The Shift of Female Towards Male Occupations by a Spirit of Contradiction - Research Paper Example

 Question 1 Diversity in any society is of primary concern. Having taken into account different ethnic, religion and cultural issues, modern society will develop equal treatment among different people. The representatives of any nations should be endowed with possibilities to develop their cultural and historical background in order to preserve their authenticity. Respectfulness and proper attention to each other is of high relevance nowadays. That’s why diversity issues should be taken into account at workplace, in educational institutions, in daily communications; i.e. all aspects of human lives should be influenced by respect to diversity. The class Economics of Race and Gender widened my horizons with regard to diversity. Diversity training is of high importance nowadays. Every individual should be treated in a proper way with detailed considerations of his cultural and historical background. A great efficiency of business and international communication can be reached if diversity issues are properly concerned. In terms of global culture, development of diversity trainings and propagation of additional knowledge obtaining among different nations should be developed. Multicultural background of modern world is a bright and diverse representation of efficient international communication on different levels. Q 2 Pros and cons of the Group Presentations Group presentations are effective tools of delivering information to the audience. Nevertheless group work has a lot of pitfalls. From my personal experience I can claim that synchronizing a group can be rather difficult task. Of course, the success of group presentation can be guaranteed by topic choice. Then a time consuming group presentations may be advantageous for all the participants. It is necessary to underline that such kind of presentation is more impressing than presentation with one speaker. First of all, every participant of the group brings in his vision into the problem’s solving. Secondly, the integration of multi-individuals’ approach can develop and complement the given topic for discussion. As for me, in the process of group presentation preparation I felt super-motivation. I also had a feeling that the largest part of presentation preparation was mine (I think that other participants thought in such a way too). The class audience was actively involved in the discussion of our group presentation. Therefore I can claim that I consider group presentation as an advantageous activity with almost no disadvantages. Such generally accepted ‘minuses’ of group presentations as time consuming, hardships of group synchronization etc I understand as necessary stages of the process of preparation. Q 3 Movies’ overview “Freedom writers” is a deductive film, which makes us believe in miracles. In this film a story of school teacher Erin Gruwell (Hillary Swank) is an example of possible humanistic transformations of ‘at-risk’ students. This woman manages to struggle with racial discrimination among students and put up all their conflicts. Her active teaching methods and self-sacrifice lead to her personal tragedy (divorce), but safe her students. She makes them think and consider in detail drastic historical moments (Holocaust for example). The students fix their ideas in the diaries and then their teacher comprises them in the book titled “The Freedom Writers Diary”. “Rosie the Riveter” is a musical about the difficulties of WWII period in America. This film depicts female characters who are engaged in masculine occupations. A little romance and funny moments make this film an entertaining one though the ideas rooted in the film are deep. Female movement into male occupations is shown as justified measures in order to survive under conditions of wartime scarcity. “Crash” is a film about racial and social tensions in Los Angeles. A masterfully intricate plot of this film on the examples of different situations shows that cruelty and violence, unfortunately, became real oppressions of the modern society. Question 4 Female male occupations The shift of female towards male occupations can be seen in modern society since the process of industrialization. Western societies discard the stereotype of ‘woman-in-the-kitchen’ and career development among many women became of their primary concern. Moreover, women tend not only to develop their careers, but also be engaged in male occupations. This tendency can be explained by a spirit of contradiction: why do we get lower salaries or are less advanced in the same occupational positions as men are? A lot of women concern this question due to gender and labor market discrimination that is really destructive in the modern society. Women imitate those roles that were earlier ‘played’ by men. It is clearly can be seen that women adopt men’s occupations, not vice versa. At this point I can argue and claim that men being indifferent to women’s occupations tend to adopt social roles of women. For example, there are a lot of men-housekeepers or men supported by women. To my mind such adaptation is unacceptable. My upbringing and cultural background are of classical model and I think that the main supporter of any family should be a man. I do not neglect or diminish the role of woman in the family and agree that not only family, but also career is important to woman, nevertheless I’ m against social transformation of a man into a woman Question 5 Occupational Segregation is the allocation of groups defined by attributed features, mostly gender, in accordance with their occupations. Index of Segregation is a measurement of the residential segregation ratio between two small groups inside a larger number of populations. Gender Earnings Ratio In accordance with this criterion it is stated that women’s earnings prevail above men’s earnings. Labor Market Discrimination occurred because of labor market failure and inequity in the income distribution and is regulated by government. In the result of this kind of discrimination, lower wages and decrease of promotion opportunities occur. Question 6 Human capital theory as explanation of employer’s reluctance to hire women “Human-capital theory is a modern interpretation of Smith’s definition of wage differentials by net (dis)advantages between different occupations” (Marshall). Educational background of an employee distinguishes his net advantage: costs an individual invested in his education will be equal to his earnings. Thus human capital theory evaluates the quality of personnel supplies. Therefore educational background is taken into account by the employer. Moreover, employers create pay gap between men and women employees (so-called gender pay gap). This oversight of employers can be explained by male and female productivity differences. Thus women may be suggested to be employed in lower jobs. The employers behave illegally also when they pay lower wages for the same occupations (generally, women get lower wages). Women are mainly work as white-collars and men mainly work as blue-collars. It’s weird, but productivity levels with regard to male and female occupations are considered higher among men. Women could have protected their labor rights in the Unions, but their number is lower than the number of men presented there. Question 7 Change in American families (during last 30-40 years) American families have been changed greatly during last 30-40years. These changes can be explained by technological, economic and social factors. Each of us has his stereotype of family in his imagination. Generally, it’s a nuclear family with both parents and children. Moreover, families in our society are classified in accordance with racial, ethnical, educational, religious, income and other factors. Modern society dictates its laws to family transformations. Thus because of high level of widowhood among older women, high level of divorces among different age groups and late marriages among young people, families from nuclear ones turned into ‘alone existence of one parent and his child’. I think that a child-free trend among women is destructive for any society. Of course, a woman shouldn’t be treated like ‘incubator’ for children, but renunciation of giving birth to children is against laws of nature. American women give fewer births to children than they used to. Unfortunately, reproductive years vanish utterly. Therefore such core transformations happened to American family can turn into a precarious situation for American society. Such phenomenon as family can disappear at all. I think that family is not only a social unit, but also spiritual and supportive background for personal development. My family provides me with spiritual connection with all family members, endows me with self-assurance and makes me successful. Question 8 Pros and Cons of rising age of first marriage The rising age of first marriage in the most industrial countries for women is turbulence of the modern world. Feminist movements and women’s desire to develop their careers present the background of rising age of first marriage. Nowadays one-half of Americans is unmarried. Men get married at 26.8 years and women at 25.1 years old. On the one hand this tendency is justified. At this age people are independent, have an initial material basis and decide to get married consciously. Marriage becomes a next step for relationships and their logical continuation…But can we apply a concept ‘logical’ when we talk about marriage? Only love should drive two persons who decided to get married. Otherwise it is a marriage of convenience. To my mind this idea is right. On the other hand the rising age of first marriage is not justified (and I’m a supporter of this idea). Of course, I agree that a decision to get married should be conscious and well-considered, but it’s not necessarily hesitating and wait 25 years old (for women) before getting married. Moreover, reproductive ability of women decreases starting from 25 years old. Why to risk and wait for this age in order to give birth to your child? If the child is born in the early age, it will stimulate his young parents to develop their careers as soon as possible in order to support him. Generally, I can claim that it’s no need to consider the rising age of first marriage, it is better to look at relationships among people. In the modern turbulent world there is no time to get acquainted in person, it is better to use Internet and filling in the gaps in some forms to find your beloved. That’s why it is necessary to propagate personal communication among people otherwise marriage as a social phenomenon can disappear at all. Question 9 Child support enforcement The Government of America pays a proper attention to poverty. Child poverty is of primary concern. Therefore launch of Child Support Acts witnesses the relevance of this issue. Children’s Act 2004 deals with social and monetary poverty issues. Governmental support guaranteed by this Act is directed on financial difficulties decrease for families with children (underprivileged families, for example). This policy guarantees that every child is supported in the beginning of his life, he is assured in his safety and health. Moreover this Act has long-term perspectives such as guarantee of future achievements to the underprivileged children. Therefore it is possible to claim that this policy is a valuable contribution of the government into the development of American society (Tomlinson, 2009). Moreover, child support is guaranteed in such documents as the Every Child Matters blueprint, the publication of the Children’s Plan etc. The latter document states that till 2020 there will be no child poverty and achievements of children from underprivileged families will be equal to those of the children from rich families. Governmental support reflected in this document can’t be underestimated because this document directs its influence on individual qualities development. On the example of child support enforcement policy reflected in corresponding documents it is possible to claim that all aspects of child’s life will be upgraded and financial stability of underprivileged families will be reached. High levels of child’s achievements will make a great contribution into economic situation of any country. Question 10 Explanation of the terms AFDC is Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) launched in 1935 to provide governmental cash payments for children without parental support caused by illness, unemployment etc of their parents. TANF is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). This grant is distinguished by its peculiarity: five years lifetime limit a family with an adult can get monetary help from the government. Earned Income Credit the United States federal Earned Income Tax is a refundable tax credit. With the help of this credit workers with low wages are supported and a balance of U.S. payroll taxes is reached. Dependent Care Tax Credit A tax return with regard to payment to someone to care for the children or spouse. Child Tax Credit The Child Tax Credit is an important credit that can reduce your tax charge to a certain extent. Question 11 Influence of economic factors on the following issues: a. Your decision to attend College. The decision to attend College is my well-weight personal decision. Having decided to continue my study I was driven by the idea that higher education will open new horizons before me and enlarge my world outlook. Of course, I put an emphasis on my future paying capacity. It’s not about money only, but also about my self-esteem growth. b. Your choice of major. My choice of major was influence by such factors as future perspectives and financial benefits. Of course, I deal with the things I’m interested in. For example, this class (Economics of Race and Gender) revealed some truths to me. Racism, different kinds of discrimination, diversity and many others, – all these issues captured my attention greatly. In my future job I’ll work with regard to global culture and laws. In this case economic efficiency of my work will bear fruits to me and my organization. c. Your plans to go on or not to go on to graduate work. I keen on my graduate work. I think that it is necessary to complete it as perfectly as possible. Graduate work is a summit of hard work during my study. I plan to show such skills as research methods involvement, theoretical basis study; the ability to select relevant literary sources, study and discuss them; analytical skills such as compiled data evaluation and its efficient application. Another important point of my graduate work is its economic effect. I think that a choice of this work’s topic should be based not only on my interests and preferences or theoretical background, but also on its practical efficiency. d. Would you expect any of these considerations to differ between men and women, if so why? I think that in choice of major men and women are driven by different factors. In the majority of cases, economic factors influencing on major’s choice are taken into account mainly by men than by women. It’s a kind of oversight of women because modern society implies global social and economical changes. Thus family is supported not only by men, but also by women. In spite of these facts, women are driven by their interests than economic efficiency of their major. Works cited 1. Tomlinson, M. “Abolishing child poverty. Ten years after Blair’s pledge.” Socialism Today (2009). Web. May 07, 2010. 2. Marshall, G. “Human-capital theory.” A Dictionary of Sociology (1998). Web. May 07, 2010. Read More