emotional health. They claimed that employed women will have added stress and they have difficulties in handling stress which eventually cause impairment of self-esteem (Lancer, 2010). Working women face tremendous stress due to multiple roles, long working hours and high demand for performance. As a result, they are subjected to poor mental concentration and depression which affect their self-esteem (Life Positive, n.d.). Helpguide, (n.d.) also approves this by saying that stress will build up problems regarding mental health and emotional health such as anxiety and sadness. Consequently women’s self-esteem is lowered and they get caught in negative mood condition.

The argument stated above might be reasonable. Nonetheless, this argument is undoubted a frail. According to psychologist Ingrid Waldron and Sociologist Jerry Jacobs, working women who are bonded with works and family responsibilities are benefited emotionally and physically (Rivers, 1993). Emotional health refers to well being of one’s overall psychological state in coping with different situations and difficulties in life (Helpguide, n.d). University of California Berkeley had reported that working women have good emotional state and have successfully managed their roles and responsibilities (Rivers, 1993). Another research finding in University of Michigan has proven that women who involve in working force has reduced levels of psychological distress compared to those who do not participate in working force, further study has shown that non-working women has higher possibility to develop chronic condition such as frustration and disillusionalisation (Rivers, 1993).

Besides, employment improves a woman’s self-esteem. Self-esteem determines the way we communicate and value our thoughts and opinion when confronting others. It underpins our target to achieve something and reflects our integrity (Lancer, 2010). Rout, Cooper and Kerslake, (1997) said that employed women are exposed to multiple role involvement at work place and home. This means that they have more social roles and they are involved in broader social network to encounter different type of people. This indirectly boosts their self-esteem and confidence to talk to others by frequent practice when meeting others (Thomas, n.d.). On the other hand, unemployed women are only tied to singular focus which is at home and this restricts their opportunity in meeting others (Rout, Cooper, and Kerslake, 1997). In addition, challenging jobs in a career have positive impact on employees and this enhances their performances to get promoted than their counterparts (Granrose and Kaplan, 1996).

In conclusion, job certainly will improvise women’s self esteem and emotional health; this is a fact that cannot be denied since research has proven it by concrete and solid evidence and quotations related to this argument.

2.2 Second Argument
Jobs Will Secure Working Women Financially

Some naysayers oppose the statement that “women should be allowed to work instead of staying at home. They refute that although women are employed, this will not ensure a security in family finance. They have asserted that men are the primary breadwinners who work and earn money to sustain the family; women on the other hand should only focus on their domestic role as homemaker (Smith, 2009). Besides, it is argued that if women are allowed to work and become the head of family, this will counter the fundamental concept of life which has been practiced since many centuries ago (Sinar Rohani Magazine, 2003).

However, the argument claimed by the opponent is weak. Women nowadays are against the stereotype that women should be fully financial-dependent on their husband. More women are likely to emerge as breadwinners and believe that if they stay home they will not have enough family income or extra income, making it necessary for their husband to hold two jobs (Granrose C.S. and Kaplan E.E.). Apart from that, Research has also proven that women benefits from working as it absolutely help them financially. Chitracs, (2008) states that women gain access to work to contribute for their family in terms of finance. This is because they too can think and make wise decision to secure family financially to overcome inevitable financial problem in future. Working women help reduce pressure on their husband who is the sole wage earner and their husband clearly approve of their working outside the home (Granrose C.S. and Kaplan E.E.). If women are allowed to work, they can build the family wealth together with their spouse. This in turn can combat financial crisis in times of rise and fall of economic stability. Thus, women should be allowed to work to be financially secured.

The naysayers mentioned that women should rely on their husband as the sole breadwinner. Nevertheless, what about those single mothers? How they get their income? Job is a rescue for single mother who need to stand on their own feet to work for financial income to sustain the basic daily needs for their children and themselves (William J.C. 2010). Some marriages will not last forever and cases of divorce are no longer bizarre these days. Dilemma rises for women who fully depend on her husband. Hence, women should be allowed to work to ensure financial security for fear that their matrimony would end up in separation (Ortyl T. 2010).

The statistic above illustrates the pattern of divorce case in United States from year 1940 to year 1997. From the statistics, it obviously shows that the number of divorce cases increase annually. Since year 1980, the divorce case seems fluctuating and the number of divorce case is predicted will keep rising in this 21st century. If this occurs, more women should be bewaring of financial matters and take an effective approach by participating in work field to avoid dire circumstances aftermath of divorce.

Austen J, (2004) also mentioned that women should be allowed to work due the possibilities of their spouses facing disease or being fired. Besides, married women cannot avoid the fatality of their husband. This is why women are strongly encouraged to be allowed to work is spite of encountering such difficulties (Austen J. 2004).

In short, women should be allowed to work as it will secure them financially. People who are against this viewpoint should accept this fact as it is strongly backed up by statistics and solid evidences.

“But for most women who, like me, came of age in the ’90s, it comes down to dollars and cents, and the calculation is brutal. Because in most of the U.S. it is no longer possible to support a middle-class family on Dad’s income alone. This isn’t a question of having enough cash to buy Game Boys and exotic trips. It is a question of having enough to buy the basics.” (Tyagi A.W., 2004)

(TIME, Why Women Have To Work)

3.0 Third Argument
Women have Their Rights to Work Outside

Notwithstanding the statement of “women should be allowed to work instead of staying at home” is robustly supported by first and second arguments, there are still some disapprove with the statement above. They argued that it is an essential cultural custom for women to stay at home and completely committed to her domestic responsibility as homemaker and parenting (Global Oneness, n.d). It further states women’s role as mother is vital in nurturing their children with exemplary behavior and noble values, otherwise the stability of family institution will face shaky crisis (Croontz, n.d).

Even so, the claims asserted by the opponents are weak. Not every ambitious woman wants to eschew careers in favour of family and do housecleaning all day long. Women are given the rights to associate in working field and certainly they can opt to work instead of being homemaker (Ramsook, 2006). Flory T.C. (2011) insisted that men and women are equal in their abilities and interest, thus women have the freedom to compete with others in workforce to succeed in life. Pyle, (1944) also states that government has reinforced various policies in employment to foster women’s right and to eradicate gender inequality at work place. Thus, women should be allowed to work since their rights are retained holistically.

O’Rourke M. (2006) mentioned that women who devote their time for childcare instead of working dwindle the quantity of female workers in workforce. This will disempower well-educated women to contribute to workforce and serve as significant role models for younger generations. Furthermore, she reminded us that employed women are not being self-centered instead of being full-time homemaker. This is because they have their right to work for social necessity and not only for personal fulfillment. Lauer, (2006) added that employed women do not push away her obligation to nurture her kids or neglecting her family, in fact they can carry out house chores even without maid. Sweat B. (2006) also asserted that men be supposed to be aware of their spouse’s right to work and participate in childcare and housecleaning to create a happy family.

In sum, all the evidences and facts provided are complementary to the statement “women should be allowed to work instead of staying at home”. Various rights for working women were established to protect their well fare in workforce. Sexual discrimination is no longer a major problem for working women and they should invest themselves in workforce for they have given the choice. This research is well supported by strong arguments so women should be allowed to work instead of being regular homemakers.

“As long as the family and the myth of the family and the myth of maternity and the maternal instinct are not destroyed, no woman should be authorized to stay at home and raise her children. Society should be very different and women should have the choice to work. (Beauvoir S.D. 1975)

Conclusion

Since centuries ago, people have being questioning what the distinctive role of women. In the past, women in the past were inferior to men in various aspects. However that does not halt women from showing the world they are stronger and more capable than they were many years ago. Women had strived hard to discard the biased stereotype of restriction of women to household responsibilities and duties. Outstanding women such as Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Russia the Great are excellent figur of s of women role models. As for this research, it examines and focuses on how people perceive the idea of “women should be allowed to work instead of staying at home”.

In this modern era, people involved in labor force to gain monthly source of income for meeting daily necessities. Women are not exceptional too. In fact in America, the number of working women is escalating annually. They participate in work force for money to sustain family financially. However, women in this present day able to perceive beyond the benefits of working. Labour participation has helped them to feel a sense of achievement and pride apart from boosting their self-esteem and confidence.

The society should discard their old mindset that women should stay at home instead of working. Women are capable of successfully achieving what men can do. Besides, it is a right for women to work and earn money as what men can do. Although they play multiple roles of being mother, wife, daughter, sister and nonetheless being worker, they are still able to manage their domestic duties and parenting. This research focuses on benefits gained by working women instead of being full-time homemaker.

Hence, it is time that the public should grip to the statement that “women should be allowed to work” and support those independent women who want to make own living by working. Provided with strong arguments and evidences, the public should accept the fact that it is preferable for women to work and uncover their hidden potentials than sitting at home parenting and homemaking.

3.0 Recommendations

It is time for the public to accept the fact that women should be allowed to work. Government and non-government organizations should establish interest to uncover the capabilities and potentials of women in work force. It is a wise way to instill value of independence among the women so they can stand on their own feet and bring up themselves and their family towards better standard of living in this rapid growing of modern life.

The employers should put aside their inequality towards women and provide them the rights which encourage them to participate in work force and strive to eradicate the stereotype that they are weaker sex and unable to achieve accomplishment. Women’s discrimination should be exterminated to ensure they achieve their rights in working life.

The readers should probe at this research and keep carry out this research to unlock more evidence and facts why women should be allowed to work instead of being homemaker. This is crucial as publics’ perspective on working women can be enhanced and to urge the younger generation to fight for women’s right and freedom.

Today, unemployment among undergraduates is one of the major challenges to young people because they are uncertain in their future after graduation from colleges and Universities. As the matter of fact, when they graduate they cannot find employment that makes them dependent on their family support as well as support of state agencies. In such a situation, undergraduates cannot be certain in their future and successful professional development. Moreover, the unemployment of undergraduates decreases the value of diplomas because they are useless, if undergraduates cannot find a job and get good career opportunities.

In actuality, many undergraduates are unemployed and the problem of their future career after the graduation from colleges and Universities is an unbearable burden for many undergraduates. At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that the unemployment rate among undergraduates is higher than average (See App. Table 1). The unemployment rate for American workers from the age of 16 to 24 had risen to 19.6% (Nellis, & Parker, 119). Moreover, specialists argue that of recent college students between the ages of 20 and 24, roughly 10.6% are unemployed (Newman, 3). In such a situation, the position of undergraduates becomes really desperate that makes the study of reasons and causes of their unemployment particularly important. In fact, the study should find out why undergraduates are not getting employed, what risk factors and problems they face that prevent them from finding a job and, on the ground of findings of the study, it will be possible to work out recommendations concerning possible improvements that can decrease the unemployment rate among undergraduates.

Research Methods

The study of the unemployment among undergraduates should involve both undergraduates and employers. In this respect, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that the involvement of both parties will help to reveal the essence of the problem and to uncover reasons why undergraduates have low job opportunities and why they fail to find a prospective job. In terms of the current study, employers and undergraduates were selected randomly. The study involves five employers and ten undergraduate students, who have different experience of employment as well as unemployment. Employers involved in the study operate in different industries and represent medium size businesses. The study was conducted anonymously to increase the reliability of responses of subjects involved in the study. Undergraduates involved in the study had different gender, race, and specialization. In such a way, the scope of the study was extended to avoid possible errors provoked by specificities of employment in certain industries. The point of the study was to get the general trend in the undergraduates’ employment and to understand why undergraduates suffer from unemployment and what difficulties they have, while searching a job and what actually prevents them from obtaining a job they are looking for.

The study involved the use of two methods: interviews and focus groups. In fact, interviews were conducted to reveal the personal opinion of employers and undergraduates in regard to revelation possible reasons for the undergraduates’ unemployment (See App. Interviews). At the same time, interviews allowed view problems from two standpoints, that of employers and that of undergraduates. Interviews help to reveal the actual situation in the labor market in relation to employees.

In addition, focus groups method was used. The focus groups involved employers and undergraduates. There were three groups: a group of employers, a group of undergraduates, and a group of both employers and undergraduates. Each group discussed one and the same issue – the unemployment among undergraduates, its reasons and ways of prevention. The first group of employers was created to find out the position of employers and to understand what criteria employers have in relation to undergraduates. In such a way, it was possible to find out which criteria undergraduates should match to find a job. The second group of undergraduates was created to find out major problems undergraduates face in the course of employment and their expectations in regard to their future or current jobs. Finally, the third group was created to negotiate ideal conditions of employment for both employers and graduates. In addition, the third group comprised of employers and graduates helped to reveal major reasons for undergraduates’ unemployment and indicated the ways to the solution of this problem.

Discussion

In actuality, the study of the unemployment among undergraduates has revealed the fact that the problem persists and, what is more, the problem aggravates. Today, the unemployment rate among undergraduates has grown consistently. Moreover, today, the unemployment rate among undergraduates exceeds the average unemployment rate nationwide. In fact, the undergraduates’ unemployment undermines the value of diplomas and puts under a threat the future professional development of undergraduates because, if they fail to find a job, they will decrease their professional skills and abilities being unemployed.

In such a context, the current study has helped to reveal several key facts about the undergraduates’ unemployment, including major reasons for their unemployment and factors that prevent undergraduates from a successful employment. In this regard, the inability of undergraduates to write resumes is one of the major reasons for their unemployment. In actuality, resumes are essential for job application and, if undergraduates fail to apply their resumes, they are deprived of an opportunity to apply for a job. In addition, if undergraduates write their resumes wrong, employers naturally exclude them from the list of potential applicants because they are not willing to employ professionals who cannot even write a resume.

Another problem undergraduates face in the course of their employment is the inability to perform interviews. In fact, undergraduates have little, if any, experience of conducting interviews. As a result, they grow nervous in the course of interviews that naturally discourages employers to employ them because employers normally need self-assured employees, who can conduct interviews easily and successfully. If employers see the uncertainty of undergraduates in the course of interviews, they naturally refuse them from employment. In such a way, undergraduates often come to interviews unprepared and fail to get employment because interviews comprise an important part of the employment process.

Furthermore, many undergraduates are just unaware where to find job. What is meant here is the fact that undergraduates have no idea where to look for a job and how to find a job. They do not have effective methods and strategies of searching for a job. As a result, they cannot apply their skills and abilities because they do not know where to find a job. In such a context, the growth of undergraduates’ awareness of basic methods and strategies of finding a job is one of the essential conditions of the successful employment of undergraduates.

At the same time, the study has revealed the problem of unwillingness of employers to hire inexperienced employees. In fact, many employers are unwilling to employ undergraduates because they do not have extensive experience of work and, what is more, they need training to start working effectively. Therefore, employers need to spend time and money on training of undergraduates to make them efficient employees. In such a situation, it is easier for employers to employ an experienced professional instead of an undergraduate.

Furthermore, the low qualification of undergraduates because of the lack of experience of undergraduates is another reason for their failure to get employed. As the matter of fact, employers need well-qualified employees, whereas the relatively low qualification of undergraduates leaves them little room for a successful employment. To put it more precisely, undergraduates often need to focus on low- or semi-qualified jobs. This means that undergraduates can count for low wages paid for low- and semi-qualified jobs. As a result, they turn out to be in a disadvantageous position in the labor market.

Conclusion

Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that the problem of the unemployment among undergraduates persists because of the number of reasons. At the same time, the problems identified in the course of the current study helps to elaborate effective methods of prevention of the undergraduates’ unemployment and solution of this problem.

First of all, it is necessary to focus on the undergraduates-employers communication. In fact, the undergraduates-employers communication should start in the course of learning to allow employers to track gifted students and to allow undergraduates to get more information about potential employers and acquire experience of searching for a job. In such a way, employers will be able to develop positive relationships with undergraduates, to learn their skills and abilities and to employ them, if undergraduates meet their requirements and have proved to be successful employees.

Furthermore, a close cooperation between colleges and Universities and employers may help to provide undergraduates with better job opportunities. What is meant here is the fact that colleges and Universities should enhance relationships with employers because educators can help employers to match their needs in regard to employers’ requirements to employees. In such a way, undergraduates will come prepared to requirements and needs of employers.

Finally, the state support to stimulate undergraduate employment, including tax credits, grants for undergraduates, etc. may be very helpful. In such a way, employers will be encouraged to employ undergraduates.

Suicide is a very complex subject triggered by various multifaceted factors. The failure to meet ones expectations which may have been instilled as early as childhood may bring about a wide variety of emotions leading to people committing suicide for various reasons. Depression, physical or sexual abuse, horrible disappointments, severe financial loss, mental or emotional disorders, all trigger feelings of emptiness and hopelessness and are just some of the few psychological factors which may influence an individual’s final and distorted decision of committing suicide as a means to put an end to these insufferable emotions. The foregoing, however, is just a superficial analysis touching merely upon the surface of the deep-seated source of suicide. This paper will thus attempt to provide a more in depth analysis of why people commit suicide by looking primarily at the sociological factors and in particular in relation to Durkheim’s work.

Durkheim defines suicide as a “general state of extreme depression and exaggerated sadness, causing the patient no longer to realize sanely the bonds which connect him with the people and things about him -pleasures no longer attract” [Durkheim, 1951:63]. Durkheim further stated that “man cannot become attached to higher aims and submit to a rule if he sees nothing above him to which he belongs to free him from allsocial pressure is to abandon him to himself and demoralize him” [Durkheim,1951:110].

In Durkheim’s “Interdiction To Suicide: A Study in Sociology”, Durkheim expresses his concern in developing the conduct of sociology. He sees the main problem to be that sociology is mostly constructed on philosophical overviews, and does not answer the exact social questions. He suggests a methodology that will give the science of sociology strong baselines and real results. In his book, Durkheim applies these propositions and shows how sociology should be conducted, and firmly draws conclusions that expose to us the way in which we should be able to approach the difficulties of society. This study has been presented in such a way that it is probable to assess the relevance and accuracy of its meanings and deductions. Durkheim gives the importance of sociology far more than being just a tool to fix the world, but it is a lens, through which we see reality as a shared reality, one included of individuals who are determined by their realities.In this introductory chapter he investigates the act of suicide and explores its social roots by examining suicide rates in different social classes and correlating that with the characteristics of the society.(Durkheim, 1970)

A differentiation is made between two types of suicide, positive and negative. In Durkheim’s words suicide is thus described as “all cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result” [Durkheim, 1986:64]. A positive performance would be to discharge or to suspend an act. In this case, death comes as a straight product of the action. A negative act would be the scenario of remaining in a burning house or to refuse eating to the point of hunger. Death in this case is the indirect result of an individual’s act.

Durkheim believed that the areas with the highest rates of mental illnesses and alcoholism are not necessarily the areas with the highest suicide rates. Esquirol wrote that “suicide may be seen to be for us only a phenomenon resulting from many different causes and appearing under many different forms; and it is clear that this phenomenon is not characteristic of a disease”. [Esquirol, 1838:528]. Durkheim believed that suicide is not an individual act nor a personal achievement. It is produced by some power which is over and above the individual.

Durkheim studied suicide vis a vis the relationship between individuals and society affirmed that suicide is a social phenomenon as well as establishing that there are no societies in which suicide does not occur. He asserted that what most people regard as an individual act is, in reality, the result of the social world. The evidence supporting this view are numerous.

In addition to the stark differentiation made between positive and negative acts of suicide, Durkheim’s research concluded that the institution of marriage protects against suicide making the observation that suicide rates are higher among people that have lost their spouse and those who are divorced. Furthermore, Durkheim observes that suicide rates are higher among couples who have no children than couples who do, concluding that a human being needs to be loved and have a purpose in life. People who do not experience love in their life are the ones more susceptible to suicide. (Durkheim, 1951). The institution of marriage may thus play a vital role in ones decision to commit suicide. Whether marriage should be viewed positively in relation to suicide is however debatable. While on the one hand marriage may play a role in protecting against suicide by providing love, purpose, and stability in one’s life it may, on the other hand, be a volatile institution that once shattered may instead be an instigator of suicide.

Durkheim interestingly further observed that suicide rates are higher during times of peace than times of war because during the war people need to be unified in defending their country (Durkheim, 1951). This observation may, therefore, suggest that feelings of patriotism, honour as well as purpose tends to distant an individual from suicide. Furthermore, suicide rates also tend to be higher during rapid economic changes than in economic crises as rapid economic changes are sudden and difficult to endure. (Durkheim, 1951). This observation made by Durkheim may suggest that people are required to work harder in such economic times constantly being pushed to their limits in order to keep up with such rapid changes bringing about feelings of despair, restlessness and being under appreciated.

According to Durkheim’s research, religion may also have an affect on suicide rates. Durkheim’s collected data suggested that Protestants are more likely to commit suicide than Catholics, due to the fact that Protestants are more idiosyncratic while Catholics are more communitarian (Durkheim, 1951). In other words, Catholics tend to have more social support. According to Durkheim people connecting and validating each other within a community plays an important role in preventing suicide making this kind of social integration important. Without this type of connection, people may experience feelings of depression and isolation pushing them towards suicide. Durkheim, however, seemed to identify two sides of the coin in relation to social integration, pointing out that where social integration is high people are more likely to commit suicide in order to avoid becoming burdens to society. Two distinct features are therefore identified by Durkheim; namely, social regulation and social integration. Integration is described as the “degree to which collective sentiments are shared” and regulation refers to “the degree of external constraint on people”[Ritzer, 1992:90]. Based on these two social forces, four types of suicide have been proposed by Durkheim.

Durkheim differentiated between four types of suicide, the first being egoistic suicide. Egoistic suicide is viewed as stemming from an absence of social integration and is committed by people who are outcast by society and are insufficiently integrated into social groups and societies, they depend more on themselves than on a group of objectives and instructions. They are not socially combined or not socially tied to a community or group. These types of individuals find themselves powerless in finding their own individual place in society and experience problems adjusting to other groups and are given little or no social care. Suicide is therefore perceived as a solution to free themselves of the loneliness or excessive isolation. Durkheim points out that this type of suicide is mostly prevalent amongst those who are unmarried, widowed, divorced, have no children as well as those without any strong attachments to religious, social or community groups.(Durkheim,1951)

The second type of suicide identified by Durkheim is anomic suicide. Anomic suicide is viewed by Durkheim as disillusionment and disappointment occurring when a person goes through extreme changes in wealth and is ultimately caused by a lack of social regulation. This type of suicide is most notable at times when society is rapidly changing leading to uncertainty. It is a type of suicide that stems from sudden and unexpected changes which Durkheim found mostly occurs during rapid economic changes than in economic crises. Durkheim interestingly points out that suicide is more evident in crisis that brings out disturbances in one’s life rather than being attributed to poverty[Durkheim,1951:245].

Altruistic suicide is the third type of suicide that has been identified and according to Durkheim, this type of suicide occurs when individuals or a group are too close and intimate and stems from being overly integrated into society. It is the other side of the spectrum in social integration when an individual is so well integrated into society that they choose to sacrifice their own life in order to fulfil some obligation. Altruistic suicide, being a complex concept, can further be broken down into three types: optional, acute and obligatory altruistic suicide. Optional altruistic suicide is brought about by societal pressures that may, in fact, be well-intentioned. This can be seen in Japan where there is a high level of suicide amongst students because of stress and high expectations from others and the constant pressure to excel at school exams. Often the accompanying stress and anxiety push them to commit suicide; suicide in the victim’s perspective becomes the answer to freedom of oppression from what society expects individuals to be.

Acute altruistic suicide occurs when an individual kills himself in order to save another life. For example when a fire-fighter saves a person from a burning fire but the fire-fighter dies as a result. This is an act of heroism and self-sacrifice. It could be argued that it may by flawed to categories this as a type of suicide because suicide is mainly associated with a troublesome and stressed life, when in fact such an act may be a form of the righteous act.

Obligatory altruistic suicidal refers to a type of suicidal where respect and honour plays an important factor. For example in India, Hindu women should kill themselves during their husband’s funeral as an act of honour expressing that life after the death of their spouse was not worth living. If women from these communities insisted on living the y would lose public respect; in some cases, the usual funeral honours are denied, in another a life of horror is supposed to await him beyond the grave (Durkheim,1951).Connect these two paragraphs. Durkheim points out that altruistic suicide is part of the “collective spirit” (Durkheim,1970). For example, when the spirit inquires you to do something you are obliged to do so and which we, therefore, see in environments where society places a substantial amount of pressure and expectations on individuals which may, in turn, push an individual towards suicide as a means of escape.

The final type of suicide is fatalistic suicide. Durkheim discussed this type briefly because it was seen as a rare phenomenon in the real world. Fatalistic suicide occurs in social conditions where an individual experiences universal persecution resulting from “excessive regulation” whose “passions [were] violently choked by oppressive discipline(Durkheim,1970). Slavery and persecution are examples of fatalistic suicide in which an individual may feel that they are destined by fate to be in such conditions and choose suicide as the only means to escape such conditions

These four types of suicide are categorised by the degree of integration and regulation of individuals in their surrounding society. According to Durkheim people commit suicide because of either too high or too low integration or regulation, Suicide is a social fact and is due to social forces. Individuals are more likely to commit suicide each time the condition of society leaves from a state of stability. Society preserves stability by “integration” and “regulation”

Durkheim’s work has been critiqued on many grounds, for example, his emphasis on consensus and morality , thanhis positivist method and negligence of the individual as an actor, his description of suicide rates. Durkheim’s concept of suicide is thought to be more reinforced by argument than by fact. However, he is contributed to the growth of sociology and over a difficult theoretical framework

To conclude suicide is not an individual act it is a social act. People commit suicide because they are not supported by society or they do not feel loved by their own family. If a person has no support in his life and no one to care about thenthey can feel valueless and this will lead to depression which may lead to suicide. Suicide rates are correlated with how well a person is integrated into society and the degree to which society regulates individual behavior. In general, suicide has some connection with social rules or standards and the individual.