Cross Cultural Group Presentation Essay

What is important about Germany? Germany is an industry leader in areas such as automobiles and healthcare, to name a few. With globalization and reducing trade boundaries Germany has in fact become a trade partner for many Indian firms. Thus understanding business etiquettes, culture and protocol will supplement international businessmen and enhance cross cultural negotiation. The Rational German: Based on research findings, Germany’s geographical location and history have had a substantial effect on its culture and thus on the way that Germans negotiate. Some historical events helps us understand more about Germany, its people and the effects on negotiations: Pre-Unification Era: Before Charles V formed Prussia, Germany was largely comprised of small princely states (similar to India) in conflict with each other over resources. This brought upon the Germans a constant state of uncertainty and continuous battle. This however also made the Germans tough and seasoned negotiators. Unification & Prussia: This era was also responsible to developing many traits of the German culture which are insightful for deriving value out of a negotiation. With the formation of Prussia came – economic stability, growth and social structure. Germans preferred the certainty of an economically stable state and developed a keen sense of hierarchy. As the German state began to develop – so did the socio-political structure. Germans thus over the years formed very bureaucratic agencies of governance through methodical planning and reason. World Wars: Both the world wars left Germany crippled. However, Hitler’s action made certain that Germany would have to heavily rely on diplomatic relations before considering the use military force. It also made Germans develop a sense of fairness when dealing with people from other cultural backgrounds. Points to Ponder: Now that we understand where German people come from, we think it’s essential to shed some light on the salient features of the culture and how they impact a negotiation: Business Relationship: Germans traditionally believe in building trust over a period of time. This is usually an outcome of dependability, analytical thinking and intellect. Germans, unlike Indians, enter negotiations with a sense of trust. This is important from an Indian point of view as ability to generate and maximize value from a negotiation takes place over a long period of time. Interestingly enough trying to establish rapport in a hurried manner may arouse suspicion from a German counterpart. Trust one built, goes a long way in a business relationship, as Germans tend to be wary of uncertainty. Hence it is important to think strategically in long term and develop a mutually beneficial relationship from the start. One of the easiest ways to establish credibility with a German during a negotiation is to rely on a third party who has already established a level of trust and dependence on the German side. Displaying authority on the subject matter at hand, by professional qualifications will let the negotiating party earn respect in the eyes of their German counterparts, thus providing an upper hand will negotiating. Even though Germans are reserved and formal in nature, it’s possible to build long lasting relationships with them. A sure indicator of a relationship in the making is when a German decides to tell you embarrassing stories about himself. However it’s best not to repeat the stories to others as Germans tend to very proud people and can get hurt very easily. They also might expect you to be equally candid once the relationship has been built. During negotiations Germans tend to give more air time to the person who they think is technically sound in that matter. Hence it’s often a great idea to have your degrees printed out on the visiting card in order to establish a sense of authority when negotiating with them. Also Germans have a grounded belief that the workers in their country are better than the most the world and its best not to challenge this assumption. Business Communication: Although German is the official language of the country most of the business people speak British English. Most of the younger generation is well travelled and is fluent in business conversation. It is advisable to talk in short, complete sentences and in a slow firm voice to keep any negotiation without bringing in confusion. Germans tend to very direct in their communications and sometimes this can be misunderstood as being rude. Being very direct Germans dislike vague statements and diplomacy during any formal business discussions including negotiations. In fact too much diplomacy is likely to confuse a German. They will ask explanations, but is it possible that a German will walk out of a negotiation if the deal is unacceptable and/ or against company policy. It is also possible that a blunt â€Å"NO† can come your way, without substantial explanations. Germans tend to use body language very sparingly. Excessive use of body language may confuse your German counterpart. This can be an obstacle, especially during group negotiations as it will be difficult to judge the direction of the negotiation. Facial expression although limited can act as an indicator to judge if the proposal you have put forth has been liked or disliked. Maintaining eye contact is very crucial when talking to any German and is considered as a sign of trust and sincerity. This eye contact can border on staring. The American OK sign, with thumb and index finger forming a circle, is an obscene gesture in Germany, as is putting the thumb between index and middle finger in a fist. These should be strictly avoided. Initial Meeting Following are some of the points which should be noted when starting a negotiation: * â€Å"Shall we start with business† – will be used often as a conversation starter and is not considered rude in the German context. * Meetings need to be scheduled at least a week in advance and should not be cancelled at a short notice * There has to be reasonable explanation given when arriving late for a meeting and this is taken very negatively. * Planning is crucial when negotiating with Germans as it is very probable that they will be well prepared in any negotiation. Negotiating with Germans Style and Attitude of Negotiating: Unlike Indians, Germans believe in arriving at a win-win proposition. They tend to start negotiating respecting the other party and with a sense of trust, which they expect to be reciprocated. Interestingly, except for dispute resolution, any form a negotiation for a German is a joint problem solving activity rather and they expect both the parties to be involved equally in arriving at the solution. Many a times, a German would concentrate on dwelling over the technical aspects of a solution before entering the negotiation. Although co-operative in nature Germans may be unwilling to compromise completely unless this is their only option. While negotiating it is advisable to avoid open confrontation but remain calm, friendly and persistent. In case of a dispute resolution, one might try to find common ground by providing logical arguments based on data. Since many German negotiators will be thorough in their planning and data collection before the negotiation, it is sensible to have the same level of preparedness when you’re the opposite party. Many a times, during the negotiation a German might want to have additional data about certain aspects of the negotiation, which will help them analyze the solution better. Refusing to provide that data may reflect as lack of trust. Germans would prefer if data sharing was open and transparent and would not hesitate to reciprocate in the same manner. Germans are slow negotiators. The meticulous planning and data collection done before hand results in a very rigid and structured negotiation approach. Thus Germans would prefer going into sequential negotiating – debating each singular point, rather than packaging certain issues. This compartmentalized approach can be detrimental towards value maximization. Hence Germans find it difficult to negotiate with people from the south asia and middle east. At such times it is advisable to clearly state which objectives are linked and interdependent. Bargaining Traditionally Germans do not like the idea of bargaining and consider negotiation as a necessary evil. Business people do not give drastic concessions in this country so when if the bargaining stage in the negotiation is long drawn the variance in the final price would be not very far away from the original price. Even though German people may not agree, they tend to be aggressive during negotiations. These outcomes are more likely to be based on negotiation strategy developed during planning the negotiation. Threats, warnings and walkouts may be occasionally used. In this case it’s better to open with an offer which is already a part of your estimated ZOPA. Extreme offers can upset a German. Germans many a times employ defensive tactics such as blocking, asking probing or direct questions, or keeping a rigid position. Opening with written offers and introducing written terms and conditions may be effective as this will allow for proper preparation and could help shorten the b argaining process. Germans will likely find both benefits desirable. Corruption and bribery are very rare in Germany. It is strongly advisable to stay away from giving gifts of significant value or making offers that could be read as bribery. With Germans one must be careful when using pressure tactics such as applying time pressure, making expiring offers, or nibbling. Germans may consider these inappropriate unless they are strongly interested in your offer and clearly understand the logic behind the approach. Otherwise, while the negotiation is not necessarily over, it may become less constructive. Decision Making Germans tend to respect hierarchy because it helps maintain an element of control, not because they believe that bosses are better managers. So more than often when a German states that a decision during a negotiation is not within his authority, it would help to provide him with more data and information to get the approval from his immediate superiors. Decision making is a well planned and executed process in Germany and hence takes substantial amount of time. Patience is required to see the decision through and once made is very unlikely to change. Agreements and Contracts Both agreements and contracts in Germany tend to be legally binding unless stated otherwise. It is always advisable to consult a legal advisor before signing any contract to understand its process. These contracts (once signed) are usually dependable and considered binding. Once signed any amendment to the agreement or contract can be meet with serious opposition. Surprisingly German love for punctuality is often not extended towards contract drafting – as they would prefer to have everything in writing. References: * http://books.google.co.in/books?id=0b6DChPi0UUC&pg=PA60&lpg=PA60&dq=why+are+germans+logical+?&source=bl&ots=UAyhMKCScy&sig=3Nxe8sfCspiubwZel99itdZ3QxI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OZfUUK6bHY_rrQevl4CQDg&ved=0CGcQ6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=why%20are%20germans%20logical%20%3F&f=false * http://www.german-business-etiquette.com/22-successful-negotiations.html

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night† by Dylan Thomas BY Lolo-H poem â€Å"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night† by Dylan Thomas Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night. Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, And you, my father, there on that sad height, Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Dylan Thomas was a Welsh poet who died tragically young but left a powerful legacy of work. This poem, written to Thomas's dying father, has a strict structure, but an unconventional message. Thoma s encourages his father to rebel and struggle against death, what he calls the â€Å"dying of the light. † Although written for his father, Dylan Thomas himself ironically died the year after his father.Poetry-poem 12. 1 2010: This lesson plan is the property of the Mensa Education ; Research Foundation, www. mensafoundation. org. It is provided as a complimentary service to the public. Reproduction and distribution without modification are allowed. Images, links and linked content referenced herein are the property of the originating entities. Taking it apart Thomas sees lite as a day – death is the closing ot that day, and the dying of the light is the sunset and coming night. Notice the pairing of lines 1 ; 3. Gentle matches rage; good with dying; and night with light.This is a mythological allusion to the gods who could throw lightning bolts and have the skies tremble at the sound of their voice. In this stanza, Thomas says that even though men accept that they are mortal and should die (â€Å"Death is right†), he still encourages a rebellion against it. Stanza 2 talks about how wise men approach death. This stanza is about how â€Å"good† men do. They see the things they did in life reflect like light off of a bay. Rather than being useless, it is the old, near dead, â€Å"grave† men who can really see. â€Å"Gay' here means â€Å"happy' or â€Å"carefree. â€Å"Notice the oxymorons here: â€Å"blinding sight† and â€Å"blind eyes. † There is also a simile comparing eyes that â€Å"blaze like meteors. † Curse, bless, me now witn your tierce tears, I pray. From the general men discussed in the previous stanzas, Thomas narrows to his father in this stanza, pleading with him to fight against death, pleading with him to still be â€Å"fierce. † The lines that have been separated throughout the poem come together in the last couplet to reinforce the theme of the poem. Poetry-poem 12. 2 Memorizi ng it The form of this poem is called a villanelle. It has only two end rhyme sounds.The irst and third lines of the stanzas rhyme, and the second line rhymes with all other second lines. A villanelle ends with a rhyming couplet, and has nineteen lines – divided into five tercets and one quatrain at the end. The strict villanelle structure and rhyme scheme make this poem particularly easy to memorize, particularly since the last line of the tercets are repetitive: you get five lines memorized for the price of two! You actually get more than that because the line â€Å"Do not go gentle into that good night† appears in the poem four times. Using a highlighter or colored pencil, underline the lines that are repeated.

Contemporary Approaches Essay

Kaplan University There are four contemporary approaches discussed here in our Unit 2 reading sociotechnical systems theory, quantitative management, organizational behavior, and systems theory. They are to help an individual are group organization. All of these approaches should be taken into consideration when striving to compete in competitive business environment. I think organization behavior is the most important because the approach is the ystematic study of knowledge about how people – as individuals and as groups – act within organizations. The dynamics of group behavior and of the formation and suitability of any group need to be understood and implemented well, in order to achieve a harmonious working environment. Organization behavior is a contemporary approach that also studies and identifies management activities that promote employee effectiveness by examining the complex and dynamic nature of individual, group and organization processes. Sociotechnical system theory is different from organization behavior because, sociotechnical system is a theory to help design Jobs that attempts to redesign tasks to optimize operation of a new technology while preserving employee’s interpersonal relationships and other human aspects at work. It’s effective when their employees have the right tools training and knowledge to make products and services that one valued by customers. Quantitative management shows it’s different in helping anager make decision by developing formal mathematical models of the problem. Instead it finds the best solution to problems. In which then can be applied to different workplace challenges. What make systems theory different is, Systems theory addressed the role of the external environment. A system is a set of interdependent parts or elements which function as a whole in achieving certain goals or objectives.. REFERENCE www. ncefbsc. com/contemporary approaches. html

Strategies for Implementing Accounting Software Systems within SMEs Essay

Strategies for Implementing Accounting Software Systems within SMEs - Essay Example Under these circumstances it is essential to conduct a detail research all factors that help SMEs in providing good corporate governance while preventing accounting crime through careful selection of accounting software. This project, therefore, will provide advice on selecting and implementing appropriate information technology tools or software among hundreds or more available accounting software packages currently available in the market. AMI-partners tell "[in the U.S. alone] small businesses [] spent $86 billion on IT products and services over the past 12 months [in which] spending on IT products and services grew by 11 percent" (Small Business Computing, 2003).1 The project, for that reason, will discuss various considerations need to take into account for SMEs when selecting and implementing accounting software. In compliance with the issue, Lisa Kanarek (2004), the founder of HomeOfficeLife.com and the author of some books on home office business, says that deploying high tech technology like accounting software should consider several items in order to ensure increased productivity effectively and efficiently. For that reason, the product of this rese... ploying high tech technology like accounting software should consider several items in order to ensure increased productivity effectively and efficiently. For that reason, the product of this research is list of several appropriate considerations for SMEs in selecting and implementing accounting software packages that match their operational needs while taking into account strategic software implementation strategies obtained over the courses of the research. Problem to be Solved and Worth Selecting the best accounting software become challenging task since it will determine whether the company have spend money for useful software package or vice versa. There are thousands or possibly millions of standard and customized accounting software available in the market. To figure out the number of accounting software, we can try to use 'accounting software packages' as keywords word while searching out with Google. We might be surprised to see that there are about 1,690,000 sites about accounting software packages. Although the number does not reflect the exact number of accounting software, at least, it indicates the growing concerns on the development of accounting software packages. The vast number further implies that ones should have appropriate tools in selecting and then implementing suitable accounting software that match their diverse needs and characteristics. This situation suggests we should perform thorough research and understand what we needs and expect from accounting software packages so that the software will be supporting tools for managements in assessing the accounting performance while acting in accordance with good corporate governance. Unfortunately, there is no common rules determining the way we should take in selecting and implementing

Target Marketing for Agrium Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 19

Target Marketing for Agrium Inc - Essay Example Agrium has approximately 500 retail units in South America and the United States of America and they operate under the brand names of Crop Production Services, West Farm Services and Agroservicios Pampeanos SA (Agrium, 2012). The retail units deal directly with farmers in selling its agricultural nutrients and specialty fertilizers. Its affiliate, the Crop Production Services has the vision to be a leader in the production of agricultural inputs in all segments of its market and in doing this; it has embarked on a policy to retain talented employees in its services so as to provide high-quality services to its customers. The organization seeks to build its brand name by assisting college students to achieve higher education by paying their fees.  Through its wholesale unit, the company provides nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers to retailers who in turn sell these products to farmers. The wholesale unit, in achieving its targets, treats its customers as partners in the business and it does this through honesty and integrity in dealing with them. The company has a distribution network of over 100 supplied by thirteen production unit and these results into the timely supply of the products to their customers. The company has initiated technological devices such as Ag Tracker and loading hours to enable customers to access critical product information and operating hours of various plants of the organization.  The advanced technological unit produces specialty fertilizers and focuses on environmental sustainability (Agrium, 2012). This unit targets consumers, agricultural and horticulture market and organizations engaging in sports such as golf, due to the profession turf. In achieving its objective, the company markets and sells its products through distributors in the United States of America and Canada.

Bryan Forbes The Stepford Wives Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Bryan Forbes The Stepford Wives - Movie Review Example The TV show Desperate Housewives clearly references the film in its depiction of one of the main characters, Bree Van De Kamp, due to her 1970s-era standard of wifely and motherly perfection. But while the novelty of the concept of wives being turned into robotic versions of themselves may be exactly what is needed to affirm the 1970s genre of horror cinema-as evidenced by Carrie, The Exorcist, The Omen, and many others-the social implications of the film were not always welcomed by concerned parties. In particular, the undeniable strengthening of the feminist movement in America in the 1980s that gave women even louder voices in societal issues did not find much significance in The Stepford Wives, despite the clear commentary on the prevalent patriarchal norms being followed by general American societies. The analysis then would be centered on this issue, from the communication of female-related concepts and the subsequent interpretation made; the statement about women, after all, is much more pronounced in this text than in the author's previous work, Rosemary's Baby. The film is quite curious from the very beginning, with the ominous perfection of a scene showing a young couple, Joanna and Walter, moving their family from busy, noisy New York City to the peaceful suburb of Stepford. As many horror stories would have it, the idyllic situation slowly starts changing, mainly due to the peculiar behavior of some of the wives in the community. They were strange in their demeanor and ideals, akin to TV portrayals of perfect mothers and wives who spent all their time cooking and cleaning with nary a hair out of place. Subsequently, the transformation of Joanna's friend Bobbie and Joanna herself reveals how the community is controlled by the men, who apparently discard their wives for mechanical look-alikes that would function exactly as expected. But the image created by the film with regard to the epitome of womanhood-specifically in women's roles in the home, such as cooking, cleaning, and maintaining an appearance that conforms to standards promoted by media-is largely within the stereotype of the Caucasian female married to a Caucasian man of stable economic means, enough to provide for a home equipped with the necessary elements that would allow for the keeping up of the image. Children would not be more than two, and are well-dressed and well-behaved. Husbands would leave home and return at very specific times, during which the wife must be ready to attend to his every wish. As this cannot be possible in the frenetic environment of cities and urban addresses, it essentially finds its setting in the suburbs of America, taking from the afterthought to the phenomenon of urbanization, which is the contrary suburbanization. Joanne and Walter's move from New York to Stepford is typical of this occurrence, as more and more problems become associated with living in cities. The growing concern for less substantial economic costs and adhering to a lifestyle denoted by family and community time is at the core of suburbanization, which led many to move back to the suburbs. One of the major influences of this change is "the preference for

GIS benefiting an organization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

GIS benefiting an organization - Research Paper Example cause of the nature of the environment of their operation, firms in the private sector are less forthcoming with information regarding the technological systems they employ. This is because they fear competition from other firms. Many companies believe that sharing their technological information may lose competitive advantage that puts them in a good position of competing as compared to their competitors. This paper offers a case study of how companies have integrated GIS technology with the aim of improving their business strategies and decision-making processes. GIS is usually utilized by various industries such as real estate, marketing, transportation/logistics, insurance, and financial services. First and foremost, it is noteworthy to provide a description of the infrastructure of the GIS and how these components interact in business setting (Pick, 2008). There are four major GIS components namely: Hardware, Software, Dada, Procedure and People. Hardware is the component essential for collecting, storing, and producing geographic information such as servers, printers, personal computers among other peripheral devices. The technological transformation has helped many organizations implement GIS to help them access more information in an accurate manner. Software is the operating system utilized by organizations, imaging, data management, and other components essential for data collection and analysis. This software is usually user-friendly to ensure that many people do not have difficulty learning about how to use some specific functions. Data is simply a collection of facts stored in what is referred to as database. It can either be spatial or tabular; however, depending on the form of data, it offers different benefits to an organization. Procedures are the techniques or approaches used in GIS to manipulate or analyze spatial data in improving business decision-making processes. Lastly, people must be trained to handle software, hardware and data stored

Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd Case Study

Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd - Case Study Example In the business circles, the talk is there may be not many business sectors, in which Virgin has not made his mark. â€Å"Conceived in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Group has gone on to grow successful businesses in sectors ranging from mobile telephony, travel, financial services, leisure, music, holidays and health & wellness.† (Virgin, n. d.). Among other factors, this optimal growth is primarily due to the leadership of Richard Branson, particularly the combination of transformational as well as authentic style of leadership. Under these style, leaders will provide the employees under them maximum autonomy to plan as well as implement the various organizational processes. (Avolio and Yammarino, 2002). By adopting decentralization structure or even democratic form of management, these authentic as well as transformational leaders will productively involve employees in all stages of organizational management, giving them optimum responsibilities. This form of leade rship was prominently visible in Branson, when he launched those 400 odd companies. When an idea for a business arises in his mind or comes from others, Branson starts that enterprise by maintaining a controlling interest in it, and then will manage it in the initial phase. After the company starts to function in a steady manner, he will delegate leadership roles to the second rung leaders and will move on. This process of delegation and productively involving the employees was pointed out by Branson himself. He stated, â€Å"I come up with the original idea, spend the first three months immersed in the business so I know the ins and outs and then give chief executives a stake in the company and ask them to run it as if it’s their own,† (Sukhiy, 2007). This combination of authentic and transformational leadership styles can be aptly applied in United States, because with most of the prospective employees coming out of the current effective academic environment exhibiti ng entrepreneurial skills as well as willingness to take responsibilities, this style can be aptly applied business leaders in U.S. In addition, as these leadership styles can elevate the motivation levels of the employees and bring out their best, it can be adopted. Thus, if these leadership styles are followed in U.S., organizations there can diversify or expand their operations optimally, as the leaders can initiate new processes and just oversee them, by giving maximum responsibilities to their employees, who will take it to the logical and positive end. 2. Recommending a different leadership style that would make Branson an even more effective leader. Although from the above discussion of Branson’s leadership traits it is clear that he has maximally exhibited effective traits, there are room for improvement in some of his traits. One of the optimal traits of Branson is having a great vision. Because of such a vision, Branson takes high number of risks, when it comes to l aunching new companies or products or services. That is, without fully analyzing the product’s feasibility and success, Branson has impulsively launched many products or services, and sizable of them have ended in failures. Some of the examples, Virgin Cola, launched as a competitor to Coca-Cola,

Stereotyping Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Stereotyping - Essay Example Huntington's theory, in other words, remains true because it is primarily supported by the countless stereotypes which are embedded in the human consciousness and which people tend to use to define the world around them. Stereotypes are dangerous both because they function to impose false images on racial, ethnic, gender, cultural, social and religious groups and because those false images often motivate the imposition of harm on others. Perry R. Hinton(1993), a social psychologist who has researched and studied the phenomenon of stereotyping, confirms the harmfulness of stereotypes. As he writes in The psychology of interpersonal perception, "stereotyping can be seen as a more extreme form of typing where we see a whole group of people as homogeneous, with the same characteristics" (Hinton, 1993:56). The implication ere is that stereotyping involves the identification of certain characteristics in members of a specific group of people and then applying those characteristics to the whole. For example, because just over a dozen of the 1.6 billion Muslims across the world undertook a terrorist act against the United States, all Muslims are subsequently stereotyped as anti-Western terrorists whose prim ary objective is the destruction of the West. Stereotypes, in other words, are generalizations which tend to ignore all available evidence to the contrary. Stereotypes and stereotyping are persistent despite the fact that many recognize both their falsity and harmfulness. Their persistency, in light of their harmfulness, has rendered the study of stereotypes and stereotyping, important activities. Following a definition of the concept and phenomenon of stereotypes and an overview of its theoretical parameters, the research shall present the results of a survey which was conducted on a test group of twenty of the researcher's colleagues, as a means of determining whether theory and reality coincide and, more importantly, as a strategy for acquiring a more concrete understanding of the practical and theoretical parameters of the phenomenon. The primary focus of the research shall be on gender stereotyping, considering its prevalence in the Middle East. 2 An Overview of the Concept of Stereotyping/Stereotypes This section of the research shall review literature on the definition and theory of stereotypes/stereotyping for the purpose of articulating both a comprehensive definition of the phenomenon and explicating its theoretical framework. 2.1 Definition The first to seek the academic and scientific understanding of the phenomenon of stereotyping and, indeed the first to both theorize and define the concept was Walter Lippmann (1991). In 1922, Lippmann commenced his lifelong study of the phenomenon and introduced the following definition of stereotypes: For the most part we do not first see, and then define,

Nature And Nurture Influences On Child Essay Example for Free

Nature And Nurture Influences On Child Essay When it comes to child development there are two major influences. These influences are nature which are traits we inherit and nurture which are the traits we learn. Nature and nurture are different in several ways but they both play an important role in child development. Although they both influence development the topic of which has the greatest influence in frequently debated. This paper will describe the relationship between nature and nurture, explain the biological, environmental, societal, and cultural influences on child development in relation to nature and nurture, and discuss whether nature or nurture has the most influence on child development. Nature and nurture are different in several ways but share one similarity which is the fact that they both have an influence on child development. Both of them play an important role in how children develop as well as the type of people they will grow up to be. In the video â€Å"Nature vs. Nurture in Child Development† Shirael Pollack states that children are born with some traits and characteristics while they learn others (Pollack, S. n. d. ). Nature is one(s) genes. The traits and characteristics that they inherit such as skin tone, eye color, and hair color. Nurture is what they are taught or what they learn from the people around them such as manners; learning to say â€Å"please† and â€Å"thank you†. There are different influences on child development in relation to nature and nurture. These influences are biological, environmental, societal, and cultural. Nature is responsible for the biological influences. Biological influences are traits that are passed parents to their children. They include appearance, talents, and abilities, and also certain illnesses (Groark, C. , McCarthy, S. Kirk, A. , 2014). Nurture is responsible for environmental influences. These are things that are in a child(s) environment that they are exposed to or experience. Nurture can also be NATURE AND NURTURE 3 responsible for cultural and societal influences on child development which can be instilled subtly through natural interactions with others. The cultural and societal influences can be direct and indirect impacts of culture, race, and ethnicity as well as the powerful effects of economics, gender roles, marriage, divorce, single parenthood, and religion (Groark, C. , McCarthy, S. Kirk, A. , 2014). No matter what type of influence there is on child development it is either related to nature or nurture. Some people believe that nature and nurture are partners because of the fact that they both play a role in child development. However, theorists have different views about the two. Some theorists believe that nature is ultimately responsible for growth while other theorists believe that children become whatever their environment shapes them into (McDevitt, 2010). Regardless of what the different views of theorists are on the topic of nature versus nurture, the fact of the matter is that both of them play a role in how children develop and have some type of impact on what and how they will be when they grow up. Both nature and nurture play important roles in child development. Regardless of if one has more of an influence than the other, the fact is that they both impact how children develop. Truth of the matter is that they are different but share one important factor which is the fact that they help make children who they are. This paper described the relationship between nature and nurture, explained the biological, environmental, societal, and cultural influences on child development in relation to nature and nurture, and also discussed which of the two influences is more influential than the other. NATURE AND NURTURE 4 References Groark, C. , McCarthy, S. Kirk, A. (2014). Early child development: From theory to practice. Bridgepoint Education: San Diego, CA. McDevitt, T. M. (2010). Nature and nurture: Retrieved from http://www. education. com/reference/article/nature-nurture/ Pollack, S. (n. d. ). Nature vs. nurture in child development [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www. howcast. com/videos/513307-Nature-vs-Nurture-Child-Development.

Discrimination Disabled People

Discrimination Disabled People Approximately 9 million of the worlds 650 million disabled people live in the UK. According to a recent report of the Department of Works and Pensions, even though 3.6 million of the disabled, (i.e. approximately 40% of the total disabled population) are between 19 and 59, only about a million (i.e. less than 30 % of them) are employed. (Berthoud, 2006) Compared to the existing employment rate of 76% (Berthoud, 2006) among the non disabled population, the figures for the disabled are staggeringly low and pose serious questions about British society. Despite the UK being among the first nations to sign the recent United Nations Human Rights Convention for Disabled People, the number of British adults claiming out of work disability benefits grew from 1 million in the mid 1970s to 2.5 million in the mid 1990s; (Berthoud, 2006) an ironical fact and a telling commentary on the gap between public policy and actual practice. Discrimination in the workplace, as well as outside, continues to unfortunately exist in Britain despite extensive and progressive legislation to combat the phenomenon. Work and pensions minister Anne McGuire recently stated that â€Å"Britains 10 million disabled people have had to endure a legacy of exclusion, inside and outside the workplace.† (Mulholland, 2005) 0733966 The last ten years have seen the progressive implementation of the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995, and its enlargement in 2005, as well as the enactment of the Human Rights bill in 1998. The fact that these legislations, along with regular public debate and substantial research on the issue, have been accompanied by a significant increase in the number of unemployed disabled in the working age group (Berthoud, 2006) point to the existence of a social problem of significant dimensions, which whilst recognised, is far from resolution. Discrimination arises primarily from prejudice; it is an emotional response to perceived threats and discomforts that cannot be rationally justified. (Lang, 1998) Discrimination against the disabled, at work and outside, social researchers feel, is primarily a social problem. (Lang, 1998) Entrenched in the thought processes and attitudes of society, it owes its origins to historical, social, cultural, and economic causes. (Lang, 1998) Whilst most people appear to agree that discrimination against the disabled is abhorrent and has no place in modern societies, its continuance leads to concerns, both about the sincerity of such adopted positions, as well as about effective measures to reduce and eliminate the problem. Commentary The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), 2005, defines disabled persons thus: â€Å"An adult or a child is disabled if he or she has a physical or mental impairment which has an adverse effect that is: substantial (not just trivial or minor); adverse; and long 0733966 term (lasting or expected to last for at least a year) on his ability to carry out normal day to day activities. People who have a disability within the definition are protected from discrimination even if they have since recovered.† (Disability Discrimination Act the rights of disabled people, 2007) Whilst disability can broadly be described as a condition or function that is felt to be significantly impaired compared to the usual standard of an individual of the concerned group, the term often refers to individual functioning and includes physical, sensory, cognitive, and intellectual impairment, as well as mental ailments and certain types of chronic disease. (Disability Discrimination Act the rights of disabled people, 2007) New provisions in the DDA (2005) have widened the definition of disabled persons to provide protection to people with cancer, AIDS, and multiple sclerosis, and removed the stipulation that mental illness must be clinically well recognised to be judged to be mental impairment. (Disability Discrimination Act the rights of disabled people, 2007) Although discrimination against disabled people has existed since historical times, the phenomenon has impacted pubic consciousness only during the last fifty years. (Barnes, 1991) The enactment of the Disabled Persons Employment bill in 1944, even though it occurred in response to the peace time needs of injured soldiers, marked the beginning of legislation on the issue. (Barnes, 1991) Whilst employment for the disabled, in the past, existed purely in the domain of charitable and voluntary organisations, the 1944 legislation made a concrete effort to tackle the problem by treating disabled persons as one group; it also addressed the question of their employment, provided a range of specialist services designed to find jobs for disabled 0733966 people, established a quota scheme, and institutionalised their legal rights to employment. (Barnes, 1991) Although the quota scheme made it mandatory for employers to fill at least 3% of their staff strength with disabled people, the initiative never really made progress because of lack of governmental commitment and the proclivity of employers to sidestep the provisions of the law. (Barnes, 1991) Confusion in policy making during the next few decades saw the introduction of various fuzzy and ill thought measures like inducements and subsidies to employers to take on disabled employees. (Barnes, 1991) Whilst policy measures for improving employment chances of disabled people, up to the 1990s, focussed more on persuasion and inducement of employers, the passing of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) in 1995 made it (a) illegal for employers to discriminate against disabled people in the course of filling vacancies, and (b) mandatory for them to provide certain conveniences to disabled staff. (Disability Discrimination Act the rights of disabled people, 2007) Key rights of disabled persons under the act include the right to fair employment, the right to access goods, facilities and services provided to the public, the right to have reasonable adjustments made to premises or workstations by employers, the right to let or sell land or property, and the right to education in any school, college, or institute. (Disability Discrimination Act the rights of disabled people, 2007) The enactment made acts of wilful discrimination, as evinced by treating disabled persons less favourably than others, (because of their disabilities), without reasonable justification, or failing to make reasonable adjustments for disabled persons without adequate reasons, illegal and liable for severe penalties. 0733966 The scope of the DDA (1995) was further enlarged by the DDA (2005), which added to the list of people covered under the scope of disabled, and included provisions that (a) made it unlawful for operators of transport vehicles to discriminate against disabled people, (b) made it easier for disabled people to rent property and for tenants to make disability-related adaptations (c) ensured that discrimination law covered all activities of public authorities, (d) protected disabled councillors against discrimination and (e) covered larger private members clubs and bodies that awarded general qualifications (like GCSEs and A Levels). (Disability Discrimination Act the rights of disabled people, 2007) The stipulations of DDA enactments reveal a strong shift from previous policies; whereas policy makers previously assumed that disabled people were significantly less effective than others in the workplace, and policies for improving employment prospects for the disabled depended upon persuasion and inducement of employers, current legislation accepts the fact that disabled people are subjected to unfair discrimination and exclusion by employers and service providers. They need to be treated equally, and their special requirements considered and provided for. Whilst the 1995 and 2005 DDA enactments, even though falling short of compulsion, make it obligatory for all employers and service providers to ensure fairer treatment of disabled people, they also confirm the presence of intense and blatant intolerance and discrimination in the British workplace against disabled people. Nothing illustrates the extent of existing discrimination, rather oppression, in the workplace in the UK better than a report prepared by Deborah Cohen and Karen Hebert carried by the 0733966 British Medical Journal (2004) on discrimination against disabled doctors by members of their own fraternity. â€Å"In a small qualitative study, disabled doctorsreported feeling isolated and stigmatised, and that there wasa lack of understanding and flexibility. Despite medicine beinga caring profession, medicine is not supportive or enabling,especially to those who do not conform to the normative perceivedstandard. One doctor with a disability said: ‘[You] would expecttolerance from doctors, but this is the worst group when dealingwith their own most people dont want to know medicinehas a `survival of the fittest style.† (Cohen and Hebert, 2004) If medical professionals, who are under Hippocratic Oath and have made conscious career decisions to work in areas that require compassion and understanding, are apt to have discriminatory attitudes towards the disabled, such attitudes will obviously be much stronger in the common population. Discrimination, as is common knowledge, exhibits itself in a myriad ways, and is felt most sharply by the people who experience it. For many disabled people it starts from before they were born. The Society for Protection of Unborn Children (2007) states that prenatal screening tests that indicate disabling conditions in unborn babies often lead to pressure on mothers to abort the children. Human embryos conceived in test tubes are examined for disabling conditions and thrown away if found to have disabling conditions. Newborn babies, particularly those with conditions such as Downs syndrome and spina bifida, are sometimes sedated and starved to death. Denial of food and water to those in  "Persistent Vegetative State† is common. (Fatal discrimination against disabled people, 2007) 0733966 The discrimination that evidences itself in the workplace is but an extension of various discriminatory practices that disabled people experience at school and in society as they grow up; these practices also often aggravate their condition and increase their discomfort in their working lives. An article in Socialist Review (1995) states that the majority of disabled people are in poorly paid jobs, and are far less likely to be employed compared to people without disabilities. Whilst both disabled men and women earn significantly less than others, their living costs tend to be significantly higher because of needs such as transport, clothing and facilities in the home. (Equal Access, 1995) It is estimated that two thirds of all disabled people live below the poverty line. Most disabled people earn far too little to buy their own houses. (Equal Access, 1995) Even though the article was published 10 years ago, current studies show little change in the situation on the ground. (Berthoud , 2006) The employment rate for disabled people continues to be much lower than that of people without disabilities, they earn less, and are far less likely to hold responsible positions. (Berthoud, 2006) Theories to analyse and explain discriminatory attitudes depend upon different models and thought constructs, most of which have emerged in recent decades. Whilst discrimination against the disabled has existed since historical times, social researchers believe that discriminatory attitudes hardened with the advent of industrialisation and capitalism. (Lang, 1998) The industrial revolution and the rise of capitalism put an end to agrarian societies, created the need for able bodied men to work in factories, promoted the rise of individualism, and marginalised disabled people as ineffective and unprofitable components of society, who needed to be segregated and cared for, rather 0733966 than integrated in the productive working class. (Lang, 1998) Whilst this line of argument, though widely accepted, does not explain the presence of discriminatory attitudes towards disabled people in societies that remained non-industrialised and primarily agrarian until well into the 20th century, the sudden redundancy of people with impairments in the working classes during the industrial revolution led to the participation of the medical profession in the issue. (Lang, 1998) The involvement of medical professionals, who were called in to categorise the type of impairment, led to the medicalisation of society and to the emergence of the Medical Model, the use of which continues even today. (Lang, 1998) The medical model assumes that (a) disability is a diseased state, (b) it is essentially an unfortunate individual problem that occurs on a random basis, (c) it is the responsibility of the medical profession to treat disabled people (d) disabled people are biologically and psycholo gically inferior to those who are able-bodied, (e) disabled people or their families cannot take decisions about their lives, and that (f) the medical profession should play a dominant role in deciding upon their lives. (Lang, 1998) Whilst discrimination against disabled people has existed from historical times and across societies, researchers feel that the issue was possibly aggravated immensely in the UK by the industrial revolution, the growth of capitalism and the dominance of the medical model. Social attitudes towards disabled people hardened during the 18th, 19th and much of the 20th century and developed into deep rooted prejudice, which evinced itself in various ways of discrimination and oppression, and led to the imposition of great difficulties on disabled people. (Lang, 1998) Thompson, in 0733966 2001, provided a PCS model that attempts to explain the complex nature in which inequalities, prejudice and discrimination operate to impact the lives of individuals, groups and communities. (Thompson, 2001) Thompson argues that three interlinked levels reinforce discrimination and oppression within society. These operate at the Personal, Cultural and Structural levels and mutually reinforce each other to create extensive and deep rooted biases against people. (Thompson, 2001) At the personal level this relates to individual views and can evidence itself through patronising behaviour towards the disabled, feelings of physical and intellectual superiority, and dislike for the different physical appearances of people with impairments. At the cultural level, people can share common beliefs, (accentuated by the dominance of the medical model) regarding the physical and psychological inferiority of disabled people, along with related feelings about their incapability in handling their liv es, and the need to institutionalise and treat them separately. Structurally discrimination can evidence itself through a myriad of excluding and disempowering conditions like the preponderance of escalators rather than lifts at tube stations, the low representation of the disabled at the workplace, the lack of textbooks for blind people, the presence of separate schools for disabled children, and the widespread lack of facilities for disabled people at pubs, cinemas, amusement parks, airports, railway stations, and even polling booths. Recent years have seen some change in these attitudes and led to the development of the Social Model, which, in contrast to the Medical Model argues that disabled individuals are as much part of mainstream society as able bodied individuals and social obstacles â€Å"like inaccessible buildings, unusable transport systems as well as 0733966 pejorative social attitudes, prejudice and institutionalised discrimination †¦ are the real concerns of disability.† (Lang, 1998) Disability, in the social model is seen to arise from socio-cultural rather than biological causes; it is imposed on existing physical impairments through isolationist and excluding attitudes, behaviours, and policies and amounts to oppression. (Lang, 1998) Conclusion Whilst discrimination and oppression against disabled people in the workplace continues to occur, recent legislation aims to level the playing field by ensuring that employers and service providers do not adopt discriminatory attitudes towards the disabled, and apart from treating them at par with able bodied people take cognizance of their needs and provide for the same. The DDA enjoins employers and service providers, namely companies and organisations that provide goods, facilities, and services to the public, for example banks, hospitals, local authority services, cinemas, railway and bus stations, shops, hotels, restaurants, football grounds, public parks, and private education to make reasonable adjustments to cater to the needs of disabled people, and service users have the right to approach the legal and official machinery if such needs are not met. Social workers and practitioners, despite their education and profession are vulnerable to PCS factors and need to ensure that they approach the issue on the basis that the disabled, while being different, are part of mainstream society and need help and assimilation, not pity. Current legislation calls for the active involvement of social workers in assessing the needs of disabled people and studies indicate that responses 0733966 of social workers are influenced by a number of variables and often differ in assessing the needs of service users. Understanding the perspectives of service users is essential for assessing their actual needs. (Noe, 2007) â€Å"Social workers will have to be flexible without losing focus, take cognizance of the views of disabled people, be theoretically informed, be ready to challenge and change existing ideas and practices, analyse the oppressive nature of organisational culture and its impact on practice, include continuous reflection and evaluation of practice, have multidimensional change strategies, which incorporate the concepts of networking, user involvement, partnership and participation, and analyse the issues of power, both personal and structural.† (Noe, 2007) The contribution of disabled people to the workplace, especially in the context of an ageing society, can be immense and their inclusion will not just bring in the benefits of diversity but also add to organisational skills and competitive advantage f organisations. Whilst enacted laws will no doubt help in bringing in assimilation and integration, real progress will occur only with the proactive support of employers, service providers and social workers. These include making adjustments to premises, allocating some of the duties of disabled persons to others, altering working hours, acquiring or modifying equipment, providing good quality training and supervision, not refuse to provide services, and change existing policies and procedures to make them disabled-friendly. 0733966 Businesses would be well served by conducting access audits and involving disabled persons in recruitment, selection, training, and assimilation processes. Keeping disabled people out of workplaces, and refusing them to give them their due rights makes bad social and business sense because even as society loses out on their contribution, in exchange for some very small cost and adjustment issues, it denies them the opportunity to live meaningful and dignified lives. Nine out of seventy million Britishers are disabled; the able bodied need to realise that even one road accident or a multiple sclerosis attack could make them disabled, and whether that would be good enough reason for excluding them from the rights and benefits available to other citizens. 0733966 References Barnes, C, 1991, Chapter 4, Disabled people in Britain and Discrimination, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/Barnes/disabled%20people%20and%20discrim%20ch4.pdf Berthoud, R, 2006, The employment rates of disabled people, Department for Work and Pensions, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2005-2006/rrep298.pdf Cohen, D, and Hebert, K, 2004, Equality and diversity in the workplace, BMJ Career Focus, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from careerfocus.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/329/7467/116.pdf Conaway, J, 1999, September, Enabling the Disabled, Americas (English Edition), 51, 52 Conniff, R, 1996, Banishing the Disabled, The Progressive, 60, 20+ Davis, K, 1996, The social model of disability and its implication for language use, Derbyshire coalition of disabled people, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from www.saifscotland.org.uk/documents/SocialModelLanguage-newlogo.pdf Disability and Access Issues, 2004, Systems Concepts, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from www.system-concepts.com/articles/article0054.html Disability Discrimination Act the rights of disabled people, 2007, Shaw Trust, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from www.shaw-trust.org.uk/page/6/91/ 0733966 Equal Access, 1995, Socialist Review, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/sr183/stack1.htm Exploring anti-oppressive practices, Thompsons PCS Model, 2002, Student Youth Work Online, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from youthworkcentral.tripod.com/aop_pcs.htm Fatal discrimination against disabled people, 2007, Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from www.spuc.org.uk/about/no-less-human/discrimination Hirst, M, Thornton, P, and Dearey, M, 2004, The employment of disabled people in the public sector, University of York, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/archiveuk/Thornton/Employment% Lang, R, 1998, A critique of the disability movement Asia Pacific disability rehabilitation journal, Vol. 9, 1, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from www.dinf.ne.jp/doc/english/asia/resource/apdrj/z13jo0100/z13jo0103.htm Matsell, G, 2006, Attitude towards disability needs to change, Nottinghamshire County Teaching, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from http://www.nottinghamshirecountyteachingpct.nhs.uk/EasySite/lib/serveDocument.asp?doc=12154pgid=9876. Mulholland, H, 2005, Prejudice still blocking disabled peoples path to work, Society Guardian, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/may/25/disability.equality Noe, S. R, 2007, Discrimination against Individuals with Mental Illness. The Journal of Rehabilitation, 63(1), 20+ 0733966 Russell, M, and Malhotra, R, 2002, The Political Economy of Disablement: Advances And Contradictions, Socialist Register, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from www.zmag.org/content/Miscellaneous/russell_socreg.cfm Rocco, T, 2001, The invisible people, disability, diversity, and issues of power in adult education, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from https://idea.iupui.edu/dspace/bitstream/1805/414/1/Rocco%20T%20.pdf The Rights Stuff; Can Disabled People Ever Get a Really Good Job? Barney Calman Meets a Tireless Campaigner with a High-Powered Career Who Is Determined to Help Others Overcome Their Disadvantages, 2005, May 31, The Evening Standard (London, England), p. 1 Thompson, N (2001) Anti-Discriminatory Practice, Third Edition, London: Palgrave Tregaskis, C, 2004, Constructions of Disability: Researching the Interface between Disabled and Non-Disabled People. New York: Routledge UK signs up to UN disability rights convention, 2007, Managing Diversity, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from www.managingdiversity.co.uk/news_article.php Welcome to The United Kingdoms Disabled Peoples Council (UKDPC) 123, 2003, BCODP, Retrieved November 16, 2007 from www.bcodp.org.uk

Global Problem Of Violence Against Women Criminology Essay

Global Problem Of Violence Against Women Criminology Essay Violence against women continues to be a global problem. It does not choose race, culture, education, age and class. A persons home while considered as a safe haven for many people is also a place that endangers lives and raises various forms of violence carried out against women. Many instances are womens rights violated in the domestic environment by people (mostly males) who are or have been entrusted with power and/or intimacy by the women in the household. These people are found in the roles of husbands, fathers/stepfathers, uncles, brothers and other relatives. Today, various international organizations have pushed through the protection of women against violence. The Human Rights framework has led to the creation of certain international legal mechanisms that would aid in the protection of women against violence. However, how effective are these mechanisms? Whose responsibility is it in terms of combating domestic violence against women? These are just some of the questions that this essay will explore. II. Introduction It is said that the home is a place where people are supposed to feel a sense of belonging, stability and safety; and where people are guaranteed to receive emotional and physical well-being in the presence of loving and caring relationships (Hart Ben-Yoseph 2005). However, for many, home has become a place of terror and violence, where instead of living in a peaceful and loving environment, people live every day in fear and abuse at the hands of somebody close to them or somebody they even trust (Khan 2000 in Inocenti Digest 2000: 1). Despite various evidences that domestic violence affects many women, beyond cultural background, ethnicity and geographic locations, the issue only surfaced as a significant international human right agenda in the early 1980s (Craven 2003: 1). However, in the recent years, there is said to be a greater understanding of the causes and effects of domestic violence (Khan 2000 in Inocenti Digest 2000: 1). Moreover, along with the issues growing significance, various organizations in the international and regional levels, which were concerned with womens rights, grew along and started to pave way for a new era in human rights (Craven 2003: 1). Some of the conventions which were products of the global consensus on domestic violence were the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Rights of the Child and the Platform for Action (Khan 2000 in Inocenti Digest, 2000: 1). In Australia, the three specific conventions ratified by the government are the Convention on the Elimination of all Racial Discrimination; the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman Degrading or Punishment; and CEDAW which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in the 1970s (Craven 2003: 2). However, since the ratification of these conventions, health, welfare and legal professionals in Australia were experiencing a great challenge in figuring out how to formulate programs and policies in accordance to the newly conceptualized international law on gender or domestic violence (Craven 2003: 1). Progress has been slow, not only for Australia but also for other nations who adopted the international conventions because the process of identifying effective strategies and approaches to address domestic violence is still in progress of definition (Khan 2000 in Inocenti Digest, 2000: 1). Fifteen years ago, the first national statistics on the incidence and prevalence of domestic violence in Australia were published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (1996), wherein they were able to survey a sample of 6,300 Australian women and found out the 42% of women who had been in a previous relationship reported to have experienced violence from their partners. In addition, it was found out that half of the women who reported having incidence of violence with their current partners sustained more than one type of act of violence ranging from bruises, cuts, scratches, to stabbing, gun shots or types of injuries (ABS 1996: 55 cited in Mulroney 2003: 1-2). In more recent years, a study conducted by Access Economics (2004) found that in 2002 to 2003, an estimated 408,100 Australians became victims to domestic violence, of which 87% were women (Access Economics 2004: 1). Furthermore, a study conducted by Virueda Payne (2010) through the Australian Institute of Criminology, fou nd that in 2007 to 2008, most homicides that occurred during within that time period were domestic homicides, where the victim usually shared a domestic relationship with the offender. According to Virueda Payne (2010), most of the domestic homicides committed during the period of their study were classified as intimate partner homicides which comprised 60% of their subjects. This goes to show that even with the advent of the covenants and conventions which catered to discussing and formulating policies to prevent or solve cases which involved incidences of domestic violence, there is yet much work and transformation to do before we can say that the world is finally ready and able to put a full stop to domestic violence and abuse. III. Background History of International Human Rights Law Tracing the history of human rights would take us back to the time of the conception of the Ten Commandments and the Code of Hammurabi and the Rights of Athenian Citizens (Weissbrodt de la Vega 2007: 14). The earliest efforts to defend people from abuses such as arbitrary killing, torture, discrimination, starvation and forced eviction came from the belief that individuals have immutable rights as human beings (Weissbrodt de la Vega 2007: 1), and thus they deserve to be protected against any form of abuse. In more recent periods, the efforts to identify and defend human rights was said to be an outcome of the violence and refugee problems during wars (Wesbrodt de la Vega 2007: 14), more specifically after the tragedies which occurred in the Second World War (Cazen 2003). In retrospect, during the rise of the nation-states in the seventeenth century, the classical international law favoured state-sovereignty and did not accept the idea of human rights, for they believed that the nation-state was a good in itself and was more than an instrument to promote welfare and protection among citizens (Wesbrodt de la Vega 2007: 15). However, during the eighteenth to nineteenth century, international law began focusing on previously isolated fields such as the protection of aliens, the protection of minorities, human rights guarantees in national constitutions and laws, abolition of slavery, the protection of victims of armed conflict, self-determination, labor and womens rights. It is believed by some, that the formation of the United Nations in 1945 was a proof of our modern struggle to protect human rights (Weissbrodt de la Vega 2007: 3). According to Weissbrodt and de la Vega (2007) the most important source of International law are treaties and customs, for they are said to have legal binding legal effect between the states that signed those agreements (Weissbrodt de la Vega 2007: 3). Moreover, it was regarded that the most important treaty formed was the United Nations Charter, which was the cause for the establishment of the United Nations (Weissbrodt de la Vega 2007: 3). About 188 nations around the world singed the United Nations Charter which vowed to form an international alliance with a common goal of upholding the rights of humans and encourage peace and cooperation among nations (Cazen 2003). Three years later, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was established and it set out the international standards for human rights (Cazen 2003). With regard to womens rights, it was said that the efforts to abolish slavery in the nineteenth century awakened the concern for womens rights during that time, thus began the international struggle for womens rights way back in 1948 during the Seneca Falls Convention and the International Women Suffrage Alliance in 1904 (Weissbrodt de la Vega 2007: 17). Domestic Violence: Definition, Causes and Prevalence in Australia Definition What is domestic violence? What are its causes and how does it affect the lives of women who are victims of such dilemma? These are some of the questions which we will address further in this essay. Domestic violence, as defined in the Article 1 of the UN Declaration of 1993 (as cited in Westendrop Wolleswinkel: 37) as: Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological trauma or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occuring in public or private life. In further detail, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993) states that any form of domestic violence may occur in three areas such as: (1) In the family, where violence may be in the form of battering, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation, other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation; (2) In the general community where violence may include rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution; (3) In the state, wherever it occurs, where violence is perpetrated or condoned. Furthermore, according to Laing and Bobic (2002), Australian literature recognizes that domestic violence, whether defined as domestic or family, may include a range of violent behaviours from physical, sexual, verbal, psychological, to emotional abuse, social isolation and forms of financial abuse (Laing Bobic 2002: 14 as cited in Access Economics 2004: 3). Prevalence The Victorian Government recognizes that women are at greater risks of family violence, sexual assault, harassment and stalking than men (Western Region Network Against Family Violence 2003:16) In addition, the Victorian Government also contends that women are more likely to experience violence in the home rather than in public places, especially in the hands of their previous or current partners, and most especially, the cycle of violence occurs in the context of an existing continuity of power imbalance and inequality between men and women in the society (Victorian Government 2002: 20 as cited in Western Region Network Against Family Violence 2003:16). Over time, various studies have been conducted in order to describe the prevalence of domestic violence in Australia. As mentioned in the previous paragraphs of this essay, the first break through in gathering the largest statistical data with accordance to incidences of domestic violence was conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for their Womens Safety Survey in 1996, where they were able to gather 6,300 respondents. According to the results of the survey, one out of twelve Australian women who were married or in a de facto relationship experienced some form of violence from their current partners (Interbreur 2001). The ABS Womens Safety Survey also found that more women experienced violence from their previous or current partners rather another person, stranger or male known to them (Western Region Network Against Family Violence 2003:18). And in 2005, ABS Personal Safety Survey found that during the 12 month period prior to the time when the survey was conducted, 38% re ported to have experienced the assault from a male perpetrator, particularly their previous or current intimate partners (Parliamentary Library 2009). Moreover, in more recent data, in a study conducted by the Virued Payne in 2010, they found that more domestic homicides occurred in the year 2007 to 2008, wherein the victim usually shared a domestic relationship with the offender and 60% of these incidents were classified as intimate partner homicides. Now the question arises: why do men victimize women in abusive behaviour? Causes Women who are victims of domestic violence have no common factor. The act may occur to anyone, regardless of their socioeconomic status or their racial and cultural background (Better Health Channel 2011). However, women who are young, indigenous, have a disability, or those who live in rural areas were found to be at greater risk in incidences of domestic violence (Better Health Channel 2011). Furthermore, the Domestic Violence Resource Victim Victoria, through Better Health Channel (2011), identified some of the prevalent causes or reasons why some men inflict violence and abuse on some women, and it was said that domestic violence may be caused by a deep regard for masculinity or a firm patriarchal mindset of some males, and abusers often tend to blame the acts of violence to intoxication (alcohol), to other people, or other forms of circumstances. However, as what the Victorian government has stated, domestic violence may have roots on the existing power imbalance or continuing p atriarchal mindset of people. IV. Discussion International Law and Violence against Women: The Mechanisms and their Effectiveness As discussed earlier, the UN Declaration of Human Rights in 1993 set out the international standard for protecting the rights of individuals. However, although the UN charter has affirmed the supposed equality between women and men, the gender-blindness often resulted to cases of structural discrimination against women and womens rights were still ignored (Westendorp Wolliswenkel 2005: 20). During that time, international human rights law was limited to protecting only the public, political legal and social sphere and did not include the private sphere of the home and family (Westendorp Wolliswenkel 2005: 20). In effect, using the international human rights law as a framework to look into womens rights entailed certain methods and mechanisms to determine the obligations of governments to protect the human rights of women and to hold the government accountable if they fail to meet their obligations (Westendorp Wolliswenkel 2005: 20). For instance, the UN Convention on the Eliminati on of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which was one of the mechanism used to address the issue, required all nation states who ratified the said convention to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women by any person, organization or enterprise (Westendorp Wolliswenkel 2005: 21). Furthermore, in 1993, the UN finally declared violence against women as a human rights violation which required urgent attention (Westendorp Wolliswenkel 2005: 22). After the declaration, more conventions and mechanism were created; and another successful mechanism which was an outcome of the continued lobbying of women from different NGOs was the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995 and the Rome Statute in 1998 which included crimes such as rape, war crimes and other forms of crimes against humanity (Westendorp Wolliswenkel 2005: 23). Protecting the Rights of Women, Who is Responsible? Australias commitment to the ratification of CEDAW or the Womens Convention, as what Crazen (2003) was not as smooth and easy as what one might expect. Often, the common problem of states when ratifying mechanism or policies of international human rights law concerning womens rights is how to assimilate those international policies into their domestic policies without any form of confusion. There were many reservations from some nations when CEDAW was imposed by UN, and primarily these reservations effected to some nations weakening in the commitment to the alliance of upholding womens rights, and by doing so, they have reduced their obligations upon changing their domestic policies. In Australia, the Commonwealth recognizes that it is the role of the government to address domestic violence, so that they have created many committees and organization to cater to issues and incidences of domestic violence. As far as 1986, the Commonwealth of Australia commenced its role in addressing t he issue of domestic violence, followed by their efforts to establish the Office of the Status of Women (OSW). From then on, the Commonwealth has helped in the quest for keeping actual and factual records of incidences of domestic violence in Australia through sponsoring series of surveys from 1987 up to 2005 (Parliamentary Library 2009). However, the role of the Commonwealth is limited only to spear-heading standard approaches to policy and legislative reforms in the states and territories in Australia; each state then, will and must be the ones responsible in enforcing and implementing policies concerning domestic violence (Parliamentary Library 2009). Policy development in Australia has gone through a long way of reformation and implementation. During the 20 years of those policy making and developments, the government was able to focus on tertiary levels of intervention on domestic violence by providing sympathetic and victim centred care after the assault (Parliamentary Library 2009). These tertiary interventions exist in the forms of violence reports, law reform, provision of refugees, health care and accommodation and domestic violence services. V. Conclusions and Recommendations Majority of the Australian literature reviewed for the purpose of this essay reported that domestic violence and any form of abuse happening in the context of home and family are regarded as one of the most under-reported crime offenses in various states around Australia. As we have reviewed the figures since the earliest ABS Womens Safety Survey in 1996 to the homicide reports of the Australian Institute of Criminology in 2010, we see that even with the efforts of the government to implement committees and legislative reforms in order to address domestic violence and prevent them, the figures have shown us that the efforts may have had only futile effects on the total elimination of the incidences of domestic violence. Although domestic violence against women have been specifically defined by the UN, the law was found to be limited in addressing all forms of abuse, in such a way that some types of violence such as economic deprivation, excessive possessiveness or jealousy and enforc ed isolation were found to be not directly remediable through legal measures (Alexander Seddon 2002). Furthermore, throughout the review of related literatures for this essay, it has also been found that policy making was not the only problem with the slow progress for the elimination of violence against women, but also, there were underlying problems which prevented the effectiveness of the international law mechanisms. One of those reasons would be the existing power imbalance and the patriarchal mindset of societies and most specifically, the very high regard for masculinity amongst male offenders. Another would reason was that some societies wherein customs and traditions would often place women in the lower hand often react more defensively against the imposition of the international law mechanisms in their domestic legislation. Thus, throughout the world, there may still be some states that are guilty of condoning violence against women as they will argue that it is part of their customs and traditions. On a positive note, the Commonwealth of Australia has been consistent with its commitment towards the battle against the incidences of violence against women, by creating committees and funding surveys in order to check the current situation of the issue in Australia. However, their efforts may also come to waste since most victims of abuse would not be open to reporting the abuse to authorities. As we can see, there is a chain reaction which exists amongst perpetrators, the victims and the legislative reform: perpetrators continue to uphold the patriarchal mindset while the victims remain silent about the abuse, and then the government will have difficulty formulating policies for prevention and actions against the crime while they also have difficulty in obtaining accurate data of the real prevalence of domestic violence in Australia. Basing on these conclusions, it is then safe to recommend that a massive effort towards educating people about domestic violence be done. This may help in modifying the existing resentment or feelings of indifirrence towards the policies intended to prevent or solve cases of domestic violence. Education or knowing more about issue may provide enlightenment on people and soon modify their behavior and beliefs about domestic violence. It is also important to make the victims feel that they have the law to protect them, so that when they come out and report incidence of abuse, they will be assured of their safety and their lives will become normal again. When finally, victims will feel that it is safe and okay to admit that they are victims of abuse, accurate data will then be acquired and the government will see the real prevalence of the issue. As for the legal framework, there is still a long way to go before we can finally put every policy with regard to violence against in women at place, but the best thing to do would be to focus on the preventive actions, such as the tertiary measures provided by the Commonwealth, and to keep on pushing for reformations.

Mistaken Identities in The Taming of the Shrew :: Taming Shrew Essays

Mistaken Identities in The Taming of the Shrew       Throughout the play "The Taming of the Shrew," William Shakespeare has utilized several ingenious techniques resulting in an effective piece of work.   One of the more unique and creative methods is the use of mistaken identity.   With the use of mistaken identity, Shakespeare has successfully given the play an element of humor from the beginning to the end.    The mistaken identity within the two induction scenes must have been quite humorous for the upper-class noblemen who watched the play.   In Shakespeare's time, the upper-class often found their amusement in the poorer, more unfortunate lower-class.   Christopher Sly was no exception.   When the lord finds Sly, a drunk beggar, he immediately plots a practical joke to play on him.   The lord, who is very wealthy and obviously has a lot of time on his hands decides to treat Sly as a nobleman and see how he reacts.   In addition to ordering his servants to treat Sly as their master, he too pretends to be a servant.   The most amusing part of this induction occurs when Sly becomes convinced that he is indeed a nobleman.   When he first awakes, he thinks that everyone is playing a joke on him.   After some convincing, Sly gives in and believes that he really was suffering from a long sickness.   When Sly asks the page, who is pretending to be his wife to undress and join him in bed, the audience must have reacted with loud laughter knowing that his 'wife' is actually the same sex as he. Although Sly does not understand the lifestyle of the upper-class, it is quite obvious that he is enjoying it while it lasts.    There are several cases of mistaken identity present in the subplot which involves Bianca and her suitors.   One humorous situation caused by mistaken identity arises in Act I, Scene ii, when several of the characters meet each other.   Here, the audience learns how gullible Gremio is when he is tricked by Lucentio into believing that Lucentio is a schoolmaster.   Gremio does not realize that he is actually giving a fellow competitor an opportunity to court Bianca.   The dramatic irony here is amusing to the audience because they all know that Lucentio is not going to speak highly of Gremio like he had promised.

Vietnam - And Domino Theory Essay -- essays research papers fc

The revolutionary worldwide spread of communism has always been a great fear to the USA. In the past, America has gone to many wars to psychologically protect its ideology against powerful nations. That the ‘domino theory’ and the cold war mentality held by the USA, primarily justified their involvement in Vietnam. It was after World War Two that the USA’s interest in Vietnam came about. Eisenhower and Dulles contrevsial ‘ domino theory’ with the fear of a communist-dominated government in Vietnam and surrounding countries sparked an increase in America’s involvement. There were also secondary factors that influence the Americans such as, political and economic interests over raw materials, etc. The USA and France had separate and completely different aims, ideas and interests regarding Vietnam and Indo-china. The US’s involvement began with supplying the French with military aid to a full-scale conscript defense force, fighting battles on the ground. At a time, when the cold war was at a peak between the US and the USSR, and after the victory of stopping South Korea becoming a communist state. The USA out of all the allies in the Vietnam War was the only country involved primarily because of the ‘domino theory’. The history of the domino theory played a significant role throughout the cold war and was America’s greatest fear and motivation. The history of the Vietnamese people is marked by their continual struggle for independence. They resisted Chinese domination for one thousand years, only to see the French gain control in 1884. For seventy years the French ruled Vietnam, and for seventy years the Vietnamese resisted. When the French, in the mid-19th century, established tentative control over the southernmost provinces of Vietnam (which they called Cochin China), Vietnamese government officials ("mandarins") withdrew and refused to serve them. When the French expanded to central and northern Vietnam (Annam and Tonkin), they were met by a forceful resistance movement led by the educated elite of the country, who mobilized peasants to fight the French in pitched battles and guerrilla raids. Even after Emperor Ham Nghi -- in whose name the Vietnamese struggled -- was captured and exiled to Algeria in 1888, the movement continued. Ultimately, sheer military force enabled the French to subdue the land, if not t he people. After the defeat of the ... ...; Vietnam: A dragon embattled. New York; Praeger, 1967. Buttinger, Joseph. The Two Vietnams. New York, Praeger 1967. American policy in South East Asia, New York; Institute of pacific relations, 1950. The struggle for Indo-china. Stanford; Stanford University press, 1966. Internet resources-: Vietnam Veterans: http://www.nps.gov/vive/index2.htm U.S. History Pages: http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/history.learn-teach/VietnamPage.htm The Vietnam Alliance: http://www.fva.org/

Chapter Guide for “Twilight of Atheism” Essay

The classical version of atheism is vastly different than the atheism that is known today. – Some consider â€Å"modern atheism† as one of the greatest achievements of human intellect. Immortalization in Greek myths meant â€Å"infinite extension of existence, not the infinite projection of moral qualities† – Classical Greek atheism denied â€Å"traditional religion of the Athenian establishment† – Protestant reformers wrote against church’s corruption and straying from â€Å"authentic models of the New Testament† – Protestantism eventually gained popularity in Western Europe in 1600s -â€Å"Historical origins of modern atheism lie primarily in an extended criticism of the power and status of the church – The 18th century was regarded the â€Å"most creative period of atheist experimentation and reflection† Historians date the birth of ‘avowed’ or intentional atheism in Britain to around the year 1782 Credit for the serious advancement of atheism on he eve of the Victorian era is most due to William Godwin. He believed that social vision rested on the assumption of the perfectibility of humanity through reason. Mary Robinson wrote that, â€Å"nature was emancipated from being God’s creation, and became a divinity in its own right. Percy Shelley argued that since compelling evidence for the existence of God is lacking, here is no intellectual obligation to believe in God. However, Shelley never explicitly denies the existence of a God in general. Shelley seems to argue against institutional religion. Mary Ann Evans aka George Eliot, grew up an evangelical, but turned into an atheist because she was of the increasingly dogmatic and impersonal constructs of the Christian faith. Evans/Eliot turned to a religion of human sympathy, she believed that the moral aspects of faith could be maintained without Christianity. A. C. Swinburne was more avant-garde and aggressive in his approach to spreading atheism. He visualized god as a birch-wielding tyrant that oppresses humanity. Swineburne believed that only the rejection of God would open the way to human self-fulfillment. By the middle of the Nineteenth Century Jesus was seen as a moral sage, or as a role model. George Tyrrell was appalled that Jesus was seen as less captivating, but conceded that the Christ was a â€Å"pale reflection† of his biblical self. Chapter 6 Dostoyevsky was a Russian novelist that wrote on a fictional Russia that turned to atheism to solve its problems. While he showed attractive of that choice, he also presented some of its more troubling features. His criticisms were directed more toward the world God supposedly created, more than critiquing God himself. Nietzsche emphasized that the belief in the Christian God became unbelievable. Nietzsche admits that the realization that â€Å"God is dead† will travel slowly because it is just too â€Å"unthinkable†. For nihilism, a religious worldview is oppressive because it insists that we will be held accountable for our actions. In a nihilistic view, there are no sins, because nothing matters in the end. Albert Camus argued that human life is rendered meaningless by death, which prevents the individual from making sense of existence. For Camus death is not to be seen as a realize but as a denial of all of our accomplishments. However Atheism did not materialize as well in the United States. Many thinkers believed that if God was not in heaven, he could be found somewhere else. Chapter 7 â€Å"new atheism† embraces those who question God; people who consider themselves Agnostic. McGrath writes that atheism is not about the suspension of judging whether God exists, he states that true atheism is a firm disbelieve in God. He writes that true atheists view religion as outdated, enslaving, and a self-contradiction. McGrath criticizes the idea that if there was a God, why does he allow suffering, by showing the fact that many of the atrocities committed to humans are caused by other humans – the ones that are supposed to be the â€Å"new gods† In the 19th century people were invited to in-vision a world without God, but in the 20th it had already been attempted through the Soviet Union. But by 1980 it was obvious that this had not happened, in seemed to have reversed. John Henry Newman wrote that Christianity was a, â€Å"living organism still in the process of evolving and developing†. Pentecostalism seemed to become very popular in the years after the second World War. Pentecostalism stresses a direct, immediate experience with God, apposed to the more dry forms of worship in Christianity. It also uses a language that allows it to bridge cultural gaps easily. Chapter 8 – McGrath believes that Protestantism helped Atheism develop in some way. -Durning the Reformation the distinction between nature and God were widened a bit. The idea that the natural world was not sacred spread amongst popular thinkers. -They believed that even if God did create the world, we could not conceive God through it. They believed that God had to be known indirectly. Protestant reformers suspected that that medieval Catholicism occasionally degenerated into a folk religion of nature. -They believed that God revealed himself through the bible and preaching. He states that Protestantism encouraged the notion that God was absent from human culture and experience. This idea seems to mirror some of the ideas the budding ideas of Atheism. McGrath argues that protestantism took away some of the creativity of religion, which in turn made atheism seem more appealing. Atheism had a view of universality and a notion that it was above the common person. – Atheism has always been on the sidelines of American life and perhaps will remain there. – Signs of loss of confidence in atheism. – â€Å"Sun seems to be setting on an†¦Ã¢â‚¬Ëœempire of the mind’† Chapter 11 -Future of atheism lies in private belief, not in the public domain it once had. – Proved situation specific, not universal, and oppressing and not liberating. -Radical religious change led to tinkering with vocabulary instead of eliminating vices. Atheism confirms this theory. Nietzsche wrote, â€Å"God is dead, as a meaningful reality, but the people had to believe in something else if that was the case†. -Sigmund Freud stated that, â€Å"religion encouraged unhealthy and dysfunctional outlooks on life†. -Growing awareness for spirituality instead. -Religion brings together groups of people such as immigrants, creating communities. -In the US, atheism spawns organizations, not communities. -Atheism has not learned from their leader’s mistakes, and needs to grow leaders to fix it – Greatest virtue: moral seriousness. But atheism is in a twilight zone at the moment.

The Explosion Of Hiv/Aids Cases In District Of Columbia

The HIV/AIDS scourge in the District of Columbia posses a key public health challenge. Though momentous strides in the diagnosis, treatment as well as the survival of those who are living with the disease have taken place within the locality and nationally at large, the District still remains one of the cities with the highest number of persons infected with the killer disease in the U.S.The reports contain information about the prevalence of HIV/AIDS within the District of Columbia. Various statistics about different cases of the occurrence of the pandemic have been outlined.The report extensively talks about what needs to be done to put the situation under control. A combined responsibility is required from all the relevant stakeholders are the key to the success against the dreaded illness.HIV/AIDS explosion in the District of Columbia   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  IntroductionThe Columbian District has the highest number of people affected by the AIDS pandemic in the United States. The rate can be compared to the sub-Saharan Africa. AIDS cases reported in the year 2002 within the District was 162.4 per every 100,000 people compared to just 14.8 per 100,000 for the whole of U.S.In a local study about the cases of AIDS that were reported in 2001, when the District of Columbia was compared with other cities with population which is greater than 500,000, the result was that it recorded the highest rate of 119 cases for every 100,000 people. This was when all the cities were included. The figure represented the highest rate to have been recorded in 2004 (Bureau of Surveillance 2007). Review of the LiteratureBas ing on the Annual Report released by the District of Columbia HIV/AIDS Epidemiology in October 2007, nearly 70% of all the cases concerning AIDS between 1997 and 2006 progressed form HIV and AIDS within a period of less than 12 months immediately after the diagnosis of the first HIV, mainly because of late testing, in comparison to 39% nationally.The population of African Americans in the whole District is around 57percent but they account for over 81 percent of the recent reports about HIV cases. And though the African-American females are 58% of the population of female in the District, they represent 90% of the current female cases of HIV.The principal mode of transmission is heterosexual contact at 38% of the reported infections. Nationally, men who get engaged in sexual activities with other men lead in the transmission of the deadly disease.According to the study in the American magazine of public Health (2008), within the whole nation, the rate of HIV among the blacks who are non-Hispanic and are between 19 and 24 is twenty times higher than the young U.S. adults.AIDS wave continues to be the principal cause of death especially for the Black women who are aged between 24 and 34; the Black youths represent over 56 percent of the current HIV/AIDS cases amongst youth in America (Silvestre 2008).To add on that, almost 50 percent of the black men who are gay within the United States are likely to have been infected with the disease. And regardless of all the alarming statistics, it was only recently that disease was treated as a solemn crisis in the District of Columbia. Initially, it was long ignored by the politicians, government agencies, the press and the whole community.  Given the fact that the treatments have immensely improved in the past decade, people infected with the lethal disease are regularly finding that the disease is manageable. As a result, quite a number of people are not open about their HIV status and do not have strategies to save th eir lives as well as the lives of their loved ones.Nonetheless, the   is escalating at a higher rate. The demands in the private and public healthcare systems are bound to continue increasing. It is therefore, the requirement of the government to get more serious about the shortage and forge ways of solving it.The participation of the community is the primary key to improving the response of the District to the AIDS pandemic. The planning bodies such as Avoidance Planning Group, the AIDS Task Force of the Mayor, and the HIV Wellbeing Service Planning Council should try as much as possible to publish their meetings together with minutes on the HAA website so that they are accessed by the majority people.As a result, information will be provided to a large number of persons therefore creating awareness. To add on that, stronger efforts should be applied in the appointment of the community members to the bodies. The community members should not be part of the board members, the emplo yees or the consultants of the group that is provided with funds. The present conflict-of-interest provisions, for instance in the Ryan White Care Act need to be enforced.Challenges at HAAHIV supervision has been changed to names reporting system. However, enhanced protections for privacy are required. The District of Columbia gave up on various Unique Identifiers that were made use of to protect the privacy of the people after their involvement was forced by the federal government.Reauthorization Act of Ryan White currently bases the allocation of funds on HIV and AIDS instances. Nevertheless, the states, the District included, should report both HIV and AIDS occurrences to the CDC using exclusive identifiers.The names-reporting system for reporting the cases of HIV creates a de facto life span registry that requires a stronger protection for privacy compared to the current one. The laws about medical privacy do not allow for the private right of action.There is also no penalty bas ed on individual level for the government employees who goes contrary to the expectations of the law. Any form of penalty is aid by the government of the District of Columbia, and this takes place only if the government decides to sue itself. It is for this reason that the stronger laws are seriously required