toptermpaper.com

Adaptation is the survival mechanism of civilizations in the course of evolution. It is the emergence of a trait that will enhance species viability in an existing or new environment. Conversely, byproduct is the unintentional consequence of adaptation. Humans due to their great capacity for ‘generalized learning’ have consequently achieved a distinct capability of constructing and imparting culture (Parsons, 1964). According to Biologist Alfred Emerson (1956) within the realm of adaptation the ‘gene’ has now been replaced by the ‘symbol’. Thus it is not just the genetic constitution of human beings that affects the process of evolution but also their cultural practice. Societies subsist within complex social environments (e.g. raw materials, reserves and constraints and limitations) and they adapt to such intricacies. It is thus inevitable that societies reorganize and reform themselves over time in the face of social change. The study of society and social change has taught us that the social order of civilizations changes over time and reorganizes itself to appear as something different from its ancestral form. As a society, we have organized our everyday lives around former and existing situations. We are accustomed to standard and regular conditions and may be sensitive to extremes that fall outside of this array. The stages of evolution as discussed by Morgan (1877) and Tylor (1871, 1881) are as such: savagery, barbarianism and civilization. According to them every society and culture has or will go through these stages of evolution in this order. French philosopher Auguste Comte (1876) advanced the “law of three stages”. According to this human societies progress from a theological stage, which is governed by religion, through a metaphysical stage, in which theoretical speculative assessment is most important, and onward toward a positivist stage, in which empirically based systematic scientific ideas are most dominant. It has been argued that society has evolved by way of small steps that have led to increased complexity of society. Herbert Spencer (1887), a British sociologist argued that societies themselves are life forms. He attempted to extent Darwin’s tenet of the survival of the fittest to human civilizations and said that society has been steadily moving ahead towards an enhanced state. He claimed that western societies had persisted and evolved because they were better at becoming accustomed to the challenges of life. Emile Durkheim (1933) singled out the basis of societal evolution as a society’s increasing development of more complex social interactions. Durkheim viewed societies as changing in the direction of immense demarcation, integration and oppression under the demands of increasing moral density. Durkheim supported that societies have evolved from a comparatively self-sufficient state with little incorporation, where intimidation and domination is required on a social structure, with a kind of cohesion called mechanical solidarity to a more distinguished social structure with maximum division of labor where specialization and collaboration is extensive and interdependence and assimilation give rise to an organic solidarity. Julian Stewart (1955) constructed the multi-linear theory of evolution where he stated that societies change due to their adaptation to changing environments. A more recent view by Bloomfield (1993) suggests that society is in a state of equilibrium and when change takes place a transition results in a consequent stable but more complex society. The human race has shown a tremendous potential for adjustment and change. We have seen many forms of social change over the years. Human civilization has been witness to some foremost structures of transformations such as Industrialization, Globalization, World War II, Civil Rights Movement in United States, Indian Independence Movement, Gay Liberation Movement and Women’s Rights Movement among many more. In this paper we shall reflect briefly upon the evolutionary perspective of the Women’s Rights Movement and put forward certain questions as is the Movement a form of adaptation of the society? Or it is the byproduct of adaptation?

‘Nothing can be more absurd than the practice that prevails in our country of men and women not following the same pursuits with all their strengths and with one mind, for thus, the state instead of being whole is reduced to half.’ (Plato, 428-347 B.C.; Saxonhouse, 1976). In The Republic Plato proposes that an ‘ideal’ state is one in which women are given the same opportunities as men in areas such as education and participation in activities of the state (Saxonhouse, 1976). He is considered to be the first feminist although his concern is not about the rights of women but about their usefulness (Craik, 1990). Feminism aims towards social change by focusing our attention upon the issues of women and how we can go about empowering women and improving their quality of life. Feminism can be seen to have a transformational function to society. Competing for resources is the basis for evolutionary theory. This notion that has enabled our species to survive has an important implication in feminist theory. The feminist movement has consequently emerged in a patriarchal society as an amendment in the course of evolution. In Evelyn Reed’s book ‘Women’s Evolution: from Matriarchal Clan to Patriarchal Families’ (1975) she mentions that social structures were initially based on mother-child relationship and were considered matrilineal clans long before the patriarchal family tradition began. Men were not part of the child birth process and were prohibited from eating women’s food. She also notes that in most areas the essentially reliable sources of food were that of the gatherers (vegetables) and not hunters (animals). It was later that these matrilineal clans transformed into a patriarchal society. ‘In the broadest sense, evolution is merely change, and so is all-pervasive; galaxies, languages, and political systems all evolve’ (Futuyma, 1986). Accordingly evolution can be presumed as a process of the development of a characteristic of society from its primitive state to its present or specialized state. Change comes about through the competition of resources and the circulation of favorable innovations in thought and action. Human nature is habituated by communication, which establishes what resources are available (Cooley, 1897). Arnold Toynbee (1987) postulated that civilizations transform from a stationary state to an active one. A more recent perspective on change was hypothesized by Thomas Kuhn (1996) where he talks of the concept of a paradigm. A paradigm is a set of values and beliefs about reality that allows a people to form theories about reality and solve problems. The central feature of a paradigm is its own etiquettes and principles. A paradigm remains popular and influential as long as it justifies most observable phenomenon and resolves most problems but it yields as new paradigms rise and begin to challenge it. Thus, long phases of “normal” science are pursued by short periods of “revolutions” that entail essential changes in prime theoretical presumptions. A good example here would be the androcentric assumptions that hard as well as social sciences tend to have embedded in their core and the recent shift towards a feminist paradigm where such assumptions are being questioned and alternate ideologies are being presented. This general idea is reinforced by Fritjof Capra (1997), who maintains that ‘a single person can have a worldview, but a paradigm is shared by a community.’ The paradigm impression demonstrates the scope of social change as a turning point on the state of mind of individuals. History confirms that changes in society occur not because of great wars or authoritarian governments but because a significant amount of people started to change their mind, even if only a little (Harman, 1998). Contrary to the impression that innovative ideas are the efforts of a handful of elites like scientists, philosophers, artists and religious leaders, sometimes new ways of perceiving life in a significantly meaningful way progresses from ‘the great mass of the population’ (Yankelovich, 1982).

Another model of social change helps to explain the transformation of feminist societies was presented by Anthony Wallace in 1970 in his book Culture and Personality. Change is seen to present itself when intense individual strain leads to a shift away from cultural harmony. Initial response of society as well as the individual is that it is a distinct personal problem, but as these individual problems begin to come together in the form of a group, they result in unstable social foundations and society in turn has to recognize it as a problem on a larger scale. Once this happens it is essential for society to endure a process of recovery and transformation to return to the state of balance. This process of renewal depends upon characteristics such as formulation of a code, communication, organization, adaptation, cultural transformation and routinization. We attempt to integrate the evolution of feminism into this model. Feminism has formulated a code in the sense that it has a ‘goal society’ in mind. It is one that contrasts the patriarchal society and insists upon a tradition of equality among sexes and envisions a liberated future for women. Communication in the feminist tradition has been one of prime significance. Consciousness raising groups were established by New York Radical Women and Women’s Liberation groups. These meetings enabled women to share their stories and shed light on how their personal problems were in fact more common than recognized (Sarachild, 1973). Women’s organizations exist in most countries that have been set up to address the issues of women and work towards globalized incorporation of solutions. The evolution of feminism has required the inclusion of many new viewpoints and the adaption of older ones. For example the radical feminist notion that ‘women are superior to men’ has now been substituted for a more holistic idea where women and men are considered as equal and no one sex is better than the other. The Women’s suffragettes have been able to attain women’s voting in most parts of the world and this has led to a cultural transformation to the perception of women and their basic rights and privileges. The war on patriarchy is still ongoing but the movement has won many battles amongst. The vision of an egalitarian state is still very much alive. Routinization for many element of the movement are yet to happen as ‘goal future’ is far from within our grasp.

History illustrates that women have suffered many dreadful fates at the hands of persons, in the form of rape, female infanticide, sati ritual, honor killing, bride burning, female genital mutilation, sex slaves, etc. Data shows that between sixty to more than one hundred million women and girls are considered ‘missing’ from numerous populations and are likely to have survived if gender discriminatory practices like sex-selective abortions, infanticide and inadequate care based on gender were absent (Seager, 2003; Sen, 1990; Klasen and Wink, 2002). Studies show that one in every five women have been forced to have sex, beaten or otherwise abused in their lifetimes and the perpetrator is usually a member of the family or an otherwise known person (Heise, Ellsberg, Gottemoeller, 1999) and about 69% of female homicide victims are killed by their male partners (Krug, et. al., WHO, 2002). Available data implies that in some countries nearly one in four women confirm sexual violence by an intimate partner and equal to one-third of adolescent girls report that they were forced into sexual acts for the first time (Ellsberg, et al., 2000; Mooney, 1993; Hakimi, et al., 2001; Matasha, et al., 1998; Buga, et. al., 1996). Sexual cruelty is more evident in places where attitudes of male sexual rights and entitlement are intense, where gender roles are inflexible, and in countries where there is an occurrence of other types of violence (Bennett, Manderson, Astbury, 2000; Gartner, 1990; Smutt, Miranda, 1998) In the 1994 genocide in Rwanda it was reported that between 250,000 and 500,000 women, or about 20% of women, were raped (De Brouwer, 2005). In 1992, during the five months of conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, about 20,000 – 50,000 women were raped (Ashford, Huet-Vaughn, 1997). In India, deaths attributable to dowry are estimated to be 15,000 per year and typically they are kitchen fires made to like an accident (Jethmalani, 1995). Close to half of the 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS are women. Social elements that lead to female exposure to HIV-1 include poverty, presence of gender inequality, cultural and sexual customs, violence and lack of education (Quinn, Overbaugh, 2005). Between twenty to seventy percent of women opened up about their abuse for the first time when they were interviewed for a survey by WHO and have not old anyone before that (WHO, Geneva, 2002). Recent studies have shown that there is no significant rise in the reported rape cases since 1990 (Wolitzky-Taylor, et. al., 2011). Keeping in mind these statistics it is no surprise that the feminist movement has emerged as a medium of social action against the oppression of women. Such atrocities against women are not a recent problem. What is remarkable is that such matters are finally receiving international attention due to the political power that women have acquired that we are now able to place the issue of accountability for gender-based cruelty on the international agenda. Women are taking advantage of opportunities, allocating resources, reconstructing social realities, envisioning a better, holistic and an overall more agreeable future and energizing a new generation of supporters (both female and male). Dissatisfaction among women is a reflection of evolutionary changes within the movement that aims for an integrated society.

As is with all social movements, the women’s rights movement too has gone through many changes and reorganizations in its evolution due to climate changes, internal and external conflicts, changes in social values and philosophical progress. The records of the history of feminism are mentioned briefly and represented as an overall picture of the struggle. Many attempts were made to highlight the inequalities between the genders such as the work of 15th century writer Christine De Pizan, who was the first woman to write about the relationship of the sexes (Brown-Grant, 1999), 17th century writer, Margaret Cavendish, 18th century writer, Mary Wollstonecraft, who is often said to be the first feminist philosopher and the works of Jane Austen, that focused on the restricted lives of women of the former part of the century (McCarthy, 1994). Although efforts were made by women such as Caroline Norton, who helped in changing the situation of married women and child custody in England ((Yalom, 2002; Perkins, 1989) and Florence Nightingale, whose belief was that women had all the aptitude of men but they had none of the opportunities (Bostridge, 2008), 1848 was the year that marked the beginning of an organized Women’s Rights Movement. The first wave of feminism was between the 19th to the early 20th century. Here attention was given to issues such as women’s education, better working standards, right to vote and running for office. Women’s suffrage was extremely significant to the women’s rights movement as it eliminated the overtone of them as being second-class citizens (Cott, 1989). What came after is commonly known as second wave feminism and lasted for the duration of 1960s to 1980s. During this time issues such as gender inequalities and discriminations were brought into awareness (Freedman, 2003). The third wave of feminism commenced in the 1990s and emerged to resolve the criticism that second wave feminism received. It dealt with issues of queer politics, reproductive rights, inclusion of race related subjectivities of minority communities (Henry, 2004). It also addressed concerns for a global feminism where matters such as First World vs. Third World feminism, the intersectionality of gender repression and inter-subjugation based on gender, race, sexual preferences (homosexuality), class, nationality, etc., defining feminism, birth and population control, identifying the central aspects of feminism against the political aspects, the gap between researchers and the grass roots, female genital mutilation and the degree and extent of political concerns affecting women have received attention. Women’s Rights movement, as all social movements, evolved and adapted (and still is) to societal changes.

Immigration into Canada totally changed the racial diversity of the Canadian population. In their study Gee et al. (2007) noted that since the beginning of European immigration and settlements, the Canadian society has been ordered based on racial and ethnic dimensions. Ethnicity has occupied a central position in Canadian’s rising inequality (2007:3). John Porter first studied this subject in 1965 and found that entry into the Canadian elite class was racially-ranked and determined by income, “ethnic prestige” and occupations. His findings found that, British-Canadians topped the group, French-Canadians took second position, and other European-Canadians were third while Blacks and Aboriginals-“visible minorities” occupied the bottom strata.

Economic Inequalities

Empirical examples shows that, substantial and convincing studies have been done on ethnically or racially-based economic inequalities in Canada. Well studied areas on this subject include income disparities and inequality in occupations. Gee et al. (2007) summarized the various studies done on this subject. (Reitz and Banerjee 2007) concluded that visible minorities in Canada have higher poverty rates and lower comparable incomes than ethnic Canadians of European origin.

Gee et al. (2007) noted that recent studies on ethnic/racial orientations of income inequalities show that, household incomes of Aboriginals and visible minorities are usually low than those of Canadians with a European Origin. This is despite the fact that such studies have been conducted by different researchers at different times and applying different racial classifications and control variables. They further noted that racial disparities in the household incomes of European-Canadians have nearly minimized. Additionally, they also found indications showing that Canadians of southern European origin earn lower incomes than Canadians of British origin, while Canadians of French Origin earned much far better (2007:14).

On occupations, (Nakhaie 1997 as cited in Gee et al. 2007:16) found that British-Canadians continue leading the class of Canadian elites, despite the fact that Canadians of other origins have made efforts to join the elite class over the years. Gee et al. (2007) also noted that the correlation between ethnicity/racism and occupation can be studied in two different ways. One way is by establishing whether certain ethnic groups are concentrated in specific occupations (based on division of labor). The other alternative is evaluating the position of “racial groups” in the Hierarchy or strata of “prestigious occupations” (2007:17). Applying the first dimension, and using the male gender, studies showed that Aboriginals dominate the construction and building industries representing more than double of the Canadian male populations. They are extremely underrepresented in administrative and management occupations. Their women counterparts are represented in service jobs. They therefore concluded that, the Canadian labor force is more gendered than ethnically-based. In terms of prestige of occupations, Jewish, British and Chinese Canadians top the hierarchy. Blacks, Greeks, Aboriginals and Portuguese Canadians occupy the lower strata in that order. In the case of the female gender, the picture doesn’t change. In this case ethnicity and racism outweighs gender.

Employment and Home Ownership

Despite the fact that Canada among the first countries to assume multiculturalism as a policy, cases of social discrimination against visible minorities have existed in history. Racial minorities were supposed to perform duties deemed undesirable for the whites. During the construction of the Canadian National Railway, Chinese males were desirable source of cheap labor. After its completion, the Chinese were no longer valuable. A head tax was indeed imposed on Chinese immigrants to Canada (Kendall, Murray, and Linden, 1997).

(Li 2000 as cited in Reitz and Banerjee 2007:6) noted that the main economic problem that ethnic minority immigrants face in Canada is securing sufficient employment. This is associated with amicable reasons like, the “entry effect”-related to immigration problems and adjusting to the new environment (urban settlement), academic qualifications and racism. Ethnic minority immigrants experience more impediments than immigrants of European-origin (Reitz and Banerjee 2007:6)

Gee et al. (2007) asserted that findings show that in terms of home ownership, the picture is no different. It reflects the same strata as it is observed in household income levels and occupations. Osberg (2008:33) noted that, despite the fact that much literature has ignored the role of interest rates, wealth distribution, and household incomes of the wealthy and focused on earning trends, Canada now has much information on economic and other social inequalities and broad conclusions are apparent. He concludes that data shows an increase in economic inequality in Canada today.

Health Inequalities

Better health care is one of the basic needs that all human beings aspire to get any ware in the world. Low household incomes are frequently linked with poor health. Despite intensified research and studies on health inequality in Canada, little attention has been directed at ethno-cultural disparities on health.

Gee et al. (2007) looked at both “heath care access” and “health status”. However much of the literature that they examined didn’t show a direct correlation between ethnicity and health status. In some instances data showed that, some recent immigrants, irregardless of race or ethnic group had better health than their Canadian-born counterparts. This “healthy immigrant effect” was however associated with the health requirements in the Canadian immigration act that locked out immigrants with chronic health conditions. Their studies concluded that Canadians whose mother tongue is non-English or non-French are economically disadvantaged. Recent “visible immigrants are typically disadvantaged. Their analysis also found significant disparities in “health status” and “utilization” depending on country of immigrant and language. The health status of recent Immigrants declines as their years of stay in Canada increase. This is because they hardly report for medical checkups, due to the fear discrimination, prejudice and low household incomes.

Perceptions of Discrimination and Prejudice: A Barrier to Social Cohesion

Ethnic and racial inequality might be less decisive if it is as a result of circumstances amicable to the “visible minority”, such as status of new immigrants, language differences, or academic and technical training not compliant with Canadian requirements. In other words inequality would not be a threat to social cohesion if it is viewed as legitimate. The feeling of discrimination, prejudice and racism is another issue all together (Reitz and Banerjee 2007:8). A 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey, which sought to get views of individual experiences of ethnic and racial discrimination, showed that 35.9% of all the respondents “consisting visible minorities” reported cases of discrimination and prejudice compared with 10.6% of all Whites who responded to the Survey, of the visible minorities, blacks recorded the highest rate at 49.6%. (20007: 8:9). The Visible minorities also reported incidences of perceived discrimination of their ethnic group.

Despite improving economic status of immigrants as they cope up with Canadian environment and society an ethnic divide in perceptions of racial discrimination is eminent among immigrants with longer stay and experience in Canada (2007:9), this is even more persistence among children. Cases of non-recognition of immigrant qualifications also abound, despite in some cases being equivalent to those of native Canadians. Failure to recognize foreign qualifications and experience are some of the barriers that “visible minorities” come across as they seek employment.

Racial discrimination is viewed with skepticism in Canada, but the mutual covenant is that it exists and cannot be ignored. It is true that one of the effects of racial discrimination of minorities is its impact on the social cohesion of the Canadian society. Social cohesion generally means the capacity of a society to formulate, implement and adhere to policies that guide it. Lack of it may lead to conflicts and civil disorders as it happened in France and the United Kingdom. Other effects may be failure of a group to participate in making decisions and sometimes withdrawing its support for certain decisions or societal policies.

Integrating “ethnic minorities” is an important issue in Canada. Social integration and social cohesion are mutually exclusive and cannot be separated. Proper social integration of minority ethnic groups in Canada is a sine qua non for a peaceful and prosperous society that is viewed by its occupants as a means to the achievement of their needs. This will strengthen the Canadian society; raise the spirit of inclusiveness, civic and voluntary participation in activities concerning human life.

Conclusion

Inequality is a social evil; no society is a friend to it. The above revelations reveal that forms of inequality based on ethnic considerations exist in Canada irregardless of how minute they are. This is a big concern to racial minorities. It is not only a challenge to the racial group that experience it, but also to the whole Canadian society in terms of forging a peaceful and an all inclusive society acceptable to all.

The process of socially integrating ethnic minorities into Canadian society is often slower than that of European immigrants. This is often associated with their feeling of exclusion and perceived discrimination. Of emphasis is that economic integration should match social integration, none should supersede the other.

Existing Canadian policies and legal structures are laudable against racial discrimination and economic inequality. This is possibly due to international conventions and pressure to eliminate global racism and ethnicity, but it is not clear whether they are sufficient in addressing the issues that affect minority ethnic groups in Canada. However may consent is that ethnic prejudice and discrimination is a social construction that can only be changed by the subconscious minds of individuals-the way we think and see others. We should all join hands and fight ethnic inequality. We should judge others by their competence and content of their minds rather than the pigmentation of their skin.

“There shall be no solution to this race problem until, you yourselves, strike the blow for liberty”-Marcus Garvey

There are many aspects of today’s British society which make it multicultural, such as different ethnic backgrounds’, Social class, Religious beliefs, Sexual orientation, and Gender, all of which are categorized under ‘personal culture’. What I am interested in are the challenges this can have on a client – practitioner’s relationship and what personal ethics can be placed under pressure due to the diversity of culture, also what ethics are in place to prevent such challenges. I shall be focusing on a small number of issues listed above, such different ethnic backgrounds, different religious beliefs and Sexual orientation.

There are disadvantages of being an ethnic minority within Great Briton. Looking through history ethnic minorities have endured racism which is either subtle or obvious, victims of stereotyping, pre-judgements as well as cruelty, which in turn affects an individual’s self-worth as well as how they perceive themselves and their own culture.

Aisha Dupont-Joshura sighted in Counselling: The BAC counselling reader discusses and shares her ideas of inter-cultural therapy, she emphasises that practitioner’s must have knowledge of the variety in different cultures. ‘In today’s multicultural society, the need for counsellors and therapists to develop an awareness and understanding of cultural diversity becomes increasingly important.’ (80:1996)

She also discusses that the word counselling maybe changed to suit individuals from different cultural backgrounds for example replacing the word counselling with the word discussion as this may be better accepted in different cultures her reasoning for this is ‘better communication’ and no embarrassment that someone is in ‘counselling’ this is because without this shame the client will be more inclined to attended the session.

Carol Mohamed who also discusses trans-cultural therapy sighted in the sage hand book of counselling and psychotherapy this argues that the importance of a trans-cultural approach is not of the awareness of cultural diversity itself, but the awareness of the therapists’ own race-related attitudes and prejudices and the impact it could have on their behaviour towards a client from a different culture. ‘a therapist who is unaware of their own prejudices and stereotypes will form an opinion of a culturally or racially different client based on their own perception rather than who the client actually is’ (567:2006)

There are mixed reviews of what is needed from a white/majority practitioner to support those from different cultural backgrounds,

awareness that ethnicity exists is clear, however Judy Ryde has discussed that although awareness of personal race related issues and awareness that we live in a culturally diverse society are important, Judy Ryde believes it is also important to know what being white in this line of work means. She feels that by acknowledging the behaviour of whites within society this would lead to a better understanding of the impacts upon ethnic minorities which in turn will build a better level of empathy; this of course involves a level of acceptance from white people of their behaviour. ‘when questions of race are raised in a professional context, people tend to turn to a black person, if one is present, as if they must be experts on this subject’ J. Ryde (35:2009) Jude Ryde also tries to highlight what it would mean for white people to consider themselves as an ethnic race, when people discuss ethnicity the image that appears in peoples minds is not of a white person.

With the three different views of what is needed to understand ethnicity, what other factors relate to multicultural counselling which need to be taken into consideration?

Religion plays a part in multicultural backgrounds. Depending on where in the world an individual is from could influence their religious beliefs which could be different from a British practitioner, traditionally British practitioners religion (if religious) would be of Judaic-Christian principles.

Richard Nelson-Jones discusses the problem of this and questions if client practitioner pairing should be based of religion.

‘an issue for many religious helpers is the extent to which the values and teachings of their church influence how they work. For instance, Roman Catholic helpers may face value conflicts with clients in areas such as divorce, contraception, abortion and pre-marital or lesbian and gay sex’ Richard Nelson-Jones (28:2003)

John Mcleod supports Richard Nelson-Jones

McLeod discusses that if a practitioner holds different religious belief to a client then it can be problematic meaning the client will not be able to receive the skills needed for therapeutic growth, which could be damaging for a client, placing limitations on their own personal development and their progression through the seven stages of process. ‘acceptance can be difficult for a counsellor if they espouse religious beliefs that condemn certain forms of behaviour, such as sex outside marriage, homosexuality or suicide. If a counsellor who holds such beliefs works with a person who is, for example, gay or lesbian. It may be very hard to offer a counselling space that is sufficiently safe and free from blame’ J. Mcleod (98:2007)

Both have suggested it is very clear that a difference in religion is problematic and counsellors with their own religious beliefs will be unable to provide a ‘safe’ relationship for their clients.

Mary Thomas burke, Jane C Chauvin and Judith G Miranti conclude that there is uncertainty in regards to how to address religious issues because practitioner’s feel that they do not have the relevant capabilities to deal with such issues, there is a fear of imposing their own personal values as well as violating ethical codes as a consequence counsellors feel they are not suited for the client.

‘practitioners who think they lack formal training or expertise to help client resolve religious and/or spiritual issues will often refer such clients to their priest, rabbi or minister’ M.T burke, C. Jane, Chauvin and Judith G Miranti (xvii:2005)

Alternatively Nigel Copsey sighted in Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy

argues that as a practitioner, it is the practitioners responsibility to ensure that the work has been put in to place to guarantee a healthy therapeutic relationship, the reasoning for this is because the increase of a ‘muli-faith society’ in which we live will place a demand on practitioners to be able to respond, meaning that referral or bad practice is not going to help develop therapy as a service. ‘we need to be able to suspend our own belief’s while at the same time showing a deep genuine interest in the world of the client, thus allowing us to understand their experiences of the world through their own unique spiritual lens aˆ¦ this willingness to enter into a shared experience will strengthen the therapeutic relationship. It is my task to remain in relationship with my client while I celebrate the differences between us, if we can achieve this level of relationship, then I am certain that as counsellors we will be able to validate the healthy coping strategies’ N. Copsey(48:2006)

There seems to be a lot of debates to what is the best practice towards different religions and different ethnicity, With different views of religion will also come different views of sexual attraction which has been discussed above however sexual attraction can still be a problem regardless of religion that history has presented homosexuality to be something that is ‘unacceptable’ in society.

It has been stated more than once that homosexuality was labelled as a mental health issue this idea did not just come from people in general i.e. neighbours, colleges, friends or family members but infact that view was also believed by mental health associations.

‘a 1977 survey of 2500 psychiatrists found that a majority felt that homosexuality is pathological and that lesbians and gay men are less capable then heterosexuals of mature, loving relationships… studies of other mental health professionals founds that many, sometimes the majority, have has negative attitudes about homosexuality and lesbian and gay people and continue to harbour them’ (8:2000) GAP

Further research has been carried out which supports the lack of understanding towards homosexuality.

Research which has been carried out by Garnets C Hancock, J.A Cochran, S D Goodchilds and C A Peplau, all of whom are psychologists, the results can be found in two places their own book ‘issues in psychotherapy with lesbians and gay men’ (1998) or ‘counselling the culturally diverse theory and practice’ (2008)

Their work was a survey of therapist who had heard or knew of negative or positive responses from other therapist or clients in counselling,

their research and surveys conclude the following.

‘some therapist continue to believe that homosexuality represents a personality disorder or other mental health disturbance and is not just a different lifestyle… focusing on sexual orientation when it is not relevant. Problems maybe completely unrelated to sexual orientation, but some therapist continue to focus on it as the major contributor to all presented problems… attempting to have clients renounce or change their sexual orientation. For example, a lesbian was asked by the therapist to date men… presuming that clients with a different sexual orientation cannot be good parents and automatically assuming that their children’s problems are a result of the orientation’ D.W Sue & D. Sue(446-447:2008)

Although in the 21st century there is now a better acceptance of homosexuality ‘mental health organisations have acknowledged that homosexuality is not a mental health disorder’ D.W Sue & D. Sue (447:2008)

However there is still a lot of work which needs to be done, There are still other individuals and other cultures who believe different, for example homosexual relationships are punishable by death in Nigeria, in some Muslim communities homosexuality is seen as dishonour and results in disownment or imprisonment.

Over all there have been enlightening factors covered under the subject multicultural counselling under ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation all of which create an individual’s culture; this defines who we are as a person. There have been many issues raised within multicultural counselling and many ways to find solutions to these issues all of which are debatable. This subject matter holds a high level of complexity;

there are demands for counsellors to be in touch with their own assumptions, thoughts and opinions in regards to those who are culturally different. It has become clear that issues will arise within counsellors when working one to one with clients who exist in a different lifestyle.

—

Moreover the demand for counsellors to be aware of their own culture and limitations I feel is very challenging, as covered multicultural awareness has caused practitioners to question their own capabilities, feeling unable to offer the level of support needed to different cultural clients they are instead referred. This poses a problem for me regardless of the fact that my heritage is not White British. There is such a broad level of culture I must learn about, that it seems easier to ignore these implications rather than face them. However this is not an option as I and other counsellors who choose to ignore aspects of culture will find themselves stuck with one opinion causing the lack of ability to accept diversity and different ways of life.

‘reality is defined according to one set of cultural assumptions and stereotypes which become more important then the real world … people become insensitive to cultural variations among individuals and assume that their view if the only read legitimate one’ (21:1994) P. Pedersen

This is known as ‘cultural encapsulation’

‘describes the narrow world view that psychotherapists may have when they allow culturally biased perceptions of reality to dominate. A cultural encapsulated therapist, unable to see other through a different cultural lens, may regard as pathological what is normal for the minority cultural group.’ (6:1998) C. J Falicov

I do not feel I am a cultural encapsulated therapist, I am open minded to other cultures that are not my own Mixed White Black Caribbean, I hold a high regard for different cultures, but I have yet to find any cultural practice I feel I am inadequate to respond to effectively. The only advantage I hold is that I share personal experiences and understanding of what it is to be a minority in today’s society but of course this can also be a disadvantage depending on my clients own cultural differences.

‘for white clients the appearance of a black counsellor may unconsciously evoke certain prejudices and stereotypes which could lead to the rejection of the counsellor but be interpreted by the client as not having the right to choose'(296:1998) Moodley. R and Dhingre S cross-cultural/racial matching in counselling and therapy: white clients and black counsellors’

It is also known that counselling is perceived as a white middle class profession, and within counselling profession racism does take place ‘black clients involved in the research described critical incidents where they experienced subtle rather than blatant racism from clients and colleagues and where unable to challenge or name these events as such’ (196:2006) C. Lago

The above transcripts make me feel uneasy as being a black trainee I know I will be faced with such issues as I have done before and what will be challenging is how I respond to such behaviour. The same applies to those who are religious if faced with discrimination both client or counsellor it could be challenging and damaging to an individual’s self worth.

What if the client is religious but the counsellor is not? What problems could this bring? I personally am not religious and consider myself Agnostic I am not sure about religion, I hold an open mind and there are something’s which I find believable and something’s that I find unbelievable, moreover I also consider myself to be a rationalist there has to be a reason and there has to be an answer in understanding the world, therefore I find religion unreasonable as there are many things about religion that are unknown or many questions I feel cannot be answered. So with this frame of mind what challenges could I be faced with if working with a client who is strongly religious?

‘clients with strong religious beliefs inquire about the therapists religious preference in the initial phases of therapy, an evasive answer my heighten the clients anxiety and lead to premature termination… usually, the client’s initial concern is that the therapist will undermine his or her faith. This fear is particularly salient if the therapist s nonreligious… their fears of being misunderstood are entangled with their excessive need for certainty and intolerance of differentness’ (66:1995) V. Genia

I personally do not feel being non-religious will be a problem for me, I feel if I were to follow a religion that this maybe more problematic as my own beliefs may cloud my vision of others who hold a different set of beliefs and values.

I feel that as I hold no religious views, such as sex before marriage, abortion or divorce, this decreases the chances of me holding any pre-conceived judgements. I would therefore hopefully understand others beliefs, values and morals even if not my own, as if the client were to be religious it would be their way of being and living life. I know I must understand and respect the importance of faith and what it means to others, also the influence it may have.

However I think there would be more challenges if the practitioner was religious and the client was not religious, because of the participation in activities deem unacceptable within the practitioners religion, or if both follow two different religions. An unethical counsellor could allow their religion in to the therapy room and may force their beliefs onto the client or place judgements.

Religion and sexuality: within many religions it is a sin to be gay, lesbian or transgender. There are counsellors who call themselves ‘religious counselling’ who believe that they can put right those who are a sin.

‘religious counsellors and others who claim success in converting people from homosexuality. These people are dangerous in that they deny that the onslaught against homosexuality has any impact on the way homosexuals experience themselves’ (55:2003) C. Lago, B. Smith

my initial thoughts are “this is outrageous and a very outdated way of thinking and behaving”. As discussed before this opinion is held all over the world, it is said that homosexuality is an illness and it can be cured.

Although I am heterosexual I have no personal challenges within homosexual community. I have had friends and best friends from a young age who are gay males and females, and through my up bringing my friends and I have discussed the stigma attached to this community. Abuse I have witnessed along with bulling and confidence knocking during the ‘coming out process’ can be devastating. I feel I have worked though my own sexual orientation, because if not I think I would be confused, defensive and overwhelmed by other sexualities and this frame of mind is not steady to council an individual who may be questioning their sexuality and therefore feels confused and vulnerable.

Although homosexuality is being accepted more and more through the decades much has changed.

‘the social context within different generations of lesbians and gay men have grown up as changed enormously over the last few decades. Just thirty years ago male homosexual acts carried the possibility of a prison sentence’ (314:2000) S. Plamer

Over the last thirty years in Great Britain we have gay and lesbian bars and clubs, literature, programs, radio stations this shows the level of acceptance. However there are individuals and counsellors who are homophobic for whatever reasons these are the views and opinions of others, it is important to know that being homophobic is not wrong it is someone’s opinion but there are limitations within the therapy relationship. My interest lays in where these limitations come from? i.e. learned behaviour, this is something I would like to explore with my clients who are homophobic, racist or discriminatory as it may help build on the clients process.

What regulations are in place to help others including counsellors to become aware of their own limitations and address them in order for them to work safely with clients?

BACP – British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

The BACP is the largest association within the sector of Counselling and Psychotherapy, their duty is to regulate the safety of the public and inform its members of best practice, they work with other organisations in the same/similar field.

‘the earlier RACE division of the association (which had been dedicated to the exploration and dissemination of good therapeutic practice in a multiracial/multicultural society) has more recently evolved into the ‘Equality and Diversity forum’ (15:2006) C. Lago

The Equality and Diversity objectives are to highlight equality and to reduce discrimination on, disability, gender, gender identity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and to raise awareness of conflict or resolution between competing strands of equality and diversity.

There are also legislations in place to improve their lives of individuals of different sexual orientation.

‘The Civil Partnership Act 2004 -It allows a legal partnership between two people regardless of gender… including survivor pensions, immigration, equal tax treatment, protection against domestic violence and next of kin rights.

Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulation 2007 – prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination … sexuality should now be included in all diversity training’ (111:2010) C. Butler & A. O’Donovan and E. Shaw

There are other projects in place to offer support to today’s multicultural society these projects are all over the country and offer support to local or national residents examples follows

‘Muslim Youth Helpline (MYH) is an integrated support service currently offering two forms of telephone & e-mail counselling, supported by a community outreach programme… MYH specialises in reaching out to marginalised ethnic minority communities by responding innovatively to the cultural conflicts & religious sensitivities of Muslim youth.’ (2008) F. Shareefa & J. Raza

the problems with telephone based projects offering support is that it is unstable, there are many factors which are missed over the phone such as body language a way to spot congruence and dissociation. There is so much that can be benefited from one to one counselling in person.

Roshni Nottingham Asian Women’s Aid

‘Provides refuge for South Asian women (and their children) aged 16 upwards who are fleeing domestic violence and abuse or are living with an abusive partner/family’ Nottingham Women’s Centre

This centre is a brilliant idea in Nottingham, is located in an area Hyson Green, I’m not sure about the location because this centre is aimed towards Asian women, the area in which it is located is a majority Asian community therefore confidentiality could be an issue if seen by locals going into this centre. Having a centre aimed to support Asians could be seen as discrimination in itself ruling out other members of the community because they are white or black.

Gay Nottingham is a site that highlights the number of different projects taking place in Nottingham which offer support counselling and advice for GLBT(gay lesbian and transgender) individuals, one project which caught my attention was Adoramus

‘Adoramus is a high church but inclusive Christian ministry in Nottingham. They’re not specifically a gay church, but gay people are very welcome at all services, and the ministers bless gay relationships.’ Gay Nottingham

The good intention I see in this is that this shows acceptance within the Christian religion, GLBT individuals are also religious and can participate in services and celebrate their faith. The reference suggests that ‘ministers bless gay relationships’ what exactly does this mean? The reference can only speak for the ministers so what about other members of the church are they happy with different sexual orientation? Especially when Christianity considers homosexuality to be a sin, Adoramus seems to lack the understanding of what support GLBT individuals need, and have they considered themselves ethically to be able to offer support which is safe?

Overall that has been a vast development in terms of understanding today’s multicultural society. Over the decade’s acceptance, appreciation and respect has grown towards individuals who are a minority. Although I feel there is more which can be done I wonder if discrimination will always be an issue for counsellors and clients as well as society in decades to come.

Exploring the different approaches to tackle multicultural counselling has enlightened me I have read numerous books to learn that there will be no right or wrong answer. All the topics discussed have advantages as well as disadvantages.

All I can do as a counsellor is to stick to the ethical guide lines given and be aware of what my own limitations are and to work through them, this could be a long process, therefore until I am ready, if I am faced with a client whom I feel I cannot offer safe support to I will accept this be congruent and if I must I will refer my client but whilst doing so, I shall not hold any shame around my limitations as I know I am only human and I will not be able to counsel every client I may face in the future.

Erik Erikson theory of development stipulates the physical, psychological as well as emotional milestones and how they relate to specific developmental tasks in each stage. The personality traits exhibited by individuals are inborn temperament traits while others are learned by a person as he or she develops in regard to the challenges as well as support received in the course of development. Erik Erikson is credited due to the exemplification of the concept of personality development since he believed that the existence of the ego has its roots from birth and behavior exhibited by an individual is not completely defensive (Crandell et al, 2009). Studies advanced by Erik Erikson indicated that the development course of an individual is determined by a three fold interaction between the genetic biological programming of the body, psychological influences as well as ethos or cultural influences. Erik Erikson’s developmental theory stipulates eight stages extending from infancy to adulthood in which different developmental milestones are explained.

The first stage from birth to about 18months is referred to as infancy where the Ego development outcome is known as Trust vs. Mistrust. This is the oral sensory stage where major emphasis is laid on the child’s mother ability to provide loving care to the child. Through visual contact as well as touch a child is able to trust that life is satisfactory and considerable confidence in the future is achieved. On the contrary, when a child fails to achieve trust and consistent frustrations befall on a person, a deep seated feeling of worthlessness may develop as well as a pronounced mistrust of life in general. Basically during my infancy I was accorded the right treatment which gave me the belief that the world we live in is trustworthy and that every individual has an outmost right to live here.

The early childhood stage is from 18 months and extends up to 3 years. The Ego development outcome during this stage refers to Autonomy vs. Shame. The basic strengths which a child ought to develop is will, courage as well as self control. Individuals at this stage learn to master important life skills for themselves. Children not only learn to feed, walk, talk, toilet train but they develop fine motor skills. As the developing child continues to gain control over their bodies through acquisition of new skills and differentiating the right from the wrong, feelings of autonomy and high self esteem are realized. During this period, children largely refuse to undertake the tasks stipulated by the most significant and/ constant caregiver that vital skills of will are developed. However, during this period children tend to be massively vulnerable. This is because children who are unable to learn important skills as well as fail in toilet training experience massive shame and doubt thereby resulting to low self esteem. Relationships with ones parents are very significant.

During the Play age from 3 to 5 years a desire to imitate adults is established as well as an inborn want to take the initiative in coming up with ideas during plays. Playing is paramount during this stage as children are involved in playing out roles as well as experimenting in the ideas they believe in. The ego development outcome at this stage is referred to as Initiative vs. Guilt while the basic strength exhibited is purpose. According to Erikson, the child largely struggles with the oedipal struggle as he tries to establish his gender through use of social role identification formalities (Berger, 2004). A child frustrated in regard to natural desires and goals experiences guilty feelings. The school age period between 6 to 12 years is referred to as latency and the ego development outcome attached to it is industry vs. inferiority. The child’s ability to learn and acquire new skills as well as knowledge and develop massive accomplishments helps a child develop a sense of industry. This is a largely social stage during the development where basic strengths of method and competence are made manifest. In case a child experiences inadequacy and inferiority in the midst of his peers competences as well as self esteem problems results. The most important relationships during this period are those found in the school as well as the neighborhood. Gender influences are exhibited during development especially in communication styles, aggression as well as social relationships. Many sociolinguists agree that females largely prefer private talks which are geared towards forming relationships. Since I grew up in an environment with males as all my siblings are boys, my communication was primarily based on report talk with such verbal performances as lecturing information, joking as well as story telling. The kind of plays undertaken by children is based of gender and cultural influences. For instance the boys’ plays have a leader who directs the course of action and the losers as well as winners are identified. Girls on the other hand girls play in pairs and turn taking is more evident. According to Erikson, the above developmental stages largely depend on what is done to an individual.

From adolescence stage which begins from 12 to 18 years, Identity vs. Role confusion is the developmental outcome which seeks to be achieved. Development largely depends on what an individual does. Adolescence is an indeed complex stage in which an individual is neither a child nor adult therefore individuals struggle to forge their identity in social interactions as well as establishing moral issues which to adhere to. Erikson states that individuals are expected to discover who they are. If this is not done adequately, the concerned individuals experience role confusion as well as upheaval. A period known as moratorium is witnessed by individuals who opt to withdraw from responsibilities. Adolescents identify most with their peers and due to lack of experience individuals tend to think in terms of ideals rather than reality hence the reason why massive conflicts are always witnessed during this stage (Berger, 2004). In young adulthood, between 18 and 35 years, the basic strengths to be achieved are affiliation and love. According to Erikson, during the initial stages of becoming adults, individuals largely seek for love and companionship. Through marriage and establishing friendships, individuals seek to acquire mutually satisfying relationships. Individuals who negotiate through this stage successfully get to experience intimacy at the deepest level possible while those that fail isolation and distance from other people result. In my case, I married in the year 1999 and experienced deep intimacy. The significant relationships are those established with friends as well as marital partners.

Middle Adulthood sets in from age 35 to 55 or 65. The ego development outcome involves generativity vs. stagnation. According to Erikson, during this stage individuals are largely occupied with their careers as well as creative works while at the same time involved in family obligations. Individuals expect to be in charge of their affairs. The basic strengths to demonstrate are protection and care. This is achieved through undertaking the significant task of perpetuating culture as well as transmitting values to the lives of the children. The parents should tame their children through providing a stable environment in which the children grow up in. According to Erikson, Generativity is achieved when an individual demonstrates care of other people especially children thereby resulting to production of something which significantly contributes to the betterment of the society (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2008). This is the stage where ones children gradually leave home. This move largely results to major life changes thus resulting to mid life crises. Self absorption and stagnation is experienced by people who fail to go through this stage successfully. During this period, relationships which matter the most are those existing in the workplace, family and the community at large.

Late adulthood which is witnessed from 55 or 65 years up-to death requires comprehensible demonstration of the vital strength in wisdom. According to Erikson, the ego development outcome at this stage is integrity vs. despair. Since individuals have spent substantial amount of time preparing their lives during middle adulthood, late adulthood presents an opportunity to recover from the challenges of life. As older adults, individuals have an opportunity to look at their lives with happiness as well as contentment. Recognition of the contribution made by an individual in life is what brings satisfaction and Erikson refers to it as integrity (Berk, 2004). Contrary, there are individuals who get to this stage and exhibit feelings of despair owing to the misgivings and perceived failures they have witnessed in their lives. Kohlberg’s theory of moral development compares significantly with Erikson’s developmental theory since the moral milestones achieved by an individual throughout his lifetime are stipulated.

According to Kohlberg, moral reasoning is what determines the ethical behavior to be achieved by an individual. While expanding on Piaget’s work, Kohlberg established that moral development is primarily concerned with the need to demonstrate justice and continues throughout the life of an individual (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2008). Through analyzing moral reasoning displayed by individuals in such cases as Heinz dilemma, Kohlberg managed to classify the actions and morals of various individuals into six distinct stages. The levels advanced by Kohlberg are classified into Pre-conventional, conventional as well as post-conventional with each level having two other stages. The pre-conventional stage is commonly exhibited by children although there are instances when even adults get to associate with this stage. The morality of an action is determined by the direct consequences exhibited by a particular action. Since a child has not fully conceptualized the societal conventions in regard to what actions are right or wrong, he or she focus on the kind or rewards or punishments a particular action is likely to elicit. The obedience and punishment orientation makes an individual to focus on the punishment advanced thus if the punishment is bad, the action is equally bad. This view is largely egocentric. Stage two in pre- conventional level is driven by self interest concerns whereby an individual seeks to determine the benefit he or she will derive from an activity. Thus, concern for other people’s interests is not as a result of respect or loyalty. The conventional level is typically demonstrated by adolescents as well as adults. People who reason in conventional ways base the morality of action in regard to the societal views as well as expectations. Conventional morality thus requires an individual to make a deliberate move to accept the societal conventional in regard to what is right or wrong. Thus an individual follows the stipulated societal laws and guidelines without considering the consequences of the actions. In stage three referred to as interpersonal accord and conformity motivated an individual seeks to fill social roles available in his society thus the emphasis lies in trying to live up to the expectations of the society. Thus stage three reasoning constitutes judging the morality of an action by considering the kind of effect that an individual’s relationship will demonstrate. When respect and gratitude sets in, people feel the need to fit in social roles since they want to be liked by other members of society owing to the good behaviors they demonstrate. According to Kohlberg, stage two of conventional morality is authority and social order obedience motivated. The importance of obeying the stipulated laws, social conventions as well as dictums lies in the massive need to maintain a society which is functioning well (Lerner & Weiner, 2003). Thus society needs transcend individual approval when making any moral reasoning. It is a central ideal which is present in the society which makes people want to follow the stipulated rules and regulations. Majority of the active members of the society remain in this stage of moral judgment.

The post conventional level of moral development is known as the principled level. According to Kohlberg, it is the realization that individuals are separate from society which makes individual perspectives to be considered before making decisions. People in this stage make decisions owing to the abstract personal principles they uphold. In stage one of post conventional level known as social contract driven, the world is considered to hold varied rights, values as well as opinions which must be respected by all people in the society. In this stage, laws are not considered as rigid dictums rather rules are considered as social contracts which need be changed in order to address the good on all people in the society. Various decisions as well as inevitable compromises come into interplay when such actions are being undertaken. The final stage is universal ethical principle motivated and it encompasses abstract reasoning during moral reasoning processes. The validity of laws is based only on their ability to uphold justice thus laws without an obligation to justice need be fully disobeyed. Since decisions are not arrived at hypothetically, a completely absolute method need be developed to come up with such conclusions. Kohlberg emphasizes the fact that the individuals, who have reached this level of moral development, put themselves in another person’s situation if at all they believed the truth of another person’s action (Lerner & Weiner, 2003). The consensus which results from such an action is the decision undertaken. Thus individuals act not because an action is legal, instrumental, or expected but rather because the action is right. It is quite difficult to determine individuals who operate in this level.

The cultural background of an individual plays a major role in determining the moral milestones achieved during the development process. Since culture encompasses the total community’s social, economic as well as political structures which shape the total outlook of an individual. It is the culture which determines the sensibilities, attitudes, skills as well as dispositions which in turn make an individual morally mature in all spheres of life. In case a cultural setting lays much emphasis on punishment, individuals will primarily remain in the pre- conventional stage of moral authority where actions are determined by the kind of punishment which will be accorded. Differences in sex exhibit different moral development of women and men. Women typically remain at stage three of moral development since they primarily encompass interpersonal feelings during decision making process. Men are largely stationed at stage five and six since they reflect mostly on abstract perceptions of societal organization during decision making process (Lerner & Weiner, 2003). This can be further explained by the fact that women do not undertake their responsibilities in regard to the conventionally accepted norms but rather on their own individual insights in regard to care and responsibilities of their children.

Compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of the equal opportunities and managing diversity approaches. Using the analysis above, discuss what the equal opportunities and diversity approaches could each contribute to the developed of an organisational programme to contract disadvantage of members of ONE of the following social group:

Gender
Ethnicity
Disability
Sexuality
(2800 words)

Intro: Diversity

The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique and recognizing our differences. Diversity is inevitable. It occurs in every man’s day to day life without even noticing it. It occurs in every part of the world. According to Dictionary.com (Anon 1, 2010), diversity is defined as the state or the fact of being difference. The dissimilarity is such as age, gender, ethnicity, different lifestyles and cultures, educational backgrounds, working methods, experiences, religious belief, sexual identity and against disabled people. Diversity in organisations reflects the changes that were occurring at the time of theorising equality developments. Organisations approach these issues by managing them using equality policy-making. Diversity has advanced from a traditional view to a more contemporary view because it covers a much wider framework than legal requirements in this modern society.

The world’s increasing globalisation requires more interaction from diverse cultures, beliefs, and backgrounds than ever before. People no longer live and work in an insular marketplace; they are now part of a worldwide economy with competition coming from nearly every continent. For this reason, profit and non-profit organisations need diversity to become more creative and open to change. Maximising and capitalising on workplace diversity has become an important issue for management today.

Today, in an organisation, each and every employee must accept the differences between individuals and respect them. Differences are seen in two aspects: people being valued for being diverse and unique which bring the uniqueness of a particular individual or organisation and the other aspect, a person marked as different, getting different treatment (Lecture Notes).

Diversity issues are now considered important and are projected to become even more important in the future due to increasing differences. Companies need to focus on diversity and look for ways to become totally inclusive organisations because diversity has the potential of yielding greater productivity and competitive advantages (Society for Human Resource Management, 1995 cited in Green et al, 2002).

Diversity is beneficial to both associates and employers. Although associates are interdependent in the workplace, respecting individual differences can increase productivity. Diversity in the workplace can reduce lawsuits and increase marketing opportunities, recruitment, creativity and business image (Esty et al., 1995 cited in Green et al, 2002). In an era when flexibility and creativity are keys to competitiveness, diversity is critical for an organisation’s success.

Managing Diversity

Managing diversity is defined as a management process that embraces the challenges of managing a workforce that is heterogeneous in terms of culture, ethnicity, religious belief, political affiliation, sexuality, gender and disability (Oxford University Press, 2009). Managing diversity is about assessing differences and treating people with dignity and allowing everyone, not taking into account their differences, to be able to perform to their level of ability. Managing and valuing diversity is a key component of effective people management, which can improve workplace productivity (Black Enterprise, 2001 cited in Green et al, 2002, p.2). Demographic changes, such as women in the workplace, organisational restructurings, and equal opportunity legislation, will require organisations to review their management practices and develop new and creative approaches to managing people. Changes will increase work performance and customer service.

According to Smed et al (1994 cited in Liff, 1996, pp.14-16), there are four approaches of equality: dissolving differences, utilising differences, accommodating differences and valuing differences. Dissolving differences may be seen more as equal opportunity than diversity management. Valuing differences, apparently, is the main approach to diversity management. This approach includes providing and initiating for the people, such as training and educating employees in the organisation to help them understand the organisational processes and boost their confidence.

Accommodating and utilising differences, unlike dissolving and valuing differences which represents the dominant strands in the diversity management, are almost similar to some equal opportunity approaches (Liff, 1996, pp.14-15). According to Kirton et al (2009, pp.5-7), inequality in the neoclassical economics, the employment outcome reflects every individuals preferences and choices. Inequality existence is due to the system of production that is based on the principles of market competition.

Equal Opportunity

Equal opportunity aims to ensure that our working and learning environments are free from discrimination and harassment and that policies, procedures, structures and services created by government and organisations do not disadvantage anyone based on their disability, socio-economic background, location, language, cultural or ethnic background, gender, sexual preference, marital status or religious and political conviction.

Equal opportunity is defined as an elastic notion that is caused by the appropriate measurement of the particular problem (Anon 2, 2010). In equal opportunity, differences are dissolved under the equality policies (Liff, 1996, pp.13-14). Differences exist between every living being, however, they do not need much attention from the legal approaches.

Advantages of Equal Opportunity

Equality of opportunity sets, that is, rendering the sets of choices available to different individuals the same (Roemer, 2002:456). It aims justice for all by preventing discrimination. Equal opportunity for all might be provided with the harmony of social, cultural, economic and legal conditions that affect each other successively.

According to Liff (1996, pp.11-12), equal opportunity do not focus on differences. Under equal opportunity, everyone regardless of their age, gender, or ethnic origin should be treated equally. In the UK, a legal framework underpins the importance of equal opportunity approaches to treat everyone equally (Liff, 1996, p.12). This approach primarily protects gender against inequality and being discriminated at work. Although differences exist between people, differences should not be acknowledged in this approach; instead, it should be ignored. In an organisation, it should not be assumed that men are more committed to the job compared to women. The chances of a married woman going away on maternity leave should not be judged just because she is married. There is a possibility that this woman might not want to have kids. There is also a possibility that a man at work might meet with an accident and be away for nine months on sick leave. Therefore, men and women should be treated equally in an organisation. Ethnic minorities should as well be treated equally and organisations should not have the assumption that people of different ethnicity could not speak their language. There are many ethnic minorities from Commonwealth countries speak English as their first language, because the British influence during the British Colonial in their countries. For that reason, ethnic minorities should also be treated equally and should not be assumed that they do not speak the international language.

The main aim to create equal opportunity is to create a context where every individual is able to demonstrate and perform to their relevant capabilities. They should be judges on the basis that they are equal.

Limitations to Equal Opportunity

Not focusing on differences, equal opportunity found its limitation to accommodate other minorities, such as aged people, religious belief and disability. These minorities may need special attention or legal framework enforced to protect them from being discriminated. According to Liff (1996, pp. 12-13), in an organisation’s decision making, individuals’ gender an ethnicity are stripped of to be equal. Any form of unfair, unequal treatment because of age, disability, marital status, ethnicity, religion, social-economical background, and any other factor that can give rise to unfair treatment is called discrimination.

Discrimination may be defined as selection of the candidates for a work according to the criteria’s which are not related to the job directly (Daft, 1991) Discrimination prevents equality of opportunity in any way. If an employer asks for a requirement that is not a bona fide occupation qualification (BFOQ) candidates who do no have that special requirement can not apply for the work. Some approaches of equal opportunity appear to break the principle of ignoring differences (Liff, 1996, pp.12-13).

Advantages of Managing Diversity

Unlike equal opportunity, diversity management focuses on differences (Liff, 1996, pp.11-12). By employing a diverse workforce can be beneficial to both the organisation as well as the stakeholders. Diversity management strategies can help create a link between the internal and external aspects of the work of an organisation. The organisation is, then, better able to understand the demographics of the marketplace it supplies. By knowing the marketplace and the customer better makes the business easier to manage, especially if the organisation employs men and women, people from many generations, people from ethnically and racially diverse backgrounds and so on. The diversified workforce gives the organisation a better understanding of the demographics as well as the marketplace. For instance the marketing department of an organisation with a diversified workforce will better understand the market structure and the demand of the market from its different employees’ knowledge and experience. It, therefore, makes the organisation better equipped to thrive in the challenging market. A diverse workforce in an organisation would improve employees’ satisfaction and inspire all of their employees to perform to their ability. Company-wide strategies can then be executed. The work pattern will, eventually, show a better productivity, profit, and return on investment. Employees will feel safer and more secure working for an organisation with a better managed diversified workforce.

A diverse workforce that feels comfortable communicating varying points of view provides a larger pool of ideas and experiences. The organisation can draw from that pool to meet business strategy needs and the needs of customers more effectively. Hence, it can supply a greater variety of solutions to problems in service, sourcing, and allocation of resources. Employees from diverse backgrounds bring individual talents and experiences in suggesting ideas and a collection of skills, such as languages and cultural understanding, which are flexible in adapting to fluctuating markets and customers demands on a global basis.

Disadvantages of Managing Diversity

Diversity in the workplace brings about many benefits to the organisation, as well it can lead to many dispute. Managing diversity, according to many organisations is more than simply acknowledging differences in every employee. Apparently, it is more difficult to motivate and manage a diversified workforce. Miscommunication occurs in managing diversity, due to having people from all walks of life. Different gender sometime interpret things differently based on their gender instinct, different ethnic group may have different culture in doing things and by having too many people of different religion and not understand each one of them may cause a big trouble when organisation an event. Perceptual, cultural and language barriers need to be overcome for diversity programs to succeed. Ineffective communication of key objectives results in confusion, lack of teamwork, and low morale.

Resistance to change and accept diversity management in their workplace silences new ideas and inhibit progress. The inability to manage diversity in a proper way in the workplace can be extremely harmful and can costs the organisation by creating negative image, high employee turn over rate, loss of advertising revenue, discrimination suits, ligitation time and money. Diversity management, if handled insensitively, may invade employees’ privacy and poorly handled programme may result in conflict and ill-felling.

Hence, cultural bias is another factor to diversity management disadvantages. It refers to prejudice and discrimination. According to Liff (1996), prejudice refers to an unjust behaviour and preconceived opinion and attitude towards an employee based on his or her culture group identity or religious belief. Discrimination on the other hand refers to observable adverse behaviour for the same reason. It also means a judgement of recognition and understanding of the difference between different people.

In some organisations, assimilations are created to create a situation in which some individuals are different and they are likely to fail. Deep-seated prejudices may be brought into the open, causing short-term tension. Implementation of a diversity programme may, in the short term, be expensive.

Sexuality

Sexuality was defined as ‘something which a society produces in complex ways’ (Weeks, 1986, p.25 cited in Hearn et al, 1996). Diverse social practices caused meaning to social activities, of social definitions and self-definitions, of struggles between those who have power to define and regulate and those who resists.

There are five factors of sexuality: sex discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual orientation, gender identity and sexual attraction (Kormanik, 2009). When an employment decision is based on sex and gender, it is a sexuality factor of sex discrimination. In the construction site, for example, construction workers are usually men. This is because women is seen as the more feminine sex and could not be able to carry weights. Sexual harassment is a form of teasing and demeaning behaviour made by a group of people about an individual. Usually, at a workplace the more feminine female worker is likely to be sexually harassed by her male co-worker. Sexual orientation, on the other hand, is an individual’s erotic or affection deposition to the same and or opposite sex. A person’s sexual orientation is the attraction to the opposite sex and or even the same sex. Gender identity is the individuals’ psychological sense of the sex, either being male or a female. According to Jamison (1983:46 cited in Kormanik, 2009), sexual attraction is a quality or feature that attracts that one person experiences the exhilaration of inclination toward another person.

Equal Opportunity and Diversity contributes to disadvantages of Sexuality

In the past, people are more conservative and have inherent ideas from cultural and philosophical past which makes them perceive that accepting lesbians, gay men and bisexuals will wreck the society, culture and beliefs and reflects some form of devils. Even in the modern society, there are people who cannot accept lesbians, gay men and bisexuals and tend to treat them in a way that these lesbians, gay men and bisexual people are unable to for into the society. Many heterosexual parents think if they accept lesbian and gay people or bisexual people in their society, it would eventually rein the society, itself, especially the younger generations. It is the lesbian and gay people and the bisexual people’s biggest fear is being refused by the public, the society and relationship with other colleagues in the workplace and fear that the job or promotion opportunity is in threat. There might be some fear towards being discriminated in the overall labour market. In the education and children channel broadcast industry, lesbians, gay men and bisexuals are being discriminated and not offered the job. Parents fear that their children will grow up into a homosexual or bisexual.

Heterosexuals who discriminate against lesbians, gay men and bisexual people often harass them verbally. Whether at work or in public, heterosexual people often act as though they are more superior to the homosexual and bisexual people and patronise them which makes the homosexual and bisexual people felt patronised and afraid and feel intimidated to face the public in their true identity. For that reason, homosexuals and bisexuals are more likely to be harassed, especially at work, compared to heterosexuals. The issue of sexuality was avoided in organisations in the past. No one was supposed to bring up the issue of sexuality of homosexuals and bisexuals as it opposes many cultures and religions and many societies’ conservative attitude towards them. It was not against the law to refuse the homosexuals and bisexuals in an employment or refuse any of their benefits. In the labour market, the workforce is usually dominated by the heterosexual people. Homosexuals and heterosexual people try to be like heterosexual, in order to keep their job and their current position in the organisation.

In many organisations, however, discrimination and harassment against homosexual and bisexual people still occur. There is a strong discrimination against homosexual and bisexual people. Most of the cases are verbal and physical act against them, the lack of information, hence, makes it difficult to prove. Therefore, many lesbians, gay men and bisexual people rather conceal their sexual identity. It is easier for lesbians, gay men and bisexual people to conceal their identity compared to other groups of diversity (Kirton et al, 2010, p.39). Sexuality can be easily concealed by not revealing it to anyone around. At work, heterosexuals usually dominate the work environment and those who are against homosexual people and bisexual people often harass them verbally, some even physically. Homosexual people and bisexual people are often seen as an object to the heterosexual which they can make fun of. Which makes the homosexuals and bisexuals develop some form of fear against the society and the society acceptance of them, despite those who are in favour of them, and tend to be quiet and shy.

Higher income earners who are identified as homosexuals or bisexuals reportedly found it more difficult to be open about their sexuality at work (Palmer, 1993 cited in Kirton et al, 2010, p.40). In organisations, top management people are expected to be at certain professional manner and are expected to set an example to their subordinates. It goes the same for teachers to students and television presenter to children. According to Shape et al (1995 cited in Kirton et al, 2010, p.40), it is unaccepted to many organisations that their top management people are open about their sexuality if they are homosexuals or bisexuals. In certain professional field, such as teaching, the health science, television broadcast and the military, people are expected to be clean or conceal their sexual orientation at work.

Many studies proved that gay men tend to receive lower wages compared to heterosexual men (Schmidt, 2008). On the other hand, lesbian women receive higher wages compared to heterosexual women (Schmidt, 2008).

In recent years, many European countries’ governments enforced and reformed laws and rules and regulations to protect homosexuals and bisexuals at work. Some governments even protect homosexuals and bisexuals in their normal lives. According to the Employment Equality Regulation 2003, there is an act which protects homosexuals and bisexuals from sexual discrimination or harassment.

Like many other lawsuits, there are many cases seeking to protect homosexual partners from sexual harassment due to sexual orientation have been unsuccessful. In Whitfield v. Cleanway UK Ltd (2005), homosexuals and bisexuals are often being discriminated at work. A similar case was decided, Reaney v. Hereford Diocesan Board of Finance (2007) ET 1602844/06. The case involved homosexuals and bisexuals being discriminated on religious grounds. Some countries have policies against homosexuals and bisexuals, such as Algeria, Iran, Liberia and Nepal. There are countries would still legally punish homosexuality on religious grounds. Malaysia, for instance, fine and or jail sentence for up to 20 years (Anon 3, 2010). Some countries set death penalty to homosexuals and bisexuals to punish them. The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts reviewed a case, Weber v. Community Teamwork Inc (2001) 434 Mass. 761, 752 N.E.2d 700, where a lesbian plaintiff claimed she had been terminated from her job based on sex discrimination and discrimination based on sexual orientation. In Muzzy v Cahillane Motors Inc (2001) 434 Mass. 409, 749 N.E.2d 691 reviewed by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, the case involved a lesbian complaining that her boss, who was also a lesbian, sexually harassed her on the job. In both these cases, the Court found insufficient proof to support the plaintiff’s case (insufficient evidence that the work environment was intolerable) and dismissed those cases.

These cases reflects hostile work environment, which is based on verbal and physical acts that make the workplace intolerable. It is more difficult to prove a compilation of acts, gestures, jokes and innuendoes.

Conclusion

A diverse workforce is a reflection of a changing world and marketplace. Diverse teams bring high value to organisations. Respecting individual differences will benefit the workplace by creating a competitive edge and increasing work productivity. Diverse management benefits associates by creating a fair and safe environment where everyone has access to opportunities and challenges. Management tools in a diverse workforce should be used to educate everyone about diversity and its issues, including laws and regulations. Most workplaces are made up of diverse cultures, so organisations need to learn how to adapt to be successful.

Differences live forever and human mentality is not easy to be influence over a few decades, therefore, discrimination continues and it is inevitable. It might need far longer time to manage the diverse culture of the world. According to the Fortune 500 in 2006, there is an increasing number of organisations that are taking steps forward managing diversity in the workplace. These companies begin to provide basic benefits to homosexual and bisexual staffs, such as the health benefits. Another reason for taking that step is to assist employees and management in moving through the state of being aware of other employees’ sexual orientation and gender identity.

The theory of social development and progress was the key concept of the Enlightenment [Ray,13]. The experience of Renaissance – recovery from the “dark ages”, rediscovery of antique philosophy, the expansion of colonialism and exploration of non-European cultures, violated established order and lead to expansion of new ideas doubting tradition. The Enlightenment recognized that human history changes, that societies experience material and mental, moral, or philosophical progress. That modernity is just another stage of development, that does not lead the end of history, but might be as well a beginning of some better, new society. Eighteen century thinkers considered reason as the leading force of change, believing, that human knowledge and consciousness may develop linearly. Since the Enlightenment was an age of science and reason, philosophers tend to classify and order possessed knowledge. That lead to a few theories of historical stages development of societies that arranged historical periods in progressive order, as Turgot and Condorset did [Ray, 13-15].

The Enlightenment’s attachment to the idea of progressive development of societies lead to the ideas of future utopia – final, goal stage of social evolution. It was a very optimistic concept of history, leading from dark, oppressive periods in the past, through ambiguous and chaotic modernity, to some “enlighten”, better, just future. Such utopian vision was described by Condorcet, for whom future society would prevail tyranny by changing tradition and superstition into reason [Ray, 15]. Delany wrote of the Enlightenment as “aˆ¦characterized by a certain utopianism, which was a reflection of the belief in the promises of modernity to bring about freedom. Unlike earlier social thought, it displayed a great belief in the power of human action to shape the future” [Delany, Blackwell, 23]. The same was true for Marx, who saw communism as the perfect and most of all – just social system. For Marx the end stage of human history – communism – represented the most desired and final phase of human development. As Sideman wrote: “Marx never gave up his Enlightenment faith in the coming of a new era” [Sideman, 1998, 36].

But contrary to the Enlightenment philosophers, for Marx the utopia was not to be obtained through evolution and development of reason, but through revolution of working class. The idea of revolution was not present in eighteen century before the experience of French revolution. Though it is sad that the Enlightenment prepared the ground for the revolt in France, works of eighteen century thinkers did not appeal to force or violent change. Marx shared the romantic vision of with socialist thinkers and activists supporting French strife. Moreover, unlike his eighteen century ancestors, Marx sought emancipation in proletariat – the working class of modernity. The Enlightenment was an age of intellectuals, giving special role to philosophers in the process of development of society [Szacki]. In eighteen century thought reason had the emancipatory force. Marx violent vision of revolution did not reserved place for intellectuals, though Marx was one of them. aˆ¦.

Ideologies and religion

The end of the Middle Ages ended the era of gods laws and theological explanation of social order. The Enlightenment separated religion form politics. Eighteen century brought to life the concept of public – private spheres. Religion became private matter of citizens. God’s rights no longer decided on political questions and social relations. Secular society was based on secular rules. The Enlightenment believed in reason and science, and through them sought emancipation from religion and superstition. “Social change required that cultural traditions be weakened to allow for new ideas and attitudes favoring social progress” [Seidman, 1998, 34]. Religion and tradition constrained social change and overruled the utopian vision of future. It does not mean that the Enlightenment was a truly secular area. Rejection of religion covered only public, political sphere. None of the great philosophers of the period – Becon, Diderot, Locke – postulated atheism [Ray, 13]. The issue was to separate religion from science, theology from logical reasoning. Religion intruded cognition, so had to be abandoned in the sphere of knowledge.

Marx also shared with the Enlightenment the concept of secular society. Though he brought the idea of secularization further. For Marx every ideology and meta-narration of society in every stage of its development was a product of current economic relations, so was the religion. Religion, internalized rules, regulations and prohibitions, served justification of the conditions of production and hence the justification of exploitation. In this sense religion was a mechanism of oppression. That is why, according to Marx, emancipation not only required rejection of theological order of the world, but also complete rejection of religion. Once again this emancipation required revolution – dramatic and sudden change of economic conditions that would change social relations, including execution of religion. In this sense religion was not a private issue, but a political one, that justified bourgeois order. As in the eighteen century – religion obstructed change – this time, though, it was not suppose to be withdraw from public life, but destroyed absolutely. Revolution guaranteed changing social order not only in the sphere of production, but also in the sphere of religion.

The role of science

The Enlightenment was the era of development of sciences. A great expand of sciences such as mathematics, medicine, natural sciences changed the view of modern philosophers on the world and human kind. Science revealed mystery of existence and the order of nature. That is why science become one of the ways to obtain individual freedom. Science lead to discovery of logical, rational order of human and societal relations. For Marx science also had an important role in revealing the rules of organization of society. Marx knew that “in order to change, it is necessary to understand the social forces – institutions, cultural traditions, social groups” [Seidman, 1998, 34]. In Marx’ theory science held the explanatory role by revealing the real nature of social order, gives information about social classes, modes of production and rules of historical development. According to Marx, science should be based on rational assumptions, logical laws, it should reject common sense and superstitions.

Economic perspective

Though Marx’ theory shares materialistic perspective, he was not the one to introduce economic interpretation of social life. Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson and others eighteen century thinkers saw the leading role of economy in social life. Those early economists wrote about dehumanization of work and disintegration of society through modern specialization of production and technical development of the production process [Ray, 15]. Capitalist revolution of eighteen century brought new phenomena that were not overlooked by present-day thinkers. Negative effects of industrialization, demographic explosion and urbanization were thoroughly discussed by that time.

As we can see, the importance of material conditions for human individual and collective life was not the Marx’ invention, though he also observed that technology destroys social relations. Innovations, machines and devices used in the process of production serve the dominant class for exploitation of workers [Ray, 65]. Nevertheless, with his materialistic view on society, Marx went further, with the idea that: “the reproduction of material life precedes the production of culture” [Seidman, 1998, 37]. For Marx material conditions of existence were the basis for all other characteristics of life. According to Marx, living conditions determine social structure, policies, rules and morality. Marx showed that certain social conditions shape certain forms of consciousness. That was a great contribution of Marx’ thought to social sciences. Since Marx, social scientists began research on the role of material conditions on human thoughts, believes and attitudes, giving a start to many disciplines of social sciences, as sociology of thought, sociology of knowledge or sociology of religion [Szacki, 231]. Moreover, since Marx, social scientists consider development process and ownership relations of societies as the most important criteria of social studies analysis.

The concept of state

Enlightenment – to find such origins of social order not to limit freedom. How to reconcile freedom and social order. Enlightenment the idea of individual in society – free form state, church and other collective forms of organizations. Civil society idea – freedom through civil rights. In search of order based on rational assumptions.

The role of philosopher as a leading role in creating social order, morality. Intelectuals [Szacki, 84, Ray, Enlightenment, 11].

All stages of development according to Marx were different social formations. Those formations were direct creations of economic relations within society. The most thorough fully described formation was bourgeois one. It was contemporary, most developed and differentiated mode of production. Capitalism stage of development was characterized by binary class structure, where one class was the group of society that sold their work and did not own other means of productions – the workers, while the other was the group of owners of means of production that benefited from workers work – the capitalists.

Individualism and collective action

In earlier philosophy status of human being in society was constant and determined not by human himself but by external forces – the world order, god’s will, some kind of justice and internal sense of social existence. Enlightenment and especially the French revolution, brought the idea of civil society and civil rights [Szacki, 85]. The Enlightenment claimed that all human beings share some common characteristics that are independent of external, historical or natural conditions. It was a kind of individualism, that claimed that human nature in general have some common characteristics inherited form the state of nature. That is what makes society egalitarian – differences between human status in society are merely secondary. In this sense that all (male) human beings are equal and share the same civic rights. Emancipation in this context was a political emancipation of citizens form feudal, traditional relations.

Marx connected human position in social structure with material conditions and idea of work and ownership. For him the idea of society was not based on the idea of civil rights but on the idea of economic relations between different social groups – classes. It was dichotomous vision of society made of workers and capitalists – the owners of means of production. Emancipation was possible not on the basis of civil rights but on the basis of changing economic relations. This was a revolutionary perspective leading to turnover of social order. Unlike the Enlightenment, Marx’ did not perceived emancipation and concept of freedom in individual actions. He clearly rejected individualism – both in terms of individual social actions and as the method of inference about human conditions. Marx claimed that every individual is rooted in his collective history and society, and his consciousness, as well as beliefs, goals and needs are shaped through that heritage. That is why not only analysis of human conditions, but also the projected change of social relations, has to take into consideration collective baggage and collective effort. That is why Marx shared the belief that “aˆ¦individuals do not act on ideas primarily because they are true of have been “proven” correct, but on the basis of their self-interest. Ideas may shape our actions, but our social interests determine which ideas we adopt.

CLASS AND DIVISION OF SOCIETY

Critical theory

Marx’ is perceived as the father of critical theory. As Bryan wrote it “aˆ¦classical sociology is a critical discipline, because it represents typically an attack on the taken-for-granted assumptions of bourgeois, utilitarian liberalism. This critical tradition is conventionally associated with Marxism [Bryan s. Turner, Blackwell, 9]. But one cannot negate that critical attitude was characteristic for the Enlightenment thought. XVIII century philosophers questioned traditions, religions, authorities, beliefs, metaphysics and everything else that was not perceived rational. Marx’ theory gave basis for future revolutions, but it was the Enlightenment thought that was a mother of French Revolution. In this sense the Enlightenment theories were the first revolutionary theories, revolutionary through their critique, doubt and rejection. Marx only developed further this critical perspective, but he was not the first one to neglect contemporary, well established order.

aˆ¦our social interests are determined by our social position, in particular our class status” [Seidman, 1998, 34]

“Marx and Engels aimed to shift the focus of social criticism from the analysis of consciousness and the evolution of ideas to that of the development of social institutions and conflicts” [Seidman, 1998, 37]

Historical materialism “class dynamics shape the organization of socioeconomic systems which in turn, determine the structure and direction of the whole society” [S, 38]

Class theory of society, class struggle

Power comes from the ownership of means of production

social theory becomes the “critique of political economy,” [Delany, Blackwell, 25]

New constructs: commodification, class-struggle, profit, surplus value

Marx’s social theory was a critical one. Critique does not try to explain or simply interpret society for its own sake, but is inherently critical of the prevailing social order and seeks to reveal the system of domination. [Delany, Blackwell, 25]

Karl Marx, effectively replaced philosophical analysis with an advanced social theory of modern society. [Delany, Blackwell, 23]

Conclusions

Reason vs. modes of production

Reason vs. false consciousness

Reason vs. ownership

This project is about investigating the biodiversity and the importance of preserving biodiversity. Each group have chosen an Arabian species to evaluate it and to investigate its status. Every member of the group has to write one part of the report. Investigating biodiversity, the status of the species and how can we protect this species from loss. And how can the society as a whole contribute to the preservation of the biodiversity and the specific species that we chose to write about.

Biodiversity is a very important subject, as today the world is facing a biodiversity crises. The biodiversity crises basically means the loss of many types of different species on earth that humans lives depend on (IUCN, 2010). Biodiversity is ‘the variety of life’ it is the variety of all species on the planet. Biodiversity contains all the different animals, plants, creatures, insects, microorganisms and it includes the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. Biodiversity can be divided into three types Genetic diversity, organismal diversity, and ecological diversity. The genetic diversity covers the components of the genetic code that makeup organisms and the variations between the individuals in the population and between populations. Organismal diversity includes the taxonomic hierarchy from individuals to genera and beyond. Ecological diversity includes the scales of ecological differences from populations, niches, habitats, up to biomes (Gaston, K. & Spicer, J. 2004).

We have chosen to write about a very beautiful and amazing animal. This animal lives in parts of the Arabian peninsula. People used to kill it to save their cattle from being eaten by this animal, and then they used its nice patterned fur for decorating their homes, and they were also hunted for their teeth and claws (McGregor, T., Spalton, A. & Hikmani, H. 2007). The animal that we will discuss is the Arabian Leopard, as we know that it is an endangered animal in the Arabian peninsula and we would like to explore more information about this gorgeous animal.

Kingdom
ANIMALIA
Phylum

CHORDATA

Class

MAMMALIA

Order

CARNIVORA

Family

FELIDAE

Genus

Panthera

Species

PANTHERA PARDUS

Sub Species

PANTHERA PARDUS NIMR The Arabian Leopard is one of the common names of this animal, the other common name is the South Arabian Leopard. The Arabian leopard is a sub species of the known leopard panthera pardus. The scientific name of the Arabian Leopard is Panthera pardus ssp. Nimr. The taxonomy of the Arabian Leopard is shown in the table below (IUCN, 2010). The trophic level of the Arabian leopard is Carnivore.

The panthera pardus nimr is considered the smallest subspecies of leopards. Its total length is between 160 cm – 220 cm, the length of its tail only is between 66 cm – 100 cm. The Arabian leopard weight is between 28 kg – 75 kg. The Arabian leopards has special small and widely spaced spots (Kingdon, j. 1991). The color of the Arabian leopards’ body is nearly pale brown or golden color. Its lower part of the body can be yellow or white. The spots are black and sometimes have the shape of a flower (Selim, M. & El-Batanouny, K. n.d.)

Hessa Aqab Shahin 200880840

The ecological niche means the species’ way of life or role in a community or an ecosystem and it includes everything that affects its survival and reproduction (Spoolman, S. & Miller, T. 2008). The Arabian leopards depends on livestock, domestic goats, Arabian Tahr, and other small birds and mammals as a food source. The Arabian Leopard is considered a very powerful predator in the region where it is on control. The habitat of the Arabian leopard is mostly in mountainous and hilly areas and its rarely venture into open plains (McGregor, T., Spalton, A. & Hikmani, H. 2007). Because of the lower numbers of the Arabian leopards in the region another predator has taken its place which is the Caracal (McGregor, T., Spalton, A. & Hikmani, H. 2007). So the Caracal has taken over the Arabian leopards’ place and is occupying its area, and this can cause the Arabian leopards numbers to become less because there is another predator that is taking its food and habitat areas. According to local people in Oman the Caracal is their enemy because it hunts their livestock in wadis and close to their homes while that Arabian leopard only preys on livestock in the mountains so they were aggressive towards that Caracal, they hunt it and kill it because it causes a lot of damage to them. Another thing that affected the Arabian leopards survival in the region is the constant civilization and building roads that reaches the top of the mountains, people also are taking its place by local housing expansion, over grazing, and farming (McGregor, T., Spalton, A. & Hikmani, H. 2007). All these human activities and “modernization” are endangering the Arabian leopards’ survival in the region.

Figure 1: http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/images/stories/pdfs/reports/report-oman0607.pdf The Arabian leopard can only be seen in several areas in the Arabian peninsula. The distribution range of the Arabian leopard is shown in figure 1. Its distribution ranges from the mountains of Haqel in the north-west of Arabia, Yemen, the mountains of Hadramout to north-east of Oman, and the eastern mountains of the United Arab Emirates. The Arabian leopards extends from the rugged arid, to semi arid mountains along the coast of the Red Sea in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Al Johany, A. 2006). The figure below shows the distribution of the Arabian leopard in the Arabian peninsula and the neighboring region and it shows whether the Arabian leopard distribution is confirmed, probable, possible, or historical in that particular area.

Hala Ibrahim 200601460

Species classified by Biologists that heading toward biological extinction as threatened, extinct and endangered species. Firstly, threatened species is a species that still abundant in its natural range but they continues to decrease and most likely to became endangered in the future. Also, threatened species can known as vulnerable species and the example of this kind of species is Dugong dugon. Secondly, some species not known in wild, it only can found in zoos or private collection such as Arabian Oryx and that an example of extinct species. Thirdly, an endangered species is a few numbers of organism’s population that at risk to be extinct or threatened because of environmental changing or human impact and the Arabian leopard is an example of this species(Miller, T., & Spoolman, S). Endangered species include 1 in 4 mammals, 1 in 8 birds and 1/3 of all amphibians(The plight of endangered species). However, many scientists and some university’ courses are focusing in this type of species to preserve and protect them to not be extinction.

Arabian leopard is one of this endangered species which estimated to no more than 250 mature individuals. Also, this number is subject to decline in the future which mean that Arabian leopards are able to be extinct because of the small population they have. The Arabian leopard was spread widely in the mountains of Arab countries such as Haqel in the northern part of Median Mountains, in Hijaz and the Sarawat Mountains. In addition, this leopard existed in the northern Yemen highlands, in the mountains of Ras al-Khaimah and the eastern region of UAE and in the Jebel Samhan and Dhofar mountains in Oman(Arabian leopard- critically endangered(CR)). However, the lack of awareness amongst the people in the past lead to decrease the numbers of leopards.

What are the reasons that make species threatened and endangered? Hunting, killing and perishing are the causes of the reduction of Arabian leopard which mostly caused by people in a direct and indirect way. Sometimes leopards were killed accidentally when they was eating poisoned which is putted to wolves and hyenas. In 1986, four Arabian leopards killed in the Ras Al-Khaimah mountains in the UAE(Harman, A). Moreover, a recently killed leopard found in 1992 in the border area between Sultanate Oman and UAE, sadly, in the same area other two leopards found one of them killed and another injured. 50,000 leopard were killed during the early 1960s just in East Africa(Harman, A). In addition, some of farmers and cattle herdsmen are forced to kill the Arabian leopard to save them self and their livestock because they thought that leopard are attacking and killing their goats and may attack them and people who live around.

On the other hand, some people are killing and hunting the Arabian leopards because of the commercial value they have. Hunters take the advantages from leopards through selling their skins and the leopard furs and that happened with some traders in Africa and Yemen(Harman, A). This kind of illegal situation could increase the income of traders but affect negatively in Arabian leopards which make them endangered and threatens their population.

Habitat destruction it also considered as the most serious cause that threatens species when it mean the complete lose of areas with it all resources that species need to survive(Miller, T., & Spoolman, S). Unfortunately, the increase of people’s population has a negative effect in areas that mammal live in, there is always a new construction of shopping malls, parks, developed houses and factories. Also, there is a daily cut of forests and

Hala Ibrahim
200601460

grassland in areas that Arabian leopard and other mammals live in (Kirkland, G). Species are basically need food, shelter, water and the proper environment as human needs to survive and live in suitable environment (Bailey, R.) . Moreover, habitat fragmentation which represent the isolation of areas to many sections and make it difficult for species to feeding, migration and mating. Also, the number of Arabian leopard declined because of the reduction in numbers of deer and bucks that live in the mountain area that leopard live in and characterize as the main source of food for leopard(Arabian Leopard). Species affected by changing and rendering habitat and that changes come from draining wetlands, constructing flood-control reservoir and plowing native grasslands. Directly or indirectly, Arabian leopard can be affected and died because of the environmental pollution, that pollution can limiting and reducing the needs of the mammals. Some mammals die after drinking waters that contained a cyanide(Kirkland, G).

Endangered species has some certain common characteristics that shared with other endangered and extinct species such as the large size. Some of endangered species has a large size which need hundreds or thousands of acres to support their population , when other mammals such mice need a small woodlot to live in. Also, endangered species has a low productive rate because some mammals naturally produce just one offspring each year and it is difficult to recover rabidly if the mortality rate is high(Kirkland, G). Compared to small rodents, they are able to produce many large litters in each year. Endangered mammals and Arabian leopards can also considered as a species that has a small population, rare and has high trophic level. Mammals as Arabian leopard become threatened if the specialized habitats they live in is widely separated to many spaces and in small sizes, because these species need a large areas in order to find their priorities of food and water to survive.

Figure 2: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/oman/oman-yemen-tie-up-urged-to-save-leopards-1.18006

Haya Sultan 200520663

Over the last million years, nearly five mass extinctions have occurred since the beginning of the universe. They either determine the end of an era of time or the beginning of another. The Ordovician-Silurian extinction, the late Devonian extinction, the Premian-Triassic extinction, the Triassic-Jurassic extinction and the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction was the five mass extinctions. Figure 3

Figure 3

Each one of them had causes, in the end of the Ordovician extinction about 447 until 444 million years ago; mark the border between the Ordovician period and the period following which is the Silurian. In that extinction there were several important changes in the size of carbon isotopes of essentials of the reaction and the biology of oxygen. Those changes refer to classified different stages in a single event. At that time, complex multicellular organisms lived in the sea, and about 100 families of them covers about 49 percent of the marine. More reliable estimate of species of the animals has become extinct. The earth lost brachiopods and small bi-valve bryozoans colonials, along with many families of trilobites and graptolites (small colonial marine animals).

The late Devonian extinction was equivalent to the global cooling and has been suggested as a cause of extinction of the Devonian, as is also suspected of causing the extinction of the terminal Ordovician. Climate change and the drop of sea level caused the Premian-Triassic extinction also. In the Triassic-Jurassic extinction and the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction, the scientist said that a volcano caused it. Volcanoes release a range of

Haya Sultan 200520663

gases into the stratosphere of which SO2 and CO2 are volumetrically the most important (Devine, J.D. Sigurdsson, H. Davis, A.N. (1984).

Those causes that happened in the past naturally happened. But nowadays, we might face another mass extinction but this time humans are the main cause of it. The causes nowadays are many. First on is the destruction of species habitat and fragmentation. We remove many forests either to use the trees in making furniture or papers or either to make papers, which destroys lot habitats of many kinds of species. Second thing is rapid human population growth. Which means more land to be cleared to build houses and facilities. Third cause is genetic pollution. Pollution caused by factories and transportations. Forth cause is Global warming.

According to wildlife Middle East news they said, ” The recent rapid decline of the Arabian leopard is due to a variety of reasons, most of which are caused by people. Rapid human population growth causes encroachment into wilderness areas, putting pressure on leopards and other wild. Depletion by hunting of natural prey such as Nubian ibex (Capra ibex), Arabian tahr (Hemitragus jayakari), Mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella cora), and rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) leaves little for leopards to eat so some are forced to prey on livestock. This leads to conflicts with villagers who kill leopards in order to protect their herds. Wealthy animal collectors who pay huge sums for Arabian Leopards encourage the trapping of leopards for the illegal market”.

Different sectaries in the UAE are taking action to protect the Arabian leopard. In 1993, the UAE set up the Arabian leopard trust which is planning to protect its habitat in the mountains, and conserving native Arabian wildlife in general. The Arabian Leopard Trust is trying to maintain the impact on the Arabian leopard locally and globally. Also in Sharjah there is a breeding center which successfully had the third litter of cubs born.

We as individuals we can help protecting the Arabian leopard by stop introducing non-native animals and leave them in the wild. Also recycling and reducing pollution helps. Not just the Arabian Leopard, but also all the species that are threaten and endangered. And government can help by protect the mountainous habitats and set laws to stop hunters from threaten the Arabian leopard. The media also have a very big impact on people. It can spread awareness among people about endangers animals and how can we help in protecting them.

Summary & conclusion:

Biodiversity means the variety of life on earth. The Arabian leopard is an Arabian animal that faces the danger of being extinct. Endangered species as Arabian leopard is a species that still abundant in wild but their population are able to decline. Human impact and environmental pollution has a significant role of the reduction of Arabian leopard’s population. This endangered leopard has some common characteristics such as low productive, small population and large size. There are also some initiatives done to protect this animal from loss. After doing research and writing this report we found out that animals and different species in the entire world are very important. Each and every animal, insect, plant, or even bacteria has an important role in this ecosystem and in maintaining the balance of life on earth. All these different species, both the ones we discovered and the ones we didn’t, are interconnected in a way or another. For example the species that we based our report about; the Arabian leopard, has mostly disappeared from many regions so another animal took its place in that area like the caracal who is now attacking cattle more than the Arabian leopard would do if it was in its normal region. And this thing affects the ecosystem there. So we noticed that if any species is lost it affects the ecosystem in some way; that’s why we should be concerned about saving the species and preventing them from loss, because we want to live in a balanced healthy world. And the species loss is breaking the balance and the harmony of life.

Islam is a very merciful religion for both humans and animals. For example there is “Hadith Sharif” a saying by prophet Mohammed peace be upon him “Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah’s Apostle said, “While a man was walking on a road. he became very thirsty. Then he came across a well, got down into it, drank (of its water) and then came out. Meanwhile he saw a dog panting and licking mud because of excessive thirst. The man said to himself “This dog is suffering from the same state of thirst as I did.” So he went down the well (again) and filled his shoe (with water) and held it in his mouth and watered the dog. Allah thanked him for that deed and forgave him.” The people asked, “O Allah’s Apostle! Is there a reward for us in serving the animals?” He said, “(Yes) There is a reward for serving any animate (living being) .” (Good Manners and form, n.d.). That’s why we should protect biodiversity out of our religion, and even out of the person’s values also.

If the status of our species was reevaluated when we are 50 years old. We think that Arabian leopards will be extinct in the wild, but there will be some raised in captivities and wildlife preserves. As we notice this huge development and change in the habitat of this species which lives in the mountains. But if the concerns about its loss started from now the situation might improve and we might have an increase in the numbers of the Arabian leopards. But they would probably be raised in places far from this development and they might create more preserves to save what can be saved from its habitat.

Ghuman (2002) overviewed that women with higher freedom are those who retain their earnings compared to those who are unemployed and have no importance in the contribution to decision-making in households. He also added that working women occupy a better position and have a higher degree of authority as they earn money.

As said by Noeleen Heyzer, executive Director of the United Nations Development fund for Women(UNIFEM) efforts must be put together to empower women and take decision to eliminate gender inequality.

Carmen Moreno,Director of United Nations International Research and Training Institute of Women (INSTRAW) added that women must be encouraged to raise their voices in politics, participate in decision making and have access to education which will contribute positively in their development and for them to make better decisions on the different issues.

2.5 Empowering women through education

As stated in the report of the of the expert group meeting by the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), education smooth the progress of women’s empowerment and for eradicating poverty among women as it enlarges women’s abilities. During the period 1980-1994 the gap between girls’ enrolments and boys’ enrolment at primary level decreased in developing countries. But there are some important differences that stand out. In the case of sub-Saharan Africa the declining of the gender gap in some countries is accredited to a fall in the enrolment of boys and only a minor rise in the participation of girls.

According to UNESCO data, girls’ net enrolment in secondary school decreased between 1985 and 1997 in 10 out of 33 countries in sub-Saharan Africa; 7 out of 11 countries in Central and Western Asia; 2 out of 21 countries in Asia and the Pacific; 6 out of 26 in Latin America and the Caribbean; 6 out of 9 in Eastern Europe; and 1 out of 23 countries in Western Europe and other developed countries..

According to Goutam Roy (2009), women education contributes in helping to reduce poverty. He added that empowerment and total emancipation are two major aspects that can help to alleviate poverty. Greater emphasis is being put on women education nowadays, as there are wider job opportunities and proper attention to the women in development programmes. He also mentioned that Scholarships are given by government in HSC level, technical of vocational education to motivate women students to become educated. Women teachers are being trained to improve the quality of education given and improved teaching methodology.

Goutam Roy research proved that Empowerment and development are inter- related. The slow speed of women education is boosting women empowerment resulting in women development. According to the last decade, many countries have decided to reach our women, understand their needs and include them in the development process. Survey which was carried out in 2000 shows women literacy is 66% higher than men in developing countries.

He analyses that the empowerment of women has become a social and political phenomenon. The development process is strengthening when both men and women participate and education is deeply related to women empowerment. Investing in education is one of the most effective ways to reduce poverty as Investment in girls in secondary education gives positive outcomes.

Stine Ankerbo & Karina Hoyda (2003) outlines that education is vital to women’s empowerment in so far as it enables women to be more productive. According to the World Bank, a mother’s education has beneficial impact on the size of the family, her children well-being and how effective she uses commodity services. Education is a mean to promote development in social, political and economic spheres. Studies and research prove that there exist a high correlation between an increase in women schooling and decline in infant mortality and fertility rates. Before the mid 1970’s little attention were paid to the economic benefit which can be related to women. Educated women contribute to economic development. For example, in Africa 46 percent of the female labour force is in agriculture. If they were given proper education they would have been increase in productivity that will hinder economic growth. With investment in education for girls and women significant progress in social and economic growth can be deduced according to economic analysis. An increase in girl enrolment in primary schools leads to lower fertility rate, higher GDP per capita and life expectancy.

Studies undertaken by a world bank on 20 developing countries find that when devote substantial resources to female primary education which leads to higher economic productivity, improved standard of living and life expectancy, lower infant and maternal mortality compared to countries where women do not benefit from proper education.

According to CSO reports, the earlier a child starts going to school every day, and the less risk of slipping into a spiral of poverty in adulthood. Therefore, the EAP program helps families who, for lack of money, do not send their children to school.

2.6 Feminization of poverty

The term feminization of poverty refers to the fact that women suffer from poverty much more than men. In countries and across the world, women live in poverty excessively in contrast to men. The term “feminization of poverty,” created in the 1970s by Diana Pearce, refers to the focus of poverty among women, mainly female-headed households. However, the feminization of poverty, in reality, refers to something broader than merely lack of income or a state of economic need for women.

She added that poverty is being feminized because of three main reasons, namely:

The growing amount of female-headed households.

Individual and cultural stereotypes about and inequity against women and girls.

Macroeconomic trends such as globalization and trade that fall short to take into consideration women’s position in economy.

While the very definition of poverty mean the lack of ability to meet essential needs such as food, clothing, or shelter, being poor also involve the lack of choice, little opportunity, the incapability to accomplish life goals, and eventually the loss of hope. In addition, the feminization of poverty influence more than just women as it affects children, who disproportionately live in female-headed households.

According to Bianchi, the increase in non marriage among women, especially those who were adolescent, restricted the income prospective of the family, but also make the legal aspects of child support difficult. The increase of divorce rate, and a rise in life expectancy among women further enhance a gendered poverty, while social programs and income transfers planned to remove individuals out of poverty were less successful in reaching this goal for women than for men.

Presently, research persists to prove the existence of a gendered component to poverty, one that has become more obvious and even more prominent with the increase in female-headed households, and perhaps even more noticeable among the young and elderly female population. Female heads of household are not only more likely to be poor, but their poverty is more likely to be elongated.

The majority of studies of the hardship of women point to two primary mechanisms that force women into poverty at higher rates: demographic change and the economy. Since the “discovery” of the feminization of poverty, the nature of social life has changed considerably, as has the structure and nature of the family. Demographic shifts have without doubt rise inequality for women and their children. The amount of children born to unwed mothers has seen a considerable rise since the 1950s.

Childbearing out of wedlock, high divorce rate, explain a drastically higher percentage of households headed by single women who are upbringing their children on their own. Moreover, the average lifespan for both males and females has improved and nowadays women are one step ahead of their male counterparts. With a longer life expectancy, women will require significantly more income to guarantee their survival in their later years.

Changes occurred in the constitution of family and general demographics have led women and mothers at a substantial disadvantage in terms of the monetary funds accessible to cater for themselves and their families.

Apparently the poverty rate among single-male heads of household was around 17.6%, while the rate for single-female heads of household was 36.9% in 2005.undoubtedly, the increase in the divorce rate has somehow affected women, who disproportionately assume the role of primary caregiver when divorce occurs. When coupled with women’s usually inferior incomes and less property rights, divorced women promptly became more vulnerable to poverty than men.

In the United States, most of the children living at or below the poverty line live in single-mother households. Furthermore, women are less likely to remarry after a divorce than men, which left them to single-income households with fewer resources for a long period of time. In 2005, there were 13.5 million divorced women in the United States-3.7 million, or 37.6%, more divorced women than divorced men.

2.7 Measuring the extent of feminization of poverty

Taking into account the extent to which poverty is feminized, one is mostly disturbed with whether or not women disproportionately experience poverty in contrast to men. Conversely, as considered by the Census Bureau and other governmental agencies, both in the United States and around the globe, poverty is a household concept. That is, individuals are classified as poor if they form part of a household in which the household revenue is below the poverty level for the household size. In households headed by married couples, the assumption is that both men and women presumably experience poverty at the same rate-either both members of the couple are in poverty, or neither of them is. According to Christopher et al., “the gender gap in poverty exists because single women are poorer than single men.”

Additionally, in many examples, women living in marriages where their partner is the wage earner are consequently more likely far from poverty.

2.8 Women in politics

During the UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women on July 2010, some of the successes noted by Helen Hambling, Group Manager, and head of the Australian delegation stressed on the fact that women now comprises of almost one third of parliamentarians, while seven ministerial positions, including the Prime Minister, and the Governor General – the highest public position – were held by women. Since 1995, women’s position improved by three-fold, and of the seven High Court justices, three were women.

To enhance the participation of indigenous women in political life, the Government had started the indigenous women’s programme. It was a grant programme that supply financial support for actions that would aid lessens those women’s disadvantages and promotes their assumption of legislative and management roles.

Rachel N. Mayanja, special advisor to the secretary- general on gender issues reported that there are only a few women in politics, with women presently filling just 16.8 percent of parliamentary seats, a slight rise of 4 percent since 1999.

LIZ Chadderdon powell highlighted that There are only 19 female CEO’s running Fortune 500 companies. That is only 3.8%. Moreover there are seventy-four women in Congress out of five hundred and thirty five seats in both the House and Senate. That implies that women comprises of only 13.8% of Congress while being 52% of the voting population of America.

Sarah Brewer, Associate Director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University, states her study on female political consultants demonstrate women frequently work longer in the field before setting up their own firms.

three primary reasons for the political consulting industry’s glass ceiling: firstly Women are mothers and need to give time to their children, which make it difficult to serve their clients 24/7/365 and loose that edge to their male competitors, moreover being a committee ED or a partner in a firm one need to be powerful some women are shy and cannot be that aggressive and finally people in dominant positions (usually men) are reluctant to move out and give others a leg up.

2.9 Feminization of the labour force

The effect of neobileral structural adjustment & economic development on woman in the world’s workforces in the global economy is of great interest to policy makers.

Standing (1989, 1999) and Catagay and Ozler (1995) suggest that neoliberal structural adjustment generally leads to greater feminization of the labour force caused by both demand and supply side. supply may increase due to the fact that woman enter the labour force to offset declining household and demand may increase as firms may employ more women due to lower cost of female workers.

Different studies made on feminization of the labour force such as the modernization hypothesis suggest the economic development contribute to an increase in women labour force participation. On the controversy boserup(1970) who first propose the marginalization hypothesis found that economic development , urbanization & relative growth of the manufacturing can lead to a fall in women labour force in the market because their traditional roles in agriculture and home production lose importance.

According to the studies of Cooper & Lewis (1999),Mintzberg(1996) and Rosener (1990) there is the establishment of a more humane style of management with a rise in women occupying higher level jobs as women show much care to their employees and they are more concerned with their well-being.

2.10 Equal opportunity

A recent policy research report by the World Bank (2001) identifies gender equality both as a development objective in itself and as a means to promote growth, reduce poverty and promote better governance.

Research undertaken by the university of stellenbosch business school in south Africa found that top level positions is still uncommon ready to accept woman are professional equals as governments policies & legislation do not works .

In 1996 a Gender Policy Framework (GPF) was set by the African government to authorize the international convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against woman.

The GPF’s main aim was to integrate gender policies by ensuring that;

Women’s rights are perceived as human

They have equality as active citizens

Their economic empowerment is promoted

Their social uplift is given priority

They are included in decision making

They are beneficiaries in political, economic, social and cultural areas.

Turning to the labour market, Helen Hambling, Group Manager, Department of Families Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and alternative head of the Australian delegation recognized that women in Australia still received 18 per cent less than men and were retiring with half the savings of men. The New Fair Work Act recently operated also intended at pay equity between women and men. In the private sector, however, women held one in eight executive management positions, and the number of companies with no women executive managers had increased between the years 2006 and 2008. To deal with that, the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency had developed a combination of regulatory and educative measures, and held round tables across the country

2.11 Role of micro finance in empowering women and reducing poverty

Akinyi Janet, Editor of The African Executive magazine reported that Women in Africa are not empowered because of poverty and negative cultural practices. Credit is not very accessible, which is the main restriction on women’s capability to earn income. The Microfinance sector is involving African women in the economy as they were in terrible need of income to enhance their small farms which hardly fed them. Statistics shows that women consist of 74% of the 19.3 million of the world’s poorest people now being helped by microfinance institutions.

She further said that In Africa, MFIs have witnessed remarkable gains. The sector offers financial services to the poor women in possible micro-enterprises make enterprising women more powerful through financial access and expertise and significantly lessen poverty.

Her research shows that more access to savings and credit facilities make women stronger in taking economic decisions. It also develops their skills, knowledge and in addition improves their position in the community. The increase in access to microfinance has made women’s path to social and political empowerment easier.

Moreover Akinyi Janet found that Women have shown that they are reliable clients especially in repaying loans in a specific time .empowering women has been a success as it increases individual family expenditure on health, education, improved nutrition and food security.

The UNDAW report (November 2001) microcredit and microfinance projects have been recognized as key strategies to tackle women’s poverty by offering women with the prospect to have their own businesses, augment their productivity and earnings and, attain greater empowerment.

However, there is increasing concern among women’s organizations, researchers and practitioners concerning the way in which microcredit and microfinance programmes are being encouraged. It is observed that there is limited empirical evidence to maintain a linear relationship between microcredit, poverty alleviation and gender equality and empowerment of women. There are also not many studies that investigate the extent to which microfinance programmes have helped non-economic dimensions of women’s empowerment.

Hulme and Mosley (1996) also reveal the relationship that exists between credit and poverty reduction is from new investments to the pattern of income change to poverty alleviation. A positive link can be generated between the two depending on whether projects yield high returns and if they can create jobs.

World Bank (2001) highlights that the poor can be helped through credit replacing productive assets damaged in a natural disaster. Therefore, microfinance programmes help the poor households to sustain income shocks. Moreover the majority of the micro-credit programmes help mainly women or households headed by women (Otero and Rhyne, 1994; Hulme and Mosley, 1996; Khandker, 1998; Murdoch, 1999b; World Bank, 2001).

Sadegh Bakhtiari, from Isfahan University in Iran stresses on the fact that Microfinance can be a helpful means for poverty reduction. However, it should be used thoughtfully -It has been proven that the link between microfinance and poverty alleviation is not simple, because poverty is not an easy phenomenon as there is many obstacles for the poor to cope with. It is important to know what form microfinance is appropriate for the poorest; the delivery channel, methodology and products offered are all linked together and affect poverty.

2.12 Political and economic constraint in empowering women

It is a fact that male dominates women under certain aspects like political, economic and socio-cultural and they are much well paid for the same work.

Henshall (2004) defines gender equality as the same opportunity given to men and women to be able to lead an enjoyable life. However this may not always be the case as according to Feinstein (1979), there still exists a large gap in female and male wages. For the same job performed women may earn less than men. In Pakistan female job is viewed as inferior and low grade. He also argued that women are obliged to carry out domestic job like household maintenance and child caring. The traditional thinking of people in Pakistan strengthens restriction over empowerment.

Khalid (1991) analyses that women are restricted from the political environment in the country. They are not exposed to social, cultural, political and economic participation in the community activities. Their works are unrecognized and they encounter problem with society’s attitudes which affect their working capabilities adversely.

Henslin (1996) finds that male are commonly paid more for the same work and they usually dominate the socio-cultural, economic and political aspects of the society. In contrast, females are discriminated against economically, politically and socially. Consequently this adversely affects them to emancipate and become independent in life.

According to Dr Naz (2009), in Pakistan male has much more power in controlling economic resources. Consequently women are regarded as inferior as they have no say in economic and political affairs as well as decision making also. Furthermore even if women are equally qualified as men yet their income tend to be lower than that of men. However, this type of inequality exists in other countries as well. Due to the complex structure in Pakistan, women face a lot of difficulties in taking part in the economic and political activities in a democratic way and to even exert their voting right.

Additionally Hafeez (1983) argued that the traditional thinking of husbands that is they are conservative and believe that women should remain at home as housewives prevents the participation of women in political and economic activities. The ego problem of the husband which restrict women employment have negative effects on their children and family life .At times the relatives (in-laws) are against women employment as they fear of losing their self-image as women may become too independent and neglect their traditional roles.

2.13 Barriers of empowering women through educational attainment

According to Amartya Sen (1999) the main focus of women empowerment in the process of development more precisely it includes female education, their employment prospect and the working of the labour market. She also added that difficulty to allow women empowerment through education is due to stereotyping in the formal education system which strengthens the traditional gender characters.

Apart from the every day life experience, women are discriminated in the field of education. Male members are seen as the prime source of earnings and parents usually prefer to educate their sons instead of their daughters. The higher one climbs the educational ladder, the more that learning is a masculine experience (Henslin, 1996).

Muzammil(2010) in his analysis validates the evidence that a barrier to acknowledging the significance of empowering women through schooling relate to stereotyping in the formal education system which further strengthens gender roles. He also found that it is taken for granted that women with lower level of education than men should earn less. In reality, patriarchy is an obstacle to women’s empowerment and it is inter related with the political system to dominate women.

Through the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (UNDAW) meeting in 2001 A.Jacqueline emphasise on the fact that Women’s rights and gender equality is still an issue in African countries. Women are discriminated in different field such as access to social and economic services. Consequently this act as a barrier to women empowerment.

Research conducted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in

July 2009 found that media and other reports disclose that women re not allowed to participate in public life. Many working women are threatened or are intimidated. Women are therefore forced to remain at home. We can conclude that this type of behaviour restrict woman to participate in life and emancipate.

A forum on the role of women in Saudi Arabia suggest that However, women in the audience criticized the ministry for making it difficult for them to manage their own businesses without a male guardian or agent, which often allows men to wrest control of women’s money. Also women are not allowed to drive. Unfortunately, it is such extreme measures have stood in the way of women’s employment and narrow their business opportunities.

2.14 Conclusion

The literature on women in different field and how women empowerment has been a success till now is considerable. As far as possible the key theories have been analysed, supported by the empirical research that has been carried out on the different features. The subject continues to evolve and there is an interest to go further in empowering women to reduce poverty.

What social forces were at work that led to the emergence of sociology in the late 18th and early 19th Century?

Sociology can be defined as the study of societies and their development in terms of their political decisions, ethics, economic development, religion and laws. It consists of the organization of collections of human bodies into forms of social life. The end of the 18th century was marked by the French Revolution, the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution initiated in England. The purpose of this essay is to discuss these social forces in terms of their contribution towards the emergence of sociology.

The three major factors which influence the emergence of sociology as a sphere of study began in the late eighteenth century with the French Revolution, the period known as ‘the Enlightenment’ and the industrial revolution.

Each one of these influences has contributed to what Karl Polanyi , the Austro-Hungarian philosopher termed ‘the Great Transformation’ in his book of the same name, one of the results of this ‘great transformation’ resulted in the emergence of the science of sociology. History began to change in 1789 when the French Revolution broke out followed by the Enlightenment – the creation of a new framework of ideas about man, society and nature. In addition, further economic and social changes were brought forward with the industrial revolution firstly in England and then in the whole of Europe.

The French revolution had lasted for ten whole years and was the first modern and ideological revolution of its kind. It had a great impact on society because it changed its structure. It managed to eliminate the social distinctions between people and the feudal society.The power shifted away from the Church and came to hands of the people. This was the first time people were seen as citizens. In addition to this, the clerical hierarchy which had existed until then gave up its rights and property. These changes had a historical, political and social impact in the entire of Europe and not just France.Plato and Aristotle had become exterminally manifest in the social and historical world as a consequence of the revolution in France.

Additionally, the French Revolution brought significant changes to the family since it was followed by the Declaration of Human Rights which stated that all humans are born free and equal. Changes to family-related issues were also brought into force. At the same time the Church lost much of its tremendous influence and power, which devolved to the people. The clerical hierarchy that had existed until then gave up its rights and property. ‘Civil marriage’ and ‘divorce’ were established. Civil marriage was another way for people to project their doubts upon the Church. A couple blessed by God could now follow different paths in their lives with the ‘divorce’ being established and accepted. Education and religion were also subject to changes..

The second major event, that took place during the late 18th and early 19th century, was Industrialisation. The Industrial Revolution began in England in 18th century (1870) and brought several changes in societies, shaping them in the form they are today. It was “the major shift of technological, socioeconomic and cultural conditions in the late 18th and early 19th century that began in Britain and spread throughout the world” (Wikipedia, Internet encyclopaedia).

At the end of the 18th century the world was experiencing a rapid population growth which led to an economic boom. As the demand was increasing, more workers were needed to cover the increasing demand. Production of goods increased. This was a different type of work before Industrialisation people were working in a traditional forms.

Technology brought significant changes in the work place which led to great improvement and efficiency. Machines were now helping people in production and thereby improving time efficiency and production volume as well as the conditions under which people worked. Technological changes included the use of iron and steel, new energy sources. These changes in technology improved both the quality of the products being produced as well as the work-conditions of the workers in production. Fewer efforts were now required by the workers in terms of producing a good. Technology also improved transportation and hence trade and commerce between countries. Markets expanded even more since goods and raw materials that were scarce in one country could be supplied from another. Machines became the symbols of the new society and humanity could be seen to be all working into this machine.

In addition, the area of communication also saw great improvement during this time period and people could now travel easier and reach their destination quicker. In the past, the only method people could communicate between them was through letters. This way of communication however, was both time consuming and uncertain since the letters were often lost somewhere in between. Fortunately, during the late 18th and early 19th century letters could be delivered faster and new ways of communication were developed such as the telegraph. These improvements also brought people and societies closer to one another. People moved to the cities were the markets began to emerge.

The Enlightenment was a significant contributing factor to the emergence of sociology in the late 18th and early 19th century. The Enlightenment is considered to be the source of critical ideas, such as the centrality freedom, democracy, and reason as primary values of society. It is the “creation of a new framework of ideas about man, society and nature, which challenged existing conceptions rooted in a traditional world-view, dominated by Christianity” (Hamilton,23). The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement consisting of many philosophers. The most popular figures of this new framework were Charles Montesquieu (1689-1755), Jacques Tugot (1729-1781) and Jean Condorcet (1743-1794). They managed to challenge the traditional and existing conceptions of the world.

The thinkers of Enlightenment aimed to teach people stop listening and following blindly the church’s opinion and decisions, and start thinking on their own. Challenge what they hear and develop their critical judgment. People were now advised to try and solve their problems on their own rather than wait for God to provide a solution for them. This new way of thinking was a big factor in economic growth. The iincreased education, through the emergence of upper class philosophers, the publishing of newspapers and the emergence of new types of media resulted in the arts, such a writing and painting to only develop, improve and flourish during that time period.

Reaching to a conclusion, the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolutionand the Enlightenment were the three major factors that contributed towards the emergence of sociology in the late 18th and early 19th century. During this historical period,people’s lives became much easier and better. All these changes helped people become more open minded and created for them a life with more choices. , This important turning point in history led to a technological and economic boom. It also resulted in people learning to live in societies. “A person who cannot live in society, or does not need to because he is self-sufficient, is either a beast or a God”. (Aristotle, Politics)

Bibliography
Lecture and Tutorial notes
Wikipedia-online encyclopedia
Internet the rise of sociology
Morrison, K. 2006. Marx Durkheim Weber.
Bilton, T. Bonnet, K. Jones, P. Lawson, T. Skinner, D. Stanworth, M. Webster, A. 2002. Introductory sociology, 4th edition. Palgrave Macmillan

Emasculation of male has been said to gain its roots as from the World War II and the

Post war period (Faludi. S 1999). Traditional gender roles have been said to the most important indicator of emasculation. This is mainly based on its application in modern society as opposed to traditional society. Changes based on jobs, empowerment, independence of women, loss of

rugged individual, loss of G1 Joe ethics, Metrosexuals, Hollywood among others are important

factors to consider in emasculation of the male in the modern society.

According to Hillary, more effort is needed to eradicate emasculation of males in the modern

society. Faludi J. in her book, The Betrayal of the American Man refers to male emasculation as the male crisis. She proceeds to state that it is the cause of the great unhappiness, violence , anger and confusion in the modern man.

The thesis statement of this study is changes brought about by World War II and the post war Period. These had significant impacts on traditional gender roles more so the emasculation of the male. The problem is due to persists if men failed to recognize their gender roles meaning that it is very crucial for men to realize their gender roles before it is late. This state of affairs is not to be blamed on men or any particular person but on culture and society. These are the betrayers of men (Faludi S. 1999). Faludi identifies the reason why men are not able to pick themselves up as poor upbringing. During upbringing, they are raised to inherit a world they will exercise firm control over. Unfortunateltly, that world no longer exiats and all that remains an ornamental fa??ade of masculinity which Faludi refers to as ??male superdominance.??

Discussion

Emasculation refers to the deprivation of man??s masculinity, power and his manhood hence making him impotent of both identity and expression. Through emasculation, patriarchy has lost value in men thus demoting male dominance in the family and the society. Masculinity is associated with the male. With emasculation, the patriarchy that exists in the male is breached hence enabling the female to compete with man for existence. It is true that masculinity is a female centered realty in every society in the world. According to Faludi (1999) the laid off laboring which has caused man to lose his work mates and the many paranoid husbands insecure about their wives during the second half of the twentieth century is a clear indication of the male crisis. Masculinity crisis was evidenced in America stage whereby men discovered that women were advancing. The advancement of women has been seen as a driving force to men??s distress. According to faludi, men have discovered that masculinity and femininity are similar ornaments, that they do not essentially differ from each other as it were the case in the traditional society. Mass culture from Hollywood, Madison and pop psychology highlights the avenues of America man troubles .several American men have perceived the advancement of women as the major cause of their decline (Faludi,1999).

It was argued that men in stiffed did not miss male supremacy but companionship and social relevance. It was argued that emasculation of male has empowered women therefore being in a position to snatch jobs that were formerly made for men and dominated by men. Women have become independent.they have learnt to rely on themselves and not their husbands. A good example is that of divorced women who have managed to provide for their families in the absence of men or husbands.

It was argued that in modern society, women do not base male utility on finding work and appreciation but it is all about looking for one??s place in the society. Faulty refers modern society as a Media world, that the media influences everything. For instance, the media has played a major role in the feminization process. Through the media, the public has advanced feminism massively resulting into what is referred to as gender war. This is because it sets men against women whereby the two genders struggle for existence. In America, men were said to have been betrayed, a situation which was not unique. According to Faludi, American men have faced emasculation but to some extent, this has been highlighted by the fact that many women are working into men??s miserable production jobs but they still earn low wages. Emasculation of the male also depends on personalities. Some men clearly emasculated while others still have very strong male complex. The Economic system in Stiffed has highlighted aspect of emasculation of males through the manner in which it screws males in white working class jobs and their families in particular (Faludi, 1999).

The collapse of masculinity has left males uncomfortable since their gender roles have been violated. Culture reveals that emasculation of men resulted from men??s brutalality, violence and irresponsibility, which was of their nature and the nature of their hormones. Susan Faludi holds that in the modern world cultural forces are disfiguring men??s lives and destroys their chances to live happy lives.

Men??s attributes such as craft, social utility and loyalty are no longer honored as the traditional masculinity continues to decline or collapse. To Faludi, they have lost their loyalty and their economic power.

The way we never was a myth presented by Stephanie Coontz which illustrates the way of life experienced in the modern world or society. According to this author, none of the past moments presents workable models based on how people conduct their lives today. According to this book, dichotomous gender roles were developed in the early nineteen century with an aim of creating balance between the male individualism and the female altruism. It has been argued that economic and political trends have led to deterioration of traditional life values hence advocating for emasculation of males.

Male are said to be ignorant in that they believe that their reality is centered among females

without adhering to the fact that female also have their own reality. Male reality is determined

externally but not internally, because it has been noted that masculinity is measured based on

one??s wife satisfying behavior in the society. This is to mean that the male soul does not play any

part in individual reality. The selfishness implicated in the disregard of reality of females has

been considered as the major cause of both spiritual and emotional differences between the two

types of gender. As regards emotions, females are considered to be more emotional as compared to males. In the matter concerning spiritual backgrounds, female take the forefront as they are considered to be more religious than their male counterparts.

During the World War II and the period after the war, several changes occurred in society leading to the erosion of male masculinity (Clinton & Hillary, 1996).

Women learnt that their freedom had been barred by the patriarchy or the dominance of males in the society. Before then, love was a good indicator of the relationship between the male and female but with the onset of emasculation of male, love was replaced by economic foundation . In the absence of emasculation, women had a close attachment to their husband. Emasculation in most cases is said to germinate into what scientist call bacterium. Male are said to be have been disadvantaged by the emasculation which is said to shed off their powers hence are they unable to practice patriarchy in the society. According to the masculine logics, this breach in behavior calls for punishment or any other consequences in the society. Males are said to find it difficult to resist the use of what is referred to as physical force and that is why aggression has been considered natural to male as in their reptilian brain. When males are offended by their wives they tend to use their masculine to punish them but according to the recent research based on masculines, it has been noted that masculine prowess is under the counter of emasculation .

According to Stephanie Coontz, women tend to exercise powers above their husbands in the society, which is contrary to the traditional gender roles. They use state authorities like the police as their watchdogs and they have the powers of summoning them at a mere dial of 911. With increased emasculation of males, both the man??s reality and masculinity are irrepairably damaged. They will never at any given time be the same again as it was during the times of traditional society. To cover their emasculations many males have indulged themselves into drinking sprees. Alcohol has become the bandage for their masculine wounds. Emasculation is said to be worsening as the time goes on hence developing into a full-fledged kind of disease. This showed how emasculation of males had affected men and their families whereby women had rights to decide when to quit marriage. Males are said to have no alternative reality that they could rely upon as opposed to females in every society in the world. Emasculation of males has made them to result into alcohol taking which has made them lose consciousness of their males reality in favor of their imaginative realities. This imagination of their reality has had negative effects on their jobs meaning it interferes with their jobs to the point that they are unable to play their roles as breadwinners in the family. Many males think or consider alcohol as the best solution for their emasculation but it has negative effects to males roles since it made them lessconcerned to what is expected of them. Imagination reality and Alcohol are said to collide if and only if the males apply them both. Emasculation is said to reach what is called malignancy hence resulting to death when males lose their jobs because they believe that there is no life worth living .

The process of human evolution has been said to result to a more devastating form of emasculation since it led to feminization process through destruction of patriarchy organization and the old paradigm of expression of the masculine (Fricker, 2000).

In the process of human evolvion, several roles or features were made less useful in the

society. Things such as suppression, war, aggression, competition and brute muscle force are

no long inexistence today. Emasculation is argued to become stronger and stronger as males

escape the destruction imposed by nature. As time goes on, masculinity of males is viewed to

have been transforming into a situation considered by many scholars as a vanguard of femininity

in the society. According to Faludi, men have discovered that masculinity and femininity similar

ornaments meaning that they do not differ from each other as it were the case in the traditional

society. Mass culture from Hollywood, Madison and pop psychology highlights the avenues

of the American man troubles .several America men have perceived the advancement of women as the major cause of their decline.

Emasculation of males was good or bad depending on the side of human evolution one stood after the completion of feminization process. The feminization process is a complex and unstoppable process in the transformation of human beings since it is beyond people??s ability. This is to mean that human transformation is a process controlled by the spirit of God in every society in the world. This is a strong ascription of the natural law school of thought. In the early form of Christianity, females are said to possess values such as obedience, commitment, innocence, ability to sufferer silently and faithfulness (Fricker, 2000).

According to the transformation of human being and the impact of industrial revolution,it was argued that these values are no longer useful since females have realized their roles after the call for gender equity in the society. Feminization process has brought about rugged individualism in the world where by a man has become a master of his own fate but not the fate of others; men are now responsible to make their beds, cook and clean among others roles previously known as duties of women.

Rugged individualism has been implicated through several movies and television in the United States. The Hollywood culture is a good indicator of emasculation of males. Most of the American movies present a large number of female actors as opposed to males. In these movies female characters are empowered or play a dominant role in acting meaning that they are the most dangerous and armed characters as compared to the males. Hollywood culture had portrayed men as having adopted female characteristic. Men have taken up female habits such as trimming eyebrows, slim, tight abs, attractiveness among others. On the contrary, several researches have showed that females have embraced male??s characteristics and that is why they have ventured into roles that traditionally were made for males. On the issues of appearance conscious, it has been noted that with the onset of emasculation of males, many men have become more conscious of their appearance than it was before. Some sent a lot of times decorating their bodies through the use of cosmetics and other chemicals or substances that are said to bring about beauty in human beings. Traditionally men had a little concern on the issue of beauty but this seems to have ceased with passage of time (Lewis, 1975).

Younger men are the major victims of appearance conscious since they are said to adhere to fashion trends more often than in past .Emasculation of males have made women to become independent of them meaning that women are able to provide for themselves without depending on their husband who have become ignorant of their role as providers. It has therefore been discovered that many women or females are not willing to get married to men since they can take on the role of provider with ease than it was before. This is so because females are taking on the roles or jobs of males in the modern society a fact that has contributed male emasculation.

Professional fields are flooded since career equity has empowered female to compete males dominated jobs. In the past, that is before the world war two, females were not entitled to venture into certain fields such as drivers, engineers, doctors among others because nature prohibits them .

The world war empowered women or females to take part in economic activities in every nation in the world. This is to mean that females have the right to remain in the task force like any other human being. Traditional gender roles are no longer considered important in the modern society that came about because of the industrial revolution. This industrial revolution is said to have enlightened females thus ceasing from being victims of male exploitation in the society.

It was witnessed that emasculation of male has empowered women therefore being in a position to snatch jobs that were made for men. Women have become independent meaning that they rely on themselves but not their husbands. They are no longer silent sufferer and that is why they have become increasingly independent than in the past.

The Solution

According to Faludi, there is an opportunity for the two sexes to look above their adversarial relationship. That they can agree on a more suitable mechanism or paradigm of human progress that will enable both to excel.

Solution to emasculation of males is that gender is socially determined meaning that people perceive their role depending on the acquired knowledge that brings about equity in human beings. Through the book gender-neutral socialization, people are free to make choices that at some points made them stuck in certain social positions in the modern society. This is to mean that those choices people made on their lives contribute largely to their imprisonment in their conventional gender roles (Hilary, 2004).

According to Frazier, the solutions lays primarily in employment. He states that once a man has a job he behaves like a man and takes up both his sexual and social roles with adequacy.

Further, man should not measure his masculinity base on the female perception of his ability to perform his duties (Scott M. 1997)