Saturday, August 31, 2019

Account for the continued existence of gender inequalities at work

Despite the laws and movements, women still do not enjoy equality in the workplace, in position or wages. In this essay I will discuss the origins of gender inequality in an effort to find out where this was first instigated. Initially I will talk about the historical motives of gender inequality and the work of the earlier women's movements and campaigns for equal rights in the early 1900's. I will then discuss various feminist theories of gender inequality, including recent government statistics. Finally I will conclude with my own viewpoints on gender inequality in the workplace in an attempt to discover why it continues to exist today. Ann Oakley 1981(cited in Haralambos and Holborn) gave a historical analysis of the changing role in society for women from before the industrial revolution in the 19th century to the 1970's housewife. Oakley says that men and women and also the children of the working class were employed in the factories. 1819 saw the beginning of the factory act that gradually restricted child labour. From 1841 to 1914 (the beginning of World War 1) women were seen as a threat to men and their employment. In 1852 women's employment was greatly reduced by The Mines Act which banned women from working in the mines, tradition said women should be in the home as a housewife and mother. In 1851 only 1 in 4 women were in paid employment by 1911 it was 1in 10. With the combination of these various acts passed and the growing restrictions on women's employment, more and more women began to stay at home but not by their own choice. Harolambos and Holborn 2000 p. 144) World War I saw many women return to the workforce while men were away fighting in the war; the economy needed women in the workforce even though they were paid less than they were worth. In February of 1918 the representation of people's act gave 2 Women the right to vote for the first time. Under this act only women over 30 were allowed to vote if they were householders, wives of householders, paying annual rent over i5, or graduates of British universities or women who were qualified although not graduates. About eight and a half million women were able to vote in the 1918 election. Women also became eligible to stand as MPs. Several suffragette campaigners stood for Parliament in the 1918 election. None were successful. Between 1914 and 1950 many women returned to work, but their primary role was still seen as that of the housewife/ mother, the industrial revolution had initiated many significant changes for women. Men were not happy about this as seen in the words of Jack Tanner: â€Å"We, as an organisation are opposed to the introduction of women as a general principal. â€Å"(Cited in Walby 1987). Braverman (1974) disagreed with Tanner saying there was a strong case for women being encouraged into the labour force, and that necessity for cheap unskilled labour was a requirement created by employers. Jack Tanner (at the time the leader of the Amalgamated Engineering Union in 1940) was doing his utmost to prevent women entering the male dominated workplace. The reason why men like Tanner should be so opposed to women to work in his male dominated union was not just because of their fear that women would work for fewer wages than men it was more a system of patriarchal objections which women's employment threatened to disrupt. Walby 1987 p2-3) 1970 saw the Equal Pay Act, which meant that women were to receive equal pay to men if they were employed to do similar work of the same value. In 1975 the Sex Discrimination Act was brought in to stop discrimination on the grounds of sex in employment, education and equal chances of promotion. Women in work i. e. paid employment have recently increased, between 1971 and 1997 (E. O. C. briefings, Work and Parenting) the percentage of women in work has increased so that women have now caught up with men in the labour market. The main reason for this is that more and more married women are going outside the home to work, although lone mother's statistics have dropped. (Harolambos and Holborn) 3 Sylvia Walby in Gender Transformations (1997) agrees with these findings, saying that since the 1980's integration of women in the male dominated workplace has increased dramatically, the number of women occupying higher ranking positions mainly in the professional and managerial careers has risen by 155% as opposed to a 33% rise by men. An increase in women's educational qualifications is seen as one of the main reasons for this remarkable boost to women's participation in higher ranking jobs. (Cited in Robinson and Richardson 1997) Norris (1987) says unquestionably women have always worked, but it is in caring for children and the elderly and the preparation and serving of food and looking after a household, known as unpaid labour, this has constantly been invisible in official statistics. One of the most significant changes for women in the labour force since the 1960's has been the percentage of women returning to the workforce and the decline of men's employment. Recently for every 6 men in paid employment there were 4 women, it has been predicted that these trends will continue to increase. However there are visible differences between some countries, in Scandinavia and North America, for example, women make up half the official labour force compared with less than a third in Spain, Ireland and America. In countries such as Canada Portugal and Norway the number of women in paid employment doubled. However in countries such as France, Britain and Germany, Women have been known to leave the workforce to start a family only to return in later years, this is known as the ‘M' curve. (Politics & Sexual Equality1987) Women in work i. e. paid employment has recently increased, between 1971 and 1997 the percentage of women in work has increased so that women have now caught up with men in the labour market. EOC briefings, work and parenting1997) The main reason for this is that more and more married women are going outside the home to work, although lone mother's statistics have dropped (Hood 1997) 4. Barron and Norris (Haralambos and Holborn2000) argued that there are 2 not 1 labour market as outlined below: Primary labour market is made up from good salaries, job security, good working conditions and good promotion prospects; secondary labour market is made up from lower paid jobs, less job security, lower working conditions and less opportunities of job promotion. These work side by side but it is near impossible for someone from the secondary labour market to be promoted to the primary labour market. Primary sector workers include professionals and managerial, highly skilled manual workers, secondary include unskilled and semi skilled workers manual and non manual workers. Dual labour market results from employers using these methods to keep the type of labour they require so incentives are offered to keep highly skilled in the workplace, secondary sector are seen as dispensable, easily replaced, no incentives for high wages, job security, or promotions is offered to them. The dual labour market can apply to both men and women but mainly women, who are seen as easy to replace and having no interest in learning new skills and less concerned with high wages. Men are still seen as the major bread winner and women's seen as having low status in society and not normally belonging to unions is one of the reasons why they are not as likely to aim for primary sector employment. Normally once a woman begins secondary employment there is little chance she will progress to the primary sector (Haralambos and Holborn 2000) Gender divisions and inequality has been linked to feminist campaigners who have tried to put an end to sexual discrimination and inequality in the workplace. The dominance of males throughout society is known as Patriarchy. Patriarchy explains gender and radical feminist explain male power. Radical feminists like Susan Walby in 1997 explains that ‘Patriarchy is seen as the primary form of social inequality' the domestic area is not the only one that women participate in. She shows how the idea of patriarchy is useful in explaining the relationship between women's restriction's in 5 he private and public area by showing that they work equally to achieve this dependence as well as maintaining patriarchy. Walby explains that it is men who are to blame for women's oppression; women are treated unequal because of their unwaged position in society and also because of household commitments. (Robinson and Richardson 1997) Recently in America there have been various discussions about the Glass Ceiling Syndrome and that there is a certain plateau that women can progress to in the workplace, then reach no further. Below are the three methods by which these are implemented; . Networking by word of mouth – most large companies fill vacancies through word of mouth connections, employees are sometimes identified and interviewed (at lunches, dinners or clubs) and then made an offer of employment outside normal working hours 2. Networking by Employee Referrals – an employee refers another employee from a group of (mostly) men mainly from within their own social group; this again does little for the promotional prospects of women. 3. Executive Search Firms – some companies use executive search firms to fill a large number of highs ranking jobs. Some companies have not made some of these firms aware of the equal opportunity obligations under the law. (www. theglassceiling. ) One of the projects that the government has recently introduced is the Work track Programme; this was said to benefit long term unemployed and to help them gain new skills and also to help them back into the workforce. It was said to be particularly beneficial to single parents (mainly women) with children as the family credit top up could be claimed. The downside of this was that it only lasted for 6 months. It created a false feeling of wealth and it was short term, the after effects are longer lasting. Personally I participated in this programme and although I thoroughly enjoyed my work experience it was very difficult to go back to income support. Many other non Work track jobs I applied for were not as flexible, wages were a lot lower and childcare was not as easily accessible, and there was also no follow on programme 7 either which would have been very helpful. On completing this Programme participants are informed that they will be ineligible to partake in any other Worktrack courses for the next three years. Personally I believe this is very unfair, on one hand he government is giving long term unemployed the opportunity to get a taste of what it is like to get back into the labour market, many of the women in this project had not worked for a long time either because they had stayed at home to raise a family or because of lack of skills or educational qualifications and just when they believe they are getting out of the poverty trap the government takes it away from them. Basically it looks to me like another way for the government rigging the unemployment benefit statistics to look as though there are more women in employment than there actually is. Unfortunately I can only account here for some of the reasons I believe exist for the continued gender inequality in the workplace today, in my remit of 2000 words it would be impossible to cover everything. It is, I feel significant and ironic that it had to be a woman, Ann Oakley, who undertook the first ever study on women and housework, she was incidentally told by her boss (probably a man) ‘to go away and come back with a proper topic'. (Harolambos and Holborn 2000)) In my research for this assignment I have to confess to feeling at times more than a little angry at the blatant and visible discrimination of women in the workplace down through the years. Gender equality in the workplace is still a myth that I personally believe will not be solved in the immediate future, although it has certainly improved in past few decades. I acknowledge that men have been somewhat discriminated against also but nowhere near the same level that women have been and not for such a long period of time. In an ideal world men and women would share equal rights, equal pay and equal status in all societies.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Nau company

Ana Innovating for Social Consciousness By Alex Claws Can a for-profit enterprise succeed if its main innovation is valuing social consciousness as much as shareholder returns? The question is particularly relevant in a time of high gas prices and a growing sense that our current consumption of natural resources is simply unsustainable. The founders of Ana, a fledgling retail outerwear company, believed the answer to this question to be a resounding mimes. Built with an unprecedented level of environmental, social, and human-rights unconsciousness, by April 2008 Ana was an underground success on the West Coast, opening five stores and a website selling critically acclaimed clothing collections. Then, at the beginning of May, Nan's board of directors voted to shut down the company. Viewed through Insight's lenses, Nan's promise becomes clear-?along with the perils that led to its downfall. Ana had a reasonable business model built around a well-defined Job-to-be-done. But as will beco me clear, Ana didn't follow an emergent strategy.And Nan's management discovered that a business model that looks good on paper doesn't always translate into immediate profits. Ultimately, a lack of careful execution and a push for quick expansion doomed Nan's first incarnation. But the story of Ana is still unfolding. Ana 2. 0 is currently underway, and that venture appears to have a better chance of success. The Launch Ana (Maori for â€Å"welcome†) began with the dream of Eric Reynolds, an outdoor enthusiast entrepreneur, co-founder (in 1974) of outerwear brand Marmot, and subscriber to the belief that a single individual can have an impact on the world.In the summer of 2003, Reynolds conceived of Ana, a sustainable clothing company that would donate a significant portion of its revenue to nonprofit organizations. Specifically, Reynolds envisioned customers presented with a unique question at point-of-sale: â€Å"To which organization should ‘my five percent' go? â €  By giving five percent of its revenue to nonprofits, Ana would break new ground. (For comparison, the most generous corporations give away one percent of revenue, with the average corporation giving less than . 05 percent. ) In the summer of 2004, Reynolds began recruiting a management team.In 2005, he hired a number of individuals away from Patagonia, a firm commonly considered a leader in outerwear, social consciousness, ND charitable giving. Chris Van Dyke (son of actor Dick Van Dyke), an ex-Nikkei employee 1 and ex-Patagonia vice president of branding and marketing, was hired as CEO. Mark Calibrating, a successful Patagonia designer, Joined Ana as lead designer. Patagonians director of marketing, Ian Yells, Joined as vice president of marketing. Nan's commitment to sustainability framed the constraints within which Calibrating worked as he designed Nan's clothing collection.Calibrating avoided any materials that weren't renewable or recyclable while seeking a balance betwe en performance, sustainability, and style. As a result, nearly all of the 30 fabrics utilized in Nan's clothing collection were custom materials developed specifically for Ana. The fabrics -?made from corn, recycled plastic bottles, 100 percent organic wool, and recycled synthetics-?set a new standard for sustainability. Nan's clothing creation process led to a number of innovations, including the elimination of solvent-based adhesives.The efforts of Calibrating and his team were rewarded-?Nan's first collection received critical praise from such disparate sources as Men's Vogue and Rock and Ice magazines. One downside: The fabric choices greatly constrained the range of colors possible, resulting in mostly drab hues. Nan's custom fabrics also required that customers pay a substantial premium for their clothing, but Nan's management team did not see this as a problem for its target customer segments: the affluent â€Å"multidimensional outdoor athlete,† the â€Å"new activis t,† and â€Å"creative. The Ana team expected that their customers' passion for sustainability would overcome any price resistance. Nan's commitment to sustainability was enforced as carefully in its stores as in its clothing. The company eschewed traditional 4,000-square-foot retail stores for a 2,000-square-foot â€Å"Webfoot† concept. The store spaces were long and narrow, designed purposefully with limited space for inventory that would be restocked twice weekly. Ana also offered customers a 10 percent discount and free shipping if they were willing to try clothing in the store, and then purchase it online.Assembled from a modular, prefabricated design, each store featured energy-saving lighting and leveraged materials such as reclaimed timber, toxin-free fiberboard, and recycled resin (for mannequins). Customers were offered a choice of 12 carefully selected environmental, social, and humanitarian nonprofit organizations, and five percent of the purchase price was donated to the chosen group. Nan's values extended to its real estate leasing strategy as well-?Ana only leased store space that was LED-certified (LED certification indicates environmental- and health-consciousness standards).The company also set a minimum age limit for the workers at its overseas material suppliers. Nan's principles included the constraint that the highest-paid worker within the company could only earn a maximum of 12 mimes the lowest-paid employee's salary. Finally, Ana did not invest in marketing or public relations beyond a series of websites, choosing instead to rely on word-of- mouth, a more â€Å"sustainable† form of marketing in the eyes of Yells and his team.While Ana managed to be remarkably consistent in the infusion of its values into its processes, one of the key factors in its eventual downfall was that the company had a difficult time securing financing. At least one investor's legal counsel balked at a contract clause that placed the â€Å" needs of society' equal to the â€Å"needs of shareholders,† but Ana held firm. 2 Nan's business plan called for it to earn more than $250 million in revenue in 2010 and to achieve profitability in 2009 or 2010, figures based on opening four stores in 2007, 20 stores in 2008, and 150 stores by 2010.To build the necessary momentum toward these goals, Ana needed at least $51 million in funding. By the end of 2006, Ana had raised $24 million, largely from â€Å"super angels,† individual investors who included the chairman of Seagate Technology, Steve Lucid, and Stephen Gomez, Nan's chairman and a former Nikkei corporate vice president. Despite the fact that Ana had only reached half of its funding goal, the first Ana store penned in Boulder, Colorado, in January 2007, with three more successful store openings following during the year in Adulating, Oregon; Chicago; and Bellevue, Washington.Ana completed its first year of operation in 2007 with 92 employees, four clothing collections, and four stores. In March 2008, Ana donated $223,000 to its 12 nonprofit organizations, implying 2007 sales of around $4. 5 million. In mid-April, Ana opened its fifth store in Los Angels. In late April 2008, despite raising an additional $10 million in funding, Ana announced that it would scale back its store- peeing plans to a total of five in 2008, down from an already-reduced projection of 10.Finally, on May 1, Nan's board of directors voted to â€Å"wind down its business operations,† citing â€Å"insurmountable financial obstacles. † All inventory was liquidated at 50 percent off and the stores were closed. Post-mortem interviews with Nan's executives suggest that the company was approximately $5 million to $10 million short of the funds needed to sustain its operations and open additional stores towards its goal of profitability.In the days following the decision, many customers commented on Nan's blob, expressing sadness, frustration, and anger and questioning why Ana had failed. Ana: The Post-Mortem Looking at Ana through Insight's business model innovation framework and a number of Insight lenses offers insight into how Ana developed such a devoted following as well as how the management team might have been able to ensure a brighter future for their company. Insight believes that business model innovation is one of the most powerful ways for organizations to achieve new growth.By carefully adjusting business model components-?the customer value proposition (the offering itself), the profit system (how the company creates value for itself), key resources (the critical things required to deliver on the value proposition), and key processes (how the company organizes and acts to deliver on the value proposition) -?organizations can build the type of competitive advantage necessary to create truly transformation growth. Nan's business model looked good-?on paper, at least.But Nan's impatient push for profits made it hard to re ally validate whether the business model would in fact work, and shut all opportunities for learning. Ana pulled the customer value proposition lever expertly. The company created potently positive solutions to a number of emotional, social, and functional Jobs-to- be-done. The sustainability of Nan's operations and products set a new standard of satisfaction for the emotional Job â€Å"Feel good about 3 the environmental and social consciousness of my clothing. Nan's clothing also satisfied the social Job â€Å"Convey to others that I prioritize the sustainability of my clothing over its color and flash. † And, as lauded by Rock and Ice magazine, Nan's clothing also satisfied myriad functional Jobs related to comfort and technical performance. Since its sustainable materials carried up to a 20-percent price premium over more commercially available materials, Ana had to pass the premium along to customers.But Nan's management team was correct in assuming that the high qualit y and the redeeming social and environmental value of its clothing Justified that premium in the eyes of customers -?as long as the economy was robust enough that sufficient customers could afford it. And Ana broke new ground with its â€Å"Webfoot† stores by implementing a retail business model that required lower capital and operational expenditures than a traditional retail store model. But there was a significant downside to Nan's profit-system choices.Insight recommends that new ventures â€Å"be patient for growth, impatient for profit. † Nan's management expected the company to have 150 stores in operation by 2010, but did not expect profitability until 2009 at the earliest. Growth was thus essential to profitability, creating a significant risk of failure if the company could not reach its early-stage funding goals. Insight also recommends that new ventures pursue an emergent strategy, to take small steps by conducting inexpensive tests of its key assumptions a bout the new racket.When the test results are in, the venture can analyze the results, adjust its strategy accordingly, and then conduct additional tests. This careful approach helps new ventures optimize for success while avoiding huge, potentially fatal resource commitments. In Nan's case, an emergent strategy might have enabled the firm to consume its funding more slowly while developing an optimal strategy. Instead, the team decided to go straight to launching full Webfoot's rather than testing the clothing line in a department store or opening a single, test-store concept.The root cause for the failure of Ana 1. 0 seems to have been that Nan's business strategy and some of its business model decisions proved questionable. By following a more careful, emergent strategy and by focusing on profitability before growth, Nan's executives might have been able to strike a better balance between vision and execution. Ana 2. 0: On June 24, 2008, Nan's fortunes turned around. Horny Toad A ctivities, a Santa Barbara-based lifestyle clothing company, stepped in to buy Nan's assets with the goal of re-launching a modified version of Ana by late summer. While â€Å"Ana 2. † Is gust beginning to emerge, early signs suggest that the re-launch will follow a strategy more closely aligned to that which Insight would recommend for success. Horny Toad creates and sells men's and women's lifestyle and outerwear clothing. Horny Toad's tagging, â€Å"every day is an adventure,† introduces a humorous, irreverent, socially-conscious approach that lies at the core of everything the company does. Indeed, Horny Toad and Ana have much in common. Horny Toad's stated commitment to â€Å"lightening its environmental footprint† and to 4 supporting both the community and organizations that improve the world immediately suggest synergies.Much as Ana showcased the organizations chosen for customer contributions, the Horny Toad website highlights its support for causes rang ing from helping adults with developmental disabilities to supporting clean energy, with a wide range of other environmental and community-activist organizations in between. However, in contrast to Nan's commitment to sell its clothing solely through a growing number of its own stores, Horny Toad has only two stores and sells its clothing in a wide variety of online and brick-and-mortar retailers. In addition to a store inFreeport, Maine, Horny Toad runs the â€Å"Lizard Lounge† in Portland, Oregon, complete with music, wireless access, coffee, and ping-pong. Horny Toad clothing has been lauded for its hip funkiness by print publications and blobs alike. Recognizing the similarities between Ana and Horny Toad, Horny Toad felt that it would support its motto â€Å"do well by doing good† by purchasing Nan's assets and hiring its leadership to help re-launch the clothing line. In addition to providing financial support, Horny Toad will sell Ana clothing in the Lizard Loun ge and, in a break from Nan's original treated, through other retailers as well.And, with Horny Toad's support, a percentage of Ana sales will continue to go to worthy non-profits. According to Nan's â€Å"Thought Kitchen† blob, shortly after the relationship was finalized Ana leadership began working to resurrect relationships with company partners and to put together a Fall/Holiday clothing collection in time for October availability. While the Ana clothing line will continue to deliver on the â€Å"Beauty, Performance, and Sustainability' commitment through the use of environmentally friendly and socially conscious trials and methods, a quote from Nan's website gets to the heart of why Ana 2. May very well succeed while 1. 0 failed: â€Å"As we move forward with the re-launch of Ana, you'll definitely recognize us, but we intend to do some things differently†¦ We're going to start small and grow the business organically in relationship to the demand for our product. We'll continue to sell our product at Ana. Com, but we're also going to partner with select retailers who share our common goals. We will not be operating our own retail stores, at least not in the near term†¦ So stay tuned. We're coming back. Smaller and a little wiser, our ambitions tempered a bit by the experience, but our passions most definitely intact. Ana 2. G's strategy will most likely enable the brand to focus more closely on identifying the product, marketing, and channel mix that appeals most to customers, without worrying about the pressures of rapid expansion. Particularly in a new venture, vision and passion tempered by patience and pragmatism is the way to go. This approach is also particularly appropriate in these tough economic times. Satisfying social and emotional Jobs-to-be-done around environmental friendliness ND social consciousness may be enough to earn significant premiums for clothing in a strong economy.However, during an economic downturn, financia l reality frequently wins out as consumers prioritize value over the satisfaction of some social and emotional Jobs. 5 For example, since the economy began to sour, Whole Foods Market has seen some of its consumers move their food spending to more budget-friendly alternatives. Whole Foods has responded by shifting its marketing strategy from a focus on quality and environmental friendliness to an emphasis on discounts, store brands, and reduce value as it attempts to keep its customers.Even if Ana 1. 0 had received enough funding earlier in 2008 to continue operations, economic conditions would likely have pushed the enterprise to the breaking point, as has happened with many other fledgling clothing boutiques. When Ana 1. 0 launched, its management team made an impressive commitment to the company's values, taking steps such as tracing the wool used in its clothing back to the sheep to ensure that they were well-treated and implementing a â€Å"sustainable† word-of-mouth mar keting strategy.To launch the new Ana, it is clear that the team as had to compromise on some of its values, such as the control provided by company-owned storefronts, a grassroots-only marketing effort, and potentially the level of contribution to nonprofits. In the end, however, the Ana 2. 0 strategy, with the help of Horny Toad, may be the key to enabling the company's sustainable operation. Making their operations as sustainable as their values will help ensure that Ana is able to be a force for good in the world for a long time to come. For more information: http://www. Ana. Com/coming-this-fall. HTML (Accessed 8/29/08, 1 :41 pm) http:// www. Gibbousness. Com/CGI-bin/magma/article. Pl? Articled=30412; http:// gratifiers. Com/content/fullest/? Acid=50781 6 Innovator's Insight In Need of an Innovation Fill-up By Stephen Hunker Recent news that Consulship's will be selling all 600 of its U. S. Service stations for $800 million comes as little surprise. Oil companies are facing ext raordinarily attractive investment opportunities in exploration and production, and the service station business has been tightly squeezed between rising wholesale costs, inability to pass along those cost increases, and falling demand as driving declines.Clearly the station's buyer-?closely held Peterson Fuel-?sees it differently. We do too. In our view, Peterson Fuel is buying cheap assets with lots of innovation headroom. While â€Å"stick to your knitting† is a popular business maxim, it is of course common to find diversified businesses. There are several reasons diversification can make sense: ; If the new business can share costs and customers with the core business-? in this case, owning both enterprises can provide scale economies, improve distribution, create a better buying experience, and other advantages.This is why many European parameters have service stations outside their doors, for example. ; If the new business provides a useful hedge against a core with vo latile returns but a need for consistent investment. This explains why many pharmaceutical firms own over-the-counter consumer healthcare brands. ; By diversifying, a firm can hold on to a seemingly unrelated business because it sees substantial headroom for growth and a right to triumph in that arena. This is one reason News Corporation bought Namespace. Historically, oil companies owned service stations for each of these reasons.The end nonuser drove demand, and having direct access to that consumer allowed firms to exercise some control over demand levels while also gaining precise information about what products were demanded where. Profits from service stations could offset volatility in exploration and production. Also, the advent of convenience stores at service stations created a new high-margin business. Each of these Justifications for integration now seems threatened by changes such as improved information technology, more efficient capital markets, and communication of t he service station experience.With supermarket-owned service stations now coming to the United States, oil companies face new competitors who may even sell gasoline at a loss in order to drive traffic into their stores. In the I-J, pressure from supermarkets is a factor leading to the net closure of 600 service stations per year. The service station business is looking much less attractive than it used to. So, what might Peterson Fuel be thinking? We imagine two major Justifications for the investment. First, if oil prices decline, the profit margins on service stations may rise, and Peterson will have bought valuable assets for a song.Second, there may be much more innovation headroom in this business than oil companies have traditionally assumed. For instance, Fullness Media International offers local news, weather, and sports on screens at pumps at a few hundred stations. Fullness pays the retailer and shows ads to this highly captive audience. Shell is experimenting with fuel pu mps that are activated simply by a swipe of a fingerprint. Dutch inventors have created a robotic arm that finds a car's fuel cap, unscrews it, and automatically pumps gas. Regional fuel retailer Sheets differentiates itself through premium coffee and made- o-order sandwiches.Another retailer, Valier, is piloting 5,000-square-foot convenience stores with fully nonwhite of the space dedicated to fresh food and other perishables. Oil companies would be well-served by thinking through how well the jobs of their customers are getting done, and whether they can De-commoditized the service station business through new propositions or re-definition of the competitive set. Looking through this lens, we can imagine how a mother could prefer a certain service station because it offers very fast, targeted entertainment for bored children n the back seat, or how a senior might prefer one with very brightly lit displays.The advent of electric- and fuel-cell-powered vehicles opens further possibi lities for using service station real estate in new ways. Look at how Best Buy reconciled what an electronics retailer could be, and how it escaped industry communication in the process. While Wall-Mart and others cut prices ruthlessly, Best Buy rolled out Geek Squad-?a service tightly integrated with its retailing business that addressed a wide swath of unsatisfied Jobs its customers faced post-sale. It also became a place to try new videotapes. The store is even trying to become a hub for musicians buying electric guitars and other gear.In the process, the company increased revenue 92 percent over five years, almost entirely through internally generated growth. It turned out that electronics retailing wasn't a commodity business at all. Sometimes a dog business is Just a dog business. MM spun off its floppy disk and magnetic tape business in 1996, and that turned out to be a smart move. But we find it hard to believe that there is little room for profitable innovation in a retail business that hundreds of millions consumers have to visit on a regular basis.When the finance people come knocking, looking to sell downtrodden assets and invest the proceeds in high-flying businesses, lock the doors for a bit. The business may indeed have few prospects. On the other hand, it may support the core business in many oblique but important ways, and it may have far more innovation headroom left to exploit. – â€Å"Consulship's Will Sell Its Company-owned Service Stations†, by Brett Clayton, Houston Chronicle, August 27, 2008 (http://www. Chronic. Com/disk/story. Ml/business/energy/5969574. HTML) 8 â€Å"Finding the Right Job for your Product†, by Clayton Christensen, Scott Anthony, Gerald Brewster and Denies Meetinghouse, Sloan Management Review, Spring 2007 (http://www. Insight. Com/innovation_resources/research. HTML? Id=167) 9 Innovators' Update A Good Start for Amazon AMP Amazon's digital music store keeps sailing on the winds of industry change s Insight #98 from October 2007, â€Å"Handicapping Amazon's Low-Cost Music Store,† suggested that Amazon might find the results of its then newly launched music download store disappointing. What has happened since?By Renee Hopkins Callahan When Amazon launched its Amazon AMP online music download store in September 007, we were skeptical. At the time, Apple had sold more than 100 million pods and tunes had a lock on the online music market. Amazon AMP planned to sell music free of Digital Rights Management (DORM) protection-?a limited supply, since at the time only one of the four major music labels had agreed to make its music available without DORM protection. Amazon AMP seemed unlikely to succeed with a business model focused on undercutting tunes on price, selling songs for 89 cents instead of 99 cents.We were right that the low-cost strategy would not put much of a dent in the popularity of Tunes. Yet circumstances in the year since its launch have helped Amazon refine its strategy and offer a preview of possible success. According to NYPD Group research released in late July, tunes remains on top of the music retail pack. It is the largest music retailer in the world and it sells at least 90 percent of digital downloads in the U. S. However, the same research showed that Amazon AMP has grown to be the fourth-largest retailer of music in the U. S. , behind tunes, Walter, and Best Buy.That puts Amazon AMP in second place for online music download sales. And while here's still a huge gap in volume between tunes and Amazon AMP-?with Amazon's share of the market in single digits-?Amazon is in the game. However, Amazon hasn't accomplished that by stealing tunes customers. Russ Cropping, an entertainment industry analyst for NYPD, said in an April 2008 report that only about 10 percent of Amazon AMP customers used to be tunes users, with the other 90 percent likely to be people who had been using other services or were new to digital downloading.Amazon AMP attracts young adults age 18 to 25, while tunes' strongest demographic is teens age 13 to 17, another April 2008 study said. Amazon has likely benefited from winds of change blowing in the music industry. A number of analysts have speculated that the industry sees Amazon as an ally in an effort to break Apple's dominance in digital music. It would seem counterintuitive that the music industry would want to bypass its richest retail channel. But some of Apple's practices cut profits for the major labels.In late August, the Wall Street Journal reported on a growing trend in the music business: labels deliberately withholding some of their music from tunes. The article cites several cases in which albums were either not made available on Tunes or were pulled. Why? While consumers strongly prefer purchasing music by song, music label executives, managers and even some artists dislike the tunes policy that requires that music be made available by the song as well 10 as by the album, because profit margins for single-song sales aren't nearly as good as the margins for album sales.Meanwhile, Amazon AMP lets labels sell music the way they want to. If a label wishes to make an artist's work available only by the album, Amazon AMP allows it. Some of the music that the labels have been withholding from tunes is ending up on Amazon AMP. The DORM issue has worked to Amazon's benefit as well. Apple's tunes has historically sold Deteriorated downloads. Such encoding means that songs downloaded on tunes cannot be played on other AMP devices. Apple has worked to persuade the major labels to drop DORM, though it still seeks to keep tunes the only source of song downloads for the pod.At the time that Amazon AMP launched, only MIME, one of the four major music labels, had announced it would drop DORM protection on its music. By early January 2008, a few months after Amazon AMP launched, the three other major labels-universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony BMW- dro pped DORM. That meant their music could be made available on Amazon AMP, which does not use DORM, and which features free software that delivers a customer's AMP file directly to their tunes library.Meanwhile, according to a May 30 Macdonald magazine story, â€Å"Sony, Universal, and Warner continue to withhold the unencumbered tracks from Apple, choosing instead to back tuner's rivals. † Amazon may have more surprises up its virtual sleeve. In late July, Fortune magazine reported that Amazon was in talks with Namespace about becoming the social networking giant's download store partner hen it rolls out its highly anticipated Joint venture with Universal, Warner Music and Sony BMW in September.If the deal goes through, it puts Amazon in a good position to continue nipping at Apple's heels. According to the Fortune report, Namespace plans to let its 120 million users stream entire songs before downloading them. That potentially changes the convenience trade-off for the Namespa ce customers in Amazon's favor, because they would be able to buy a song and get it into their computer's music manager, even tunes, with one click using Amazon's software. Those who wanted to use tunes would have to leave Namespace and physically go to Tunes to accomplish the same end.Clearly, we underestimated the desire of other companies to develop a reasonable Number Two to Apple, a position that Amazon AMP seems to have grown into in the last year. If Amazon can figure out more ways to capitalize on its toehold position in the digital music business,

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Geology & Tectonics of the Himalayan Mountains Essay

Geology & Tectonics of the Himalayan Mountains - Essay Example The Himalayas are mountain range in asia separating the indian sub continent and tibetan plateau. The meaning of the word Himalaya in sanskrit is "abode of the snow." The geology of the Himalayan mountain is the most dramatic and creation of modern plate tectonic forces. The Himalayas are a result of orogeny which is a result of a collison between two continental tectonic plates. They are formed due to the denudation processes of weathering and erosion. The Himalayas supplies water for more than one-fifth of the world population and accounts for a quarter of the global sedimentary budget. Himalayas stretch 2,900 km along the border between India and Tibet. With the collision of two large landmasses, India and Eurasia, driven by the plate movement, collided; this mountain began to form between 40 and 50 million years ago. As both the landmasses have the same rock density, one plate could not be subducted under the other. Thus the pressure of these plates started forming the Himalayan peaks. The Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau to the north have risen very rapidly. In just 50 million years, Mt. Everest has risen to height of more than 9 km. The Himalayas continue to rise more than 1 cm a year -- a growth rate of 10 km in a million years. If that is the case, the Himalayas should be even higher. This made scientists to believe that Eurasian Plate may now be stretching out rather than thrusting up, and such stretching would result in some subsidence due to gravity. Tectonics of Himalayas: The most important property of the Himalayan orogen is its growth laterally. The Himalayan region is divided into four tectonic units for the convenience and better understanding. 1) The sub Himalaya forms the foothills of the Himalayan range and is composed of Miocene and Pleistocene molassic sediments derived from the erosion of Himalaya. The subhimalyan region consist of the quarternery alluvium depsited by the rivers coming from the Himalayas. This explains that the Himalaya is still a young and active orogen. 2) The Upper Proterozoic to Lower Cenozoic Detrital Sediments from the passive Indian margin forms the Lesser Himalaya. These sediments are formed byintercalated with some granites and acid volcanics (1840 70 Ma, Frank et al., 1977). These low-grade sediments are thrust over the SubHimalaya along the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT). The Lesser Himalaya often appears in tectonic windows (Kishtwar or Larji-Kulu-Rampur windows) within the High Himalaya Crystalline Sequence. 3) The Central Himalayan Domain, CHD (or High Himalaya) forms the backbone of the Himalayan orogen and encompasses the areas with the highest topographical relief. It is commonly separated into four zones. a. The High Himalayan Crystalline Sequence, HHCS is a 30 km thick, medium- to high-grade metamorphic sequence of metasedimentary rocks which are frequently intruded by granites of Ordovician ( 500 Ma) and Lower Miocene ( 22 Ma) age. b. The Tethys Himalaya, TH is an approximately 100 km large synclinorium formed by strongly folded and imbricated, weakly metamorphosed sedimentary series. c. The Nyimaling-Tso Morari Metamorphic Dome, NTMD: In the Ladakh region, the Tethys Himalaya synclinorium passes gradually to the north in a large dome of greenshist to eclogitic metamorphic rocks. As with the HHCS, these metamorphic rocks represent the metamorphic equivalent of the sediments forming the base of the Tethys Himalay

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Analysis of Wal-Mart Organization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analysis of Wal-Mart Organization - Essay Example These numbers were hardly predictable from Wal-Mart’s humble beginnings in 1962, when it was founded by entrepreneur Sam Walton. Walton opened a store called the Wal-Mart Discount City in Rogers, Arkansas (Frank, 2006). However, within five years, the company opened up an additional 23 stores throughout the state of Arkansas. By 1968, the stores had moved out of state to Missouri and Oklahoma. From there, Walton incorporated his business as Wal-Mart Stores, which still serves as the company’s namesake, and in 1970, the company went public (Frank, 2006). Despite Wal-Mart’s tremendous growth since its inception in Rogers, Arkansas, the company maintains that it is committed to the same values and purpose that Sam Walton believed in when he opened his first location. Wal-Mart claims to abide by Walton’s credo, which is, â€Å"If we work together, we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone†¦ we’ll give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life† (Walmart). This focus on lowering the cost of living for all people, with equal economic access to the company’s products as a means to improving the quality of life represents a significant part of the company’s mission. â€Å"Saving people money to help them live better was the goal that Sam Walton envisioned when he opened the doors to the first Walmart† (Walmart). ... Food prices are nearly 14% lower in markets where Wal-Mart competes, which means that it is employing its cost leadership in a way that is detrimental to other food suppliers who cannot meet the price offerings of Wal-Mart. Because Wal-Mart is special in its ability to use its large buying power to negotiate deals and acquire cheaply-produced goods from foreign countries, its cost leadership is a core competency. Wal-Mart owns a sizable 30% of the consumer staples market in the United States (Hwang, 2003). Another core competency of Wal-Mart is its use of information technology in support of its international logistics system (Marketing Teacher, 2011). Wal-Mart is special because, for the most part, it is the only multinational retailer based out of the United States. In order to manage the efficient allocation of resources within the organization, Wal-Mart recognizes the need to supply its leaders with the right information in order to make competent decisions. By leveraging informa tion technology, it can measure how individual products perform in different countries with a single glance. This technology also adds value to the process of procurement, which is the process of obtaining goods and services from preparation and processing of a requisition through to receipt and approval of the invoice for payment. In terms of weaknesses, Wal-Mart is a very broad company with a wide variety of interests throughout a vast number of small community markets. Within those stores, Wal-Mart offers a wide range of products, which includes groceries, car services, sports equipment, and so on. Despite providing convenience to its customers, this broadness holds

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Managining Business Facilities Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managining Business Facilities - Assignment Example However, this paper is not purely an expression of complain but just one aimed at elaborating the memorandum so as to quell any future conflicts that many arise from within all the quarters that access these joint services and facilities. Sharing of resources does not imply any weakness in either or lack of investment plans but such arrangement are entered into simply for convenience. Both the facilities run parallel program and they therefore are not competitions for each other. They thus coexist symbiotically. By accepting and signing the memorandum, the two parties committed themselves to the terms of the terms of sharing and by default agreed to uphold its terms to the latter. The two parties signed the memorandum willingly and on grounds of mutual consent. There are thus no stated mechanisms of supervising the application of the memorandum or any manner of punishing whichever party that faults the terms of the agreement. Such an environment creates room for exploitation in the a pplication of the memorandum, as has been the case lately. The facilities manager is one of the key creations of the memorandum. The office was created to observe the application of the memorandum. It seeks to ensure that both the parties enjoy equal rights and access to the services. Additionally, the office addresses any complains pertaining the application of the memorandum. It is understood that the two facilities exist independently yet mutually share the stated resources. The memorandum provides for equal payment for the services, the office of the facilities manager therefore ensures that the dues are paid in time and looks into all the issues raised by the service providers (Painter, 2012). The memorandum effectively provides for the manner in which the facilities are shared, in managing the facilities the office therefore does very little ground work. Besides the

Monday, August 26, 2019

UPS case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

UPS case study - Essay Example With the objective of providing complete supply chain solutions to its customer, the company established the UPS Logistics Group in 1995. Today, the company manages the flow of goods, funds and information in more than 200 countries and territories every day. UPS provides specialized transportation, logistics, capital, and e-commerce services to its valued customers. It also enables its clients with warehousing, freight forwarding and returns management (Research and Markets 2011). UPS owns a large fleet of trucks, trailers, vans et al to ensure smooth functioning of day to day business. The company has imbibed the latest technology from time to time so as to provide superior services to its clients. UPS offers both ‘LTL’ and ‘TL’ services to cater to needs of all its clients ((PR Newswire 2006). From time to time, the Atlanta based company ventured in oversees markets and made a mark there as well. 2) The U.S. Postal Service, headed by a Postmaster General and a Board of Governors, is a branch of the federal government. The USPS is, by statute, under obligation to provide mail services to all Americans. This mandate has to be followed by the USPS irrespective of where the customers live. USPS has to serve these customers/territories even if a cost-benefit analysis suggests that they do not make commercial sense (Harreld, Heather 2000). This obligation obviously leads to high costs, reduced efficiency and thus puts a strain on the financials of the company. Since USPS, a government agency is bound to operate even in non lucrative areas; UPS is relieved of this obligation, legal as well as moral, to do business in such areas. As such, UPS can concentrate on areas, services and customers that it deems would give the company decent profits. 3) An intermodal approach entails the placing of parcels, packages or letters that UPS is required to deliver in an intermodal container  or vehicle. This intermodal

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Advantages and Disadvantages to Kraft Foods Case Study

Advantages and Disadvantages to Kraft Foods - Case Study Example Therefore, if Kraft Foods starts producing healthier products, it will establish positive relationships with different stakeholders. The move will also depict that the company is committed to corporate social responsibility (Lussier 2008, p. 223). On the other hand, the company is likely to lose some of its customers because the new versions of chocolate will have a different taste. Notably, the esteemed customers of the company have been consuming its products because of their unique taste. However, lowering the calorific value of the chocolate versions will alter the product taste. Many customers may not like the new taste. The company will also incur new costs in production. Worth noting is the fact that the company will need to source ingredients that will be used in the production of lower-calorie chocolates. In addition, the company will need to spend on advertising and promotion strategies in order to introduce the new versions into the market. In my opinion, the UK government is likely to introduce legislation that will require taxation of high-fat food products like chocolate. Since the government has experienced the financial burden resulting from medical costs associated with the high morbidity cases resulting from obesity, it is likely to take new measures. The government is also concerned about the health of children and adolescents who are more affected by high-fat food products such as chocolate bars. Therefore, there are higher chances that the government will intervene (Lussier 2008, p. 223). Denmark repealed its fat-tax law after the realization that it contributed to increased consumer prices for the high-fat products. The tax did not motivate companies to produce healthier products. On the contrary, the tax law increased consumer prices, and the consumers had to bear the financial burden.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

The Business of Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Essay

The Business of Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example Business of ethics and corporate social responsibility focus on issues concerned with morality. They focus on the issues that cover business activities fully such as reducing pollution, exploiting raw materials responsibly, frauds in the corporation and even fair payment. The relationship between business and ethics is complex and it incorporate approaches such as individual choices on what is right and wrong. This is where the individual’s decision is put on consideration. It also incorporate the values of what is bad and right involved in the business premises. In every business, they have their own way of doing things and offering services to their customers. This is where there are customs, beliefs and culture created which the employees follow as they handle their customers. The codes of conduct within organizations vary by many ways. Some societies may accept use of bribes while in others it condemned thus due to this the codes of conduct vary. We also find that some countries are prone to corruption thus when a business is situated in that country they tend to follow the norms. Due to these variations in social norms, individual values and cultures of the society in which the business is situated, it is the function of business ethics to standardize all. It ensures that the good moral conducts are followed thus contributing to the success of the business. As seen earlier the corporate social responsibility outlines the ethical concerns in a business by showing the groups to which it is responsible. It involves putting the business ethics into action. The groups it deals with are the stakeholders and the environment of the firm. These include the employees, suppliers, customers, the community, shareholders the government and the society. The relationship between the business and these groups should be conducted morally and

Issue Of The Conflict Between Israel And The Palestinians Essay

Issue Of The Conflict Between Israel And The Palestinians - Essay Example Films such as Exodus, together with the horrific images that emerged from Germany’s concentration camps left an indelible mark on humanity, and rightly so. The effects of these images have also played a crucial role in what has evolved into a crisis in the Middle East that has one party, the Palestinians, crying foul, and the other, the Israelis, claiming rights to land Palestinians have lived on for 1300 years. In assessing any perspective, the temptation to see things from one side or the other is a very real problem. The Zionists, searching for Palestinian roots, wrote their history of the Jews in Palestine in the Middle Ages; the European Christians did the same. As Barnai (1992) suggests, history is often written through nationalistic eyes and as such may be rife with distortions that favor the side writing it. Abdullah’s and other arguments must be subject to that scrutiny. His first argument that Jews and Arabs lived in harmony for centuries, and that â€Å"For nearly 2,000 years Palestine has been almost 100 percent Arab† is faulty. His contention that current animosities have nothing to do with tribal enmity is doubtful as well from a historical perspective. What Slovan (2010) refers to as the Jewish insistence that Judenhass or Jew Hate is largely responsible appears to have weight when evidence is examined. While few reliable documents from very early times exist pertaining to the Jewish presence in Palestine and their treatment there, documents from the Ottoman Empire of the sixteenth century indicate they were there in significant roles. Barnai (1992) writes, â€Å"Jews were quickly integrated into the Ottoman Empire... [and] acquired key economic positions and were active  in...industry, trade, and finance† (p.11). Jews even then were persecuted by local Arab officials. Barnai found, [There were] â€Å"laws discriminating against the Jews...prohibitions on buying land, on building houses and synagogues, and on riding horses, and restrictions in matters of dress and inheritance...† (p. 13).

Friday, August 23, 2019

How the organisation can effectively manage staff performance Essay

How the organisation can effectively manage staff performance - Essay Example Effective management of staff performance is very important to any organisation if it is to achieve its goals. The first step in ensuring managing employee performance is recruiting qualified personnel. Key competencies expected of new employees need be outlined in advance before the recruitment process begins (Dickens, 2012). Having a qualified workforce will ensure that tasks are performed effectively, and organizational goals are met (Storey 2007). Accomplishments and Contributions that employees perform give the human resources possibility to appraise the most notable employees and give feedback to their work and thus discover new resources for ideas and innovation (Thompson, 2012). My model organisation will be the Swiss company, â€Å"Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬ . It is the world’s number one Food Business with its long record of creating the best food for people. The company states that its main assets are not the numerous office buildings or factories, but the nationalities, religions and ethnic groups who consume Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s products and services. Unity and among employees enable the company to operate harmoniously in all its activities creating a single corporate culture (Revill, 2013). The company has developed a program that ensures Nestlà © attracts the most talented people/staff. The company is also making efforts to ensure good employees are retained (Revill, 2013). The company contributes actively to the quality of HRM by proposing policies and by constantly applying and implementing them to members of Nestlà © community. HRM assists in the execution of planning and creating awareness towards the required adaptability to unexpected situations. The expectations of the workers are to be clearly set and clarified by the management. There is need for an all-inclusive process between the management and the staff that helps to set what is expected of the employees and continuously spell out their functions. Every staff is from time to

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Environmental Studies Essay Example for Free

Environmental Studies Essay The population of the world has been on an upward trend for the most part of the past many years. The rapid rise in the population in the past had been attributed to factors like improved medical care and good nutrition. However, the statistics appear to be changing as the 21st century wears on. There has been recorded a decrease in the overall global population growth rate such that although there is still a growth in the population, the rate is reducing. However, the rate is not evenly distributed. Instead, only the developed nations where industrialization and modernity are advanced are experiencing the population slowdown. The developing World still has rising rates of population growth (I. R. C. , 2005). The reduction in the growth rate can be attributed to climatic changes that have in turn caused people to resort to totally new ways of living. There has been a lot of destruction to the atmosphere and the resultant effect has been that some of the plants and animals that were useful for improving the immunity of the people when included in the diet are now extinct. Global warming has killed many such plant and animal species; and the other effects have been that there is an increase in strange, previously uncommon diseases caused by climatic changes which are making more people to die faster than before. Life expectancy has also reduced because of these changes (Johansen, 2009). In addition, the lifestyles of people have changed drastically, including having diets that are less healthy such as the consumption of genetically modified substances whose chemical contents are harmful to the body and shorten life. This trend is bound to go on for as long as industrial development is going to continue, worsening as the effects of global warming resulting from industrial pollution increase (Vormedal, 2005). New factors are bound to come into play, including increased child mortality and increased resistance to medication available even as new species of pathogens and parasites emerge with changing environmental conditions. It is also expected that more people will be less willing to have children as the pressure on available resources increases, thereby pushing the population growth rate down. With globalization opening up doors of nations, more technologies and immigrants are expected to get in, and not only will there be a real pressure on resources available pushing families to downsize but there will also be a massive movement away from the use of natural, more nutritious food items to those that are artificial and developed through technology (I. R. C. , 2005). As such are likely to be more harmful to the body, many people will find themselves less fertile while the fertile ones will be less willing to have more than a few children. The few children born will have a reduced life expectancy due to increased diseases; and child mortality will be very high. As the figure below shows, the population of Canada has been on a downward trend ever since the start of this century. It is expected that this will go on as the country becomes more industrialized and as global warming becomes more pronounced. By the year 2030, the country will most likely be faced with the problem of having a majority of its population being people over the age of 65 years because the young people are those who are likely to be affected negatively by the forces causing this trend (I. R. C. , 2005).

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Functionalist Perspective on Social Problems

Functionalist Perspective on Social Problems When in a society people agree that there exists a condition that threatens the quality of their lives and their most cherished values, and they also agree that something should be done to remedy it, sociologists say that society has defined that state of affairs as a social problem. Sociologists ask questions about how the problem effects the collectivity rather than the individual aspects of a problem. The main sociological approaches to the study of social problems are the functionalist and conflict perspectives. Functionalism aims at analysing the social and cultural phenomenon in terms of the functions they perform. From this perspective, the main reason for the existence of social problems is that societies are always changing and the failure to adapt successfully to change leads to social problems. Functionalist analysis was prominent in the work of Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer, two of the founding fathers of this discipline and was further developed and refined by Emile Durkheim and more recently by Talcott Parsons. Durkheim is the most important sociological forerunner of modern day functionalism. His description of organic solidarity focussed on the interdependence of roles and lack of self-sufficiency that held people together. According to the functionalist perspective, each part of society is interconnected and contributes to society performing as a whole. If all goes well, the diverse parts of society produce order, equilibrium and performance. If all does not go well, then the different parts of society must adapt themselves to re-establish a new balance, equilibrium and performance. For example, during a financial recession and consequent high rates of unemployment and inflation, state spending on social programs is reduced or eliminated, Schools offer fewer educational programmes and families spend less, so a new social order, steadfastness and productivity occurs. The conflict perspective, which originated primarily out of Karl Marxs writings on class conflicts, presents a picture of society in a different light from the functionalist perspective. While the functionalist perspective focuses on the positive aspects of society that contribute to its stability, the conflict perspective focuses on the antagonistic, disharmonized and ever-changing nature of society. Conflict theorists challenge the existing state of affairs, strenghten social change (even when this means social revolution) and believe affluent and authoritarian people force social order on the destitute and the weak. Capitalism, the economic system which dominates the world today, is based on private ownership of the means of production (manufacturing industry, the raw materials and resources needed for industry and even the seeds necessary for food production) and exploitation of the labour of the working-class. The working-class, with no land or substantial inherited wealth, have no means of supporting themselves and are forced to sell their labour to survive. Capitalists buy this labour power, then get their money back and make profits by selling necessities and other products to the working-class and other classes in society. Critics of the conflict perspective point to its exceedingly negative outlook of society. The theory ultimately accredits charitable efforts, benevolence, democracy, civil rights, and other positive aspects of society to capitalistic motives meant to control the masses, and not to fundamental interests in sustaining society and social order. For generations before the establishment of a welfare state, most poor people who did not earn a living somehow managed to cope. Relying on family and, if necessary, on local charities, they pooled together the resources necessary to maintain a dwelling and prevent starvation. The term Poverty has many definitions and it is often defined as a state of deprivation relative to those standards of living enjoyed by others within the same society e.g. income or consumption poverty, social preclusion, lack of basic needs and relative hardship. The extensive sociological literature on poverty overlaps with that on race, ethnicity, subcultures, the underclass and stratification. The study of poverty is central to any examinations of social inequality, including an analysis of who is destitute and the reasons for their poverty. Although the poor have often been blamed for their poverty, which is seen as the consequence of some form of personal inadequacy such as idleness, most studies attribute the existence of poverty in terms of the social and economic structures of industrialised societies. The Functionalist belief on poverty is based on the assumption that poverty serves a constructive use for society since functionalism is interested in large scale fundamental justifications of social life. Therefore, poverty is studied on a macro level on the basis of the benefits it provides to society as a whole, rather than for the persons who are in poverty. The most influential writer on this aspect is Herbert J. Gans (1971) who suggests that poverty benefits the rich and powerful, who have a statutory interest in preserving poverty. According to Gans, poverty ensures there is always someone in society who needs to perform physically dangerous, temporary, undignified and underpaid work for low wages, which is ultimately better than destitution. Furthermore, without the underpaid in society, many enterprises would be unable to operate as they rely upon under paid workers to ensure their dividend and success. The very existence of poverty provides the rest of society with benchmark against which society can measure itself. In Britain, Peter Townsend played a leading role between 1950, and 1970s in making the public aware of the continuing existence of poverty. According to Townsend individuals, families and groups can be said to be in poverty when they lack the means to obtain the types of food, participate in the activities and have basic living conditions and facilities which are recognized, or at least widely sanctioned or approved, in the societies to which they belong. Their resources are so seriously below those required by the average person or family that they are, in effect, excluded from everyday living ways, customs and activities. In Poverty in the United Kingdom Townsend claims that the existence of class division is the major factor causing poverty; but he also acknowledges that poverty is related to lifestyles. From a conflict perspective, poverty is imposed, reflecting unequal power among social groups, and it will continue to be imposed until those harmed by it manage to force a change. Conflict theory argues that the explanations offered by functionalism theory is part of what sustains poverty, as they conceal its true origins and encourage the poor to accept social arrangements rather than organize to combat them. Marxism attributes poverty to the existence of class divisions in society. Poverty helps to maintain the domination of the bourgeoisie. In the 19th century the recognized explanation of poverty came from Malthuss Essay on Population (1798). Malthus affirmed that population grows faster than production. Increasing poverty is therefore unavoidable; any increase in the standard of living of the poorest classes simply leads to an increase in births or decrease in death rates and the population again presses on food supply. Marx held the Malthusian theory in great disdain. Under capitalism, production grows very rapidly because of continual innovation and the surplus population a group of unemployed living in poverty is not the result of natural population increase, but of the dislocation of workers by labour-saving machinery. The surplus population could all work if the length of the working day were reduced. But employers dont want this, for various reasons. Marxists believe that the capitalist society is constucted by the economy, and this structure needs to be completely reconfigured to be able to eliminate poverty. This would include a revolutionary eradication of capitalism because eventually the situation will progress to a small minority of the bourgeoisie (ruling class) and a pool of cheap labour. Marxists illustrated this by suggesting that institutions in the superstructure, such as the media, abuse of the proletariat, keeping them poor. A fragileness to the Marxists point of view is that it fails to explain why some groups are more inclined to poverty than others, e.g. women and the disabled. According to Marxists, the welfare system is an instrument of the state, which helps to maintain absolute lack of balance of prosperity that see some people living in privation with little possibility of ever really escaping from it. Absolute poverty, also known as subsistence poverty, is the idea that it is possible to create an absolute minimum standard of living required for physical health, this is often called the poverty line. This concept is used in Drewnowski and Scotts level of living index where nutrition is defined in terms of calories and protein, shelter in terms of quality of dwelling and degrees of overcrowding, and health in terms of infant mortality and the quality of available medical facilities. Some sociologists attempt to include measures of education, security, leisure and recreation as basic cultural needs to be added to the notion of subsistence. The theory of relative poverty has mainly replaced that of absolute poverty in sociological research. Relative poverty is measured in terms of judgements by members of a particular society of what is considered as a reasonable and acceptable standard of living. This definition of poverty suggests that the poor in any given society are, in part, defined by their opposite, the rich. A society has a distinctive set of cultural values, and any definition of poverty must include the choices and interests that individuals have in their society. Researchers have linked poverty to several key issues of child welfare. Children from families in poverty experience more emotional and behaviour problems than children from middle and upper class families. Although all children go to school, the background of some puts them academically behind their peers from the beginning. Impoverished students are far more likely to enter school a disadvantaged because they have not had experiences that promote literacy and reading readiness. More than one billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day. In total, 2.7 billion struggle to survive on less than two dollars per day. Poverty in the developing world, however, goes far beyond income poverty. This entails having to walk more than one mile everyday to collect water and firewood; it means suffering diseases that were annihilated from rich countries decades ago. Every year eleven million children (mostly under the age of five) die from malnutrition and more than six million from completely preventable causes like malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia. A total of 114 million children do not get access to a basic education and 584 million women are illiterate. Social protection systems in Europe are among the most highly developed in the world but still, 16% of Europes population amounting to 79 million people live below the poverty line (set at 60% of their countrys median income) with one European in ten living in a household where nobody has an employment. Children, are more exposed to poverty with 19% amounting to 19 million children living under the threat of poverty. For this reason the European Union has proclaimed 2010 as the European Year For Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion with four main objectives: The fundamental right of persons experiencing poverty and social exclusion to live in dignity and to take an active part in society; Foster commitment by all public and private actors to combat poverty and social exclusion; Encourage cohesion; Promote commitment and practical action of the EU and its Member States to combat poverty and social exclusion, and involve all levels of authority in the pursuit of that aim. Malta does not live in a vacuum and new forms of poverty brought about by social progress as a result of new lifestyles have been very actual. A large number of families are living through difficult times, with children being the innocent victims of their parents and guardians, the authorities or the community at large. Problems created by gambling, usury, alcohol, drug abuse and mental health. The report by the National Family Commission states that relative poverty exits not just financially but also in cases of stigmatised illness, domestic violence and cases where a husband chooses not to work so that he can default on paying maintenance to wife and dependants. More and more international efforts have been organized in recent decades to address the problems of the poorest among us. However, while the world has certainly seen an overall improvement in rates of poverty and poverty-related issues, success has been uneven and hampered by serious setbacks. One devastating disease, such as AIDS, can obliterate the economy of a low-income country and one violent conflict can crush any human development advances that might have been achieved. Can we envisage a society without absolute poverty and relative poverty? In a society without absolute poverty everyone that could work would be employed, there would be little crime, just a great place to live. In a society without relative poverty people would all have the same wealth and there would be no competition to be better then anyone else. This type of society is only possible in the imagination. Poverty survives because it is useful to our society. Societys dirty work could still be carried out without poverty by paying the dirty workers decent wages. If the poor were more affluent they would make less willing clients for upper-class philanthropy. Poverty will only be eliminated when the poor can obtain enough power to make a change in todays society.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The Sleeping Barber Problem Philosophy Essay

The Sleeping Barber Problem Philosophy Essay This report includes concurrent programming and deadlocks that were created and analysed throughout the report. There are two parts that include in the report; The Sleeping Barber Problem and The Dining Philosophers. The report includes every method that was used to complete both parts; this includes explaining and describing. For my references I used a couple of websites to help me understand more about the concept. Introduction In this report I have included two parts these are as follows: The Sleeping Barber Problem The 1st part of my assignment is about a barber shop. I have written a program to simulate the use of a monitor to coordinate the operation of the barber and the clients. The barber shop includes only one barber that works.  The living room is divided into a waiting room with a fixed number of chairs and a table with comics, and a workroom where the barber cuts hair of a customer.  Incidentally this work room serves as bedroom when it was not customer as our barber has the nasty habit of partying all night, so it catches up on sleep lost when the room is quiet.   When a customer arrives, it opens the door to the salon.  If no space is available, it remains outside. Otherwise it will sit in an empty chair.  At the opening of the door chime sounds to awaken our Venetian barber if he had bitten a nap.  When the barber releases a client, it does not have the right to sleep if there is room in the world.   When the barber finished cutting a customer, it pays 10 francs. Then he leaves the room.  The barber takes the next customer, if he goes to bed   and so on. The Dining Philosophers The 2nd part of the report is about one of Dijkstras more delightful contributions is his problem of the Dining Philosophers. It illustrates many of the subtle problems inherent in concurrent programming. The Sleeping Barber Problem Approach to the program and Analysis The barber shop has many different types of solutions as many different types of program languages can be used to solve the problem. I had many different types of thought, but then came to a stage and chose to use Java coding as I have more experience in this program. The threads Our program will be divided into two types of threads.  On one side there will be the barber, represented by a single thread looping constantly to see if a customer expects, take care of him if necessary or when going to bed.  On the other side there will be a thread per client, which simulate the physical customer.  He will try to return to the store, will sit if he can, will shave and disappear.   While our program will have one barber, there may be as many customers as men on the planet (or at least memory space).  Threads so customers will stack until the space become available in the waiting room, and then the barber takes care of them. I will now show what each the barber and customers role are inside the program: What is the barber? The thread symbolizing the barber will be unique.  It will START s launch, customer foremost and will loop on itself for eternity.   Heres what our barber is to spend his life on: Is there anyone in the waiting room?  If so I take care of his case, if I not go to bed and have a nap When a client I do is enter the slaughterhouse; I cut hair I get my money then he leaves Obviously, when you get to the end we re-loop. This re-loop is done as many different actions are taken therefore its needed in Java programming. What is the customer? Here are the actions that realize the thread symbolizing each client.  If there are multiple clients, identical threads will compete: I look in the salon to see if theres room to spare.  Whether I go or I expect; When Im inside I sit on a chair I expect that the barber is free; I get up from my chair (and thus frees up) and I enter the room; I let his beard trimmed; When he finished, I pay and I get home. Read comics if seat available at waiting room Looking at the size difference between the action list of the barber and the customer, we note that the customer is more things.  In fact, the customer must manage additional resources from the barber the free space in the waiting room when present at the exhibition entrance. Resources Writing and explaining how the program will be running plays a big role in having a successful program. I have to know what type of resources and the needs of the program I need to make it work perfectly. The needs: Firstly it is clear that we will have a semaphore on the number of seats available in the waiting room.  It will limit the number client can find the room simultaneously.  When a client is present supernumerary the thread will wait for the release of the resource (the chair).   Now we must manage the sleep of the barber.  We need a semaphore blocking the barber when there is no client.  It must be incremented to the arrival of each client and initialized to zero.   Must thread the barber and the customer have a time in common when haircuts takes place.  There are a myriad of  bitouilles  possible, but the simplest is to have two semaphores: one for the clients arrival, the second for his departure.   Heres how the four semaphores will be used in our  virtual barber: places Number of seats available in the waiting room of the exhibition upon arrival of a client, it performs a  wait  on the semaphore.  If the number is zero free space on his arrival, he will wait for a client releases a chair.  The client makes a  post  when he managed to enter the room of the barber (so it rises from the chair). salle_vide The semaphore  salle_vide  corresponds to a value equal to the number of customers in the waiting room.  it is 0 when the latter does not have any customer.  The barber performs a  wait  on the semaphore and crashes (goes to sleep) when the room is empty. room This semaphore is initialized to 0.  Any customer arriving in the waiting room waits for the release of this resource.  He was released by the barber when it is ready to receive a clients piece of work. Out The purpose of this semaphore is very similar to the previous one.  The client performs a  wait  is over and the barber freeing this resource by a  post  when he finished shaving the customer.  While the semaphore before the start synchronization shaving, it synchronizes the end. I will now present a summary of the evolution of each of these semaphores during the passage of a client in the salon.  I guess the room is empty before it happened and that no other client comes while he is there.  I do not dà ©crierai lock operation, it is quite explicit.   places salle_vide room out action initial state 8 0 0 0 exec (hand) barber lying 8 (0) 0 0 b:  wait (salle_vide) arrival of a customer (8) (0) 0 0 c:  wait (squares) the client asseoie 7 + (0) 0 0 c:  post (salle_vide) the client waits 7 0 (0) 0 c:  wait (piece) Client Home 7 0 + (0) 0 b:  post (piece) between the customer 7 0 0 0 c:  post (places) shaving client 8 0 0 (0) c:  wait (outside) the barber shaves 8 0 0 (0) b:  sleep () it releases its customer 8 0 0 + (0) b:  post (outside) Semaphores framed by a pair of parentheses mean that  wait  has been done on this resource and a thread is blocked, waiting for the release of this resource.  + Means that the  post  has been taken. Program Organisatized Our program virtual the barber  has three global variables: Four semaphores The lock to the body The value of the fund It also has two functions:  proc_barbier  and  proc_client  respectively procedures barber and client.  The main program (main) deals first initialize the semaphore and lock.  Then it creates the thread corresponding to the barber.  It goes straight to bed since no customer has yet been created.  Simulating client threads are created one by one dynamically when the user presses the I entry.  If he lets his finger pressed the button a few seconds can quickly create a large number of clients.  The results of the application are sent to standard output (stdout). Instructions for use:  On a fast station this small program can quickly make mistakes.  Under the Linux operating system the machine uses the kernel call  clone ()  to create a new thread, which has the effect of creating a new process.  In my tests I found (after falling asleep myself on the  entry   key) with more than 200 client process waiting for my poor barber. There are two main methods used inside the program this includes the following; Barber; while(1) { P(Customers) //wait for C and sleep P(accessSeats) //mutexprotect the number of available seats NumberOfFreeSeats++ //one chair gets free V(Barber) //Bring in a C for haircut V(accessSeats) //release the mutexon the chairs à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. //here the B is cutting hair This green highlighted writing is showing the comments of the codes.} //while(1) Customers while(1) { P(accessSeats) //mutexprotect the number of available seats if ( NumberOfFreeSeats> 0 ) { //if any free seats NumberOfFreeSeats //sitting down on a chair V(Customers) //notify the B V(accessSeats) //release the lock P(Barber) //wait if the B is busy à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. //here the C is having his hair cut } else { //there are no free seats V(accessSeats)//release the lock on the seats //C leaves without a haircut } }//while(1) The Dining Philosophers The example below shows a solution where the forks are not explicitly represented. Philosophers can eat if you eat any of its neighbors. This is comparable to a system where the philosophers who cannot get the second fork must leave the first fork before they try again. In the absence of locks associated with the forks, philosophers must ensure that the decision to start eating is not based on stale information on the state of the neighbors. Eg if philosopher B sees that A does not eat, then turns and looks C, A could begin eating while B looks at C. This solution avoids this problem by using a single mutex lock. This lock has nothing to do with the holders, but with the decision procedures that can change the states of the philosophers. This is ensured by the monitor. The test procedures, collection and observation are local offensive to monitor and share a mutex lock. Note that philosophers who want to eat do not hold a fork. When the monitor allows a philosopher who wants to continue eating, the philosopher acquires again the first fork before picking up the second fork now available. When done eating, the philosopher will signal to the monitor that both forks are available now. Note that this example does not address the problem of hunger. For example, the philosopher B can wait forever if meal periods of philosophers A and C always overlap. To also ensure that no philosopher is hungry, you could keep track of the number of times that a philosopher cannot eat when hungry neighbors leave their holders. If this number exceeds some threshold, the state of the philosopher could change to Hunger, and the decision procedure for collecting holders could be increased to require that none of the neighbors go hungry. This further reduces dependence coincidence. The lifting of the threshold for the transition to the Hungry reduces this effect. In 1984, K. Mani Chandy and J. Misra proposed a different solution to the problem of dining philosophers have considered arbitrary reagents (numbered P , P) compete for an arbitrary number of resources, unlike Dijkstra solution. Also fully distributed and does not require any central authority after initialization. However, violates the requirement that the philosophers do not speak to each other (due to the prompts). For each pair of philosophers who compete for a resource, create a fork and give it to the philosopher with the lower ID. Each holder may be either dirty or clean. Initially, all forks are dirty. When a philosopher wants to use a set of resources (ie eating), must obtain the holders of its neighbors that fall. When a philosopher with a fork receives a request message, keeps the fork if it is clean, but leaves when it is dirty. If you send the fork, the fork cleans before doing so. After a philosopher is done eating, all his forks become dirty. If another philosopher had previously requested one of the forks, clean the fork and sends it. This solution also has a large level of coincidence and has solved a problem arbitrarily large. It also solves the problem of hunger. The clean / dirty labels serve as a way to give preference to process more hungry and a disadvantage to processes that just eat. One might compare its solution one where the philosophers are not allowed to eat twice in a row while others use forks between. Their solution is more flexible than this, but has an element that tends in that direction. In their analysis take a tiered distribution preferred holders and their states clean / dirty. They show that this system can describe an acyclic graph, and if so, the operations in their protocol cannot convert that one cyclic graph. This ensures that the deadlock cannot occur. However, if the system is initialized to an absolutely symmetrical, like all philosophers holding their forks on the left, then the graph is cyclic in the beginning, and its solution cannot prevent a deadlock. Initializing the system so that the IDs below philosophers holders have dirty ensures that the top graph is acyclic. Implementations of a typical philosopher I will now be commenting on some of the implementations of a typical philosopher: Figure 2.2 1 typicalPhilosopher() //Name 2 { 3 while ( true ) // while loop used 4 { 5 think(); //typical philosopher is thinking 6 7 pickUpLeftFork(); //typical philosopher picks up the left fork 8 pickUpRightFork(); //typical philosopher pick up the right fork 9 10 eat(); //typical philosopher is now eating 11 12 putDownLeftFork(); //typical philosopher puts down the left fork 13 putDownRightFork();//typical philosopher puts down the right fork 14 } // end while 15 16 } // end typicalPhilosopher Figure 2.3 1 typicalPhilosopher()//Name 2 { 3 while ( true ) // while loop used 4 { 5 think();//typical philosopher is thinking 6 7 pickUpBothForksAtOnce(); //typical philosopher picks up both folks 8 9 eat();//typical philosopher is now eating 10 11 putDownBothForksAtOnce();//typical philosopher puts both folks down 12 } // end while 13 14 } // end typicalPhilosopher Figure 2.4 1 typicalPhilosopher()//Name 2 { 3 while ( true ) // while loop used 4 { 5 think();//typical philosopher is thinking 6 7 while ( notHoldingBothForks ) //while loop used so that typical philosopher cant pick up both folks at once 8 { 9 pickUpLeftFork();//typical philosopher pick up the left fork 10 11 if ( rightForkNotAvailable ) //he picks up the left for in the previous if he hasnt got the right fork available 12 { 13 putDownLeftFork();//typical philosopher puts the left fork down 14 } // end if 15 else //if else statement used to make it work properly 16 { 17 pickUpRightFork();//typical philosopher picks up the right for 18 } // end while 19 } // end else 20 21 eat(); 22 23 putDownLeftFork();//typical philosopher puts the left fork down 24 putDownRightFork();//typical philosopher puts the right fork down 25 } // end while 26 27 } // end typicalPhilosopher Figure 2.5 1 typicalPhilosopher() 2 { 3 while ( true ) 4 { 5 think();//typical philosopher is thinking 6 7 if ( philosopherID mod 2 == 0 )//if the remainder is not 0 it performs action if 0 then performs the action 8 { 9 pickUpLeftFork();//typical philosopher picks up the left fork down 10 pickUpRightFork();//typical philosopher picks up the right fork down 11 12 eat(); 13 14 putDownLeftFork();//typical philosopher puts the left fork down 15 putDownRightFork();//typical philosopher puts the right fork down 16 } // end if 17 else 18 { 19 pickUpRightFork();//typical philosopher picks up the right fork 20 pickUpLeftFork();//typical philosopher picks up the left fork 21 22 eat();//typical philosopher is eating 23 24 putDownRightFork();//typical philosopher puts the left fork down 25 putDownLeftFork();//typical philosopher puts the right fork down 26 } // end else 27 } // end while 28 29 } // end typicalPhilosopher As you can see from the above figure of the typical philosopher different types of condition and statements were used. These statements and conditions allow the program to implement different types of actions. Conclusion Recommendation

Monday, August 19, 2019

Essay examples --

Types of Biogeochemical Cycle Biogeochemical cycle is crucial for every living organism on Earth. It is strongly influenced by life forms, especially plants and microorganisms. A biogeochemical cycle can be defined as a continuous pathway by which conversion and circulation of chemical nutrients through both biotic and abiotic compartments of Earth (Butcher, 1992). Generally, biogeochemical cycles can be classified into three major categories which are nitrogen cycle, sulfur cycle and carbon cycle (Refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1). First type of biogeochemical cycle is nitrogen cycle. Nitrogen is abundant and chemically inert gases, constitutes of about 78% of the atmosphere. According to Stevenson and Cole (1999), accumulation in soil happens through microbial fixation of nitrogen in the presence of ammonia, nitrate and nitrite; depletion exists in the process of crop removal, leaching and volatilization. In term of that, the process of releasing compound during decomposition is called mineralization. Mineralization process is carried out by the microorganisms in which it releases carbon, and also ammonium (Sprent, 1987). As a result, many kinds of organic reduce nitrogen present, like urea, organic bases, such as purines and pyrimidines, and amino compounds. Animals have nitrogenous wastes and will eventually produce lots of nitrogen (Sprent, 1987). Several pathways are illustrated throughout the nitrogen cycle, such as nitrogen fixation, ammonification, nitrification and denitrification. Gates (1921) state d that the process of converted gaseous nitrogen into ammonia or ammonium is nitrogen fixation, while ammonium can also be produced through the decaying of nitrogenous organic substance, which is called ammonification. Afte... ...ut slowly uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (Zepp, & Sonntag, 1995). Hanson, Ducklow and Field (2000) mention that in the ocean, some of the carbon taken up by phytoplankton in order to make shells of calcium carbonate that settles to the bottom of the sea to form sediments. In geological carbon cycle, carbonic acid combines with magnesium and calcium in the Earth's crust to form insoluble carbonates. Carbon dioxide reacts with some minerals to form limestone, then dissolves by rainwater and carries to the oceans. Once there, it can precipitate out of the ocean water and form layer of sediments on the sea floor. The limestone melts and reacts with other minerals under high heat and pressure far below the Earth's surface by releasing carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is then back into the atmosphere through volcanic eruptions (Lockwood, & Hazlett, 2010).

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Women in the Quran :: A Level Essays

Women in the Qur'an The traditions of Islam revolve around the blessed words of Muhammad revealed to him through Allah. These revelations guide Muslims through not only the act of worship, but also through a lifestyle strictly designated in the words of the Qur'an. Those who criticize Islamic customs often accuse the Qur’an of attempting to govern society under prehistoric law. This holy book dates back to the lifetime of the prophet Muhammad in the 7th centuries Clearly times have changed; yet many Islamic customs have not evolved through time. One of the most controversial topics in Islam today addresses women’s issues. Popular American culture portrays Islamic women as veiled and silenced figures living in a world of submission. Feminist groups in the United States focus on Muslim women and attempt to liberate the strong hold of Islamic tradition on women’s freedom. Over 900 million Muslims continue to worship Allah worldwide. Islam continues to thrive as one of the major monothe istic religions across cultures and the followers of Islam respect and defend the words and customs laid out in the Qur’an. Qur'an Text: Word â€Å"woman† used only 18 times in the Qur'an, usually in reference to what she will contribute to a family or what her duties are as a wife, her roles are defined vividly when the word woman is used. From: The Cow [2.221] And do not marry the idolatresses until they believe, and certainly a believing maid is better than an idolatress woman, even though she should please you; and do not give (believing women) in marriage to idolaters until they believe, and certainly a believing servant is better than an idolater, even though he should please you; these invite to the fire, and Allah invites to the garden and to forgiveness by His will, and makes clear His communications to men, that they may be mindful. From: The Family of Imran [3.35] When a woman of Imran said: My Lord! Surely I vow to Thee what is in my womb, to be devoted (to Thy service); accept therefore from me, surely Thou art the Hearing, the Knowing. The word â€Å"man† is used 304 times, and it most often used to describe the human experience of work, economic status, and interactions with Allah. From: The Cow [2.184] For a certain number of days; but whoever among you is sick or on a journey, then (he shall fast) a (like) number of other days; and those who are not able to do it may effect a redemption by feeding a poor man; so whoever does good spontaneously it is better for him; and that you fast is better for you if you know. Women in the Qur'an :: A Level Essays Women in the Qur'an The traditions of Islam revolve around the blessed words of Muhammad revealed to him through Allah. These revelations guide Muslims through not only the act of worship, but also through a lifestyle strictly designated in the words of the Qur'an. Those who criticize Islamic customs often accuse the Qur’an of attempting to govern society under prehistoric law. This holy book dates back to the lifetime of the prophet Muhammad in the 7th centuries Clearly times have changed; yet many Islamic customs have not evolved through time. One of the most controversial topics in Islam today addresses women’s issues. Popular American culture portrays Islamic women as veiled and silenced figures living in a world of submission. Feminist groups in the United States focus on Muslim women and attempt to liberate the strong hold of Islamic tradition on women’s freedom. Over 900 million Muslims continue to worship Allah worldwide. Islam continues to thrive as one of the major monothe istic religions across cultures and the followers of Islam respect and defend the words and customs laid out in the Qur’an. Qur'an Text: Word â€Å"woman† used only 18 times in the Qur'an, usually in reference to what she will contribute to a family or what her duties are as a wife, her roles are defined vividly when the word woman is used. From: The Cow [2.221] And do not marry the idolatresses until they believe, and certainly a believing maid is better than an idolatress woman, even though she should please you; and do not give (believing women) in marriage to idolaters until they believe, and certainly a believing servant is better than an idolater, even though he should please you; these invite to the fire, and Allah invites to the garden and to forgiveness by His will, and makes clear His communications to men, that they may be mindful. From: The Family of Imran [3.35] When a woman of Imran said: My Lord! Surely I vow to Thee what is in my womb, to be devoted (to Thy service); accept therefore from me, surely Thou art the Hearing, the Knowing. The word â€Å"man† is used 304 times, and it most often used to describe the human experience of work, economic status, and interactions with Allah. From: The Cow [2.184] For a certain number of days; but whoever among you is sick or on a journey, then (he shall fast) a (like) number of other days; and those who are not able to do it may effect a redemption by feeding a poor man; so whoever does good spontaneously it is better for him; and that you fast is better for you if you know.