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In this chapter we have discussed the conclusion, implication in informatics, method evaluation, result evaluation, possibilities to generalize and ideas for the continued research.

Conclusions

There are many problems for visually impaired and blind people in society, they faces many type of hurdles in performing every day routine works, the barrier of low vision not let them to become part of this society. They also feel embarrassment many times while performing these tasks when they are unsuccessful in performing or completing them, because of their visual impairment deficiency. It is great blessing of God, if anyone have perfectly 6/6 eye sights and one should be thankful to God for this. The visually impaired user is like that person whom we can say that lost his/her way on journey and don’t know where and how to pass easy life. The humans are a sharp minded creation in the world; due to which technology contributes a lot to fill this gap between society and visually impaired people. Day by day advancements in the field of science introduces new technologies for benefits of normal and handicap persons to make the life easy and comfortable. The inventors should also keep this thing in mind that the people with visual impairment and other type of disabilities should also be facilitated, because they are also part of society, we can’t ignore them as a human being.

There are many types of hurdles during reservation of ticket system for visually impaired and blind people. At present the current ticketing systems are not mature enough for visually impaired users. Only the normal users can be benefited out of this, whereas the visually impaired user needs help of other people. One can say very confidently that today’s ticket vending machines are not user friendly for all type of users. In ticket vending systems there are two important aspects for visually impaired users which are how to feed data and how to get the results.

The usability, actability user-centered aspects should be considered while the designing of ticketing machines for visually impaired users. The features of the ticket vending system those are important for the visually impaired users are used in prototypes which we have designed with screen shots in appendix. We have used the human avatar (interactive artificial agent) for the vocal interaction with the users, which can interact in friendly environment with visually impaired user to complete the task of purchasing tickets. The user can therefore feed data to the system and get the result from the machine. The input and output functions should work in parallel way during the interaction of user and machine. For the input to the system there should be special keyboard (Braille) for visually impaired users from which the user can input to the system like user’s name and other details. There should be information button on each page, so if the user is having any problem at any stage, the user can get the help any time during the interaction. The users who don’t want to operate the system with vocal interaction can use the zooming options to make the things more visible for their understanding. The zooming option should also be available on every screen interface.

Implications for Informatics

It is worth mentioning that the Implications for informatics, is the basic purpose to know how ticket vending system is related to the field of informatics, and how it would be helpful for the society. Our research area contributes a very important role in the field of informatics, because informatics deals with the field of development and use of information systems. In our thesis ticket reservation system is a box of information system, artificial intelligence, and most important thing is that its foundation is based on informatics. You can say that the human beings are experts in informatics and have all the information and functionality of ticket reservation machine like how the user can communicate with the machine, to find the price and buy ticket of each travel from any source to required destination, to find each bus or train number, which route and schedule it follows, as well as time of each and every bus or train. The main goal is to give services to the society which includes members of handicapped society and make it easy for them to buy ticket with the help of informatics.

The ticket reservation has also the same goal or task as humans who are serving for 24 hours. To provide its service to the society, and give the people information as well as option to buy ticket from themselves without help of other person. As mention above, the ticketing machine gives you all the information and tickets about travelling from one city to another. It can tell you travel’s starting and final timing as well as total travelling time, route, price of ticket and as well as allows the payment. All this is related to processing which depends on computers and this thing is also putting effects on the businesses so we can say that the field is related to informatics and artificial intelligence. Main purpose of the informatics is to serve humanity and society.

Our thesis is basically for the affect people of society, and who can’t be ignored at all. We can’t say that the people who have physical deficiency in their body are not part of the society. We believe that these people are more important than the normal human beings because they more deserved more care due to their disability. We should try to do something different for them to make their life easier because these people have lots of problem and feel themselves cut off from the society. They should not be allowed to feel that they are burden on the society. The informatics did a lot for the visually impaired people by filling the gap which existed between normal and visually impaired people, by providing many assistive technologies for the disables. We also believe that, if we can’t serve the humanity with the help of informatics then it is useless for us.

Method Evaluation

The main purpose of method evolution is to sort out appropriate properties of different subject area and relate them to our own research area. The methods in our research work and interview questions make it is possible for us to relate it to current and previous research works. For understanding the problems and difficulties, related to our subject area, we used different concepts and theories from different subject area and relate them with our work. We also coped with problem in merging those methods into our subject area as a whole. Sometime it shows common character with each other, but the best approach of satisfaction for us was to make it relate to the interviews and observations from visually impaired users, which were of great importance for us, otherwise our thesis would be useless for us. For that we explained previously how we conducted interviews, which were very successful according to our expectations, which also make it easy for us to merge and related to our research work.

To verify and make authentic theoretical research work, we conducted interviews and observations. Which make it possible for us to relate and gather it, with help of visually impaired and experienced user of ticket vending machines, those have some relation with related topic from one aspect or from other aspect. We got answers of all our questions which were necessary for us to fill the gap of interaction between the system and the user through interviews, observations and through research.

In theoretical study, we have indicated many subject areas to get the answers of our research questions. The theoretical study only answers the question logically, but to get the answers practically. It is required to conduct the empirical study.

In theoretical study the subject areas that we studied were most of the time according to our research questions. We found it difficult to find any specific or same subject area related to our research. This might be due to the fact that nothing is written about the ticketing machine for visually impaired people. We feel this thing really missing in the theoretical study.

For the verification of the aspects that were indicated in the theoretical study. We performed empirical study in form of interviews and observations. The empirical study was necessary, because we could not find any specific subject area in theoretical study. The interviews and observations were very good, and we are satisfied with them, but we feel that the number of interviews and observations from the visually impaired people was quite small. We believe that we got the information that we required, it would be more appropriate that we could get more interviews and observations.

Result Evaluation

The evaluation method that described in chapter 2 was based on the

Validity
Data quality
Feedback

The validity describes the subjective nature of the data collection and the analysis. We produced some results from the theoretical study, validate them by the help of the empirical study, because we might have misinterpreted some aspects or are misunderstood something during theoretical study that might not be the actual fact in reality, so it is very important to validate the results. We have also validated the prototypes that we developed from few visually impaired people, to evaluate our final results, and the results were satisfactory for us because the users were satisfied, but it can be further improved upon.

The data quality reveals us that data collected is in detailed and varied enough to provide us with a complete picture of what is going on and what processes are involved. We have tried to ensure the quality in the data with the help of the theoretical study. In which we have tried to study as much as we can, about the related subject areas. We have then conducted the empirical study and at the end we evaluated our results from the core actors (visually impaired) in the research to check the quality of the results.

Feedback is the most important part for the result evaluation and validating the results of the findings, because there is always a possibility of misinterpreting the meaning of what participants say in the empirical part either by misunderstanding the answer of any question, during the interviews or by wrongly perceiving the observation. The Feedback will imply the gathering and the feedback about the conclusions from the participants. We have tried to check that our interpretation make sense to the visually impaired people, by making them to go through by the prototypes and provide the feedback about how they perceive such prototype.

Evaluation of any system consists of two of types:

Green box evaluation
Black box evaluation

Green box evaluation is the evaluation of each individual component of a system. The evaluation of a system as a whole is called as Black box evaluation (Michael F. Mctear, 2002).

We cannot use black box evaluation or evaluation of the system as a whole because our results are not working prototypes; these are just screen shots of a prototype. Instead, the evaluation of the individual components or individual screen shots is based on the answers of the evaluator, which is specified by evaluator and comparing that by our own assumptions. We cannot evaluate the results from any mathematical formula as we haven’t used quantitative approach. We have evaluated the results from our target groups and get the feedback from the users, and then we made few minor changes according to their feedback.

“It is important that the study is guided by good ethics and that a survey has a high ethical value.”(Ann Lind, 2005) i.e. it is very important for the researcher should not add or remove some parts for the researchers’ own purpose, because that might results in the aspects which are not real or other than the facts. (Ann Lind, 2005). It is our duty to follow good ethical values during the study especially when we made interviews and observations because some of the respondents were not normal humans, they have some disabilities. We have made this thing sure to the users that the respondent will be kept anonymous and we don’t think that our study is affected by this fact.

Possibilities to Generalize

The purpose of our research work is to make awareness in researchers that they can concentrate on visually impaired or blind people as well as for the people with other disabilities. There are many interactive ticket machines for the normal people but there is no option for specific people with disabilities. It is good for society as well as for the organizations to boost up their business. It can help different business organization also, but the bad luck is that they have no expenses or good ideas or you can say no concentration on handicapped people. The results can be used at cash machines, ticket vending machines, information kiosks, charity kiosk machines, rental kiosks, internet kiosks and printing kiosk machines etc. The companies can merge these ideas into different kiosk machines to make their business at peak as well as serve humanity and society. Our thesis has both tangible and intangible assets according to business aspects as well as for the society. We believe that our little but sincere efforts can force researches to do something better than our work practically.

Ideas for continued research

For continue research according to our idea, there are many things which are still have a big gap between visually impaired people and machine as well as society. Further research is required to make idea more appropriate and bring under the usage of visually impaired people. It is not easy to concentrate on all issues related to the visually impaired people. On the idea about this specific type of ticket kiosk machines for specific type of people, we suggest that the machines should be at their care centers where the visually impaired people spent most of the time of a day, so they can get familiar with it and can easily tackle that how it works. If there is machine for these people to serve them and if they are not familiar with it, it will create problems for them while communicating with it, for first time and for every time they will use it. To invent something is not a big effort but the question that how the user would use that invention

The idea, which we have leave out because it might not fit in our current investigation is that to put these prototypes in real working machines, so it can work and serve the humans and society practically. We also want to do the same kind of work for all or most types of handicapped people, which was not possible for us this time.

While discussing the issues and concerns about working women, the main emphasis should be on the ‘opportunities for women’, as it is of utmost importance. Like every human being, a woman has a ‘natural desire for the expression of her inborn knack and abilities’; even a small baby shows his natural guts through his actions and movements. So, if a woman learns something, she craves for expressing it in some way. It is quite encouraging that nowadays, women have much more opportunities and prospects for the assertion of their individuality and talents. The services sector has increased the chances for women with its comfortable environment, where they can actively participate and excel, even from a distant place. Hence, if the focus is right, this issue will, hopefully, find its way towards a positive solution.

In short we need revamp in all round corners with respect to working women’s lives. We need to help each other, join together in chorus to raise our issues, put them in a proposal to government for new legislations angled at improving working women’s lives.

1. Introduction

In India, men do not share on most of the household chores, it is women who have to cook, clean the house, do the dishes, wash clothes, get their children ready for school etc. Men just took care of few chores that are to be dealt outside the house. So the major burden of running the family is on the shoulders of women. It was alright for women to handle all the chores as long as they were homemakers. Now with their increasing need for getting some income for the family, they have to work all the more harder. They have to take up a 9 to 5 job plus handle all the household chores that they handled as a homemaker. Men’s role has not changed much.

The status of Indian women has undergone considerable change. Though Indian women are far more independent and aware of their legal rights, such as right to work, equal treatment, property and maintenance, a majority of women remain unaware of these rights. There are other factors that affect their quality of life such as age of marriage, extent of literacy, role in the family and so on. In many families, women do not have a voice in anything while in several families; the women may have a dominating role. The result is that the empowerment of women in India is highly unbalanced and with huge gaps. Those who are economically independent and literate live the kind of life that other women tend to envy about. This disparity is also a cause for worry because balanced development is not taking place.1

2. Objectives of the study:
To study the status of working women in India.
To study the problems faced by working women in India
3. Scope of the study:

The scope of the study is limited to the present status of working women in India

4. Review of Literature:

Hate (1978) in her book stated that there is positive change in the political, economics and social status of middle class working and non-working women living in four cities in Maharashtra with the advent of independence.

Robinson and Skarie (1980) in their article on stress of working women stated that in the area of stress and its relationship to locus control reveals that internally oriented individuals show less perception of role overload and role ambiguity

Chandrika (1982) in her study stated that in the last decade of the 20th century the spotlight fell on various specific issues of women, these include multiple feminine identity, gender and sexuality, feminization of poverty environment and sustainable development, planning and power globalization, sex tourism, sexual harassment at work place, Dalit women’s issues, tribal women and minority women’s problem, women’s rights as human rights, communal fascism, women and media. These yielded truly in depth analysis, studies and discussions and action programmers.

Seta Vaidayalingam (1994) discussed the problem and concerns of Indian women. According to working women are subject to more explanative problems and pressures then their non- working sisters. Finding a suitable occupation in the first problem right and proceeds it and of course fighting for the right amount of education to secure a decent job, tops it all, after having completed her education when a women steps the field of vocation are not quite correct, we find to be women’s staying capacity and the usual remarks is adequate. This kind of attitude spoils a women’s changes at all levels and particularly in the field of self -employment with a job come other problematic situations, kinds of people at work especially men. Number of lawyers do not encourage women simply because the later to level the office at about 6 p.m. in order to reach home early despite the fact that a busy lawyer’s office is at its best after 6 p.m. Single working women have the accommodation problem, if working in a city their families do not live with them. One has heard and read in the newspaper of the unfavorable conditions prevailing in hostels which in any case among to meet encouraged to need. My own mother has never done a day’s work despite having secured a medical education from the Madras Medical College.

Let us look at some of the basic problems faced by working women in modern-day India.

5. Status of Working Women in India

Status of Indian working women is far from being satisfactory..

6. Data Analysis & Interpretation

Most commonly used development indicators are work and employment as an economic empowerment measure for women via-avis men, participation in Decision Making in Administrative and Political power.

The status of working Indian women has been shown in Table 1 during the recent past of post independence period. From 1971-2001 the overall work participation rate for women has gone from 34.3 percent to 39.26 percent, just a marginal increase of 5 per cent over a long period of three decades. Ideal share in work participation of women should have been equal to sex ratio of women in the total population of the country. We are far away from this ideal even after 65 years of independence. Work participation in higher administrative posts is miserably low. Though there has been a cry for equal political participation for women in political decision making, barring a single exception of Women’s’ participation in Local Self Government bodies, the rate of women’s participation in state assemblies has hardly increase by .0.5 percent over the period of 15 years from 1985 to 2000 whereas the participation in MPs in Parliament has increase just by 4 per cent over a period of 20 years from 6.1 per cent to 10.1 per cent. Shall we be able to bring gender equality in near future? How long we should wait for bringing gender equality in real terms?

7. Problems of Working Women
Acceptance As Working Professionals

Most Indian men are yet to come to terms with the fact that women are also capable of working with them, shoulder to shoulder, in any field or professional sphere. They still visualize women as individuals who should be in charge of the kitchen and other domestic affairs.

Work is either seen as a temporary evil for women whose husbands do not earn enough, or the domain of women who do not “know their place.” As a result, Indian working women do not get the respect they require from their male colleagues in the workplace.

Balancing Work-Family Life

No matter how high their position or designation is in the office, women in India are still viewed as the family manager back home. They are expected to return home at a certain time, cook, clean and take care of family affairs.

In fact, men who help out around their house are often the butt of jokes by their male friends. This makes life extremely stressful for women who have little help around the house and have to do it all.

Travelling For Work is Not Acceptable

One of the problems faced by married working women is that they cannot travel or go on tours without having to answer uncomfortable questions by most of their friends and family. This is especially true for married women, who also have a flourishing career. Their professional obligations often depend on the support and understanding of family members.

A married man can go on long official tours outside his home city, without raising eyebrows and questions from his family members and peers, but his equally-successful wife would face disapproval. As a result, women often have to opt out of jobs than involve travel or settle for not being promoted as a result.

Safety Of Working Women

The “nosey questions factor” aside, there is still the concern for safety of working women who need to travel on official business. Women travelling out of their home city for work trips are considered vulnerable and an easy target to fulfill the lewd intentions of their chauvinist male colleagues. Checking into a hotel alone is one of the problems faced by working women, even if the trip is purely official. Many hotels refuse to allot a room to a single woman (under strange pretexts) because of their own safety concerns or if a woman decides to stay alone, she is viewed with suspicion.

Unequal Pay

One of the raging topics of discussion in the context of problems faced by working women (not only in India, but also in many other nations) is that of equal pay. Legally, a woman is entitled to get the same salary as their male colleagues for the same kind of work done by them. However, gender discrimination is rampant as many companies still do not adhere to these guidelines and pay women less than their male colleagues.

Education

Though it is gradually rising, the female literacy rate in India is lower than the male literacy rate. Compared to boys, far fewer girls are enrolled in the schools, and many of them drop out. According to the National Sample Survey Data of 1997, only the states of Kerala and Mizoram have approached universal female literacy rates. According to majority of the scholars, the major factor behind the improved social and economic status of women in Kerala is literacy.

Under Non-Formal Education programme (NFE), about 40 Per cent of the centers in states and 10 Per cent of the centers in UTs are exclusively reserved for females. As of 2000, about 0.3 million NFE centers were catering to about 7.42 million children, out of which about 0.12 million were exclusively for girls. In urban India, girls are nearly at par with the boys in terms of education. However, in rural India girls continue to be less educated than the boys.

According to a 1998 report by U.S. Department of Commerce, the chief barrier to female education in India are inadequate school facilities (such as sanitary facilities), shortage of female teachers and gender bias in curriculum (majority of the female characters being depicted as weak and helpless).

Discrimination at Workplace

However, Indian women still face blatant discrimination at their workplaces. A major problem faced by the working women is sexual harassment at the work place. Further, women employees working in night shift are more vulnerable to such incidents. Nurses, for example, face this problem nearly every day. There is nothing that is done in hospitals to tackle and address the danger they face. Such blatant disregard of current Indian laws is one reason why sexual harassment at the workplace continues to increase.

Also, Indian women are often deprived of promotions and growth opportunities at work places but this doesn’t apply to all working women. A majority of working women continue to be denied their right to equal pay, under the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 and are underpaid in comparison to their male colleagues. This is usually the case in factories and labor-oriented industries.

Land and property rights

In most Indian families, women do not own any property in their own names, and do not get a share of parental property. Due to weak enforcement of laws protecting them, women continue to have little access to land and property. In fact, some of the laws discriminate against women, when it comes to land and property rights.

The Hindu personal laws of mid-1956s (applied to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains) gave women rights to inheritance. However, the sons had an independent share in the ancestral property, while the daughters’ shares were based on the share received by their father. Hence, a father could effectively disinherit a daughter by renouncing his share of the ancestral property, but the son will continue to have a share in his own right. Additionally, married daughters, even those facing marital harassment, had no residential rights in the ancestral home. After amendment of Hindu laws in 2005, now women in have been provided the same status as that of men.

In 1986, the Supreme Court of India ruled that Shah Bano, an old divorced Muslim woman was eligible for maintenance money. However, the decision was vociferously opposed by fundamentalist Muslim leaders, who alleged that the court was interfering in their personal law. The Union Government subsequently passed the Muslim Women’s (Protection of Rights upon Divorce) Act.

Similarly, the Christian women have struggled over years for equal rights of divorce and succession. In 1994, all the churches, jointly with women’s organizations, drew up a draft law called the Christian Marriage and Matrimonial Causes Bill. However, the government has still not amended the relevant laws.

Crimes against women

Police records show high incidence of crimes against women in India. The National Crime Records Bureau reported in 1998 that the growth rate of crimes against women would be higher than the population growth rate by 2010.Earlier; many cases were not registered with the police due to the social stigma attached to rape and molestation cases. Official statistics show that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of reported crimes against women.

Domestic Violence

Globally, one out of every three women faces violence at the hands of their husbands, Fathers, or brothers and uncles in their homes. Domestic violence can be described as when one adult in a relationship misuses power to control another through violence and other forms of abuse. The abuser tortures and controls the victim by calculated threats, intimidation and physical violence. Although men, women and children can be abused, in most cases the victims are women. In every country where reliable, large-scale studies have been conducted, results indicate that between 16 and 52 Per cent of women have been assaulted by their husbands/partners. These studies also indicate widespread violence against women as an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Such violence may also include rape and sexual abuse. Psychological Status of Women in India: Problems and concerns 25violence includes verbal abuse, harassment, confinement and deprivation of physical, financial and personal resources. For some women emotional abuse may be more painful than physical attacks because they effectively undermine women’s security and self-confidence. In India, violence within the home is universal across culture, religion, class and ethnicity. The abuse is generally condoned by social custom and considered a part and parcel of marital life. Statistics reveal a grim picture of domestic violence in India. The National Crimes Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India reports a shocking 71.5 Per cent increase in instances of torture and dowry deaths during the period from 1991 to 1995.

Dowry

Another serious issue in modern India is Courts are flooded with cases related to death due to dowry harassment by husband and in laws. In ancient times women were given ‘Stridhan’ when they departed from the house of their parents. This amount of money was given to her as a gift which she can use on her and her children but her in-laws did not have any right on that amount. This amount was supposed to help the girl in time of need. Slowly this tradition became obligatory and took the form of dowry. Nowadays parents have to give hefty amount in dowry, the in laws of their girl are not concerned whether they can afford it or not. If a girl brings large amount of dowry she is given respect and is treated well in her new home and if she does not bring dowry according to expectations of her in laws then she has to suffer harassment. Due to this evil practice many newly wed women of India have to lose their lives.

8. Conclusion:

Thus, while discussing the issues and concerns about working women, the main emphasis should be on the ‘opportunities for women’, as it is of utmost importance. Like every human being, a woman has a ‘natural desire for the expression of her inborn knack and abilities’; even a small baby shows his natural guts through his actions and movements. So, if a woman learns something, she craves for expressing it in some way. It is quite encouraging that nowadays, women have much more opportunities and prospects for the assertion of their individuality and talents. The services sector has increased the chances for women with its comfortable environment, where they can actively participate and excel, even from a distant place. Hence, if the focus is right, this issue will, hopefully, find its way towards a positive solution.

In short we need revamp in all round corners with respect to working women’s lives. We need to help each other, join together in chorus to raise our issues, put them in a proposal to government for new legislations angled at improving working women’s lives.

A couple of visibly clear steps the government can take to improving working women’s lives are:

Give higher interest in all bank deposits to women
Give 30-50 Per cent discount in all Rail/bus/plane fares to women
Legislate strict laws against sexual harassment in offices
Setup special courts for handling complaints of working women against their employers
Legislate leeway for special leaves needed by working women
Legislate laws to curb inequality

Introduction

Today’s world has become a small place due to the expansion and understanding of technology; globalisation is another major contributing factor that must receive credit for this expansion throughout the globe.

This report will attempt to discuss and analyse some of the issues that surround information poverty with regards, to India. As a developing country, India is forecasted to become one of the world’s major player interns of economic power, globally. Before this can happen, India needs to make a transition from a developing country towards a developed country. It is the objective of this report to critically analyse, issues as well as suggesting solutions for them.

This paper will attempt to introduce some of the theories and concepts that can be applied and analysing as well, some of the problems and then finally, discussing the issues in order to give recommendations with regards to India.

India

Currently over 1 billion people call India home, it is a wide and diverse culture that can trace its history back to the Indus Valley civilisation, which is a civilisation that can trace its history back over 4000 years (Stearns, 2006). It has seen numerous other civilisations that have invaded its borders and it has most recently been ruled by the British Empire. Although Britain profited from India’s resources it did leave an infrastructure which is still beneficial for India, in the form of its railways. India sought and received independence from its colonial masters in 1947.

India is also one of only a select few countries throughout the globe that can claim nuclear capabilities as one of their achievements. It is also seen as one of the major developing markets throughout the globe but it has significant overpopulation mixed in with a large number of its citizens living in poverty and as with a lot of other countries throughout the globe it suffers from widespread corruption. In addition to this it still operates a caste system throughout its culture they can segregate its citizens to the point that the people at the bottom in some cases, must physically not even touch any superior caste (outcastes) (Stearns, 2006).

It is estimated that in 2008 29% of its total population lived in urbanised areas and it is also estimated that its literacy rate currently stands at 61% (CIA, 2010).

Information Society

In order to understand what information poverty is, it is critical to understand what information Society is. In this section of the report the author will be looking at what information society is, by looking at the different theories that exist. authors such as Wiener (1948) highlighted in the early stages how information and communication would be significant in the future and later on other authors such as Bell (1973) continued to support this argument; it is fair to assume that Wiener (1948) and Bell (1973) did not realise how significant their papers would be with regards to today’s world and new academics such as Freeman and Louc (2001) have had to highlight the changes that have occurred in ideologies with regards to the “revolution ” That has occurred in today’s world.

Throughout the literature that is available, information Society has also been labelled differently by academics, examples of this include, information economy, post-modern society, surveillance society and as well as knowledge society. This also links to globalisation as it is a general consensus that globalisation has been significantly boosted by information and technology.

Numerous authors such as Berman (2008); Floridi (2009); Hilbert, et al (2010); Poel, et al (2010) and Webster (1995) are in agreement that information Society theories have been drawn up in order to understand how information can flow throughout society as well as how it can be used and controlled. This is important as information and knowledge can be critical to an organisation as well as societies throughout the globe, it is also valuable as it affects everyone, from the top down. Berman, (2008) goes on to highlight how the theory of data pyramid can significantly add to a society’s value by firstly (starting at the bottom) by increasing individual value this will lead on to the progression of community value which ultimately results in increased value throughout society as a whole. He goes on to highlight that with the increase through digital data collection society can benefit greatly through increasing infrastructure as well as stability, although responsibility is also increased it has an overall side-effect that decreases the risk of any loss or damage to a nation.

When it comes to information poverty authors such as Hilbert, et al (2010); Cullen, (2001); and significantly with Norris’s (2001) paper that highlights the inequality and digital divide that can exist through a wide range of factors that include ethnicity, geography and more significantly factors such as income and education. It is crucial to understand that change can only exist by the impact of new technologies and strategies and these results in a complex level of change that will also alter social factors (Van Dijk and Hacker, 2003 and Warschauer 2003). When it comes to information poverty there are numerous papers that relate to “the digital divide” but it has created significant differences throughout the authors opinions as some authors such as Howard, et al (2009) highlight how in today’s world, with the opening up of Borders there tends to be an increased level of parity with regards to bridging the gulf between the divide that currently exist, but another school of thought concludes that this divide is in fact deepening (James, 2008 and Van Dijk and Hacker, 2003); Hilbert, et al (2010) draw attention to how that this issue has been attempted to be resolved in order to give a definitive answer, he states “various compound measures have been created, so-called e-readiness indices, such as the ICT Development Index” . Even though numerous authors have attempted to answer definitively the contentious issue that relates to the digital divide and even with implementations of indexes, there still lies a great level of confusion as there is no real consensus; this issue is compounded by the fact that any attempt to analyse the different mediums such as the Internet, given the increased level of complexity by communication and technology.

Issues and examples
The divide

Some issues that relate to India with regards to information poverty surround the significant divide between the rich and poor, which can easily be seen throughout India. Although India is a developing country and it is expected to become one of the World’s powerhouses, it can be assumed that in the future there would still be a divide with regards to wealth be it monetary value as well as access to information. This will lead to an underclass that would have restricted access throughout its citizens. As discussed previously by James, (2008); Van Dijk and Hacker, (2003); Hilbert, et al (2010); and Howard, et al (2009), there is a digital divide that relates to nations as well as globally.

Consciousness

The consciences of India is arguably, significantly less than those of Western countries due to the lack of exposure and access to mediums that will enable its citizens to expand their understanding with regards to accessing information as easily as those of developed countries. As numerous nations throughout the globe have realised that they need to alter their level of consciousness and awareness with regards to being informed of what is occurring around them, be it through policies or with the expansion of globalisation as an example. This can be shown by nations such as United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia understanding that planning for the future is a necessity in order to guarantee the success of its nation. Both these countries have worked tirelessly in order to improve the communication infrastructure as well as drawing upon expertise from all corners of the globe in order to consult an aide the development of their nation.

Outsourcing

India is one of the centres of the World with regards to globalisation as it has seen a significant amount of multinational and national corporations outsourcing their operations to Indian organisations. Most British citizens are aware that they are numerous companies outsourcing their call centres to India in order to reduce costs, but a significant proportion of the population might not know that India in fact has been receiving a steady supply of corporations that are willing to move departments and operations to India due to the amount of its citizens who have specialised in software and hardware development. This is a significant step forward in the development of information within India but it is crucial to understand that the intellectual property rights of the work that is being done within India’s borders tends to revert back to the country of origin.

Infrastructure

India is a wide and vast country with an estimated 1,173,108,018 (July 2010) people living within its borders and as such the level of its citizens that are Internet users only accounts for 81 million (2008, 4th in the world), which causes problems with regards to the clusters of its citizens who live in poverty and there are a large amount of its population that do not even have access to indoor plumbing let alone having access to Internet and telecommunications services. This clearly shows the level of information poverty that surrounds India such as the level of the population that have Telephones main lines, which only stands at 36.76 million as of 2010. Although major cities can see the development of its infrastructure with regards to the availability of Internet access but this cannot be said for rural India.

Solutions
The divide

It is a myth to think that developed countries have perfect societies and democracies when it comes to society and politics and this can also be said for a developing country. Inroads must be made in order to try and bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots. This can only be done through a change of traditions and culture as well as the assistants of the elitist powers that be, who tend control India’s policies and wealth. A new social movement is required, one that does not take into account geography and the caste system.

Consciousness

By allowing India’s gifted students the opportunity to study abroad in order to experience different perspectives and knowledge skills then India can hopefully boost its level of consciousness within a society. India’s education system must also attempt to benefit those at the bottom with regards to enriching their experiences and knowledge. Programs which have been previously broadcasted on the BBC relating to informational videos provided by the Open University. It is a great way of highlighting how the media can assist its citizens by attempting to educate them in order to hopefully aid with its issue of information poverty.

Outsourcing

It is a common consensus that nation’s require four key ingredients for growth, land, labour and capital. The fourth is probably the most significant when it comes to this issue and it relates to entrepreneurship. India must attempt to tackle the brain drain that is occurring currently with regards to outsourcing. Although outsourcing is a crucial factor, India must attempt to produce its own intellectual property in order to capitalise more significantly on the ability to considerably increase its profits in order to increase its capital, to benefit India as a whole.

Infrastructure

Information poverty can be tackled significantly with the investment in its infrastructure. This has to be done by allowing the whole of the nation to have access to other information mediums. It is understandable that India is vast but instead of attempting to have access to every home, it should start by having centres in remote regions so they can experience some of the knowledge gained and this will require a significant amount of investment.

Although the physical infrastructure is lacking it is key to note that further access can be done by mobile phone technology as there is approximately 545,000,000 Mobile telephones that exist currently. It is key to note that urban areas have a significant level of coverage compared to those of rural areas that are still lacking but crucially have seen a steady increase in its coverage.

Recommendations

As the examples above clearly show that there are numerous issues that relate to India with regards to information poverty. It is important to note that these are only a few of a vast array of issues that surround information society within India. Although numerous authors have different opinions as to whether there is an increase or a decrease with regards to the divide between the haves and have-nots; both points of views are valid as some assumptions can be made such as with globalisation, undeveloped and developing nations are rapidly closing the gap as a whole to those of developed nations, but on the other hand you can see with the likes of India; that although India is rapidly closing the gap to other nations, the same cannot be said if you look within India. An example of this is that urbanised areas are clearly rapidly improving whilst rural areas have not seen the same level of development.

In order to address the issues that relate to information poverty, it is vital for India to first significantly invest in programs such as developing its infrastructure to those citizens that are lacking access to information. Through the support of the government, India can attempt to address these issues and it would also be beneficial to them with regards to aiding and bolstering their current success, as can be seen with the impressive figures from recent years that have shown its noteworthy growth (monetary value and influence). It is clear that for India to proceed with this plan it draw upon its knowledge and understanding in order to be able to negotiate freely with all parties to ultimately achieve its goals.

Although throughout western countries you can see different levels of influence such as the upper-class, middle-class and working class, these distinctions have been somewhat skewed overtime as whole Bloodlines can no longer be categorised easily; this cannot be said of India as cultural differences are still a major influencing factor and as such it must be tackled through a wide range of policies such as equal opportunities laws and more significantly from some can of social movement, again this would require the support of both the people and most crucially the government in order to introduce political and legal legislations to tackle this issue.

Prison deals with prisoners from all kinds of backgrounds. Every prisoner has different problems and there are a range of services on offer to help them while in prison to prepare them for their eventual release. Prison is a place used for confinement of convicted criminals (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). Aside from the death penalty, a sentence to prison is the harshest punishment imposed on criminals in the United States. On the federal level, imprisonment or incarceration is managed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a federal agency within the department of justice (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). State prisons are supervised by a state agency such as a department of corrections. Confinement in prison, also known as a penitentiary or correctional facility, is the punishment that courts most commonly impose for serious crimes, such as felonies. For lesser crimes, courts usually impose short term incarceration in a jail, detention center, or similar facility (Gaines, & Miller, 2009).

Prison life of the 1700’s of an accused was not as strict. There were windows that the prisoners could look through in order to solicit for charity from the people walking by, and sometimes prisoners would be allowed to sell things at the prison gates (“Prison life,” 2011). Although there are many differences between the life of a prison in the 1700’s and the life of a prisoner today, there are also many similarities. Each accused individual was captured by the police and taken to the nearest holding cell (“Prison life,” 2011). These cells were in prisons called local prisons. The individual was then let free or convicted of his or her crime. If convicted, the individual was taken to the closest common prison (“Prison life,” 2011).

During the 1700’s there were only local holding jails, common prisons, and houses of correction; later, during the 1800’s prisons became more separated and prisoners were assigned to the appropriate prison (“Prison life,” 2011). The convicted were not stripped of their belongings like in today’s prisons, but they were searched for weapons or objects that could be used to escape. Once inside, the prisoner was assigned a small cell made of hard walls, floors covered in dirt and rodents, and a bed (“Prison life,” 2011). If the prisoner was lucky, this bed consisted of a small hammock tied to opposite walls, but often times it was made of a wooden bench or the floor. For meals the prisoners were scarcely fed, but if they were, little rations of bread and water were given. Many times the prisoners died of starvation and thirst (“Prison life,” 2011).

According to the Burlington County in New Jersey, in the 1800’s when the prison was initially designed, each inmate was to have his or her own cell with a fireplace and a narrow, unglazed window placed above eye level (“Prison life,” 2011.)The rules of the jail directed that prisoners were to be bathed, deloused, and have their clothing fumigated, and that each cell should have a bible or prayer book to improve the soul. Individual cells, planned for felons or criminals, were arranged in sets of four, opening off a short hall at each end of the building (“Prison life,” 2011). These blocks of cells were to house separate groups, such as routine criminals, first offenders, or women. The bigger rooms on the main hallways were to provide accommodation the debtors, imprisoned for owing money. These were common rooms, sometimes holding three or four men at a time, although there are some records that indicate that up to 30 debtors were housed at one time in the jail(“Prison life,” 2011). During their day, debtors were to be allowed to move about the jail, working at various cleaning chores or employed in the basement workshop (“Prison life,” 2011).

Then the dungeon or maximum-security cell was in the center of the top floor (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008). That location was carefully chosen to prevent escape by digging, to minimize communication with criminals in the cell blocks, and to ensure constant surveillance by guards making rounds. This was the only cell without a fireplace. It is flanked by niches for guards or visitors and has one very high, very small window and an iron ring in the center of the floor to which the prisoner could be chained (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008).

Until 1888, the jail keeper and his wife and family would live in two rooms on the first floor of the jail. The Keeper’s wife was anticipated to supervise the female inmates and the Keeper was to execute the rules of the jail as devised by the prison board, which was composed of members of the freeholders. The Keeper and his family lived in these quarters until the adjacent brick house, connected by a passageway, was constructed on the corner of Grant and High Streets (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008).

In keeping with the purpose designed into the structure, the basement level enclosed workshops where prisoners were expected to learn a useful trade, such as how to make brooms, baskets, or shingles (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008). The notion didn’t work, given the short time most inmates spent in the jail, and over time, the workshops became used as minimum security cells. Another, less supervised pastime of the inmates that endured through the ages was prisoner graffiti (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008). Depicting humor, despair, and a belated piety, several fine examples of this art have been photo conserved and are on display throughout the building. The felons eating room, also in the basement, allowed controlled access to the exercise yard with its twenty foot wall. Outside, prisoners could tend a small garden of fresh vegetables. In one corner of the yard, an area was set aside for the gallows, which were dismantled and stored between hangings (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008).

Food, linens, cleaning supplies, and craft materials were stored in the basement near the kitchen, baking, and washing facilities. Once a day, the prisoners were to be served a main meal of meat and vegetables. The other two meals were usually cooked cereals or grains. They had milk and cider to drink, as well as water (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008). One of the inmates was made chief cook, preparing all prison meals, and that inmate slept in a basement cell next to the kitchen. Large washtubs were provided for laundry and regular baths for the prisoners (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008).

Also the relatively few women who were imprisoned at the beginning of the 19th century were confined in separate quarters or wings of men’s prisons (Sullivan, 2006). Like the men, women suffered from filthy conditions, overcrowding, and harsh treatment. In 1838 in the New York City Jail known as the tombs, for instance, there were forty two one person cells for seventy women. In the 1920s at Auburn Penitentiary in New York, there were no separate cells for the twenty five or so women serving sentences up to fourteen years (Sullivan, 2006). They were all lodged together in a one room attic, the windows sealed to prevent communication with men. But women had to endure even more. Primary among these additional negative aspects was sexual abuse, which was reportedly a common occurrence. In 1826 a woman named Rachel Welch became pregnant while serving in solitary confinement as a punishment and shortly after childbirth she died as a result of flogging by a prison official (Sullivan, 2006).

Such sexual abuse was in fact so acceptable that the Indiana state prison actually ran a prostitution service for male guards, using female prisoners (Sullivan, 2006). In addition, women received the short end of even the prison stick. Instead of spending the money to hire a matron, women were often left completely on their own, defenseless to attack by guards. Women had less access to the physician and chaplain and did not go to workshops, mess halls, or exercise yards as men did. Food was brought to their quarters, and they remained in that area for the full term of their sentence (Sullivan, 2006).

As fearsome as the prison seemed, it was not escape proof. The walls were scaled and the roof penetrated many times in its history. The chosen routes to freedom seem to have been through the roof of the jail, and along the yard wall or the roof of the passageway to a place of descent. One notable escape occurred in 1875(Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008). Four inmates punched a hole through the ceiling of an upper corridor cell to gain access to the roof, went down the sloping front wall and down around the woodpile beside the prison yard gate. A fifth accomplice was too large to fit through the hole and insisted at being left behind (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008). Despite a quick response by the warden, it seems that at least some of these escapees were never caught.

In the Burlington County Jail, some criminals were fated to spend their last days on earth. State law mandated that criminals convicted of a capital crime were to be executed in the County in which they were found guilty, and Burlington County was no exception (Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008). Several public hangings were conducted in the prison yard on a gallows erected for each occasion. Originally designed to house approximately 40 prisoners, the Burlington County Prison held over 100 inmates when they were moved to a converted armory that formerly stood behind the jail. Overcrowded conditions required yet another, larger prison which was erected in 1983(Johnson, Wolfe, & Jones, 2008).

The daily life in Folsom State Prison back in 1880, prisoners were woken up by an early morning bell and were dressed and beds had to be made and stand in their cell doors with their night buckets (“Prison life,” 2011). Once they were unlocked they marched down to the middle of the building where there was a set of steel doors that were hinged to the floor (“Prison life,” 2011). When they filed out for the day, they would all dump their nights waste from the bucket down a hole and then limestone would be thrown in the hole and water to flush the waste away. At dinner they would take to with them at so when the prisoner got locked up for the night again, they had their toilet with them (“Prison life,” 2011).

During that time the prisoner would eat beans for dinner which were place on plate and not utensils were used. You had to eat with your face down in the plate and no talking was ever allowed. If you were good prisoners could earn the right to eat boiled beef and vegetables (“Prison life,” 2011). However if you were a con boss, which is somebody who is the boss of other prisoners, prisoner could then eat a variety of stewed meats and vegetables that were in season and use tin dishes and have utensils and talk during dinner(“Prison life,” 2011). Prisoners of Folsom State Prison generally worked seven and half hour days with no break. They completed their work day by early afternoon and lights out was enforced by eight o’ clock with no exceptions (“Prison life,” 2011).

Another example of past prison life was in the Andersonville prison during the late 1800’s; to cope with the horrible conditions within the stockade, prisoners turned to various activities (“Prison life,” 2011). They carved objects, sang songs, played games such as checkers and cards, read any material they could get, and wrote letters and diaries. Letters home were censored by prison officials, and many never reached their destinations. Other prisoners, intent on escape, spent time digging tunnels (“Prison life,” 2011). Although there are no records of successful escapes via tunnels, some men did escape, mainly from work crews when outside the prison. The horrendous living conditions at Andersonville resulted in the deaths of thousands of prisoners (“Prison life,” 2011).

Now moving forward to current day prison life, In Arizona, the state prison system has four levels; minimum, medium, closed and maximum. As an inmate goes up in custody level, the less freedom they are allowed. A minimum custody inmate typically lives in dorm style housing units and an open yard (Ranzau, 2009). Inmates would get woken up at 5:30 a.m. and they have free rein to walk the yard, go to chow on their own at the designated times and attend any classes and work assignments they have chosen until the yard locks down for the evening at 8:30 p.m (Ranzau, 2009). A closed custody inmate lives in a two-man cell with controlled movement. Controlled movement means that officers escort the inmates anytime they leave their housing unit (Ranzau, 2009). A closed custody unit usually has a cluster of cells in a building with one control room called a pod. The control room uses a computer to access the doors to the cells though keys can be used to open cells in case of a power outage (Ranzau, 2009). This particular closed custody unit is staffed with one officer in the control room and one floor officer in charge of two pods of inmates (Ranzau, 2009). The inmates are escorted by an officer everywhere they go, either individually or as a group. They are escorted as a group to the chow hall for their meals and to the recreation field for their exercise (Ranzau, 2009).

Medium custody inmates also live in a dorm style setting similar to minimum custody inmates. Medium custody inmates have some controlled movement but are not escorted by officers (Ranzau, 2009). The control room officer, only letting out certain segments of their dorm at a time to eat or go to recreation, controls the movement. There are officers on the yard to make sure the inmates get to where they are supposed to go (Ranzau, 2009). A maximum custody unit is strictly controlled. The inmates are only allowed to leave their cell one hour a day to go to a recreation pen. These inmates are fed in their cells through food traps in the door (Ranzau, 2009). These inmates are usually considered the worst type of inmate or they may need protection from the general population for information they have given staff or for something they did on the yard (Ranzau, 2009). One would think prison life everywhere would run as smoothly as this, but no.

Currently at Pelican Bay State Prison in northern California there are more than 1,200 inmates, it’s one of the largest and oldest isolation units in the country, and it’s the model that dozens of other states have followed. It is a maximum security prison. Although all the inmates are in isolation, there’s lots of noise such as keys rattling, toilets flushing, and inmates shouting out to each other from one cell to the next(Sullivan, 2006). Twice a day, officers push plastic food trays through the small portals in the metal doors. It is said they only contact that you have with individuals is what they call a pinky shake, which is when you stick your pinky through one of the little holes in the door. The hallways shoot out like spokes on a wheel(Sullivan, 2006).

In the center, high off the floor, an officer sits at a panel of blue and red buttons controlling the doors. The officer in the booth can go an entire shift without actually seeing an inmate face to face (Sullivan, 2006). Far below, an inmate walks a few feet from his cell, through a metal door at the end of the hallway, and out into the yard. The exercise yards at Pelican Bay are about the length of two small cars. The cement walls are 20 feet high. On top is a metal grate and through the grate is a patch of sky (Sullivan, 2006). According to Sullivan, Associate Warden Williams says they don’t allow inmates to have any kind of exercise equipment. Most of the time, they do push-ups. Some of them just walk back and forth for exercise. (Sullivan, 2006).

It is just basically to come out, stretch their legs and get some fresh air. Each month, officers squeeze soap, shampoo and toothpaste into paper cups for the inmates (Sullivan, 2006). Even though are issued a jumpsuit, in two days at the facility, there doesn’t seem to be a single prisoner wearing one. All of them are wearing their underwear, white boxer shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops (Sullivan, 2006). In the psychiatric at Pelican Bay, some inmates stand in the middle of their cell, hollering at no one in particular. Another’s bang their head against the cell door. Many of the inmates are naked, some exposing themselves. Obviously prison life can play a huge toll the mentality. One in 10 inmates in segregation was housed there. There’s even a waiting list (Sullivan, 2006).

Recently in Georgia the horrible treatment and conditions of the prison made headlines. Finally fed up with bad food, unjust treatment, poor education and inadequate health care, thousands of inmates in Georgia’s prison system staged Lockdown for Liberty, which was a peaceful protest on Dec. 9, 2010. According to Charlene Muhammad, a national correspondent for the Final Call newspaper; all of the Black, White, and Latino inmates from Augusta, Baldwin, Hancock, Hays, Macon, Smith, and Telfair State Prisons refused to leave their cells for work and other activities, partly because they feel the Georgia Department of Corrections treats them like slaves(Muhammad, 2010).

Ironically in a 2006 report, Human Rights Watch characterized conditions in Georgia prisons as appalling. Many inmates were vulnerable to degrading treatment due to overcrowding and unsanitary facilities, the report added (Muhammad, 2010). More recently, the State Department’s 2008 human rights country report for Georgia noted that the country’s prisons and pre trial detention centers failed to meet international standards. It also expressed concern about Georgian Justice Ministry data that showed 94 inmates died while in custody in 2008(Muhammad, 2010). Overcrowding is a huge issue also. Today, there are approximately 20,000 prisoners in Georgia, a 300-percent increase over the past five years, according to a 2009 PRI report (Muhammad, 2010).

Georgia’s prisons are some of the worst in the U.S. Cells are overcrowded, packing prisoners into confined spaces like sardines (Muhammad, 2010). Prisoners are forced to work, doing the maintenance and servicing of the prison for little or no pay. The guards are corrupt and violent, instigating fights between prisoners for their amusement (Muhammad, 2010). Prisoners are forced to pay outrageous costs for the most minimal health care. On top of that most prisoners are denied access to programs for education beyond obtaining a GED. Overall Georgia spends $10,000 less per year per prisoner than the national average. The lack of funding shows in how prisoners are treated. (Muhammad, 2010).

Every day prison life for women differs from daily prison life for men. Unlike male inmates, women in general do not present an direct, violent physical danger to staff members and fellow inmates. In fact, hardly any female prisons report any major instances of violence (Saxena, 2008). Violence is more often than not concentrated only in male prisons. In addition, female prisons do not involve the anti authority inmate social code oftentimes established in male prisons (Saxena, 2008). In male prisons, life in prison is normally governed by mandates set forth by gang leaders. This includes no snitching, not cooperating with authorities, and attacking disloyal members. Gang activity is greatly reduced in female prisons (Saxena, 2008).

Furthermore, the little bit of gang activity that does occur in female prisons doesn’t end up affecting the whole infrastructure like in a male prison (Saxena, 2008). However, being restricted does cause a lot of sever anxiety and anger for many women, especially since they are separated from their families and loved ones (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). Sometimes, women are in prison while pregnant and are oftentimes forced to give birth in the prison. Afterwards, their child is either instantly removed, or permitted to stay with the mother for a short period of time (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). Woman can also partake in conjugal visits, but this will not make up for all the lost time.

Women in prison also cope with their problems differently. Unlike men, who direct their anger outward, female prisoners tend to revert to more self destructive acts in order to deal with the situation. In fact, female inmates are much more likely than male prisoners to mutilate their own bodies and attempt suicide (Saxena, 2008). These activities include simple scratches, carving the name of their boyfriend on their body, and cutting their wrists. Wrist cutting is actually a huge concern amongst prison officials (Saxena, 2008). Blood released from wrist cutting can spread to others and drastically increase inmates’ and staff members’ risk of contracting an STD like Aids or hepatitis (Saxena, 2008).

Another method utilized by female prisons for adapting to prison life is the falsehood of a make believe family (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). These groups normally contain masculine and feminine figures that act as fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. Unceremonious marriages and divorces may even be performed (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). Sometimes, an inmate may hold multiple roles. For example a woman can play a sister in one family and a wife in another. Oftentimes, gay women play the male roles (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). Although an extreme difference in prison life exists between men and women, the hurt and frustration still remain the same (Gaines, & Miller, 2009). What can be said, though, is that women deal with the situation differently than men.

In a study conducted by Mark Fleisher in 2006, according to Heidi Cool, Fleisher’s research was the first cultural study ever conducted on prison rape in U.S. prisons. This study includes research that he has done over the past twenty years on prison culture. Between 2003 and 2005, Fleisher composed information about prison life rapes by interviewing 564 inmates in men’s high security and women’s medium and high security prisons in the United States (Cool, 2006). The controlled interviews, with open ended questions, lasted between 90 minutes to, in numerous cases, six to seven hours and generated a widespread compilation of prison slang involving sex and rape and national cultural themes about prison rape shared by inmates across the country.

Fleisher figured out that prison inmate life is a culture that is determined by a need for social order and the behavioral rules of prison sexual culture is drastically different from sexual conduct rules for outside of prison (Cool, 2006). The problem of consent is complicated on so many levels but in the end, consensual sex as we know it doesn’t have an equivalent meaning in prison inmate culture, he states horrible images of unsafe prisons and widespread rape. The culture of prison sexuality, as well as ideas on rape, are not simply community beliefs transported inside prisons, rather they are different beliefs and create a different social reality (Cool, 2006). There is no equivalent in inmate sexual culture that’s equal to our perception of rape.

Once a person enters and begins their prison life, they start reexamine their sense of sexuality; men and women who may have never before engaged in same sex relations will probably try it at some point during their sentence (Cool, 2006). Majority of same sex relations are voluntary, which means they don’t have to do anything they don’t want to do (Cool, 2006). However not all same sex relations are essentially deemed by inmates as homosexual relationships in the prison culture. There’s a broad range of same sex behavior but inmate culture views several acts as homosexual while other related acts are considered straight (Cool, 2006). The only true freedom they have in prison life is their sexual freedom. Another finding that surprised Fleisher according to Cool, was that in the worldview of both men and women inmates, there is a strong belief that men and women have a homosexual identity at their core and that having same sex relations in prison help them come to terms with this emerging sexuality(Cool, 2006). As for lesbian experience for women, studies have established that even experienced inmates come across heterosexual women with husbands and children, begin same sex relations within days and weeks of their arrival but upon released return to heterosexual behavior (Cool, 2006). Both men and women inmates put in plain words that same sex relations among those different with it as curiosity (Cool, 2006).

Within prison life, inmate society interprets men’s slow but sure involvement in same sex behavior as getting in touch with their feminine tendencies (Cool, 2006). Inmates say that the bulk of them don’t have sexual affairs but eventually an inner homosexual prevails in the life of a prisoner (Cool, 2006).

Furthermore, it is very infrequent for the women to be raped or obligated into sex by male or female staff; nevertheless personal relationships can develop between sexual relations. Believe it or not female inmates state they do not participate in having sex with male or female staff members unless it benefits them in some material way (Cool, 2006). Some of the benefits may include bringing them perfume or cigarettes or giving them money, which can be used for food, soap or stamps (Cool, 2006). Within Fleisher’s report, women prisoners say they will not deal with unnecessary sex among them and staff, although they have been notorious to use allegations of unwanted sex to acquire a transfer or to get revenge in a against a staff member (Cool, 2006). Evidence informs us that presently over 300,000 instances of prison rape occur in a year. 196,000 are projected to happen to men in prison in addition to 123,000 are estimated to happen to the men in county jail. (Cool, 2006).

Obviously life in prison has evolved for the better but yet seems to get worse for today’s times. It maintains that “survival of the fittest” mentality and almost an updated caveman reality. Prison life will never get better unless we get over crowding under control and get better standards as to how they are ran.

Introduction and Research Questions

Jason Prior is an established researcher particularly in the field of spatial governance and its relation to sexuality, religion, and health and wellbeing. In his PhD thesis titled ‘Sydney Gay Saunas 1967-2000: Fight for Civic Acceptance and Experiences Beyond the Threshold’ (year), he attempts to shed light on Sydney’s gay saunas through two key questions. The first relates to how the gay sauna transitioned from a clandestine operation to a legally recognized and accepted institution considered important within particular environs of the city. The second concerns how the dynamic public domain of the gay sauna contributed to the development of gay culture in the city by fostering the opportunity of collective and individual homosexual expression.

Part 1 of Study – Methodology and Results

In the first part of the study, utilizing his background in urban sociology, planning, and legal geography, Prior draws heavily upon the works of Knopp (1995,1998) and Castells (1983) as a conceptual framework. He uses empirical examination and analysis of documents (including development applications, archival documents, legal records, civic authority records, government gazettes, law reports, records of police raids, government acts, newspaper and magazine articles, and twenty-nine in-depth interviews) as a research methodology, to understand the process of acceptance of gay saunas in Sydney’s civic society. Using these data, he traces the history of these establishments from 1967 to 2000. The first gay saunas existed through subterfuge and public charades by disguising themselves from the largely homophobic society as gyms and fitness centres. Through the years that followed, change in legislation which led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality set the stage for the emergence of the gay sauna into public view and their partial acceptance by civic authorities. Although the emergence of AIDS added a layer of complexity to the process, it led to new alliances between the gay community, medicine and the state government. These alliances played a major role in the eventual acceptance of the gay sauna by civic authorities, judiciary, and citizens as not just social but also sexual institutions. Prior argues that this transformation was possible through the conjunction of greater understanding and acceptance of homosexuality by the general community, the mobilisation of gay activists and the broader radicalism of the 1960s and 70s, and the emergence of enlightened processes by council bureaucracies and the judiciary.

Part 2 of Study – Methodology and Results

Prior’s background in architecture comes into use in the second part of the study where he examines through an empirical analysis (analysis of the material features of the built form, and twenty-nine in-depth interviews), how the evolving social spaces of Sydney’s gay saunas allowed men to develop and experience individual and collective sexual identities and practices. In describing the dynamic nature of these spaces Prior identifies three stages of evolution. The first and most basic/rudimentary stage started with the establishment of the the Bondi Junction Steam Bath, Sydney’s first gay sauna. Here the aim was to providing a safe space where men could temporarily escape from the city outside, with a focus on the ‘threshold’ to protect patrons from the largely homophobic world outside. The second involved the shift of focus from the ‘threshold’ to the development of the domain, into the creation of a space that was more socially, sexually, and psychology enabling for the expression of homosexuality. This ‘golden age’ of the saunas aligned with the gay liberation movement. The last stage focuses on the redesign of the domain into a safe sex venue to cope with the new experience of sexuality that AIDS awareness evoked. These stages involved changes to the physical realm of the saunas, which in turn affected the type of sexual activity that took place.

Critical Review/ Contextualization within other works

Priors well-structured and comprehensive study fills a gap in the existing literature by adding to the largely unexplored realm of gay bathhouses in the Australian context. In describing the history of these establishments, he continually draws parallels between the United States and Australia which provides readers with a broader perspective, and highlights the uniqueness of this particular context.

The first part of the study which deals with the sexualisation of urban space is contextualized within the body of works of Foucault (1990), Castells, and Knopp, while the second part of the study which concerns how designed sexual environments affect sexual practises fits within the works of Brodsky (1993), Rubin (1991), and Tattelman (1999). Prior’s work also contributes to the broader topic of studies specifically on gay saunas. The latter includes ethnographies particularly in the american context (Weinberg & Williams, 1975; Styles, 1979; Chauncey, 1994), the study of saunas from a more architectural perspective where alternate design possibilities and concepts of ‘queer space’ are explored (Tattelman, 2000; Betsky, 1997), and more recently, studies on AIDS prevention research (Bolton, Vincke, & Mak, 1994; Binson & Woods, 2003; Lyons, Smith, Grierson, & Doussa, 2010).

Link to my Research

The inter-relation between sexual culture, the built-form, and the social/sexual relations that forms the core of Prior’s work, is a theme that I want to carry forward and build onto in my research. Specifically, I am interested in looking at how social and sexual relations have changed in the bathhouse due to technologies in the 21st century such as PrEP, internet, and dating apps and how this in turn has affected the physical and social environs of the baths.

The main aim of the author’s research was to examine the social and political forces which contributed to the acceptance of gay saunas by Sydney’s civic society. To answer this research question, he provides an in-depth description of the material (and immaterial) aspects of gay saunas in Sydney from the first gay sauna in 1967 to the year 2000, outlining distinct stages of evolution in the form/use of these structure. This data will form an important benchmark for my research which will explore the possible formation of a new architectural typology in the 21st century. The fact that this study, along with the work of Richters (2007), is one of the few literary works offering a detailed description of Sydney’s baths, including floor plans and advertisements in the gay press, makes it the single most important source for my research.

References

Betsky, A. (1997). Queer Space: Architecture and Same-Sex Desire (1st edition). New York: William Morrow.

Binson, D., & Woods, W. J. (2003). A Theoretical Approach to Bathhouse Environments. Journal of Homosexuality, 44(3-4), 23-31.

Bolton, R., Vincke, J., & Mak, R. (1994). Gay Baths Revisited: An Empirical Analysis. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 1(3), 255-273.

Brodsky, J. I. (1993). The Mineshaft: A Retrospective Ethnography. Journal of Homosexuality, 24(3-4), 233-252.

Castells, M. (1983). The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements. London: Edward Arnold.

Chauncey, G. (1995). Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 (unknown edition). New York: Basic Books.

Foucault, M. (1990). The History of Sexuality, Vol. 1: An Introduction. (R. Hurley, Trans.) (Reissue edition). New York: Vintage.

Knopp, L. (1995). Sexuality and Urban Space: A Framework for Analysis. In David Bell and Gill Valentine (Eds.), Mapping Desire: Geographies of Sexualities (pp. 149-161). London and New York: Routledge.

Knopp, L. (1998). Sexuality and Urban Space: Gay Male Identity Politics in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. In Ruth Fincher and Jane M. Jacobs (Eds.), Cities of Difference (pp. 149-176). New York: The Guilford Press.

Lyons, A., Smith, A. M. A., Grierson, J. W., & Doussa, H. von. (2010). Australian men’s sexual practices in saunas, sex clubs and other male sex on premises venues. Sexual Health, 7(2), 186-192.

Prior, J. H. (2004). Sydney gay saunas 1967-2000: Fight for civic acceptance and experiences beyond the threshold (Doctoral thesis). School of Sociology and Anthropology, The University of New South Wales.

Richters, J. (2001). The Social Construction of Sexual Practice: Setting Sexual Culture and the Body in Casual Sex Between Men. University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Rubin, G. (1991). The Catacombs: A Temple of the Butthole. In Mark Thomson (Ed.), Leatherfolk: Radical Sex, People, Politics, and Practice (pp. 119-141). Boston: Alyson Publications.

Styles, J. (1979). Outsider/Insider: Researching Gay Baths. Urban Life, 8(2), 135-152.

Tattelman, I. (1999). Speaking to the Gay Bathhouse: Communicating in Sexually Charged Spaces. In W. L. Leap (Ed.), Public Sex/ Gay Space (pp. 71-94). New York: Columbia University Press.

Tattelman, I. (2000). Presenting a Queer (Bath) House. In J. A. Boone, M. Dupuis, M. Meeker, K. Quimby, C. Sarver, D. Silverman, & R. Weatherston, Queer Frontiers: Millennial Geographies, Genders, and Generations (pp. 222-258). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Weinberg, M. S., & Williams, C. J. (1975). Gay Baths and the Social Organization of Impersonal Sex. Social Problems, 23(2), 124-136.

1.1 Introduction

“Pedophiles’ blackmail victims into sex acts”, “Lustful minors”, these are the recent news titles published in newspapers in 2013 from New Straits Times. Sex education has always been a sensitive issue, in a particular in a country like Malaysia; and the issue has been brought into discussion since January 1991 until the latest on November 2008 (Sunday Times, 2010). There are rising of cases of unwanted pregnancies, baby dumping and minors raping minors where in most of situations involved consensual sex. In worst situation, some of the minors do not understand what they are doing. This proved the need of sex education in schools. Nevertheless, Malaysia still refused to implement a complete sex education in schools.

While recent reported cases revealed that sexual misconduct among children not only occurred among teenagers or secondary school, but also at young age involving primary school children; thus painted a serious outlook for Malaysia. According to the Principal Assistant Director of the Sexual Crimes, Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Investigations Division of Royal Malaysian Police, a number of 22 cases of sexual misconduct involving children were reported from 2011 until September 2013—this number involved children aged below 13 years old (source: Royal Malaysian Police 2013). Interestingly, there were no cases on sexual misconduct of minors against minors reported before 2011; this may not mean that there was no cases of sexual misconduct among children in the country, perhaps, it exist, but not reported to the authority or the children’s parents or guardian remain silent about the situation.

Most of the serious reported cases were publicized in the local newspapers; however, there still a number of unreported cases remain unknown. The human rights commissioner, James Nayagam believes that the schools have failed teaching the students to respect the human right of girls. He also claims that schools need to start implementing two important topics, which are on human rights and preventive sex education (The Star, 2010).

Curiosity among children regarding sex is rising; this is influenced by what they observed in the internet. In some situation, children are more expert than the adult in term of using advanced gadget to browse through the internet. These children are not always monitored by their parents or guardian. This is one of the negative consequences of internet to our young generation. Further, when the children don’t have their own gadget to browse the internet, they also can go to cyber cafe nearest their house. They are not only playing computer games, but they are also browsing the internet, especially the popular YouTube websites. Computers in the cyber cafe are usually not safe for the children, because sometimes the computers at the cafe are not restricted from certain “bad websites”, where illicit pictures of half-naked men and women can suddenly pop up from the computer screen.

According to an article from the Canadian Council on Learning (January, 2008), most young people stumble upon pornography while searching for something else. Recent study conducted among British children ages from 9 to 19 proved that most whom encountered online pornography did not give further attention, some get disgust by it and small number of them expressed an interest in it. However, the small amount of them is the one that need to be controlled as this may trigger the kids to click on the pop ups which, later brings them to the “bad websites”.

While a few developed countries such as Australia, United Kingdom and others have implemented sex education; Malaysia still in the early stage of implementing sex education in secondary school, yet it is still not completely implemented. Young children need to be educated about this matter. Without education, they might not be able to decide and defend for themselves especially the girls. Children who are in the process of growing up usually do not receive adequate information, knowledge and preparation for safe sexual life. The community often avoid from having an open conversation about sexual matters. At that particular age, these kids are crucially in need of conversation about sexual matters with the reliable person.

Unfortunately, most parents think that it is not necessary to have sexuality education at school. Based on a report written by Lee Choon Fai, Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) executive director, Ivy Josiah, stated that open discussion about sex is often seen as an inappropriate in Malaysia, especially in the conservative communities (Selangor Times, 2012). They tend to think that sexuality education is one of the way or factor that could lead to social problem. For them, the children wouldn’t know and won’t involve in sex problem if the syllabus is not being teach at school. A primary teacher from Johor claimed that parents think that sexuality education teaches students how to have sex and all (The Star Online, 2012). But what they do not know is that sexuality education actually helps provide their children with knowledge and information about the effect of the immoral act such as the diseases, unwanted pregnancies and other social problem. This shows the need to have sex education in Malaysian primary schools; however, how ready of Malaysian parents to accept sex education for their children?

1.2 Problem Statement

The issue of having/implementing sex education in Malaysian schools is not new. It arises as one of the solutions to deal with the rising number of baby dumping in Malaysia. Baby dumping issue, which strongly related to other social problems in Malaysia such as illegal sex, teenage pregnancy, unwanted pregnancy, pregnant out of wedlock and others, pressure the government and relevant parties in Malaysia to propose for solutions.

While a few solutions have been accepted, though with some challenges, such as the implementation of baby hatches (Gunaratnam and Agustin, 2010), school for pregnant teenagers (School of Hope in Malacca) (Ram and Elis, 2010), encourage young couples to get married; solution to have sex education among children is still partially implemented. Instead of agreeing to have a complete sex education in schools, Malaysian government argues that information about sex has been covered in several subjects in school such as in Biology and Social and Reproductive Health Studies.

The reluctant to implement sex education among school children may come with the idea of not exposing and encouraging teenagers to sex; on the other hand, this may means that Malaysian society is still in denial in accepting sex is happening among our teenagers. Thus, sex education is important to teach our children about sex and its consequences. However, the issue of sexual misconduct is not only happened among teenagers, but also involving young children.

While the implementation of sex education in Malaysian secondary schools are not well accepted by many parties; this study attempt to explore Malaysian parents’ readiness to accept sex education in primary schools due to the rising number of sexual misconduct among young children in the country. The introduction of sex education in primary school is not new. Developed countries such as Australia and United Kingdom have implemented sex education among primary school children and it’s proved to be effective in dealing with sexual misconduct among children in their countries.

1.3 Research Questions

The questions that arise while the research is conducted are as follows:

What is the level of readiness and acceptance of having sex education as part of primary school syllabus?
What are the relationship between conservative thinking, taboo subject, lack of expertise in schools and parents’ role, and the implementation of sex education among primary school children?
What are the main factor that hinder the implementation of sex education among primary school children?
1.4 Research Objectives

The main objective of this study is to find out the readiness and acceptance of the parents on the issue of implementing sex education in schools, especially in primary schools. To achieve the objective, the process of planning and implementing the subject should be done thoroughly so that it can be fully accepted by the parents.

The specific objectives of the study include:

To study the parents’ level of readiness and acceptance of having sex education as part of primary school syllabus
To explore the relationship between conservative thinking, taboo subject, lack of expertise in schools and parents’ role, and the implementation of sex education among primary school children.
To examine the parents’ perception on main factors that hinders the implementation of sex education among the primary school children in Klang Valley
1.5 Scope of Study

Level

This research will focus on parents’ readiness and acceptance on sex education among school children. The scope of this study is narrowed to parents because they play important role in their children’s’ life. Furthermore, in school, there is also an association that require parents’ involvement. For example, there is Parents and Teacher Association (PTA) where both parents and teachers will sit together discussing about the development of children and all problems associated with the students. Thus, parents’ voice will be taken into account if they agree to have and feel the need of sex education to be taught in schools.

1.6 Significance of the Study

The study is necessary to bring the awareness of the community towards the importance of having sex education as part of school syllabus and the benefits that it will bring to the country. The findings of this study are important to help the affected parties to realize what sex education is all about and related knowledge that comes with the implementation of the subject. The subject will mostly affect the teenagers which are the students of the secondary school and other involved parties include the parents, school counsellor, teachers, the community and the government.

Sex education may help to overcome social problems among teenagers such as teenage pregnancy, pre-marital sex and under age sex. With the right module, sex education also provide the students the right information about sex and its related issues and at the same time, correct any inaccurate and insufficient information about sex that they learnt from the Internet or mass media. Apart from that, the introduction of the subject will help to educate teenagers about health issues related to sex namely ways to prevent pregnancies, unsafe abortions, abandoned babies, and sexually-transmitted diseases.

1.7 Definition of Terms, Terminology and Concepts

Sex Education

Science Daily described sex education as a broad term used to describe education about human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse and other aspects of human sexual behaviour.

Children

With reference to Child Act 2001, child is define as a person under the age of eighteen years.

Primary School

Macmillan Dictionary defines primary school as a school for children between the ages of four or five and eleven. In UK primary schools are sometimes divided into an infant school for the youngest children and a junior school. Same it goes to Malaysia, we have kindergarten for children age 5 and 6 and primary school with student age from 7 to 12.

Social Problem

We take definition on social problem from Maxwell School. It describes social problem as a condition that at least some people in a community view as being undesirable.

Teenage Pregnancy

According to UNICEF, teenage pregnancy is defined as teenage girl, usually within the ages of 13-19, becoming pregnant. The term that is being used in the everyday speech frequently refers to girls who have not yet reached legal adulthood, which varies across the world, become pregnant.

Preserving Privacy: A Civil Right

“This nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened” –John F. Kennedy. Throughout history America has sought to provide and protect civil liberties regardless of race, gender, and now sexuality. Yet, the civil rights discussion has evolved to address a new and often overlooked facet of an individual’s life: privacy. The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 have permanently altered American culture. Increased surveillance technology and precautions have become a part of everyday life. However, the question arises where the balance exists between security and respecting civil rights. While the mission to combat terrorism is noble, the governments existing means of accomplishing that task must be reevaluated for they lack accountability, contain unnecessary provisions, and ultimately violate the rights guaranteed to all citizens by the U.S. Constitution. Before engaging the details surrounding surveillance technology, the issue of how the average citizen defines privacy must be addressed. In the article “The Right to Privacy” author Judith Jarvis Thompson asserts that the common definition of privacy is “the right to be left alone” (295). Initially this perception seems appropriate, however it does not protect one from invasion. There are ample ways to violate ones right to privacy without ever disturbing their routine. For example, a woman keeps her face covered in conjunction with her religious beliefs. Technology used, without probable cause, to look upon this woman’s face disrespects her decision to keep her features covered in public. Under the principles of democracy, as long as these actions do not violate another citizen, no one has the authority to challenge the choices an individual makes regarding themselves. In the same way a person has the right to make decisions concerning their property they have the right not to be looked at or listened to, even if it causes them no harm (Thompson 303).

The average citizen understands the rights they have to protect, sell, etc. over their possessions. It is not a question that a person is of more value than their property. Thus, the provisions outlined in the Constitution exist to protect the individual. Despite the right to privacy not being explicitly named it can be argued that because one is given the rights in the Constitution they have the right to privacy. Thomas explains this as “the right to privacy is itself a cluster of rights, and that it is not a distinct cluster of rights but itself intersects with a cluster of rights which the right over the person consists in and also with the cluster of right which owning property consists in” (306). Overall privacy is the right one has to make decisions concerning their person and exists in tandem with the rights explicitly outlined by the Constitution. This understanding of privacy will be the framework for analyzing the surveillance technology instituted by the government in post 9/11 America.

After the tragedy of 9/11 lawmakers were determined to institute measures that would allow them to combat and prevent terrorism. Only forty five days later the answer to that mission was enacted. “The Patriot Act takes account of the new realities and dangers posed by modern terrorists. It will help law enforcement to identify, to dismantle, to disrupt, and to punish terrorists before they strike.” – President George W. Bush, at the Patriot Act signing ceremony, on Oct. 26, 2001 (Ashcroft 1). Ultimately the government argued that these changes were necessary to protect citizens from twenty first century terrorists. This is defended by the reality that the previous laws did not grant the Federal Bureau of Investigation the provisions to intervene on September 11, 2001.

In the article “Our Right to Security” author Debra Burlingame depicts how the FBI had incriminating evidence prior to planes crashing into the Twin Towers. The National Security Agency had foreknowledge of plane reservations, phone calls, etc. but did not proceed due to the regulations set forth by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and fear of the accusation of “domestic spying” (Burlingame 1). Investigators hold that if FISA had made an exception potentially all four airplanes could have been recovered (Burlingame 1). It was believed that not having the provisions of the Patriot Act was a misfortune that cost over three thousand lives and the nation as a whole tremendously. For this reason in October 2001 the Patriot Act was portrayed as providing a safer America, protecting citizens, and assuring that the nation would not stand by and allow events like that on September 11th to occur again. The Act would also assist prosecutors in other cases ranging from criminal to child pornography (Ashcroft). Yet, it should be noted that this feeling was not unanimous in Congress.

Senator Russell Feingold was the only opposing vote against the Patriot Act on the Senate floor. Feingold believed that while the majority of the Act had potential there were several sections which violated civil liberties and the Bush administration’s urgency was unnecessary (Marshall). Feingold himself states that he was filled with anxiety in regards to the “loss of our traditional attachment to civil liberties over the last seven months. We must continue to respect our Constitution. This is a different time, but we must examine every response [to terrorism] to make sure we are not rewarding the terrorists by giving up our cherished liberties” (Marshall). If the war on terrorism must we won by forfeiting the principles of Democracy the nation is fighting battle that is already lost. The priority to preserve civil liberties is embodied in public opinion polls conducted throughout the nation.

The majority of public opinion has always reflected that people find privacy to be an “essential right” (Best 375). After 9/11 public polls came in at eighty one percent, a three percent increase, indicating that privacy was a priority for the individual and upholding it is of importance (Best 376). When Americans were specifically asked through the Gallup Poll,

Which comes closer to your view: the government should take all steps necessary to prevent additional acts of terrorism in the U.S. even if it means your basic civil liberties would be violated, (or) the government should take steps to prevent additional acts of terrorism but not if those steps would violate your basic civil liberties?

Sixty five percent supported the latter (Best 390). This is reflective that while Americans support government initiatives to combat global terrorism they expect this to be done while simultaneously respecting the principles of the Constitution. Perhaps this is why the nation was filled with such outrage when information was released to the public on the extent of how the Patriot Act was accessing their information.

On May 20, 2013 the global perception of government surveillance technology was dismantled when Edward Snowden, CIA system administrator, revealed classified information regarding the NSA (Munger 606). Snowden’s motivation was to reveal American’s ignorance and show just how their tax dollars are combatting terrorism (Munger 608). Ultimately it was revealed that through FISA the NSA has access to personal information from all major cellular providers, personal and business records, in addition to the majority of all internet communications through the program PRISM (Editorial 1). The article “Edwin Snowden, Whistle-Blower” claims that the director of national intelligence, James Clapper Jr., denied these NSA occurrences to Congress in March (1). Perhaps that is because the truth is that each of these measures violates the fourth amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized (US Const. amend. IV).

It is illogical to argue that the personal information of all American citizens is pivotal to the war of terror when an incident has not occurred in over a decade. Supporters claim that this lack of terrorism actually validates the success of these provisions. Yet Snowden claims that this logic mirrors a children’s joke: “Elephants hide in trees.” “No way! I’ve never seen one.” “See how well they hide? (Munger 606). If government surveillance technology is so advanced why are there incidents such as the Boston Marathon Bombing? In reality police officers kill more people than terrorism, but Americans are trading their civil liberties in fear, based on a portrayed threat of terrorism (Munger 608). There is no probable cause for using the information of millions of Americans, yet these unconstitutional provisions are written into the Patriot Act.

Within the Patriot Act there is one section which should make every American citizen suspicious: 215. The verbiage of the section is as follows:

The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or a designee of the Director (whose rank shall be no lower than Assistant Special Agent in Charge) may make an application for an order requiring the production of any tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items) for an investigation to obtain foreign intelligence information not concerning a United States person or to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such investigation of a United States person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution (Beeson 4).

In other words, any first amendment action that citizen does makes them eligible for inspection from the FBI. The section also encompasses those who are not American citizens if they have done any “first amendment activities” (Beeson 4). The government has access to personal records from businesses, libraries, hospitals, internet service and cellular providers for the sake of terrorism investigations (Beeson 2). This government monitoring can be carried out without probable cause. One does not have to be involved with terrorism in any sense to be monitored. These searches conducted without cause are a direct contradiction of the rights given to all citizens under the fourth amendment of the U.S. Constitution. There must a warrant before any search can be conducted under the fourth amendment, yet section 215 of the Patriot Act gives the FBI permission to monitor the private actions of anyone for something as simple as a visiting a website, making a call overseas, practicing their religion, or checking a book from the library (Beeson 3). Even more alarming however is the reality that these violations of individual privacy can be carried out without ever notifying the person.

Within section 215 of the Patriot Act is the following “gag clause” which prohibits anyone from disclosing any information requested by the FBI: No person shall disclose to any other person (other than those persons necessary to produce the tangible things under this section) that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought or obtained tangible things under this section (Beeson 5). The term “tangible things” encompasses anything within grasp by the FBI. This clause allows everything they access, both specifically and in general, to remain classified. The clause is automatic and does not require any explanation for secrecy. Edward Snowden showcases the danger of this lack of accountability: “There can be no faith in government if our highest offices are excused from scrutiny—they should be setting the example of transparency” (Munger 606). However, it is clear that the FBI’s surveillance technology is anything but transparent. In the article “The USA Patriot Act: Problems of Post-Communism” author Cathy Zeljak, reveals that over 6,000 documents were removed from public record in the three years following the enactment of the Patriot Act. In addition, various departments have been given liberty to judge if a document should be classified. As a result the amount of classified documents increased by eighteen percent by 2004 (Zeljak 63). This much authority invested in a singular government organization cheapens the system of checks and balances and leaves far too much room for misdemeanors. However, the theme of secrecy is scattered throughout even further provisions of the Patriot Act.

Section 213 has been nicknamed the “sneak and peek” for it allows law officials to delay issuing a warrant to investigate an individual. This power was already granted to the government if it could be proven to a judge that an individual will attempt to flee, someone is in physical danger, the authenticity of witnesses will be effected, evidence could be jeopardized, or the trial would be delayed (How). These existing circumstances are controlled and reasonable to delay a warrant. Now under section 213 the FBI has the ability to conduct any search, physical or electronic, without notifying the party if they consider it to be necessary for preventing terrorism or even criminal cases (How). This is yet another provision which blatantly disregards the protection from unreasonable search and seizures assured by the fourth amendment. The FBI can conduct a full investigation, enter an individual’s home, take photographs, and remove evidence, without any knowledge to the person (How). Warrants exist to protect citizens from these intrusions and limit what is appropriate for inspection. This serves to protect the privacy of the individual, but if the inspection is classified there is no limitations on what can be seized (How). The Patriot Act gives direct permission for these government agencies to disregard the individual in conducting their investigations. This unsolicited power should leave all citizens questioning who is upholding their Constitutional rights.

“Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety” –Benjamin Franklin. While the Patriot Act may be legal it is nothing short of Unconstitutional. The focus of preventing terrorism is essential in post 9/11 America. Yet, the existing surveillance technology far exceeds what is necessary to monitor potential threats to national security. It is illogical to presume that access to the personal information of each and every American is a requirement for controlling terrorism. This perspective disrespects the right a person has over themselves, their property, and privacy. There is no limit to the list of “tangible things” that can be accessed by the FBI. These government agencies should not be given this type of power let alone be left to regulate and classify their actions. The provisions which allow the FBI to conduct their searches fundamentally violate the Constitution in several regards. Ultimately, American’s must realize that any legislation which claims to protect citizens at the expense of civil liberties mirrors a totalitarian state by directly contradicting the founding principles of democracy.

Works Cited

Ashcroft, John. “The Patriot Act: Wise Beyond its Years.” Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition ed.Oct 26 2004. ProQuest. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Beeson, Ann, and Jameel Jaffer. “Unpatriotic Acts: the FBI’s Power to Rifle Through Your Records and Personal Belongings Without Telling You.” ACLU. July 2003. ACLU Foundation. 4 May. 2015

Best, Samuel J., Brian S. Krueger, and Jeffrey Ladewig. “Trends: Privacy in the Information Age.” The Public Opinion Quarterly 70.3 (2006): 375-401. JSTOR. Web. 01 May 2015.

Burlingame, Debra. “Our Right to Security.” Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition ed.Jan 30 2006. ProQuest. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

“How the USA-Patriot Act Expands Law Enforcement “Sneak and Peek” Warrants.” American Civil Liberties Union. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2015.

Marshall, M. “Terrorism Must Not Be Fought at the Expense of Civil Liberties, Feingold Insists.” University of Virginia School of Law. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2015.

Munger, Michael. “No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, The NSA, And The U.S. Surveillance State.” Independent Review 19.4 (2015): 605-609. Academic Search Premier. Web. 4 May 2015.

The, Editorial B. “Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower.” New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast) ed.Jan 02 2014. ProQuest. Web. 4 May 2015 .

Thomson, Judith Jarvis. “The Right to Privacy.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 4.4 (1975): 295-314. JSTOR. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.

Zeljak, Cathy. “The USA Patriot Act.” Problems of Post-Communism 51.1 (2004): 63-65. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 May 2015.

Gender discrimination has existed since decades ago. We have real life examples of the males being favoured over females in terms of jobs employment, education, religion, politics, family and etc. hence, females have been treated unfairly since then. In this recent year, this discrimination has been reduced significantly; however, it is still practiced in certain countries like China.

SECTION II

Females and males are drawn into this gender discrimination. Often, most people have this stereotype of males being more superior then females and hence results in the biasness. Females were to hold a position lower than males and they are in charge of producing son and other household matters.

This topic has been chosen as I feel upset for those being affected from the gender discrimination. Both genders should be treated equally in the society. There have been various examples of successful women in both the working society and in school and has thus proven that not all males are better than females and females are always stereotypes as the weaker ones.

Survey which involved several hundred women have been made to determine the job discrimination in the society and results shows that it is harder for females to find job even if they hold a degree as males are given the privileged of getting the well-paying jobs and most companies only ask for male applicants or even decline to interview female applicants.

Retrieved from (http://www.china.org.cn/english/education/196472.htm)

Gender discrimination has buried the females’ abilities and talent in contributing a part for the society and hence it may result to that country which may not be able to advance much and its economy might be pulled down just because of the existing discrimination of gender.

Such discrimination has also lead to violence against women which is so much of a hurtful incident. Girls are usually being aborted, drown, and sold away as people believed that it is important to have a male at home to carry on their family lines and to have their son to take of them when they turned old, as the females will eventually be married off.

Example 1:

Here is an example of prejudice against females in West African, newborn baby are buried in desert sand and are starved to death. An Asian saying alleges that “raising a girl is like watering a plant in your neighbour’s garden.” When she grows up, she will leave to get married or may even be sold into prostitution and thus be of little or no help in caring for aged parents.

Retrieved from (http://www.watchtower.org/e/19980408/article_01.htm)

Example 2:

This shows a stereotype of female’s ability of studying. Cambridge University psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen (“The Essential Difference”) says that males are good at leadership, decision making and achievement, while females are suited for “Making friends, mothering, gossiping, and ‘reading’ your partner.” (He has been quoted in the New York Times, in a Newsweek cover story, in a PBS documentary and in many other major media outlets.)

Retrieved from (http://www.alternet.org/story/42034/)

Example 3:

The chart below shows the mindset of men towards women’s abilities in the working society and education.

Retrieved from (http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/human-rights-facts-10/)

Example 4: Gender Stereotype in Cartoon and Comics

In Superman, Spiderman and Batman, the women will always be the victim and they do not have the power to protect themselves and requires the men to save them.

Retrieved from (http://mcclungs.ca/2010/01/31/cartoons-stereotype-women-too/)

Female should only be the secretary and not the C.E.O.

Retrieved from (http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/s/stereotype.asp)

Male cops are always stronger than Females.

Retrieved from (http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/s/stereotype.asp)

SECTION III

This prejudice and discrimination have resulted in the female not being recognized in the society and hence, female graduates are unable to find job or if not they are given jobs that are paid lower than men.

Females are also being treated unfairly in families as they are only to produce boy’s babies, if girl’s babies are produced, they will be buried, sold or aborted, this will result in the decreased of females in the world and hence, sooner or later, there will not be females around to give births and thus affecting the population rate of the country.

The media has played a part in showing the stereotypes of gender to the world and has affected the different age group especially the kids.

The media is notorious for portraying females in roles including caretaker, housekeeper, and in administrative support positions.

Cited from (http://www.careerthoughtleaders.com/blog/gender-stereotypes-impact-women-in-the-workplace/)

Examples of such media are cartoons, advertisement and music.

Examples of Video: Gender Stereotyping of Women in the Media

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z6ks8Z0X20&playnext=1&list=PL0EC8085A1A869164&index=6)

The stereotyping of women is always seen portraying by the media. In the following video on YouTube, you will see the Gender Stereotyping of Women in the various types of media which includes Disney cartoons such as Cinderella story and examples of some families where female or wife are determined to do all the housework and cooking and also various advertisement on cleaning products to be performed by females. Advertisements of children’s toys are also affecting the stereotypes of children such as Barbie dolls for girls. Interviews with children are also being carried out to find out the stereotype of gender roles they have in their mind, two dolls of different gender are used and the questions being asked are; which gender of doll likes to clean the house, who takes care of the babies and who goes to work. This video significantly shows the stereotype being delivered through various sources of media.

Statistics are found to support the findings on discrimination of gender.

Chart 1.1

The chart above shows the statistics of women being paid lesser in the same career as men.

Retrieved from (http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com/2009/03/03/gender-pay-discrimination-chart-by-career/)

Chat 1.2

The chart above shows the percentage rate of women being treated unfairly in different aspect; work family, magazines etc.

Retrieved from (http://www.un.org/womenwatch/confer/beijing/national/japan98.htm)

Chart 1.3

Above shows the differences in number of girls and boys being out of school in 2004, Girls at the disadvantage of gender discrimination.

Retrieved from (http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/2008/10/03/human-rights-facts-68-poverty-and-gender-discrimination/)

I have also done a survey with the students in Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore and they too, both female and male agreed that being gender biasness affect the society. The female think that this mindset has started to change over the years and in this modern era, there should be no longer having this issue living with us. Most of them including the male think that countries whose female are still dealing with this gender bias issue should fight for their own basic rights as being a treat equally and fairly.

SECTION IV

As far as we know, gender discrimination usually affects on countries that are not modernized yet, hence one of the solutions is that, the females that suffer from this menace can form a human right group and voice out to the government about this issue. Thus, this make the gender bias issue aware to the whole world, thanks to the technological advance of media. With this issue being brought up to the whole world, the government will then know that it is time for them to make a change in order to advance like other developed countries and stop this gender biasness issue.

Modernized counties should send diplomats or even real life example of female being capable both in mind and heart to countries that still practices gender discrimination. One of the examples of some most capable and influential person is like Oprah. We should start educating these countries by telling them females can also be as successful as a male in whatever aspect.

In this essay, we will be explaining and giving the definitions of prejudice and discrimination. Also, we will go in depth and elaborate about the various kinds of discrimination in today’s society such as gender, disability, size, looks, monetary, status, education, sexual and racial discrimination. After which, we will give solutions and ways to reduce racial discrimination in Singapore. Finally we will end with a round up of conclusion.

Prejudice and discrimination is a rising issue in today’s society. According to Dictionary.com, prejudice is an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason. Discrimination is the treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.

To be prejudiced is to have a cultural mindset and that is relied on negative or unpleasant stereotypes about individuals or groups because of their ethnic, religious, racial or cultural background. To discriminate is to have an active denial of desired goal from a certain group of people. The group can be based on sex, ethnicity, nationality, religion, language, or even class. More recently, disadvantaged groups now also include those based on gender, age, and physical disabilities.

Prejudice and discrimination are very common at both the individual and societal levels. Any attempt to eradicate or solve the problem of prejudice and discrimination must thus deal with prevailing beliefs or ideologies, and social structure.

Gender-

There are many types of discrimination. Gender discrimination, also known as sexism is very common. In most societies, women have been viewed as the ‘weaker sex’ who is in constant need of protection from the rough world. Women are more delicate by nature compared to men, and are often victims of physical, emotional and psychological abuse. Gender discrimination does not only apply in communities and sometimes families but also a lot of times in workplaces. In Chinese Culture, boys are more wanted than girls as they can pass down the family name. According to BBC news, around a million girl fetuses are aborted and tens of thousands of girl babies are abandoned in China, every year. A boy will bring status and he will also continue the family line. Families also throw big celebrations for baby boys while neglecting the less-wanted girls. The preference for boys is tied up in the Confucian belief that male heirs are necessary to carry on the family name and take care of the family spirits. A Chinese family worries that if there is no son no one will look after them and keep them company in the afterlife. Confucius once said, “There are three ways of being disloyal to your ancestors. Not carrying on the family name is the worse.”

In early Japan, there is large gender discrimination. They have a saying that goes “men as breadwinners and women as homemakers”. Even after Japan introduced the Equal Employment Opportunity Law in 1985, which prohibited discrimination against women in employment and urged employers to treat women equally in terms of recruitment, job assignment and promotion. But, they are still the last to be rehired in a full-time job. Japanese women are also expected to quit their job if they have children. Even if companies are facing a shortage of workers, they had no plan to try to hire more women. Women have to work twice as hard as man to advance their careers because of the prejudices within Japanese companies. Their university education is roughly the same as those without an upper secondary education. In 1997, statistics show that Japanese women hold only 9.3% of professional positions, compared to 44.3% in the United States. Women’s income is only 45%of men’s even though they make up 64% of Japan industry.

Females appear to be less strongly oriented toward personal terminal values than men, but more strongly oriented toward moral means.

Also in sports, especially soccer, where female officials/referees are slowly introduced to the male side of the game are being discriminated. One such example was Andy Gray, a former footballer, popular football pundit and commentator. He was British television channel Sky Sports main pundit since 1992. However, he was fired after he was found to made sexist comments and made offensive gestures to a female co-presenter. He had commented, “Can you believe that? A female linesman. Women don’t know the offside rule.” in which his fellow presenter, Richard Keys replied, “Course they don’t. Somebody better get down there and explain.” during a post-match show when they thought they were off air. In another show, he was caught on camera( in which it was edited out later on) tugging his pants and asking his female co-presenter Charlotte Jackson to tuck the microphone into his pants. (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3371091/Andy-Gray-sacked-over-sexism-row.html)

In Singapore today, Gender discrimination while still existent, is less obvious.

Disability –

Besides the various types of discriminations stated above, there is also a discrimination against the disabled people. Having a ‘disability’ means that a person has a physical or mental impairment. This in turn has a substantial and long-term negative effect on one’s ability to carry out normal everyday activities. Disability discrimination occurs when one is treated less favorably because of their disability as compared to someone without a disability. This is known as direct discrimination. There are cases in which people with some form of disability are treated differently, or are victimized. People who are not disabled laugh at the disabled because of the way they walk or talk. These people gang up and make fun of the disabled. They belittle them, and feel satisfied with themselves. The disabled are not able to do anything about it because there are too many people treating them that way. There is also indirect discrimination where everyone is treated equally, but by treating everyone equally, the disabled is put to a disadvantage. This is more subtle and may also be unintentional. An example would be when there are stairs to enter a building but a person with a disability might not be able to use the stairs and may need a ramp.

Size/looks –

Being of a different size or looking different may also be a form of prejudice and discrimination. Often during first meetings, people are judged on first impressions, and first impressions are all about the visuals. Many a time people are discriminated against just because they are “too fat”, “too skinny” or “not good looking enough”. Society has set a standard where everyone wants an ideal body and face. This is known as the golden ratio. The ratio of “(foot to navel): (navel to head)” is the golden ratio of the human body. A person’s face has to be symmetrical and have “nice proportions” to be considered good looking. There is a reason why plastic surgeries are in demand. While applying for jobs, people are required to attach photos of themselves. More often than not, the people who are better looking tend to get the job as compared to those who are less good looking. Then there is the case of body size. People tend to make remarks about fat people and fat jokes. An example would be “Yo Mama So Fat” jokes, which is very common. Even though different cultures have a preference for people of different sizes, everyone in general prefer slim to fat.

Monetary/financially-

Financial discrimination is when people look down on others that they are poorer than them. This will affect them if they want to find a job, get a rent or buy an apartment. People tend to look at the appearance to analyze whether you are rich or you are poor. For example, salesman will normally look for people that are trendier from those who wear clothes that seem old and tear. Service staff of well-known brand in some regions might not serve or even come up to you if they think that you have no money to pay if they let you try. So, what is the point to spend so much time to serve you?

In United States, there is a case that they are discriminating against the blind people by refusing to make money readable for them as they think there do not have the need. They don’t go out a lot, there does not have many chance for them to use the notes. Even for the device that is specially made for them to differentiate the money is expensive. At the end, blind people have to folding their bills in different positions to tell them apart. (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/395668/financial_discrimination_against_the.html?cat=15)

Financial discrimination also involved the low-waged workers. In a way that large number were paid lesser than the minimum wage that they should get and they had worked overtime without pay. When they get injured in the work place, they had to pay the bills themselves instead of having compensation from their company. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112506238)

Status/Education –

For status discrimination, most of this happens in the work place. We can see lot of who butter up status that up high and despise those who have low status than them. Everybody wants to get to a higher place. For these people that have status discrimination in mind, they normally think that this is a short cut and time saving way. For lower status in the society, they are always afraid of offending the people of the higher status. This is because they can’t afford to spend the money to fight cases with them.

We can also see employer refuse to hire people that have foreign name, speaks with accent, from another country or even locals who does not have a high level certificate. Competition is getting higher and higher in the work place.

Nowadays, it is the certificate of education that decides the fate of status in society. Without a certificate, you will get no jobs.

In Singapore, there are several foreign domestic worker abuse cases. Many do not know how to speak English and many doesn’t know where to seek for help.

There are also many cases about children bring their parents to old folks homes and do not care about them anymore, or old folks being abuse because they are a burden to the family.

Sexual discrimination (gay/sexual orientation) –

People often get confused between gender discrimination and sexual discrimination. While gender discrimination is biased opinions about the female/male gender, sexual discrimination is about their sexual orientation.

In society today, talking about homosexuality is still an uncomfortable and touchy topic. While it has progressed from the past where homosexuality was illegal and you could be hanged for admitting that you were a homosexual, it has now been legally acceptable to pronounce yourself one. However this does not stop the community around you to form perceptions and opinions about you.

The 2 main places where Sexual discrimination is most evident are in schools and the workplace. In the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), homosexuals and effeminate men are managed according to the dictates of a manpower directive issued. Probably its most well know classification is Category 302, a medical code given to servicemen who are “homosexuals, transvestites, paedophiles, etc.” homosexuals are further classified into those “with effeminate behaviour” and those “without effeminate behaviour”. This form of discrimination persists despite the fact that homosexuality was depathologised by the American Psychiatric Association in 1973, and homosexuality is not regarded as a psychiatric condition by the local medical profession. More so, the categorization of homosexuality with transvestism and paedophilia by the SAF further backs up the public’s wrong impression that it is abnormal.

During the enlistment for Nation Service, any self-declared or discovered servicemen who are homosexual are immediately referred and sent to the Psychological Medicine Branch of the Headquarters of Medical Services for a thorough psychiatric assessment. After which, each of their parents are to come in for an interview. Once they are catagorised as a homosexual, they are instantly medically downgraded to a Public Employment Status of C (PES C), regardless of their level of fitness, and put through modified Basic Military Training. After Basic Military Training, they are deployed into a vocation which has no security risks, posted to non-sensitive units and given a security status which restricts their access to classified documents. (http://knol.google.com/k/discrimination-against-homosexuals-in-singapore#Singapore_Armed_Forces)

In Singapore, while being homosexual is legal, same-sex marriage is not, and any acts of indecency between two people of the same sex, will have you charged. Singapore being a diverse nation, which encourages harmony between different race, religion and background does not have as many Sexual discrimination cases as compared to America. In fact, according to BBC News on 16 May 2009, there was an event help by pinkdot.sg to commemorate love in all forms and between people of every orientation. The event was for Singaporeans in general – to affirm our respect for diversity and the freedom to love, regardless of sexual orientation.

Figure : 2,500 pink-attired supporters of gay rights, in a Singapore park.

“We recognize that many Singaporeans are conservative… so we planned an inclusive event that would reach all Singaporeans, straight and gay,” organizer Mr Soh says.

Racial –

Racial discrimination is the discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of another race, also known as Racism. Where most countries do not condone Racism, it is still exists and has become a stereotype in society today.

In the US, many laws forbid racial discrimination, and a number of these are directly derived from Title VII in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Civil Rights Act of 1991. The first of these acts makes manifest that employers cannot refuse to hire qualified employees based on race or skin color, and they can’t do other things like harass them for race, refuse promotions, or pay them at lower rates. The 1991 Civil Rights Act defines some ways that people who have experienced racial discrimination can sue.

Till today, racial discriminations still exist, especially in workplaces where largely foreign workers are employed (mostly Chinese nationals, Bangladeshis and Indian nationals). Faced with language barriers and already lowly paid, they still have to follow orders and listen to vulgarities being thrown at them by their local employers and superiors. The same can be said for domestic helpers, where there are numerous reports of physical (and sometimes sexual) abuses by their employers and agencies.

Solutions that can be used to reduce prejudice and discrimination in Singapore
Education

It not right to judge someone base on his or her race. They might look different from others but they are still human. In order to make people minimize discrimination, it is better to start from the younger generation because they are the future. First step is to take down “the Special Assistance Plan( a programme that is catered to students who achieved the top 10% of the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE)) school system” (Aaron, 2006). This school system concentrate on Chinese education as there are so many Chinese students and that most of these schools has rich Chinese traditions and history (eg, Hwa Chong Institution). Therefore, how can the racism be reduced in schools like this. Furthermore, government schools should also include religious subject in their system. In addition, universities should also organize some events that relates to intercultural exchanges. This will give an opportunity for students of any nationality to study different cultures.

Workplace

The company should take “racially and culturally staff” (Strategies for Reducing Racism, 2001). It is not only for worker and for employee but also apply for management or director. Talk to different people from different cultural and try to figure out what is problem that they have meet. By doing this, the organization will know what they need to do to improve better working environment for their employees. Moreover, try to put different pictures of multicultural so none will feel isolate. Furthermore, there should be a special team to solve any racial problem in the workplace. This group can also come up with some activities for employees so everybody can get closer to each other.

Race

In Singapore alone, the government has implemented racial harmony. It was in 1964, that Singapore went through 2 five-day periods of racial riots. First in 21st July and second was in 2nd September. The minority of Malays in Singapore had thought that they would benefit from the special rights for Malays that was part of the 1957 Federation of Malaya Constitution when Singapore merged with Malaya. However, it was not part of the agreement of the merger that the special rights were applicable for the Malays in Singapore as well, causing unrest among the Singapore Malays. Reason being that then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew had wanted equal rights for all Singapore citizens, regardless of race.

The riots that broke out in the 2 dates resulted in lives lost and many injured. (http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_45_2005-01-06.html)

And so, on 21st July, which was also the date that the first racial riot broke out in 1964, is celebrated as Racial Harmony Day, in which inter-racial harmony is emphasized and celebrated in schools which students are allowed and also encouraged to dress up in traditional costumes of races other than their own.

As most Singaporeans stays in HDB flats, the government have also implemented certain racial quotas for certain flats so that there is a balance between races in a neighbourhood. For instance, certain flats are only allowed to be bought by a certain race. If so happens that the owner of the flat wishes to sell the flat, the buyer would have to be of the same race as the previous owner so that there is always a balance in the races within the area.

Because of this rule, there are many cases whereby neighbours of different races have inter-cultural exchanges during festive periods. Like how an Indian neighbor share their homemade delicacies with their Chinese neighbour and vice versa.

Locality

Welcome new people no matter where they come from, give them some flower or small gift with nice saying such as “It is nice to meet you; I hope you will enjoy living here”. In this way, everybody will act equally with each other and there will be no prejudice or racism. Another way is that some family can even put the sign with the writing “All race are welcome here”. By doing this, the new people will feel just like at home.

Individual

People do not have to make a group in order to reduce racism. People can minimize discrimination by themselves. Just be nice and be polite to everybody. Be brave to stand up again racial discrimination, read book or research about racism on the internet. Talk to those who still a victim of discrimination so people will understand more about this issue.

Media

As Racial Harmony Day is only emphasized in schools, it can also be spread through the media like radio, television, movies, etc, so that both young and old can be more educated about the importance of racial harmony. Having Racial Harmony Day in school is not enough as the younger generations could still be influenced by others around them especially family members and neighbours. Even though the older generations might have grown up with different races in the older kampong days, there still might be possibility that they have prejudices against other races due to conflicts that might have happened in the past.

Conclusion

After looking at prejudice and racial discrimination in Singapore, there is still a lot to be done even though it is a multi-racial society as it is still very much a predicament in Singapore. Through our solutions such as more inter-cultural exchanges outside of schools where the government is only implementing the racial harmony idealism, in my opinion, racial harmony must still be educated to each and everyone regardless of age so that everyone knows the importance of racial harmony.

Bibilogy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1506469.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8054402.stm

http://aaron-ng.info/blog/racism-in-singapore.html

The main purpose of this study is to identify the gender difference in preference of being single and married in The Mines. The study also aims to investigate the relationship between male and female perspective toward being single and married and male and female preference of being single and married.15 male and 15 female from The Mines in Selangor were involved in this study. The study was conducted using quantitative approach where questionnaire were used as the instrument to collect data. The data were then analyzed using Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. The preliminary analysis of the data revealed that most of the men prefer in single life for all 20 statements that has been mentioned in the questionnaire and most of the female prefer married life for all 20 statements that has been mentioned in the questionnaire. The implication and suggestions from the result of this study will be discussed.

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the background of the study, problem and its significance, and the scope and the limitation of the study.

Introduction

Being single can be dramatically different from living married. Marriages conventionally characterize the commencement of a family, but living single generally indicates that you are free to do what as you please. The dissimilarity among single and married life vary from very little to very huge, but there are a few difference that serve to illustrate the preference between male and female. Responsibility is one of the issue influencing the preference among male and female. Whereas living single is just self-responsible, living married are responsible for partners. While living single, a people only think of himself, but married people think their partners and children. Single people want to live the life as an exploration and they want to discover new things but married people cannot do it. Single people do not take responsibility, but married people take responsibility as spouse in their life. Married couples uses more time discuss the future such as how to save money, what kind of occupation choices to make and what time to start thinking about children. Living married will concern more with future capability to raise family compare to living single which do not have to be bothered about much beyond monthly expenses. Single people only are as an individual in the life, but married people are as a husband or a wife or a father or a mother in the life. The life is effortless for single people; on the other hand the life gives more responsibility and complicated for married people. Being married is like a second job. You ought to toil at it for it to be flourishing. Married couples need devoted time to communicate with each other and assist one another with their physical and emotional demands. For this reason, married couple generally devoted less free time to hang out with friends or watch the most up-to-date movie. A single person have more free time but also might realize that the free time is not that pleasurable since there is no one to spend together. Once a person get married, the person no longer an independent entity. You might keep your occupation and your relationship is first-rate, but start from your wedding you must all the time think as a husband and wife. What you have decide affecting your future together. Whatever things you purchase have an impact on both of your finances. Whatever thing you do must be well thought-out from your wife or husband’s point of view. When making a decision in single life, you only have to consider your own welfare, but you are also lack of the emotional support that makes complicated decisions easier to bear. Being married can have considerable financial benefits, on the other side, it also can be pretty pricey. Living a married life receives a tax break and get advantage from the ability to share their financial resources. Mortgage and rental fee are shared. Living single do not receive tax break and only responsible of their own living costs. On the shortcoming for married life, living in single life can spend money whenever and wherever when you see fit without have to worry about a mad spouse.

Problem Statement

There are a lot writing about gender roles in marriage life. For men, married life means a better life style, since they have a woman to take care of them. However, this is totally different for women. According to Betty Friedan the dream image of the young American woman is “suburban housewife” .Just as prescriptive journalism of the 19th century geared to the middling classes emphasize the stereotype of that women’s role in culture as wife and mother, the 1950s saw an perfect achieve in magazines, books journal, article, movies, advertisement and songs, that illustrate the middle-class, white woman satisfied only by a blissful marriage. There was an article from a popular research of 1960 offered a sociological study of the about one-third of American adult female whose lives not match with this domestic norm. Based on consultation with married and single women, and a host of “experts”, the author detailed the “frenzied” mating efforts of women who tried, but failed, to marry as well as the unpleasant emotional effects of being single. Even though the data presented that single women could live happily-sometimes even happier than those who are married-the article’s abstract stress on “frantic hordes of unwed women” persistently looking for husbands perpetrated a stereotypical depiction at odds with some of the statistics and testimonies quoted.

Objectives of the study

The main objective of this study is to examine the gender difference in preference of being single and married. More specifically, the study is conducted to fulfill the following objectives:

To investigate male and female perspective toward being single and married

To investigate male and female preference of being single and married

To investigate the relationship between male and female perspective toward being single and married and male and female preference of being single and married

Significant of study

Nowadays, there are decreasing in number of married people. There are certainly differences of single and married life in it. In the single life difficulties affect a single person, but married life difficulties affect more people and so that harder the life for married people. People prefer more single life than married life such as freedom and responsibility reasons. Based on this study, the researcher want to find out what is the other reasons affecting these differences, the researcher could have some idea to change the perspective of male and female toward being single and married. Hopefully, this research could help to raise the number of married people in the society nowadays.

Definition of Terms

For clearer understanding of the terms used in this study, below is their meaning:

1.5.1 Married

‘It refers to the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law.’ (Merriam Webster, 2013)

1.5.2 Single

‘It means unmarried; of or relating to celibacy; unaccompanied by others.’ (Merriam Webster, 2013) Chapter 2

Literature Review
2.0 Introduction

This research is about preference of married life and single life among men and women. Working through psychological articles and journals, five relatively research journal and articles are found. Below are the summary of each articles and journals.

2.1 Single versus Married Life

“Each of single and married life has its advantages and disadvantages at different times and they both definitely take a different way of thinking to take pleasure in. Married couples over and over again wonder how it would be like to be single again; on the other hand single people spend immeasurable time searching for their companion. So, which is better?”

Perry Berryman examined that the major advantages about being married is finally there is someone start building a stable life with you, someone who has made a vow to you. Gone are the days of pretending, you can be real self, because your other half will find out the truth slowly. You also start being respecting from the other who treats marriage as a rite of passage into adulthood. “If the marriage is good and stable, it will make you a stronger person and get through all the trouble and difficulties since there is a supportive partner in your life that is a constant (although not perfect). On the contrast, freedom is one of the advantages of being single. According to Perry Berryman, the disadvantages of both lifestyles vary from everyone. “If you involved in a bad marriage then single life will seem like a relief. Likewise, if you can’t find a partner to spend free time together, then you will probably feel abandoned, loneliness are around you and upset no matter how successful your life is. The key to evaluate the differences is actually in get pleasure from the lifestyle you owned while you have it. (Berryman, 2012)

A married person pays significantly less when dealing with the expenditure of living in contrast to a single person. Married couples advantage from both federal and Society Security when it comes to the living wages. When people were single, they tend to waste money on things like gym membership or accessory; however, once they get married they are less likely to waste on these things. Because there are some heavy expenses that appear with marriage. Retirement appear to be more of a reality in married life, people saved a number of of their earnings for retirement. On the other hand, living single does not start saving for retirement until their 40’s. (Hampton, 2006)

According to Linda J. Waite and Maggie Gallagher (2011), they studied the physical, emotional, sexual, and economic benefit that marriage provided to individual and society as a whole. “Today a wide agreement say that marriage is not a good deal for female; when parents are discontented, divorce is better for children; and that marriage is, for all intents and purposes, a personal choice, not a public institution. They completely disagree with these statements, compete instead that by a broad range of index, in fact, being single or divorced is not as good as being married- physically, materially, and mentally. They compete that married people live healthier, longer, earn more income, mount up more wealth, feel more achievement in their lives, get pleasure from more enjoyable sexual relationships, and have happier and healthier children than those who remain single, cohabit, or get divorced.” (Linda J. & Maggie, 2011)

“Diehard romantics say love has no price, but a pair of European economists goes up against this statement. In 2002, they calculated the financial value of marriage at $100,000 annually.” (Financial Times) According to Conger, people are putting off marriages later in life than ever before. The regular age of getting married was continue going up 90 percent more single-person households existed in 2005 than in 1970. Researchers have shown that married people are more likely to live healthier and earn more income than single. A marriage also appears to increase healthiness. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that married people is less likely to drink or smoke heavily, suffer frequent headache and experience from psychological problems than single people. Across nations and racial groups, people report more satisfaction from marriage than occupation, society or wealth. In a survey, 43 percent of respondents who had married reported that they were “very happy”, compare to 24 percent of single people. (Cristen Conger)

“Marriage is one of the most significant institutions affecting people’s well-being and life. Married life enhances sexual relations and promote obligation between partners. This obligation has optimistic effects, for instance on spouses’ wellbeing and their household income.” (Alois Stutzer and Bruno S. Frey, 2003) Here are two explanations why marriage contributes to well-being are put emphasis on (Argyle, 1999): First, marriage provides extra sources of confidence, for example by making available an escape from stress in job of one’s life. It is gainful for one’s personal identity to have more than one leg to stand on. Subsequently, married people have more chance of benefiting from a lifelong and caring cherished relationship, and experience less from aloneness. For those who are unmarried, people who live together with a partner are notably more satisfied than those who live alone. However, this effect is reliant on the society one lives in. It turns out that people living together in individualistic societies experience more life contentment than single, and occasionally even married, persons. The contrary holds for collectivist societies. (Alois Stutzer and Bruno S. Frey, 2003)

Chapter 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction

This chapter describes the research methodology used in the study. The research design, the location where the research was conducted and the description of research subject are described. It also defines the data collection instrument used and the way data was collected.

3.1 Research design

A quantitative approach was followed. Quantitative research is an inquiry into an identified problem, based on testing a theory, measured with numbers, and analyzed using statistical techniques. The goal of quantitative methods is to determine whether the predictive generalizations of a theory hold true. Survey research is one of the most important areas of measurement in applied social research. The broad area of survey research encompasses any measurement procedures that involve asking questions of respondents. A “survey” can be anything forms a short paper-and-pencil feedback form to an intensive one-on-one in-depth interview (Trochim, 2006).

3.2 Research Subject

The definition of population is generally a large collection of individuals or objects that is the main focus of a scientific query (Castillo, 2009). The study population consisted of the married individual from The Mines Shopping Mall.

Convenience sampling method is used in this study. A sample is a set selected from the population of interest and used to make an inference about the population as a whole Haslam and Mcgarty (2003). Castillo (2009) defines convenience sampling as a non- probability sampling technique where the subjects are selected because of their convenient accessibility and proximity to the researcher. The sample consists of 30 agents base on their availability in the right place at the right time. All subjects were willing to participate and gave their full cooperation during the study.

The sample included 15 females and 15 males of married people. Questionnaires were distributed among available subjects until the sample size reached 30. The subjects were people who were willing to participate in the research and met the sampling criteria.

3.3 Research Instrument

In this survey design research, the research instrument used was questionnaire. Questionnaire is a set of printed or written questions with a choice of answers, devised for the purposes of a survey or statistical study. In this study, information was collected through a prepared set of questions distributed personally to the subjects by the researcher.

Survey questionnaire have advantages over many types of surveys. According to Guj (2010), “they are cheap and can easily target groups of interest in many ways and they can be used to target a large audience in a wide geographical area.”

A set of questionnaire was used to collect the data. All of them consisted of close-ended questions to get precise details. Closed-ended questions are controlled by the researcher and are easier to analyze. However, they can limit the respondents’ answer.

The questionnaires were in English only and consisted of two sections A and B. Section A aimed at participants’ demographic data such as age, gender and others. Section B focused on determining the differences between single life and married life. Guidelines for the participants whether to tick the answer were included on the questionnaire.

3.2.1 The sampling criteria

Subjects included in the sample were selected as they meet the sampling criteria set by the researcher. The participants had to meet the following criteria to be included in the sample.

They should be:

Mentally sound in order to be consent to participation

Willing to participate

Either of any sex

Of any race

3.3 Research Instrument

In this survey design research, the research instrument used was questionnaire. Questionnaire is a set of printed or written questions with a choice of answers, devised for the purposes of a survey or statistical study. In this study, information was collected through a prepared set of questions distributed personally to the subjects by the researcher.

Survey questionnaire have advantages over many types of surveys. According to Guj (2010), “they are cheap and can easily target groups of interest in many ways and they can be used to target a large audience in a wide geographical area.”

A set of questionnaire was used to collect the date. All of them consisted of close-ended questions to get precise details. Close-ended questions are controlled by the researcher and are easier to analyze. However, they can limit the respondents’ answer.

The questionnaires were in English only and consisted of two section A and B. Section A aimed at participants’ demographic data such as age, gender and others. Section B focused on determining the differences between single life and married life. Guidelines for the participants whether to tick the answer were included on the questionnaire.

3.4 Research Location

The research was conducted at The Mines Shopping Mall which falls at Jalan Dulang, Selangor Darul Ehsan. It following a major revamp and Fun, Food Fashion & Future as its key messages and core values to provide a better, greater shopping experience to its patrons.

3.5 Data Analysis

The data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel. Frequency tables were drawn and from these, the data was presented in pie diagrams and bar graphs.

3.6 Conclusion

The researcher used a quantitative and survey research design. The questionnaires were checked by lecturer after finish prepared. Then the researchers were collected the data of 30 subjects of convenient sample with equal numbers of male and female.

This chapter discuss about the research design such as survey, experiment, and case study. And also learned about types of sampling that including random sampling and non-random sampling. To complete the research, types of questionnaires options like ranking scale or likert scale was required for researchers.

CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS
4.0 Introduction

This chapter discusses about the findings obtained from the data collected in the form of questionnaires. Pie charts and bar charts were drawn for better analyzing purpose.

4.1 Demographic Data

The data for this study were obtained from married shoppers at The Mines shopping mall. The sample composition was 15 (50 percent) male and 15 (50 percent) female (see Figure 1).Majority of the respondent (60 percent) are Chinese, following by Indian (13 percent, Malay (20 percent) and other races (7 percent)(see Figure 2).Participants ranged in age from 17 through 50 years with the majority of respondent under the age of 40 years (see Figure 3)Participant ranged in income level from RM1000 to RM 4000.The majority of respondent (63 percent) had income under RM1000 or RM1999 .Most of the remaining participants (37 percent) had income more than RM2000( see Figure 4).Majority of the respondent (30 percent) are student, following by employee (23 percent),homemaker (20 percent)self employed (20 percent) and retired( 7 percent) (see Figure 5).

Figure 1: Number of male and female participants in this study.

Figure 2: Races of participants in this study.

Figure 3: Age group of participants in this study.

Figure 4: Income level of participants in this study.

Figure 5: Employment Status if participants in this study.

4.2 Single Life vs. Married Life

Figure 1: Preference among male and female about single and married life.

Figure 1 show that the preference among male and female about which categories does individual prefer. 8 of male respondents were preferred married life while 6 of male respondents were preferred single life. However, that is 1 of male respondent was preferred both that is married and single life. Furthermore, the right side of graph show that the preference among female about which categories does individual prefer. 6 of female respondents were preferred married life while 6 of female respondents were preferred single life. However, that is 3 of female respondent was preferred both that is married and single life.

CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
5.0 Introduction

This chapter summarizes the entire research work by coming to a conclusion and finalizes the results. Recommendations will also be given in this chapter.

5.1 Summary of the study
This research was conducted mainly to examine if there is any differences between married and single life. Understanding the similarities and differences between married and single life among gender can help figure out the society is prefer single or married life. This was a quantitative research and the methodology used was survey using questionnaire as the research instrument. A convenient sampling was used to get 30 participants with equal numbers of male and female who are married since the topic is based on single and married life. The questionnaires were handed out at The Mines Shopping Mall.
5.2 Findings
The preliminary analysis of the data revealed that out of 15 male respondents, 8 of male who preferred married life more than single life. However, there are 6 out of 15 male respondents were preferred single life instead of married life. There are several statements where by one of male respondent was preferred both. Nevertheless, the result of prefer single or married life among 15 female respondents were equal which is 6 of respondents preferred single life and 6 of respondents preferred married life. The rest of the female respondents (3 respondents) were preferred both. This result was obtained through questionnaire while conducting the survey.
5.3 Conclusions
The average age of getting married was keep rising nowadays. People do believe the life after getting married would be changing. Responsibility is one of the main reasons of individual who doesn’t wants to get married. While single people are just self-responsible, married people are responsible for their partners. Beyond that, individual would lose their freedom after getting married. They can’t spend all the times with their job or friends but have to spend some times for their partner too. Here are just some of the reasons that people choosing being single instead of married. However, married people might not agree with that. According to the research, we can see that married people are preferred married life instead of single life. The reason could be life has more happiness with their partners, or the life is not that bad as single people aspect. They experienced joyfulness through marriage. So, married people do prefer married life instead of single life.
5.4 Recommendations

The findings in this study may be limited with the time is constrained. It is yet to be verified that whether conclusions reached here will hold in other organizations or countries. It is also much advisable to allocate more time for this study to obtain a more detail and reliable information. A larger sample population should also be taken into consideration. However, the results obtain in this study could be used as guidelines for other as a guideline to study the respond of individual on single and married life.

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