Sociology

Introduction

The Arizona anti-immigration law or simply SB 1070 has caused a national uproar in the United States. It has come under great criticism as permitting racial profiling. “The law is the first in America to give police the power to stop anyone and demand proof of their legal residence in the country merely out of suspicion of their legal citizenship such as lack of appropriate papers” (Alfano 2). Failure to produce the documents would then easily land a person in jail. “The bill makes it a crime for a legal immigrant not to carry their alien registration papers and allows the police to arrest any immigrant who is not able to produce them” (White 3).

Background and influence

The Arizona law just like many other states laws was largely influenced by the legislation and the executive. Proponents and opponents mainly followed party lines with majority of the republicans voting for the bill in senate while most democrats opposed it. For bills to be passed into law, there has to be an introduction in to the House or Senate where an initial reading takes place and thereafter it goes to a chamber’s committee on laws and the law went through the same process (Whittell 2). The committee which has the ability to kill a bill by not acting on it took it into consideration and later issued a report in favor of it.

The executive, in this case president Obama, aired his opinion but was not actively involved in campaigning for or against the bill as it was not even expected of him since its not a federal law. He is however quoted as saying the law is “ill-conceived” but at the same time confessed that the country’s current federal immigration laws and system is broken. (National Conference of State Legislatures 3). The president also played an indirect role through other departments such as that of justice which went ahead and filed a successful lawsuit against the law. Even though the United States is today a very democratic country where citizens have a big say on laws they want and those that they don’t, the president is still very influential in the process of making laws.

Role of the law in other areas of concern

The law is viewed by proponents as a right direction to fighting crime. Most immigrants lack the same economic opportunities as other citizens. Many take a lot of time to settle down or find a job and have no government support. As a result, they may be easily tempted to engage in criminal activities to fend for themselves. The law is considered a step in the right direction towards preventing such scenarios. Kidnappings are on the rise in Arizona and many other states, a trend largely attributed to the large number of unemployed immigrants in the country. Most hypocritical of the law is the fact that experts fail to mention that the same immigrants are the biggest victims of the kidnappings. It is ironical that people who are victims of a crime are being discriminated by a law intending to fight the same crime.

Border security is a major concern for the country. Estimates for illegal immigrants in the country range from 6 to 20 million (Immigration Policy Center 2). The biggest concern is how such a large number of people have managed to enter the country. It raises questions over how safe borders are and how many harmful products get into the country illegally. Recent killings in the Mexican border and drugs being trafficked into the country give proponents of the Arizona anti-immigration law a good basis for their argument.

Proponents also argue that it is time the government stopped illegal immigrants from coming to America, getting free things and creating high levels of competition for basic goods, services, utilities and other benefits. It is a well known fact that immigrants impose costs on almost everything including medical care and education. The health system is a key issue in the fight against illegal immigrants. A possibility to reduce the cost of healthcare by reducing immigrants helps the law gain more support.

The Arizona law and racial profiling

Perhaps the biggest concern raised by this bill is racial profiling. One way through which racism attests, is through racial profiling. Racial profiling is condemnable and wrong and if it were to be called by its real name, it is discrimination based on color. As White put it, “ asking police officers to racially profile as a preemptive legal measure-by-force to deter possible illegal immigration is unthinkably wrong and every American is well aware or should be aware of this” (2). The Arizona anti-immigration law has been condemned widely as being permission for racial profiling.

At a federal level, this bill contradicts the Fourth Amendment of the U.S constitution which “guarantees citizens the right to be safe from unreasonable search and seizure without probable cause” (Riccardi 4). The law also assures all citizens of equality regardless of race, religion, cultural believes and any other factor that may differentiate the people of America. In 2001, president Bush declared that racial profiling was wrong and the nation was doing all it could to stop it. In 2002, the Attorney General then is on record saying that the administration opposed racial profiling and was doing more than it had ever done in history to indicate its commitment. By 2003, the department of justice had already issued a guidance forbidding any form of racism by anyone including the federal law agencies. The Arizona anti-immigration law however leaves one wondering; what factors does the federal government consider before declaring a law as one supporting racial profiling and is America governed by the people’s interests or changing administrations?

Proponents of the law argue that “the law enforcement officers do not target race but rather target certain characteristics that are often correlated with race” (Alfano 2). The big concern here again is how easy it is to separate the two. They also claim that racial profiling is a legitimate tool in special situations where statistics and demographics are used to increase the usefulness of law enforcement resources. For example, it is estimated that at any particular time, there are more black people in jail than there are whites, drawing a conclusion that more blacks are in violation of the law and making them more targeted by law enforcement agencies. Such conclusions however, leave many wondering whether the law is supposed to identify and take action against violators or most probable violators.

Criticism has been high on the law. Any time race is used as a factor in any sort of suspicion, an individual’s rights are violated. Civil liberties organizations such as Amnesty International have clearly stated that “racial profiling is a form of discrimination arguing that discrimination based on race, nationality, religion, ethnicity or any other identity undermines basic freedom and human rights of that person” (Whittell 2). The concern raised here is whether such laws make it more or less likely for an individual to be stopped by law enforcement agencies based on their race or any other particular identity.

Critics further raise concerns over how everything is blamed on immigrants yet the real problems are not addressed. When people cant accomplish their responsibilities as entrusted to them by citizens, such as providing affordable health care and enough job opportunities, they find excuses and immigrants are part of the list of excuses. What happens to legal immigrants whose rights will be abused by passing such a law? Should every person of color suffer because few people from neighboring countries have failed to follow immigration laws? When there are new laws everyday protecting people of different identities such as sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity and many other, how then is it that laws which undermine efforts for racial equality should be allowed.

Conclusion

In other countries such as France, immigration laws are strict and police are allowed by the law to demand documents in public places such as highways, parks and subways, raising the question of whether American’s are over-reacting or they have genuine concerns. The fact that Arizona becomes the first state in the US to sign into law such a bill, seems to have put the issue on the spot in a huge way. It demands that people carry their immigration and citizenship documents everywhere with them and allows police officers to stop people anytime, anywhere, and demand for them. Failure to produce the documents could then land one in jail and the same law proposes that such an offender should not be entitled to bail.

The fact that Obama’s government was willing to challenge the law is a clear sign that the critics’ concerns were not exaggerated. The law definitely required some scrutiny and considerations before implementation. The department of justice went ahead and filled a lawsuit against it. A ruling by the federal court in Phoenix on 28 July blocked implementation of key sections of the law perhaps to the relief of critics (Citizens Against Gambling Expansion 2). Among the sections blocked included “those which give a police officer authority to investigate the immigration status of individuals if they are suspected to be in the country unlawful and mandatory detention of individuals arrested even on minor offenses if they are not able to verify their legal presence in the country”. The ruling though a great relieve to critics of the law, leaves the department of justice under a great spotlight over their commitment to fight illegal immigrants in the country. The government definitely needs to find better ways of dealing with immigrants without interfering with people’s rights of freedom and equal treatment.

Works cited

Alfano, Newton. Arizona Immigration Law SB1070. Web.

Citizens Against Gambling Expansion. Making Law. Web.

Immigration Policy Center. Immigration and Crime. Web.

National Conference of State Legislatures. Arizona’s Immigration Enforcement Laws: An Overview of SB1070 and HB 216. Web.

Riccardi, Nicholas. “Racial Profiling in Arizona? That’s Nothing New, Critics Say.” Los Angeles Times. Web.

White, Deborah. “Arizona Law Questions: Racial Profiling, States’ Rights, National ID, Illegal Hiring.” Deborah’s US Liberal Politics Blog. Web.

Whittell, Giles. “Arizona Bill Puts Racial Profiling into Law.” The Sunday Times. Web.

The professor asks a question in class. What is male? What is female? There were many answers given, however the professor said there were no right or wrong answers. This is because, what one considers or perceives as male or female, is based on the kind of gender role that they were exposed to while they were children. For instance if they were taught that girls dressed and behaved in a certain way then that is what they associate feminine with. It is also what they use to distinguish between masculine and feminine.

Gender refers to the state of being either male or female. On the other hand, a gender role can be defined as a set of perceived behavioral norms associated with the different sexes, males or females in a given social system. Consequently, it is through gender roles that attitudes and behaviors are used in the stereotypical classification of boys and girls. For instance, it is openly concluded that girls are better fitted cooking and cleaning while the boys are the handy ones creating and fixing. Simply put, gender role is the behaviors and attitudes that are expected of the males and females in any society by that society (Adler, 1993).

According to the environmentalist view of sex-role identity, a child learns sex-typed behavior the same way he or she learns any other type of behavior: through a combination of rewards and punishment, indoctrination, observation of others, and modeling during the socialization process. Depending on particular cultures, men and women have different roles assigned to them. Socialization is defined as the process through which boys and girls learn and accept the roles that are assigned to them. The family is considered to be the main agent of socialization for the simple fact that it is the very first place that children are taught and get to learn of their roles and places within the wider society. Thus, gender roles are learned during the socialization process and serve the purpose of influencing subsequent behaviors and attitudes in adulthood. Concomitantly, the people who influence our gender roles the most are our parents. This is because they serve as our very first teachers. They not only teach us how to walk and talk rather they also teach us certain attitudes and behaviors. To a great extent, parents hold the traditional definitions of what males and females should be like which they transfer to their children. Case in point, boys are expected not to cry. In the instance that they do cry parents tend not to respond. On the other hand if I am a girl and I cry, I am more likely to have all the attention diverted to me. More over, it is very likely that I will be cuddled and comforted. As a girl it is almost certain that parents expect that I will be more emotional. The fact that boys are not comforted or cuddled when they cry could be a way of teaching them that they are first of all not supposed to cry and that they are supposed to be tough.

To great extent girls grow up knowing that they are better suited to be nurses while the boys should be doctors. This can be attributed to the fact that boys are encouraged to try out new things and explore while the girls are sheltered. Traditionally, the woman’s place is the home and the kitchen by extension. Consequently, as a girl is growing up her mother will more often than not assign her household chores and duties. Traditionally, this the role that the girls should take up (Gender roles, 2008).

Toys are regarded to influence and reinforce the gender role in children. In most families, it is not uncommon that children play with different toys. For the girls, the Barbie doll is the toy of choice. Also, the girls have play houses where they recreate the family home setup playing imitating and mimicking their mothers. On the other hand, for the boys it is trucks, trains, GI Joes or any action superhero from batman to Spiderman. As far the books are concerned, the girls have sleeping beauty and Cinderella while the boys have comic books again with super hero characters. (Rose, 2008) These are gendered toys. Through these toys, children have it ingrained in them just what sex roles they are supposed to play. For the girl, she learns that her place is in the home taking care of the family and looking pretty. Through the books, she learns that the man is supposed to be in charge. Concurrently boys learn that they are supposed to take charge and fight any one who may challenge their authority. They learn that fighting and violence is necessary to protect one’s honor. Evidently, the toys set the children very early in life on the role that society expects them to play.

As children are growing up, they are often in contact with their parent. Consequently, it is the parents, more so the same sex parents, who become examples, role models and mentors. When a girl grows up watching her mother play sports and fix things around the house, she grows up with knowledge that it is ok for girls to participate in such activities. Whatever children watch and learn from their parents, they integrate it into their definitions of what to male or female is. Apart from parents, relatives, neighbors and peers also influence children in their role behaviors (Gender roles, 2008).

According to Aronson, Wilson and Akert, a stereotype is defined as a generalization about a group. Consequently, similar characteristics are assigned to the members of the group despite the fact that the members may be different. (2005) Schools can be defined as gendered landscapes. This is for the simple reason that it is in the school setting that gender roles are able to play themselves out with the teachers as the agents. Thus, after gender roles are learnt in the family set up, it is schools where they are reinforced. The teachers pass information to the children on what is expected of them. For instance, teachers encourage girls to be quiet and still while the boys are expected and allowed to be loud and aggressive (Gender roles, 2008).

Sex stereotyping is used to refer to the assumptions that people make with regards to how boys and girls should behave or act. Sex stereotyping can be reduced through the adoption of the Talcot model that advocates for the integration of the different sex roles. In this case, in the family setting it would be better if the children were assigned the same chores. In the schools setup, with co education, girls and would be taught the same contents and same qualifications set for them. More over, girls and boys should be allowed to share in tasks equally without allowing for the boys to dominate. The socialization process needs to change so that androgynous behavior in children can be fostered. Getting to children to identify what they associate to be either male or female may work to help the children recognize what stereotypes are and how they occur. This is a step in the helping to eliminate stereotypes. It has to begin by the children learning to avoid it themselves and not propagating even in future when they are grown (Marsh, 2004).

One is born either male or female. However, it is society through the process of socialization that inculcates in us the gender roles that we play throughout our lives. It is these gender roles that dictate our attitudes and behaviors. For instance, that girls will behave in particular ways and will take up different roles and occupations from those taken up by boys. Apart from our parents from whom we learn our gender roles, teachers and peers also important influences. Concurrently, schools and toys used by both boys and girls serve to reinforce the gender role. While the gender roles may give us an identity they may also result in stereotyping. That is, making assumptions on how one should behave based on their sex. It is important that stereotyping is reduced and androgyny encouraged. this can only be achieved by first changing the way we socialize our children and everything will follow from there. Gender roles are not essentially negative but they can be when they are used to stereotype and ultimately hinder boys and girls from achieving their full potential.

References

1. Adler, L. (1993). International handbook on gender roles, Westport CT: Greenwood press.
2. Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D. & Akert, R. (2005). Social Psychology 5^th ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
3. Gender roles. (2008). Web.
4. Marsh, C. (2004). Key concepts for understanding curriculums. New York: Routledge.
5. Rose Catherine, (2008). Gender roles in the Cinderella story. The Guardian. Web.

Introduction

What are the significant effects of prescription drug abuse by medical professionals? Medical practitioners’ ease of access and ability to self-subscribe drugs has exposed drug abuse among this category. A survey carried out in the 1990s indicated that the practitioners suffer drug and substance abuse at the same rate as the rest of the population i.e. 8-12%. It was estimated by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health that the number of Americans who used pain relievers non-medically by 2005 went up to 32.7 million from 29.6 million in 2002. according to the American Medical Association report, a proportion of the doctors who would likely abuse drugs or alcohol was 15% which is similar to that of the general public (Blythe). In 2006, more than 35 doctors of those who were disciplined by the Missouri medical board (seventy one) had drugs or alcohol-related charges. Self-dosage has also been reported. It is reported that one doctor had collapsed at the hospital after injecting himself with tranquilizers. This is according to a survey of 9600 doctors. In an addiction rehabilitation program in CenterPointe Hospital in St. Charles, two pharmacists, six doctors, and sixteen nurses have been treated which means prescription drugs are a problem, at times to the people who are supposed to administer them to patients. There is the confidence in practitioners that they will control the drugs since they know much about them, but when addiction is already realized, chances of self-help may become slimmer. According to David Ohlms, who is a medical director of chemical dependency at the aforementioned hospital, doctors mostly addict to sleeping pills and pain killers (Blythe).

The most abused prescription drugs around the United States and around the world are the Opioids-often used to treat pain, the drugs used for treating anxiety and sleep disorders-CNS depressants, and Stimulants used to treat obesity, narcolepsy and ADHD- attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

An estimated 4 million Americans were found to be under usage of prescriptions which were for non-medical purposes in 1999, about 2.5 million were under dosage of pain relievers. Opioids refer to the drugs administered to relieve pain, for example after surgery. The opioids drugs attach themselves to opioids receptors blocking the conveyance of pain messages to the brain. Opioid receptors are found in the brain, gastrointestinal tract, and the spinal cord. They may also bring about constipation, drowsiness, and depressed respiration. Continual usage of these types of drugs may result in the body being tolerant of the drugs, and if the patient withdraws from usage, pain may be experienced in bone, muscle, and the patient may vomit, diarrhea, experience involuntary movement of legs, experience goosebumps and cold flushes. Among the resulting effects of usage of opioids is respiratory depression which may lead to death. Another risk with these drugs is the use with other substances such as alcohol which may cause central nervous system depression (“Prescription Drug Addiction”). Prescribed drug addiction occurs mainly in people with initially present history of psychological problems or abuse of substances in the past.

An example of a case where a nurse was reported to have entered a patient’s name so as to acquire Vicodin pain killers for her own use, and subsequent confession by the nurse that she had stolen this type of drug before may reveal the fact that medical practitioners are not free from prescription drug usage and addiction. Drugs acquired by choice may be more dangerous, and therefore medical practi9tioners are at a risk of over-usage of self-prescribed drugs. In Cuyahoga, 10 nurses (in unrelated incidences) who had stolen prescription drugs were indicted. Most of the disciplinary actions taken against the medical practitioners involve drugs. The numbers may not be small. For example, every year sees 40-70 nurses indicted in Cuyahoga County for cases of stealing felony drugs. The use of painkiller electronic dispensers has been reported among the nurses, and many of the ones indicted were discovered by auditing the machine, which allows tracking of drug orders, inventories, and withdrawals. This type of ATMs for the drugs like Oxycontin and Percocet make it easy to detect and prosecute drug theft. Such as the case of Dr. Christopher Hart, whose license was revoked in 2004 for taking Vicodin from the place of work for a second time may not tell a different story. He had been treated, in addition to a five-year drug testing and AA meetings adherence requirement. Reportedly, he thought he would manage since he was a professional and stealing 15 pills a day made him feel euphoric according to him. The reasons for more usage of prescription drugs by the general population may be attributed to the following (Maxwell);

• Their being cheap
• Their ease of availability-available everywhere and easy to acquire
• They are not illegal drugs
• They are of lesser side effects than street drugs
• Can aid studying among teens and students
• Easy to purchase over the internet
• Less shame attached to their usage

Reasons for use of prescription drugs among the medical profession may be attributed to the kind of pressure they undergo during their practice. Although the nature of their job being taxing cannot be a satisfactory excuse for using these medications, there is a need to ensure that the personnel is not overworked and ensure that they are having time to rest and socialize to relieve any negative thoughts. Cases of shortage of professions like doctors in some countries cannot be overemphasized. This is due to the demanding nature of the practice and academic requirements. Resulting smaller number of doctors in proportion to the patient may result in ti8ght schedules for doctors who a times may be required to working all day long and night since patients need to be attended to save life. In some countries where there is understaffing of the medical professionals, it may be observed that the same personnel operate at different hospitals and/or a times also teach at medical colleges. The law may also not be tough on such practice. The result is that doctors may be overstretched and may under stress and hence may find themselves with the need to take such medications so as to keep with these schedules.

Consequences of drug abuse among health practitioners

Health practitioners who abuse prescription drugs may affect their own families and friends, in addition to affecting the patients. The following are the possible consequences-personal or non-personal, of drug abuse (“Drug abuse Among Nurses”).

• Death of the patient leading to the cut of the number of professionals available, e.g. nurse shortage in hospitals.
• A medical practitioner who is under abuse of prescription drugs may transmit the problem by providing patient under-care, commission of medication errors, and mistreatment of the patient.
• Loss of jobs, time and hence reduced wages, among other results.

Control of prescription drug abuse

Prescription drug abuse among the medical practitioners occurs for the same reasons it occurs among other people. Causes include stress due to jobs which lead to drug self-prescription, money issues, trauma, anxiety and depression, among other causes. One of the key steps to cutting abuse of prescribed drugs is the identification of the existence of the problem. Some of the simple questions physicians can help determine whether they are under unusual usage of drugs is whether they have/had a feeling of need to cut down their usage of the types of drugs, have been remorseful about their usage of prescribed drugs, whether other people made remarks on their unusual usage of prescribed drugs, and determining whether they ever used drugs as a way to ‘get on’ or calm down (Ewing; cited “Prescription Drug Addiction”). Recognition of the problem can be followed with a strategy for recovery and seeking treatment when necessary.

Behavioral means or pharmaceutical means can be applied to cure addiction of prescription drugs in an attempt to control their abuse. These are applicable not only to the medical practitioners but to all people. The behavioral means of controlling of addiction to prescription drugs involves teaching people to avoid relapse, situations that would require drug usage, handling cravings, and to function without drugs. Counseling-group or family-contingency management, cognitive-behavioral therapies are behavioral corrections that may be administered to medical practitioners who are abusing drugs. Drug cravings, withdrawal symptoms, and overdose may be treated through a pharmacological approach.

It has been reported that oncology, rehabilitation, and psychiatric nurses abuse prescription drugs more than other specialties. It is important that hospitals stress the need for setting up peer groups where nurses and other medical practitioners will learn the effects of prescription drugs abuse and how to control it. Besides, retraining and training of the staff through seminars and group-works on the subject matter may yield positive results.

Initiating and maintaining a medical board recovery program which would habit doctors who are recovering from usage of prescription drugs may help. It has been reported that long term sobriety may be attained by 80-90% of doctors who go through these recovery programs, according to Paran, an addiction specialist at Case Western Reserve University. The rehabilitation programs should be adjusted to be stringent in order to take care of all the professionals (Harlan).

The current or recent past trend seems not to have over-treated the fact that medical practitioners are normal people who are endangered to use of prescription drugs like any other person. Usually, the trend has been harsh for them, as if they were not prone. There is a need to help the practitioners get over drug abuse such as prescription drugs instead of putting up a trend that will only make them use the drugs secretly since the punishments are severe. Instead, the government should boost up programs that will assists practitioners reduce the risk of using drugs, such as stressful schedules where there are understaffed hospitals, such as the case with the United States. As a result of understaffing, making doctors and nurses work compulsory overtime and having little time for resting may be seen as factors contributing to higher levels of prescription drug addiction as a means to boost their alertness, manage stress and cope up with tight schedules. There has been, for example, a continued shortage of nurses which experts projected would continue to occur in the United States (US Bureau of Statistics; and “Recent reports”) and even shortage of up to a half a million by 2025 according to.

In cases of understaffing, nurses being forced to work overtime may lead to compromise in the service quality, rushed services, and unsafe practices by the nurses (“American Nurses Association Addresses Nursing Shortage at Senate Subcommittee Hearing”).

There is need to ensure that the ergonomic needs of nurses are met to assure nurses of their health according to Buerhaus, Stranger, and Auerbach (278-284), who also indicate that by 2010, 40% of working registered nurses in the United States will be more than 50 years. The danger for aging workforce may be implicated by data that show that most people who abuse or addict to prescription drugs is those who are elderly. Thus the problem may be expected to increase or remain if the work force of the whole medical practitioner group is aged. Solving the problem of understaffing, which a time occur as a result of a small number of recruited staff and those quitting the profession may be tied to some extent to the problem of drug addiction. This is because it may cause the smaller number of medical practitioners to be burdened.

According to the aforementioned author, there is need to boost men’s enrolment to nursing by removal of barriers, allow assistance of unlicensed personnel to assist nurses in patient caretaking, apply technology to enable better usage of the registered nurses and among other solutions to curb the shortage of nurses in the United States. The government should also solve such and other needs among other health professionals too.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is evidence of addiction to prescription drugs among medical practitioners. Medical practitioners are also prone to use of prescription drugs like any other person due to the common reasons of stress, trauma, and financial-related reasons, among other reasons. In addition to these, doctors and other medical practitioners may find themselves using the drugs due to their easy access and a self-confidence of knowledge on drugs or easy reach to help. The consequences of addiction to prescription drugs may include death of the victim, patient mistreatment and suffering family and friends. The government should focus on improving the health of nurses and other practitioners to solve the problem.

Work Cited

1. “American Nurses Association Addresses Nursing Shortage at Senate Subcommittee Hearing”.
2. Blythe Bernhard. “Doctors, nurses aren’t immune to drug abuse”. 2008.
3. Buerhaus, P., Stranger, D., and Auerbach, D. Policy Responses to an Aging Registered Nurse Workforce (2000). Nursing Economics, Vol.18, 6, pp. 278-284
4. “Drug abuse Among Nurses”. Web.
5. Ewing, J.A. “Detecting Alcoholism: The CAGE Questionnaire.” Journal of the American Medical Association 252(14):1905-1907, 1984
6. Halan Spector/The Plain Dealer. Prescription drug abuse vexes the medical profession. Web.
7. “Prescription Drug Addiction”. 
8. “Recent reports”, 2008.

Gay people are those whose sexual orientation is different from what is considered the norm, heterosexuality. According to Avert.com, they are people who are attracted to other people of the same sex. In some instances, it happens that certain people may be discriminated against in the workplace on the basis of their sexuality. This is referred to as homophobia. The problem is that some people may find it hard to accept their colleagues in the workplace just because they happen to like people who are the same sex as them. (“Am I gay?”)

Discrimination in the workplace can take different forms. Gay people being a group that can be said to be disadvantaged have been the victims of discrimination for some time. In some instances, it could be that the gay people in the workplace may be dismissed from their place of work without any just reason. In other instances, they may also be abused and excluded from office and organizational activities. However, the most common form of discrimination directed at gay people is often ridicule and belittling. Moreover, gay people are also the victims of homophobic jokes. Accordingly, much of the violence committed against gay people is usually carried out by their work colleagues as opposed to people strangers. (“Gay & Lesbian Rights lobby”) It then would not be surprising that gay people are often not hired by potential employers on the basis of their sexual orientation. Also, they have often been sidestepped when it came to promotions.

Thus, gay people are often subjected to three kinds of discrimination in the workplace. The first is direct discrimination. Indirect discrimination, gay people are often denied the same rights and equal treatment that is accorded to their straight counterparts. For instance, it would be ok if straight people openly held hands while at work but it would not be ok for gay people to do so. Secondly is indirect discrimination. In certain instances, an employer may choose to offer a promotion to the straight employee overlooking the gay employee not because they are not qualified enough but just because they are of a different sexual orientation. Third and lastly is harassment. Some employers and even work colleagues may take it upon themselves to make the lives of gay people unbearable through abuses, name-calling, and even ridicule. (“Am I gay?”) Based on the three categories of discrimination it would then be correct to argue that many gay people are locked out of gainful employment and other opportunities through which they could better themselves. Some employers may not be so keen as to hire someone of a different sexual orientation. The consequence of this is that many gay people may be unemployed. (“Gay & Lesbians Rights lobby”)

According to Stachelber and Sheldon, gay people were at some point indeed discriminated against in the workplace for the simple reason that in some 38 states in the United States it was regarded as illegal to fire an employee on the basis of their sexual orientation. Before the Employment No Discrimination Act (ENDA) was formulated in the United States, for instance, it would be correct that most employers were protected by law meaning they could fire and/or mistreat their gay employees if they so wished. Consequently, many gay people were not only denied employment but even those who were already in some kind of gainful employment were denied promotions. Moreover, they also suffered harassment at the hands of their employers and their colleagues at work. There was nothing to protect gay people from discrimination. They had to put up with it in the hope that at some point it would not go on anymore. However, with the law in place, discrimination against gay people would be illegal. Moreover, gay people would also be treated fairly and equally to other people in the workplace setting. They would be accorded not only the same treatment but also the same opportunities, sexual orientation notwithstanding.

In 2003, the Employment equality (sexual orientation) regulations were enforced in the United Kingdom. On the other hand, ENDA (Employment No Discrimination Act) in the United States was passed by Congress in 2007. (Ritter 1) Consequently, sexual orientation was added to the list of such protected groups as race, religion, and disability and it became illegal to discriminate against any person on the basis of their sexual orientation. Employers were then expected to adhere to the laws and regulations. Without such kind of protection to protect gay people from discrimination, it is evident that the vice was likely to continue.

Therefore, it would be correct to say that gay people are not discriminated against in the workplace as much as before. With widespread activism and awareness of the rights of gay people, the result has been that regulations have been put in place. Gay people are more aware of their own rights. This means that they are more likely to openly speak out in instances where discrimination may occur. (Voorhis and Wagner 1) As per the regulations set out, no person should be subjected to direct discrimination. This is to say that employees and potential employees should not in any way be treated any differently from their counterparts just because they have a different sexual orientation. Concurrently, no person should be dismissed from work without just cause, neither should they be denied employment and/or a promotion. (Stachelberg and Sheldon)

All employers are expected to apply the same standards in the selection of their employees. There should not be different standards that may in one way or another result in making the people of a particular sexual orientation disadvantaged. During the processes of recruitment and hiring, both straight and gay people should be subjected to equal treatment. Moreover, the regulations also restrict behavior that can in any way be considered offensive and/or distressing to gay people. Harassment of gay people also becomes illegal. It is expected that employers should include the regulations in their policies. This is important because then the employer and the employees can be held responsible for their actions while at the workplace. (“Sexual orientation in the workplace”) The ramification of this is that employers have had to conduct training for all their employees on what their policies say with regards to discrimination in the workplace especially as pertaining to people who have a different kind of sexual orientation.

Discrimination against gay people in the workplace can be considered to be a thing of the past. The introduction of the laws and regulations that have outlawed discrimination of employees and colleagues on the basis of their sexual orientation has been a testament to this. However, it may be important to note that some people (colleagues) and employers may still be holding on to the stereotypes. The end result of this is that they will still continue to discriminate against others based on their sexual orientation. It would be correct to point out that when people hold on to stereotypes they would only want to associate with other people who they consider to be ‘like’ them which means that those who are ‘unlike’ them may suffer discrimination at their hands. They may not be hired and may be fired for no good reason at all. (“Am I gay?”)

With the laws and regulations in place, gay people can then seek legal redress for wrongful dismissal or even for denied equal opportunities that may have been accorded to people who are regarded as straight. Thus, in order to avoid lawsuits, employers not only have to inform themselves of what is right according to the laws of the land. Moreover, they have to carry out seminars and training forums during which they educate other employees on their organizational policies with regard to discrimination (Ritter, p. 1).

To discriminate against someone is to deny that someone an opportunity based on age, race, or even sexuality. Certain groups in society have faced discrimination either on the basis of their age, race, disability, and even sex. Concurrently, gay people have for a long time been discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation. Mostly, the people who carry out acts of discrimination against gay people are termed homophobic. They are usually straight or can be defined as heterosexual males and females. They shun and/or ridicule gay people because they are different from them. It was therefore not uncommon to find an employer who would deny a person the chance to be gainfully employed just because they were of a different sexual orientation. In other instances, the employers would not subject potential gay employees to the same standards that straight employees would. Still, it was not just the employers who carried out the acts of discrimination. Even in the workplace setting, colleagues and co-workers also discriminated against their gay co-workers. Co-worker discrimination takes the form of name-calling, ridicule or even harassment. In most instances, such activities of harassment and ridicule are used to serve the purposes of making life unbearable for gay people in the hope that they might leave and ‘untainted the workplace. Apart from these activities, it is also not uncommon to find gay people who may have been denied access to services just because their sexual orientation is different. Sometimes, gay people may not be offered places in schools. Discrimination is a vice that stops gay people from bettering themselves. However, as they have become more aware of their rights and with laws such as ENDA (Employment No Discrimination Act) in place. This can be considered to be a thing of the past. Gay people have as much right as their straight counterparts to be hired and not be fired without good reason. Whenever they may feel they have been discriminated they are free to seek legal redress. Nonetheless, discrimination against gay people will only be put to an end in the workplace only if employers adopt and enforce the necessary regulations as well as educate their employees on the proper codes of conduct (no discrimination).

References

1. ‘Am I gay?’ 2008. Avert. Web.
2. “Workplace discrimination”. N.d.  2004. Gay and lesbian rights lobby.
3. Ritter, Bob. ‘Collision of religious and gay rights in the workplace’. The Humanist. 2008, vol 68.
4. “Sexual orientation in the workplace: A guide for employers and employees”. N.d. 2005. Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service.
5. Stachelberg, Winnie & Sheldon, Louis. ‘Should congress expand federal protection of gays in the workplace? 2002. Web
6. Voorhis, Rebecca & Wagner, Marion. ‘Coverage of gay and lesbian subject matter in social work journals’. Journal of Social work education. vol 37. 2001.

Introduction

Social organisations have various types of workers, such as full timers, part-timers and volunteers. As a matter of concern, social workers, who work in an organisation, are expected to act as other employees. They could be relating with an organisation in three ways:

• As an employee
• As a union member
• As a professional

This term paper has concerned about the situations and the related significant matters regarding the role played by the social workers. This is made to simplify the identification of the role of the social service administrators.

Scope of the Study

The term paper is prepared mainly to magnify the problems, challenges, roles and tasks of social service administrators in human service management and critically review the implementation of managerialism in social service organisations. After completing this term paper we can get a perfect idea about the roles played by the social workers in an organisation and the problem regarding these roles.

Objective of the report:

• To identify the meaning of social work & the duties of the social workers.
• To know what is the difference between the social workers while playing each of the roles.
• To spot out whether there is any conflict exists in these roles played by the social workers.
• To explore if there is any distinguishing effect on the promotion of users welfare
• To magnify the problems, challenges, roles and tasks of social service administrators in human service management.
• In order to analysis the execution of managerialism in the social service institutes.

Methodology

This paper uses the secondary data sources such as Internet as the main source of the data. This paper just simplified the various data and relates them with my objectives to get a new but holistic and meaningful scenario. The paper has accounted Oxfam international as an instance of the social work organisation. The first part of the report, introduction, describes why the job is done and how it’s been done and the methodologies. The second part of the report describes the main matter of concern, the management in human service organisation. The third part of the report describes about the findings or outcomes of the report. The fourth part is to foster the recommendations of the subject. The next part concludes the study and then bibliography.

Perfection of the social workers and social service organisation

The objectives of social work are to do the betterment of the peoples’ living condition in a society. As a member of a society, every human being feces different types of problems in their daily day to day life. Social service refers to help these people out with some meaningful and relief solutions. Social service or work at a larger term implies the professional view to help and assist the people as a whole. This is a profession dedicated to communities, families and individuals.

There are distinct categories of social services. For instance:

• Institutional: assistance has been given to an institution.
• Personal: assistance has been given to individual person.
• Focus problem: assistance has been given to specific criteria of problems.

Social workers

The employees who perform the social activities are treated as a social worker. A social worker may be a professional one or can be a non paying employee. A social worker can help his client in any given day. The social workers have to do a vast variety of jobs. Such as:

• To help people or clients to solve personal and family problems.
• They help the clients to solve various social problems like shelter, unemployment so on.
• They also help about various types of disabilities (Physical or Mental)
• They can also conduct research to find out the actual of the problems.

There are various categories of Social workers. These can be discussed as follows-

• Group workers: These categories of employees are those who mainly help others by using counseling technique which assist public to understand themselves as well as others. Activities for children, teenagers and senior citizens are the key activities of them.
• Community Social Workers: Community Social Workers are doing their service through some community organisations and manage the pains of political, civic, religious, business, and union organisations to cure social problems.
• Caseworkers: they prefer to use interview technique in order to identify troubles. They mainly help them to obtain the needed social services, monetary support, learning, or job exercise. These employees focus characteristics is that, usually they are specialized in a specific area, for example health services, or a exact social difficulty, including criminal behaviour, drug violence, and poverty etc¹.

Social Workers have much more self motivation than the employees of business organisation. Their high motivation leads them to be dedicated and volunteering. Thus the make different in such way-

• Social workers are initially more apprehensive, cautious and highly enthusiasm. They are not eager for the tangible benefits but emphasis on community or national interest.
• Human service organisations have bargaining and consultative practices. With this virtue social workers uphold better customers and service relations.
• Social workers customary hierarchic relations that are quite visible at every of their workshops get much more apparent and practically higher outcomes from the business employees.
• The most significant issue raised for social workers as human resource training generate more development in consideration work culture, productivity, technological, communication and cooperation².
• Some times social workers may face political pressure in several issues; therefore, social organization should provide specific guidelines, training and instruction to overcome this problem.
• The activities of the social workers are different from other employees as a result to get better outcomes from them an organization should impose the dialogue process. By this way organization achieve practical advantage for instance it create improved working environment³.
• There should not exist sex discrimination in social organization and it should required to provide equal opportunity for improvement of that organizations.

How social workers relate to an organisation

Social workers are closely related with the organisations. They may be work as an employee in an organisation or they may be hired by the organisations to help them in a certain matter. The social workers may be a normal employee who has no straight forward tasks of social work in the organisation, but help the organisation or the other employees voluntary when the situations demands. The social workers may be work as professionals with the organisation.

The important side of a social worker is that, they can act differently as a union member when they join in a union. Unionization is now a globally accepted and a common worldwide scenario. When the social workers are act as union members, their work will certainly be changed. The basic thing is that, the major characteristics of a social worker maybe changed positively or negatively when they work as an union members.

Roles played by the social workers in an organisation

It is clear that whatever task a social worker does or however he is related with the organisation, social workers play some significant and influential roles inside and outside the organisation. Organisations depend largely on them and they asked for their assistance whenever a problem has aroused. From the discussion above, we can see that the social workers have played mainly three generic roles in an organisation. These are as an employee, as a professional and as a union member.

Social workers as employees

Employees are those who work in an organisation for a specific payment structures and under some other employees and management structure. They are not independent staffs and the workers of these organisations may involve this career for their living needs. But they play their role as a social worker when needed. They can work as a fulltime employee or as a part timer.

As employee, a person has certain responsibilities and duties to perform. Here, they are not bound to do social work; rather they are bound to work through the goals selected by the organisation. However, they can execute social works beside their usual activities.

Social workers as Union Members

To know about the topics we at first centralize our focus on union and unionization.

Trade Union: Trade Union is a legal framework of workers movement where workers come to unite with each other, exchange views share their problem and unite with the common goals. In UK trade union has a long glorious hasty of two hundred years. Trade Union provides an excellent opportunity to the management to negotiate with the employees. Simultaneously when employees move for strike, trade union leaders meet the management and let them to know the demand of employees and negotiate with the management in favour of its members. Trade unions cannot at once increase wage and other benefit up to the stage that put off profits being made. The firms are marketing their goods and services produced by its workers in a highly profitable range. The Trade Union can threat management to reduce production for the incensement of their wage and benefits⁴.

UK’s Equal Pay Act- 1970, Sex Discrimination Act- 1975, Disability Discrimination Act- 1995, Race Relations Act- 1976 and Employment Rights Act 1996, ensure trade unions means any combination of workmen or employees or employers formed primarily for the purpose of regulating the relations between workmen and employers or, for imposing restrictive conditions on the conduct or any trade or business and includes a federation of two or more trade unions. Mentioned Acts provide the right to join unions and, with government approval, the right to form a union.

As a member of the union, the worker has some regulation to work within or outside the organisation. He has certain boundaries or limitations to work. So, as a social worker, a union member might face several problems.

Social workers as professionals

Professionals are refers to the free and independent people, who are hired by an entity or a person to perform a certain task or job. When social workers work as professionals, they do not bind to the organisation by any means. They are invited by the organisation to perform for a certain problem for a certain point of time. They help the organisation for overcoming a special type of problem and for this they are rewarded with a fee.

As a professional, social workers can be able to help the organisations fairly and as because they are free here, the solution will not be biased. From here the term “Human Service Management” comes into action.

Human Service Management

The organisations which are providing social services to the society at large are called social work organisation. The management of the social works related to the wellbeing of the human and society is referred to as the Human Service Management. The ultimate goal of the Human Service Management is to indicate the proper way of helping others and to measure the effectiveness of the work of the social workers.

Conflicting situation

Conflict is a term used to denote any clash or disagreement or disparity or inanity between two or more person and/or entity. This is a matter of concern because the conflict is not only harmful to the organisation but also to the individuals as well. Conflict can be harmful in many ways. For instance: it may cause strikes and stop the production for which the organisation may face cutoffs in profits, it may be hampers the working conditions or the environments for the workers, in a conflicting environment the productivity of the employees generally declines and decrease the profit.

Effects of the conflicts

As a result of the conflict, there arise various negative affects. The failure of production, the sudden stop of a company operation, layoffs of workers which cause unemployment, the increase of other costs rather the production costs, scope of hostile takeovers of the organisations and so on.

In individuals, the effect of conflict is less harmful but these effects are not a matter of over simplified. Another important aspect is that conflicts are not harmful always. It may have some positive sides also.

Social workers roles and conflict

As we mentioned earlier, the 3 roles played by the social workers posses some sort of conflicts. A social worker has some limitation when he performs as an employee, he can’t do whatever he desires. For example: Think about a situation when a social worker find that one of his colleagues facing problems with the managers of the organisation, he can not do anything as because he is not have the permission to do social work inside the organisation at office hours.

As a union member, a social workers job and the ultimate goal of the union can be contradictory. For example: if the union demanded an increase in salary and start a strike, which may be harmful to the some other people, a social worker cannot to go against the union. Thus his role as a social worker conflicts with his role as a union member. As a professional, the social worker is asked for the assistance but there might be conflict also. For example: if the organisation asks to assist in such a matter which goes against the greater public interest, the social worker may have to become confuse whether to do or not.

Promotion of users’ welfare: he Key Question

The users, who are ask for the assistance from a social worker or social service organisation, is the main goal of a social worker. The ultimate goal of a social worker is to do the welfare of the user. But the conflicting situations mentioned earlier have posed a question: when the conflicts arise, what should the social worker do? Should he continue with his user or should he leave the work? Here, the main concern is that, the user welfare may increase the conflicts.

Focus on the solution: what have to be done? In order to resolve the inconsistency, there should be executing something. Here we come to the perspective of the Human Service Organisation. As an organisation, they can create certain mechanisms to resolve the conflicts. They may use some rules and regulations by heir own or they can employ the rules of government strictly. That is when a user asked for a problem which is illegal by the rules of the organisation or by the government; they can say that the action might be go against the existing law and just quit. Another way to resolve the conflicts is to use some scientific technique like design their management in a manner that can be useful in such a situation.

Managerialism

Solution or not: As mentioned d earlier, design the management using techniques are represents by the term “Managerialism”. It is an ideological framework often used negatively than favorably. When it is treated as principal, ideology appears as reasonable and it needs no name. The standard assumption is that management is a science. And it is the legitimization of management. However, it never queries illegitimate hierarchical influence.

The cardinal issue of managerialism is that the distinctions between such institutions as are less significant than the resemblances, and that the activities of all groups can be optimized as a result of the application of basic management proficiency and hypothesis. It pursue that the vital element of institutional modification is the removal of impediments to the right to manage⁵. The pursuit of efficiency is managerialism’s main goal according to managerialism.

Here the key point is the cost benefit analysis of a situation and the ultimate right of the management to prohibit a work or not. The effect of managerialism toward the social workers is high and for this reason we can use managerialism as a solution to the conflict. When the central power of decision making is held by the management, the social workers can be organised by the recommendations of the management. The management may ignores the socially unaccepted doings of the user and thus reduce the conflict of the social worker. It is being assumed that management is much more influence than the social workers alone. Social workers may find anything conflicting which may be overcome by the technically equipped management.

Manager & employee relations

Luis R. Gomez-Mejia, et al (2006) mentioned that to foster good employees relations, managers ought to listen to and understand what employees are saying and experiencing, keep them knowledgeable about what management plans to do with the business, and inform them how those plans possibly will affect their jobs. They would also give employees the freedom to air grievances about management decisions. ⁶ There may be good reasons for not changing the decision, but management should least listen to the injustice. However, effective employee relations needed cooperation between managers & employee relations representatives. The specialists are members of the HR department who act as interior consultants to the business. They are frustrating to ensure that employee policies and procedures are followed and advise both employee and supervisors relations problems. Employee relations policies provide channels to resolve such problems before they become grave.

Developing Employee Communications

Jani K. R., (2006) argued that the most significant factor to change to change the employee relations is developing communication. Many companies have found that the key to a good employee relations program is a communication channel that gives employees access to important information and an opportunity to express their ideas and feelings. When supervisors are proverbial with employees are aware of their rights, there is less opportunity for misunderstandings to arise and productivity to drop.

Jani K. R., (2006) also added that, for corporations are very complex, they must develop numerous communication channels to shift information up, down, and across the organisational formation. For instance, Oxfam provides many Communications channels that permit employees and managers to speak with one another and share information.⁷ Managers communicate with their employees through walking around and taking to them informally, sponsoring newsletters, and providing web based communication with key employment policies and other forms of face to face contact. As today’s organisations have delegated more responsibilities and decision-making more information available to employees has increased substantially. To develop effective employee relations, a company needs communication channels to move information up, down and across the organisation.

Analysis of Oxfam as a Social Worker Organisation

Strengths:

• Oxfam’s open brand position and it’s quality image increases its profit and popularity rapidly
• It has practice and efficient employees to serve the service
• Employees are professionals, volunteers, members and affiliates.
• It has superior technological support
• It has websites to offer service all over the world,
• Oxfam work with more than 1000 partner organisation with 71 countries.
• It has strong network of main strength
• To provide service, it maintain strong administrative control

Weaknesses:

• Oxfam’s service system has maintained by Companies Act 1985 but later passing the Companies Act 2006 and Charities Act 2006, the charities rule is altered. So it service may affected for this new Act. Now it is essential for Oxfam to change all the documents in light of these Acts.
• Relatively smaller budget for advertisement and promotion.

Opportunities:

• It has the opportunity to provide quick service with high satisfaction
• Spread their service by new campaign
• It has strong capital for further expansion its service

Threats:

• Previous year some fraudulent activities occur by the customer, it can be threats for this company.

Findings

• Social work means to work for the betterment of the society. Social workers do the social works and help the other people to solve their different types of problems.
• Social workers are very important for not only the society but also for the organisations. As because organisations are a part of the society, the social workers can do the betterment of the organisation.
• When the social workers work in an organisation they act as employees, union members and professional. The work has to be done in these three ways are quiet different nature and ask for different considerations.
• There exists some significant conflict in the different roles played by the social worker. These conflicts are mainly arising because of the weekly designed management structures of the social service organisations.
• This distinguishing effects the promotion of user welfare and hamper the service giving process of the social service organisations. These make the job of the social service administrators job challenging and for this the role of social service administrators varies dramatically.
• The main challenge of Social service administrator is to make perfect promotion of user welfare. They play separate roles in different condition but they suffer problems regarding the conflict of diverse roles.
• “Managerialism” may be helpful to work out here and make the job easy for the social workers. It is the systematic way to manage a work efficiently by cost and benefit analysis. Social workers can work under these systematic techniques and expected to overcome the conflicts.
• Recommendations
• As a member of the society, social workers and social service administrators have to face several challenges and problems. As because social workers and social service administrators plays different roles, their might arise conflict. To resolve the conflicts and to promote the user’s welfare some scientific and systematic technique such as “managerialism” can be applied in the human service management process. In a human service organisation, the rules and regulations and centralized and efficient, powered management system must be introduced. It will help the social worker to promote the users welfare as well as the betterment of the society.
• Conclusions
• From the above discussion it is clear that social workers and the social service administrators face s conflicts while playing various roles. Managerialism can help them to overcome such conflicts. Human service organisations may take these recommendations and find it helpful to promote their users welfare.

Bibliography

1. Anthony, W. P. Prrewe, P. L., and Kacmar, K. M., Strategic Human Resource Management, 4th ed., The Dryden Press, London, ISBN: 0-03-096543-8, 2008.
2. Blyton, P. & Turnbull, P., The Dynamics of Employee Relations, 3rd edition, Macmillan Plagrave, ISBN 1403912270
3. BLS (2008), Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Editionю
4. Employment Development Department, Labor Market Informationю
5. Jani K. R., (2006), Employee Benefits Law, 2nd Edition, ISBN: 978-1570186080, pp-210-226
6. Jacobson, Jodi M, and Janet, Hosford, Working It Out — Social Workers in Employee Assistance. Web.
7. Luis R. Gomez-Mejia, David B. Balkin, Robert L. Cardy, (2006), Managing Human Resources, 4th edition, Prentice Hall: London, ISBN- 81-203-2804-3, pp-434-456
8. NASW, Social Workers Help.
9. Newstrom, J. W., Davis, K. (2002), Organisational Behavior, 11th Edition, Tata-McGraw Hill Publishing Company Limited, London, ISBN: 0-07-047264-5 pp. 163-175.
10. Qquiggin, Jhon, Word for Wednesday: Managerialism, 2003. Web.
11. Rose. E., (2004), Employment Relations, 2nd edition, London: Prentice Hall, ISBN 0 273 682598
12. Sivananthiran, A. and Ratnam, Venkata, C. S.; Social Dialogue At Enterprise Level Successful Experiences, Inter national Labour Organization (ILO). Web.
13. Steiner, J., and Woods, L. (2007), EU Law, 9th ed., Oxford University Press, London, p-.491, 527, ISBN: 978-019-927959-3
14. World Socialist Movement, Trade Union.

Footnotes

1. Sivananthiran, A. and Ratnam, Venkata, C. S.; Social Dialogue At Enterprise Level Successful Experiences, Inter national Labour Organization (ILO),
2. Sivananthiran, A. and Ratnam, Venkata, C. S.; Social Dialogue At Enterprise Level Successful Experiences, Inter national Labour Organization (ILO),
3. World Socialist Movement, Trade Union
4. Luis R. Gomez-Mejia, David B. Balkin, Robert L. Cardy, (2006)
5. Jani K. R., (2006)

Introduction

Aims and Objectives

The aims and objectives of this paper are to explore the available data in secondary sources for investigating general scenarios related to women’s human rights especially in the regions of Asia, India, and Africa.

Thesis Statement

Women’s human rights including social, cultural, and economic rights, in Asia, India, and Africa continue to be neglected and violated.

Women’s Human Rights- A Prerequisite for Development

Women’s human rights, equality, and dignity as complete human beings are preserved in the fundamental instruments of the modern global community. The equal rights of women and men emphasize that women should be central to the vision of a democratic community. The international scenario of human rights for women require immediate attention at every level including government, society, international community due to specific grave reasons including; more women live in poverty than men; the majority of refugees around the world are women, and illiteracy in women is comparatively higher then illiteracy in men. Kofi Annan, the seventh secretary-general of United Nations advocated women’s human rights and said “More countries have understood that women’s equality is a prerequisite for development”.

Women in most parts of the world are treated similarly to commodities in the pornography industry and cross-border prostitution. Millions of girls around the globe are prey to genital mutilation, while females practically in every nation are victims of violence. Women in most countries lack access to health care and each day they are besieged in armed conflicts (Guichon, p. 143).

Relation of Security & Economic Progress with Women’s Human Rights

The social, cultural, and economic rights of women continue to be neglected (Guichon, p. 143). There can be no security, peace, or sustainable economic progress in societies that hinder and refute human rights in general and women’s human rights in particular. Struggle for women’s human rights is, in fact, a positive fight that highlights the qualitative aspect of contribution by women in every field of the community including; industry, education, politics, academia, commerce, and agriculture. Women are regarded as the true peace-builders and peacemakers specifically in war-torn societies everywhere. As such creative, effective, and practical measures should focus on the human rights of women- political and civil rights, cultural and community rights- and the right to progress (Bachay, p. 345).

Women’s Human Rights in Asia

Women’s Struggle against Inequality and Discrimination

Throughout Asia, women struggle against systematic abuse and discrimination with insignificant hope of any particular redress. Governments across Asia have mixed records in safeguarding the rights of women- with different governments like Pakistan- frequently flouting their primary obligations; while nations like Indonesia are not successful to support rhetoric with political will and resources, and others like India reprove themes of women’s rights to flounder against incompetence and apathy (Guichon, p. 143).

Despite constant violations of women’s rights, some governments like Nepal should be given due credit for implementing significant legal reforms and also devoting available resources to grave concerns such as human trafficking (Wollstonecraft, p.238).

A shared phenomenon in most Asian countries is the unequal status of women in the eyes of law and also unsuccessful measures of the government to prevent as well as punish violations against women’s human rights. Asian women mostly confront safeguarding their economic and social rights but the current system is often not successful in providing them equality with their male counterparts (Bachay, p. 345).

 Laws and their Implementation

Although effective laws are present in almost every country these are often voided by the improper implementation. To address the grave scenario of women’s human rights in Asia, few women in Asian nations gathered in Bangkok in 1986 and established ‘Asian Women’s Human Rights Council’. The women in the convention sought to develop a new cognizance of human rights, articulating the women’s power in the Asia-Pacific region. They also sought to confront and challenge the viewpoint of the dominant world proffering altogether new visions towards equality and justice both for men and women. (Asian Women’ Human Rights Council)

In Asia, violence against women is not only dangerous but uncontrollable. Different types of violence against Asian women include; marital rape, trafficking, sexual harassment, sexual violence, and forced marriage. There are certain countries like India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan where grave offenses are observed in the case of women. Some of these offenses are so-called dignity murders and acid attacks. In these offenses mostly women are murdered even for such insignificant moral and so-called disobedience like talking to a male in public or getting married without the consent of their parental family. Most Asian governments are not successful in responding to the desired level for preventing violence and aggression. (Guichon 143)

Significance of Supportive Measures

Counseling services and different other supportive measures are mostly not successful due to a shortage of funding in organizations working in this field and also non-cooperation by the government. Moreover, women who sought legal help mostly are deprived of the required support. Prosecutions and laws for killings made in the name of so-called dignity, self-esteem, and honor often receive no response from the law authorities. (Guichon 143)

Decisions made by females are often overruled by male family members. The right of abortion, except where it saves the life, is not allowed in certain Asian countries including Indonesia, Burma, and Bangladesh. Young women, in South Asia, mostly remain under strict observation by their families. Their movements are restricted and supervised to avoid any unwanted sexual activity. In some countries, such as China and Korea, the desire for boys often results in complicated health problems and premature abortions. Another significant violation of human rights is the inequality in education. The literacy rate of girls particularly in South Asia is low than boys. (Bachay 345)

Women’s Human Rights in India

Women’s Human Rights and Indian Constitution

India has a progressive constitution that highlights and acknowledges equality to women’s rights as a justifiable and acceptable fundamental right and comprises various provisions for ensuring women’s human rights in India. The track record of India on the legislative front is quite remarkable as it has brought significant changes in the law focusing on abolishing discrimination against females in specific matters such as inheritance, employment, marriage, and divorce. There have been different movements in the country that have raised voices and provided space to the segment of the poorest women. (Bachay 345)

It is without any doubt that guarantees ensured by the constitution combined with better employment as well as educational opportunities have provided enhanced visibility to women as compared with the past. However, the other side of the story is not exemplary. It is argued by many that the enactment of constitutional provisions as well as laws has not been successful in ensuring the necessary social change.

Women have discovered that although such laws are effective instruments in eliminating their legal inferiority, protection by law alone cannot provide desired results. Moreover, they cannot along alter well-entrenched behaviors, and as such patriarchal conventions continue to thrive. Kofi Annan highlights that “when women thrive, all of society benefits, and succeeding generations are given a better start in life.”

Past and Future of Women’s Human Rights in India

In the past Indian women, for thousands of years, were considered inferior to such extent that they were not numbered in the four Hinduism castes. They were never permitted to live within an area of caste people. Moreover, they were forced to live in homes that were located outside the villages and denied all types of access including pure drinking water. Even today, women in many places of India are not enjoying equal human rights; an untouchable female is not permitted to marry anyone but only an untouchable. Moreover, untouchables are not allowed to make a contact with any vessel or plate belonging to a person of higher caste without contaminating it. (Leavitt, 251)

Women’s Human Rights in Africa

The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights

Women’s human rights in Africa are subject to huge violations and inequality. It is pertinent to mention that ‘The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights’ which was adopted in the year 1986, highlights many stresses between people or groups’ rights and individual human rights. Following the example set by the ‘United Nations Human Rights Conference’ in 1993 at Vienna, a resolution was adopted by the ‘Organization of African Unity in June 1995.

Protocol on Women’s Human Rights

The primary purpose was to elaborate a Protocol on women’s human rights in Africa. The protocol was elaborated due to improper addressing of human rights issues, specifically about women, by the African Charter. In 2003, the African Heads of State adopted a Protocol to safeguard African women’s human rights (Bachay, p. 345).

The protocol has been ratified and different strategies have been designed to address the issue of women’s human rights in Africa. These strategies focus on specific areas including; analysis of domestication along with certain implementation processes throughout African countries particularly around the Protocol; analysis of the policy and institutional changes; experiential case studies that generate demand for women’s human rights in Africa as set out in the Protocol (Mohammed, p. 12).

Conclusion

Investigation of the data, especially in India, Asia, and Africa, reveals that women’s human rights continue to be neglected and violated. Although significant developments have been made in some countries and certain laws and regulations have been implemented, for example in India, the overall condition is not praiseworthy and commendable. It is therefore concluded, based on the arguments presented in the paper, that effective measures are required to ensure women’s human rights, equality, and dignity. More efforts at a national and international level are also needed to address the grave scenario.

Works Cited

1. “Asian Women’ Human Rights Council”. Canadian Woman Studies. 17(2), p.142, 1997
2. Bachay, Judith “Women Moving Forward: Justice, Toward a System of Right Relationship: 3, Booksurge Llc, 2008, p. 345
3. Guichon, Audrey & Anker, Christien & Novikova, Irina, “Women’s Social Rights and Entitlements,” Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, p.143
4. Leavitt, June, “To marry a dog,” Journal of International Women’s Studies, 7(4), p251, 2006
5. Mohammed, Faiza “Mobilizing for women’s rights in Africa.” Sister Namibia. 17(4) p.12, 2005
6. Wollstonecraft, Mary, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”, Penguin Books, 2006, p. 238
7. “Women’s Rights World: Women’s rights quotations”

Gender inequality is obvious or hidden disparity in treatment of individuals due to their gender performance. Gender inequality is also referred to as social gender discrimination. Leaving aside the arguments on biological sex factors, the socially defined gender inequality is constructed through social interactions and manifests in numerous dimensions of daily life. Gender inequality is the most obvious in education, at home and within employment. While the United States of America if proud of being a discrimination-free country, a closer look at American society reveals that gender inequality is a matter of primary importance. Gender inequality intersects diverse fields of culture and communication as it has direct impact on social position, image, and functioning of males as well as females. Research suggests that gender inequality is socially bound to culture of the nation and is a result of social stereotyping based on gender and innate abilities of women and men.

Gender Inequality from Historical Perspective

In 1870, Queen Victoria wrote to Sir Theodor Martin a letter complaining about the state of women’s rights. She Queen Victoria was not in need to protect her rights or privileges, she saw the obvious prejudice towards women in 19^th century England. Today, 140 years later, women suffer from the same gender inequality. As Amartya Sen noted, “Within each community, nationality and class, the burden of hardship often falls disproportionately on women” (2001). The modern world is characterized by unequal distribution of the burden between men and women. Gender inequality exists in all countries, despite of their economic, social or cultural specifics. Moreover, gender inequality may take many different forms; it is a collection of interlinked problems which require immediate attention.

Interestingly, gender inequality in some parts of the world is a matter of life and death. In particular, there are unusually high mortality raters of women in societies where rights of women are not protected (North Africa and Asia). Furthermore, the unexplained preference for boys over girls in male-dominated societies manifests in the form of parents waiting for the newborn to be a boy. While the wish to decide on the gender of a child was mythical only a couple of decades ago, modern techniques allow determining the gender of the unborn child long before the birth. Consequently, it has resulted in the sex-selective abortions that are very common in many countries (Korea and Singapore, for example).

Demographic characteristics may not show any gender bias. Thus, the analysis on gender inequality is purely cultural and social phenomenon. Gender inequality is not widely discussed in the United States because the government guarantees gender equality. However, government of Afghanistan actively excludes girls from getting education. In countries without similar legislation, girls still do not have the same opportunities as boys do in education. Furthermore, gender inequality is present in lack of basic facilities available to women. Females are not given opportunities to cultivate their talents and are limited in their social participations.

Gender inequality is not limited to differences in physical characteristics. Historically, young women were warned about those masculine women who strived to assume ‘male’ social functions. Male functions included war, commerce, politics, philosophy and science (Amartya 2001). Thus, women were put under pressure to remain ‘feminine’ which was a direct limitation of their functions to wives, mothers, and housekeepers. In other words, women were getting used to their socially-imposed roles without even thinking about gender inequality.

As time passed, societies started to evolve. More and more women began questioning their social position in male-dominated community. Women realized that their abilities and skills were not determined by biological characteristics. Thus, the feministic theories were developed and women throughout the world, especially in developed countries, declared a war against inequality and gender stereotyping. Undoubtedly, today women enjoy more freedoms and better protection of their rights, but no full gender equality has been achieved. Women are openly stereotyped in education, employment as well as at home and politics.

Gender Inequality in Education

“Education is widely recognized as the gateway to economic security and opportunity – particularly for girls and women” (Sharma 2007). Furthermore, Sharma argues that gender bias has negative impact on education opportunities for girls. One of the factors contributing to gender inequality in education is poverty. Economic development of the country plays the main role when it comes to dealing with such costs as tuition fees, uniforms and transportation. In families with many children, parents support education for boys rather than girls. At this moment, the social stereotyping becomes important: parents believe that educated men have better chances to get well-paid employment than educated women. The root of this assumption is social stereotype.

Ironically, gender inequality in education is not the result of scarcity of places in schools. On the contrary, the bias emerges from attitude and expectations held and vividly promoted in communities. Social traditions and cultural beliefs have a limit impact on girls’ educational opportunities. There are thousands of young females throughout the globe who are not able to read, write and calculate. Lack of education complicates efforts to enter market-focused production. It affects family welfare and diminishes woman’s potential contribution to development of the community, both socially and economically.

Numerous studies prove that there is a gap in opportunities of higher education for young women and young men. Gender bias in education is observed in the most developed countries in Europe and North America. Thus, the assumption that gender inequality in education is related to economic conditions in the country is not an effective explanation. The root of gender inequality in education is cultural and social. From cultural perspective, the traditional functions of women are maintained and promoted. From social perspective, male-dominated society does not believe in equality between men and women in terms of knowledge, skills, and abilities.

One of the reasons why gender inequality in education persists is insufficient research. “Theorists who have focused most directly on the issue of gender inequality have approached the subject from a critical, feminist, or neomarxist perspective. Critical scholars seek to explain how the educational system reproduces gender inequality in society despite its provoking resistance to such inequality on the part of women students” (Jacobs 1996, p. 153). For example, researchers suggest that the culture of romance leads young women away from a focus on their studies and careers. Based on observations with students, researchers suggested that college experience is tangential to intellectual and career development among young women. In other words, women simply do not want to go to college. However, the primary problem with this explanation is that it is not useful for elucidating on gender issues.

Other studies do not provide theoretical explanation for gender inequality as well. For example, Baron-Cohen, a leading expert of autism, believes “that men on average are programmed to systematize better and women to empathize. Men are more technologically innovative, while women are more family-centered” (Luna 2008). This statement alone reveals that the research of Baron-Cohen is based on traditional gender stereotypes. While the study may reveal why there are more women in psychology and less in engineering, it fails to explain why gender inequality is present in education.

Gender Inequality in Employment

Gender inequality in education suggests that women are very likely to be in poverty because they have fewer opportunities to find employment. In particular, 29 percent of households led by single females are below the poverty level, as compared with just 12 percent of households led by single males” (Mexico 2007). Thus, statistics proves that one of the primary causes of gender gap in poverty is that females are traditionally employed in ‘female’ jobs such as service industry and administrative support. Women are rarely promoted to upper management positions and, therefore, do not enjoy professional equality with men.

In terms of employment and professional promotion, there is an evident gender inequality. Nevertheless, it should be mentioned that women do have open access to all professions but they tend to opt for traditionally female occupations voluntary. One of the possible explanations for their choice is lack of trust into the social system: women are confident in their failure to achieve success in traditionally male professions. Thus, they choose ‘female’ jobs to secure their future. The gap separating men and women is wide in many countries, both developed and developing. Women have lower employment rate and are paid less. Young women, in particular, suffer double discrimination: 1) they have to deal with additional barriers during the transition from education to employment; 2) they are discriminated against for being women (low status jobs and low-paying positions). As the result, young women are over-represented in traditionally female jobs (nurses and secretaries) and under-represented in positions requiring responsibility and decision-making.

From theoretical perspective, human capital theory suggests that education, knowledge, training, and experiences are valuable factors for potential employers. However, these factors are often embedded in gender. Human capital theory fails to explain why women earn less than men. Nevertheless, the social aspect of human capital theory provides unexpected insight on gender inequality in employment. In particular, Douglas (2007) suggests that presence of women within a certain occupation leads to lower wages. In other words, jobs that are predominated by women are characterized by lower wages simply because women reduce the amount of prestige associated with specific job. Therefore, men leave female-dominated occupations. From social perspective, human capital theory suggests that society viewed women as less competent workers who deskill the occupations.

The special attention should be paid to the gender inequality in terms of occupational segregation when groups of people are assigned specific tasks according to their gender. Occupational segregation occurs because women and men possess different physical, emotional and mental capabilities. While this statement is only an assumption, the majority of people in society believe it. Based on this belief, society distributes employment opportunities based on types of jobs women and men are suited for the best. Nevertheless, this theory does not explain why women are excluded from holding jobs associated with power and prestige.

Examples of Gender Inequality

In addition to gender inequality in education and employment, women suffer a number of discriminatory practices throughout the world. While gender discrimination could be understood as normal a hundred years ago, modern practices and laws can hardly be comprehended. For example, in Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to drive and even ride bikes. The legal prohibited has put the government into dilemma of how to get half a million of girls to school on buses that can be driven only by men: “If no men are allowed to come in contact with schoolgirls, and women aren’t allowed to drive, who will be driving the school buses?” (10 Extreme Examples of Gender Inequality” 2007). Furthermore, girls are not allowed to leave the school buildings and the police officers have the right to bear them for attempt to leave.

In many countries, women have no right to diverse their husbands easily. In Lebanon, for example, the divorce on the basis of abuse must be backed with a testimony of an eyewitness while the medical document on physical abuse is not good enough. While in Egypt women can initiate a divorce, they have no right to couple’s finances and must replay their dowries. In simple words, Egyptian women pay for their freedom. Interestingly, Egyptian men have an opportunity to forbid their wives from leaving the country for any reason. The gender inequality is even more ironic in Saudi Arabia where women must obtain a written permission from their husband to travel on public transportation. Gender inequality makes women vulnerable to violence. In many countries there are no laws penalizing domestic violence because it is considered to be a matter of privacy outside the jurisdiction. Battered women are told to return home while the shelters do not exist. Spousal rape in a non-existence issue in Islamic countries as husbands have an absolute right to bodies of their wives’ at any time.

Gender Inequality: Concluding Notes

Gender inequality is an important social problems and it needs immediate solution. While developed countries pass legislation promoting gender equality in society, the research reveals that gender inequality is a part of daily life for millions of women. Young females, in particular, suffer the most because they are deprived of opportunities in education and employment. Firstly, they have to deal with gender bias in colleges and universities. Secondly, young women face challenges in finding appropriate employment. Despite the legislative efforts to outlaw gender-based discrimination, most women are forced to seek traditionally ‘female’ jobs in service and administrative sector.

Analysis of gender inequality in education suggests that women are in less favorable situation than men in the United States as well as other countries throughout the world. International human rights organizations strive to bring gender equality concepts into every community of the most distant places. However, there are numerous violations of fundamental human rights in Asian countries. As it was mentioned in previous section, girls living in Afghanistan are not allowed to go to schools. Ironically, international organizations have no opportunity to change the laws of Afghanistan. Nevertheless, developed countries should solve gender inequality problem within their own boundaries first. Women in United States have more educational opportunities than females in Afghanistan, but gender inequality is still a real social problem.

Gender inequality is not a matter of biological factors. Gender inequality should be analyzed through the lenses of social discrimination based on socially defined stereotypes of women. In other words, women suffer from gender inequality not because they are women biologically but rather because the male-dominated society creates specific limits of women’s functions in society. For this reason women are denied an opportunity to occupy upper managerial positions and are not admitted to prestigious universities and colleges.

The special attention should be paid to the hypothesis that women themselves contribute to increasing gender inequality. In particular, women accept the socially-defined stereotypes. Young females pursue degrees which are traditionally marked as ‘female’. It does not mean that there are no female scientists or CEOs though. It means that women tend to choose professions which do not create any social tension. As human capital theory suggested, women are viewed as less competent workers. However, women are also responsible for maintaining the social gender stereotypes due to their passive acceptable of ‘female’ occupations.

In conclusion, gender inequality undermines the fundamental democratic values. Moreover, gender inequality is based on stereotypes which divide society on strong, intelligent men and incompetent, weak women. Social functions of women are determined by their gender while there is no scientific research to prove any link between social function and gender. Education and job market are dominated by men while the most important root of gender inequality is social culture. Gender inequality is not a matter of economic, social or cultural development of the country. It is common in any society. Women are direct victims of gender inequality but they are also responsible for their victimization because they maintain the social stereotypes.

References

1. 10 Extreme Examples of Gender Inequality. (2008). Web.
2. Amartya, S. (2001). Many Faces of Gender Inequality. India’s National Magazine, 18 (22).
3. Jacobs, J. (1996). Gender Inequality and Higher Education. Annual Review of Sociology, 22, 153.
4. Luna, J. (2008). University Meets Gender Equality. New University, 41 (27).
5. Massey, D. (2007). Categorically Unequal: The American Stratification System. NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
6. Mexico, R. (2007). Gender Equality in the United States: The Impossible Dream? AssociatedContent.com.
7. Sharma, G. (2007). Gender Inequality in Education and Employment. LearnigChannel.org.