Ethical Awareness in Private and Public Sector Employees

Ethical Awareness in Private and Public Sector Employees INTRODUCTION What is ethics? Ethics is a branch of Philosophy which addresses questions about morale; i.e about concepts with a moral dimension to find out what is bad or good, right or wrong. An ethical statement can assert that some particular thing or action is right or may be wrong. Ethics can bring about the difference between good and bad characters or dispositions. It may propound few principles which help in more detailed judgments of these sorts, might be inferred- we can take it for the generalised form of happiness or try to minimize the total suffering of all sentient beings. That it is correct for everyone to look after themselves. Every such statement expresses ethical judgments which embodies generality in different degrees . [J L Mackie 1977] Business ethics Business ethics is that which examines ethical principles, morale or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and business organizations as a whole. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_ethics,nd) However, there is two different schools of thought in the case of business ethics- one is theoretical and the other one is empirical, points out the importance of ethical judgement in the field of business through different parameters.(Hunt and Vitell,1986,1992)emphasises on the ethical judgement which comes out from a person from his empathy towards deontology and teleology(study of design to lead to a final stage) as his individualistic approach which lead to formulate through cognitive input regarding his intention in behaviour and finally behaviour as a whole.Rest(1986) stresses on four component model comprising of -it is the judgement comes from the justification from the moral values which has an interaction between an individuals perception of issue related to ethics and how it is been given a shape with regard to how to behave. Jones (1991) goes for a contingent model whereas it is the moral intensity which drives decision making in an ethical way and the decision process is the same as outlined by Rest. However in the empirical literature,O Fallond and Butterfield (2005) has found ethical judgement has been a dependant variable with respect to various antecedents like sex of the respondents, education, nationality,race, issue importance,deontological and teleological evaluation etc. John R Sparks, Yu Pan, Etihical Judgements in Business ethics and Research -Definition and Research Agenda, http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4hid=9sid=abebe556-be59-4fce-ad12-064b605c3480%40sessionmgr11 Origin of Ethics: The systematic study of what is morally right or wrong can determine that ethics might have originated when humans started to lead the best way of life. This reflective stage emerged once morality creeped into the human society, usually in the form of customary standards of right and wrong conduct. Such customs lead this process of reflection, even if it found them waiting. Ethics also began to come into the picture with the invent of moral codes. [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/194023/ethics] The concept of ethics historically comes from two different thoughts the Greeks ,Hobbes defines it as egoistic prudence,while on solitude the question of conflict did not arise but when a man comes in contact with the other man ,conflict starts and to restore a social order the rules were evolved without giving any chance of reluctance. However on the other part, the christian teaching has extended on morality to correct our imperfect nature in the line of will of god.these are the most simplified version and cannot cover up complex facts. Noel Preston,Charles sampford and Camel Connors-Encouraging ethics and challenging corruption/http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=enlr=id=17i10ZZu8O4Coi=fndpg=PA3dq=origin+of+ethicsots=q50x9tAay9sig=g3myDyIt_iPahQO2QG0KBkGRxPE#v=onepageq=origin%20of%20ethicsf=false The history of Business ethics can vary depending on the situation or the object under discussion. The history also depends a lot on the historian, the way he or she conceives the subject, what facts he or she seeks to discover or has at hand, and the relative importance the historian gives to those facts. The term business ethics is used in a lot of different ways Business ethics encompasses all the applications pertaining to what are the moral needs and ethical norms of everyday. ( De George, nd),Religion has a condsiderable influence on the behaviour of business persons and they derive their ethical norms from the religion. and apply these norms in their business activities. Business ethics focuses on the moral or ethical actions of individuals. Many people discussing business ethics, immediately resort to examples of immoral or unethical activity by individuals or by an organization. It also includes the criticism of multinational corporations which make use of child labor or lev el of low wage of employees in the less developed countries or who utilize suppliers that run sweat shops. Chandra and Pai (2009) explain that for every individual there are certain factors that affect the way an individual take decisions. They feel that power, centralization of workflow, substitutability of activities, uncertainty of inputs and routinization are the various factors are responsible for controlling the ethical contingencies of any individual. A general framework was being produced by Flanagan(2009) regarding the ethical decision making process. He believes that the characteristics of the decision maker which includes motivation, locus of control, ego strength, knowledge, experience, risk taking abilities, Machiavellianism, etc. and the significant influences such as the organization, work, law, economics, professionalism, technology, family, friends or other opinion leaders are responsible for any decision outcome. These outcomes can be in the form of rewards, performance, satisfaction, feedback, promotion or learning. Aims and objectives of the Research a) Find out the level of ethical awareness amongst the employees in private and public sector companies. b) Comparison of ethical behaviour between private and public sector employees c) Role of management in improving ethical behaviours. d) To what extent the employees in the public and private sector organisation understand the intensity of corruption. e) How can an employee define corruption in his own terms? f) what are the measures taken by the management to educate the employees about the unethical behaviour? BACKGROUND The Indian industrial sector opened up in late 1990s when the various developed countries entered India through modes like FDI etc ,with the relaxation of rules and modifications made in the foreign policies along with the age of outsourcing and boom in IT and BPO sectors , lot of foreign companies outsourced their processes to the developing countries especially to India and China .There is a significant shift in the policy of banking sector with the opening up of Indian markets to the private sector banks as the banking sector was already characterised by a considerable presence of public sector sector banks along with a sizeable number of co-operative banks. In another side ,foreign multinational banks in 2009 were looking towards an opportunity to open up the market further so that they can make an entry into the emerging market .Now there was scenario where in loans were available at a very low interest rates. The capacity to spending of the public is increased and they spent more than what they actually earned ,by relying more on easily available loans they began to buy cars and purchased houses which was prior to the Banking boom was beyond their imagination. This is at the micro level fuelled corruption in the private sector banks as the executives who sanctioned the loans inflated the income statement of these people to prove the financial soundness and in return they indulge in malpractice by entertained by bribery from the clients.This was very common at the grass root level in the developing nations but in macro level it is high multitude decay of ethics and corruption at high level. There have been many a books which have been written on ethics and corruption , everyday we read in news papers articles, journals about companies and government agencies who are found guilty in scams. With respect to literature on ethics and corruption its a sea out there. Where the data from which can be inculcated here in the research is very less, as there are several life experiences which can just be an eye opener, which cannot be found in books or have references. Ethical Theories: Different ethical theories involve differing procedures, implications, and justifications. Ethical theories are based on ethical principles, they emphasize on different aspects of an ethical dilemma. They also lead to ethically correct resolution staying within the guidelines of ethical theories. Banks (2001) has expanded the ethical theories into two types-(1)whereas one is concerned with the action which is principle based ie respect and recognition of owners right to their decision and choices which is deontological and (2)the other one which is oriented with utilititarianism which encompases the role of the moral agent and to examine a relationship between the virtue and care in ethical framework. (Source-Rujla Osmo,Ruth Landau,The role of ethical theories in decision making by social workers,Social Work edition,Volume 25,Number-8(2006),Pages-863-876) Deontology This theory emphasizes on main duty what is to be ethically correct.This theory further elaborated to analyze ethical perplexity where people should follow their obligations and duties in a strict way. (Rainbow C,1996,pp372) As for example ,a dentologist will stick to his promises agreed to a friend and abide by the law. A person who follows this theory will produce very consistent decisions since they will be based on the individuals set duties. People with special character are chosen t to perform special duties and obligations. For example, It may have obligation to protect his little sister to cross a busy road together. (http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/kabernd/Indep/carainbow/Theories.htm ] Utilitarianism The capability to foresee the outcome of an action is the major concern for the utilitarian ethical theory. To an utilitarian, the choice that is ethically correct is the option that provides the greatest benefit to the most people. (Mill S 1963) The ethical theory derives one benefit by applying a point based system to gauge which choice will bring more benefit for a more number of people and an utilitarian can compare similar solution which can be predetermined.Logic and rational shoul be imputed in the argument in connectionwith decision and can be examined case wise. (Mill S 1963)The utilitarianism can be divided into two parts ,one is act utilitarianism and the other is rule utilitarianism.The act utilitarianism is same as the discussed above and this form of utilitarianism is associated with the benefit of the mass irrespective of any binding of law. The fairness is the utmost virtue of rule utilitarianism and it goes by the law. Rule utilitarianism benefits are that it values justice and also includes the beneficence at the same time. Most people are benefitted through the fairest and most just means in rule utilitarian. Further, Hinman (1994) has pointed that Rights theory is the most contemporary theory of ethics and according to utilitarian theory it is the final outcome which has a close relationship with morality however deontologist goes for the correct intention and Rights theory belives that it is the correlation between of duties to respect the others right. introduces the rights and virtues theory stresses on character as the primary factor. (Source-Rujla Osmo,Ruth Landau,The role of ethical theories in decision making by social workers,Social Work edition,Volume 25,Number-8(2006),Pages-863-876) Ethical theories in private and public sector companies : Different ethical perceptions, principles and judgments developed as a result of the differences between public and private-sector organizations. (Sampford C,1998)Unified ethic is instructional and makes possible careful analysis of the proper place of public sector ethics in the context of business, higher education, health care, and law. The public administrators are well-suited to serve as moral exemplars for other professions and for all citizens. . (Sampford C,1998) The notion that public service ought to be the model for ethical conduct in the professions (rather than the other way around) is supportable and provokes new thinking about moral agency and ethics. (Preston N,2002)They provide the necessary foundation for studying public sector ethics by focusing on traditional models arising from moral philosophy. The unified ethic illuminates ethical implications of public administration. It also constructs and culminates by offering an alternative framework for studying ethics. R eay (2009) defines ethics as a set of principles concerning proper conduct. But many authors believe that the definition of ethics changes from one individual to another or from one business to another and everyone has his own definition of ethics depending upon their own set of moral conducts. It is believed that the sense in the moral code comes to ones mind with a judgement whether it is right or wrong,or what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. There are those who think that this moral code should be the same for everyone but it simply cannot be, because all think differently, and all have different upbringings, backgrounds, and experiences. But ethical code of conduct matters to us in every field of life in todays world. The salient features of established ethics models: deontological, teleological, intuitionism and virtue theory are combined to make public administration a moral enterprise. It is a moral enterprise because its sole purpose is to serve public values and public purposes. Moral agency is a part of the profession of public administration. In other words, public administrators must strive always to do that which is morally right. This becomes more important since public administrators are under greater public scrutiny than their private sector counterparts and are more than likely to be held accountable for the decisions they make. (Preston N,2002)Both political and administrative practice are embedded with ethical theories and so are inseparable from governance. (Anne Bois C,2000) says The prime importance of Citizens and public servants are to work towards the promotion, co-operative and meaningful relationships that involve moral examination, theoretical practice ,different ethical de cision making models shows difference in the etical perceptions and comes out with different form of findings , It is through the better communication which can ignite the awareness in factions which eventually led to the difference which is comparative in sense in terms of moral reasoning of personnel in the public as well as private sector. [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-20583851/do-public-sector-and.html]. For instance ,it is expected that a public administrator who is bounded by oath is tend to be more deontologist than others which have less attachment to it and are driven by the interest in total in nature as in the case of groups which has a special interest and represents the business. However there might be a difference in motivation between the career officials and the elected officials as the former one concentrates more on his duty and principles while the later is concerned about the consequences as he has to safeguard his re-election. Such kind of person will provoke for more stability and fairness in general in greater quantity and in a challenging situation.An important part of it is whether the public-private personnel will perceive a consequential matter or inclined towards its deontological tendencies.These possibilities will lead to a point of decision to judge the nature of public administration. Understanding the ethical decision-making process and its moderating factors helps to incorporate ethics in private and public institutions. Ethical Leadership: Ethical leadership is characterized by having good characters, getting to know ones core values and having the courage to live them in all parts life. [http://www.businessballs.com/ethical_management_leadership.htm] Foundations for various modern concepts for work, business and organizations are provided by Ethical principles. The modern concept of ethical organizations encompasses many related issues like corporate social responsibility (CSR) or simply social responsibility, fair-trade, sustainability, social enterprise, well-being at work and life balance and many more aspects of good modern leadership. There are no clear cut definitions or rules of ethics that can define them. In most of the literatures realting to ethical leadership it is the uprightness of the leader which is been stressed and also across the culture it has been on the high priority list and has been an inevitable trait of leadership(Yukl,2001) Ethical leadership also presumed to be consisting of personal traits such as worthy of trust ,honesty while making a decision should practice fairness and honesty which should be present in both personal and professional life of the leader. At the same time leader should exhibit externally in an active manner to influence its followers through its agenda by setting a role model,by communicating ,rewarding and if needed penalise them.(Brown and Trevino,2006)has propounded that the ethical leadership is a normative science at the conjunction of action of a person or personal relationship in between them and finally promoted this kind of conduct in two different way to communicate ,strengthen and decide(Brown et al,2005) Ethical leadership has greater proximity in finding the potential through which they can influence the organisation and people who work for them.But leadership theory is based on value and inner assumptions exploring how they can be influenced as there is no neutral ground for leader as per ethics,but there is a difference between ethics and behaviour.This difference arises due to value judgement of the person, stages through which moral development takes place, intentions takes birth from their consciousness, freedom of choice and how they can use the ethics and no ethics and finally it is the judgement and leadership which influences the quality(Gary Yukl,2001)(Source-Ethical Integrity in Leadership and Organizational Moral Culture, John C. Thoms,University of Sydney, Australia Volume 4, Number 4 (November 2008) Page-419 442,Sage Publication) The 4-V Model of Ethical Leadership explains the relationship between beliefs and values and behaviors and actions. The theory has the main intention to bring advancement of common good. (Grace B,1999) model tries to find out position of personal passions which lead to belief and ethics in the research for formal leadership .Leaders work to create an open, two-way conversation, thereby maintaining a charitable understanding of different views, values, and constituents opinions. They are open to others opinions and ideas because they know those ideas make the organization they are leading better. By having â€Å"the right values† or being a person of â€Å"strong character,† the ethical leader can set the example for others and withstand any temptations that may occur along the way. At the same time one cannot ignore the value of good character and values which are right as in reality the leadership in ethics far more complicated. and the stakes are much higher. Grace B(1999),In every field of business, the ethical behavior is very important. But in the field of business services, the role of ethics is even greater as it is directly related to humans life. But Murthy (2007) reveals that for the economic and business benefits, some businessmen are neglecting their code of ethics. Although, Nundy (2000) argues that it is only a small portion of the businessmen who do not follow the code of ethics and are bringing a disgrace to the whole community of corporates but still unethical practices are going on in different sectors in various forms. Carroll and Buchholtz (2008) explains that ethics is basically a distinct section to meet the creria for bad and good with a duty of mral bound and obliged and these of moral conducts are even true for the business systems in any part of the world. They divide the ethics into two key branches of moral philosophy as descriptive and normative ethics. They further explained descriptive ethics is a branch that is concerned with describing, characterizing and studying the morality of a people, an organization, also what is behind a culture and society.However there is a control parameter to find out of difference and similarity in the moral codes,what is there in the system,practice which draws beliefs and values.Therefore, in descriptive ethics, the key focus remains on learning. But on the other hand, the normative ethics is A systematic approach of supplying and to adjudge the moral tendencies to think and justify.To unveil,develop and establish basic principals in a right way is the motive behind these ethics and finally mould the behaviour,actions and decide what to do.It is here that the business system, particularly in the developing countries, go wrong at following the normative ethics and they violate the ethical code of conduct for their individual benefits. Carroll and Buchholtz (2008) has explained three approaches to ethics as conventional approach (based on how normal society views ethics in todays environment), principles approach (based upon the use of ethics principles or guidelines to direct behavior, action and policies) and ethical tests approach (based on short practical questions to guide ethical decisions guiding the behavior). But seeing the business practices as a concern, the conventional approach to ethics is essentially an approach where one can compare a decision, practice or policy with prevailing norms of acceptability and say whether the practice followed is ethical or unethical. The conventional approach defines some of the sources of norms that come to bear on the individual and that might give an idea for the unethical behavior of the businessmen around the world today. Carroll and Buchholtz (2008) The various sources that may influence a businessman to follow up an unethical practice may include family, friends, law, religious beliefs, society, employer, profession, culture and fellow workers. Each of these attributes contributes in one or the other way to force the business Enterprises to follow the unethical practices for their individual benefits either business or economic. One of possible example for motivating a professionals to follow unethical practices can be an urge to earn more money to satisfy the needs of the family members. This urge of getting more money leads him to follow unethical practices to earn quick money. But there exists a reason for the unethical behavior of the business Enterprises because whenever he or she makes a decision about what is being ethical (right, just, fair), the conventional approach comes into picture. The decision being taken consists of three elements where in the first step, the observation is of the decision, action and the existing practice in the workplace. After that the practice is compared with the prevailing norms of acceptability and then the recognition of the value judgments with the prevailing norms of acceptability. This means for the same set of actions, the two persons have different ways of looking it as they have different et of prevailing norms of acceptability Feiglstok (2009)The diagram for ethical decision making gives a wider view for an individual decision regarding ethics. The diagrams depicts the business Enterprises following the unethical practices can be put in the area . This is an area where the corporates get a profit following the unethical practices but they need to be very cautious while doing the unethical work. The various business enterprises in the developing countries are ready to take such a risk because of the inefficient legal system in these countries. They take benefit of the existing lenient laws in these countries and follow the unethical practices to make quick money. Weaver (2009 )The business enterprises usually follow the principle of Smiths Market Ethic which says that take selfish actions and be motivated by personal gains in business dealings. But as the reason of their actions for unethical behavior, they follow the Bentham/Mills Utilization Ethic Principle which asks an individual to determine whether the harm in an action is outweighed by the good. So, these parctioners have numerous reasons which can outweigh the unethical action by a good cause. Weaver (2009) reveals that a recent survey conducted by the American Management Association and the Human Resource Institute identified the top three factors that would cause people to break the ethical standards. The factors included the pressure to meet unrealistic objectives or deadlines, career advancement and protecting their livelihood. In case of the business Enterprises the later two reasons play a very important role for encouraging following the unethical practices. For establishing their practice in a very short span of time and for increasing the volumes of clients coming to visit them, these business Feiglstok (2009) supports the ethics in an organization by Which reveals that the ethichs outweighs heavily the non ethical form of business.Integrity and truthfulness has a number a reasons for a right decision making. This includes the honesty towards work and various humanitarian reasons. He also believes that working for an organization in an ethical manner or working as individual for the profession in an ethical manner gives self satisfaction to an individual which cannot be obtained even if one earns good money by following the unethical practices. Unethical Practices in Industry Decades back, business was considered as a good profession and almost all corporates were not money minded people. But the time has changed and all wants to be established in their life very quickly and for that they will choose the short cut. (Theyyunni, 2008). So, young and inexperienced business Enterprises have started following the path of short cut by taking the unethical path which is beneficial in terms of business as well as economics. Although Watts (2008) criticizes the unethical behavior of the business Enterprises by quoting â€Å"Not All Money is Good Money† but still it depends upon business Enterprises to take their own ethical decisions. In many of the developing countries, The public sector employee has a intuition that they can work in the private sector which can bring a hefty amount with facilities and if they practice privately with legal binding which is strict or controlled. Public offices may operate their own private offices and manage the income from them, or may allow work for private gain on their premises, as when corporates admit private clients and are paid directly by them. (Mills, Bennett, McPake, 1997) This overlapping of the private and public sectors gives birth to the existence of certain unethical practices for the personal benefits by certain individuals. Garretts principle of proportionality supports the view of the business Enterprises in developing countries around the world by saying these Enterprises have a proportional reason for the unethical practices which are very much needed along with the ethical practices that are followed. It believes one such proportionate reason is the low wage to business sector. Smith (1999) says that with reference to NHS in UK, the professional bodies and the government departments have a very little to say on these unethical practices. Nundy (2000) gives emphasis to a cover up for the medical facilities and at the same time provide a protective shield to the public from incorrupt and inefficient corrupt business practice. Unethical Practices in India The position of India has not been impressive in the worldwide corruption perception index(CPI) ,as it is ranked 74 with a drop in the two rank among the 180 countries in the world disclosed by independent international agency.In comparison to India countries like Srilanka,Maldives, Pakistan,Libya,Iran and Nepal had a higher magnitude of corruption as they are ranked even lower.But China was ranked 72 in the last year alongwith India but due to fall in the position of India ,china is two position better. (http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Corruption-index-India-ranked-74/327777/ With the fast development of various sectors in India, the unethical practices are also increasing in the business sector in India. Sharma (2004) has however preached that the public sector in India need to be strengthened and restructured in an urgent manner. Apart from quacks and outright fakes, even qualified business practitioners know that they can get away with malpractice because clients do not know their rights. With the exponential growth of the private sector, there is an urgent need for regulation to protect users. (Sharma, 2004) Dev and Rao (2009) support the allegations of Sharma by quoting that the recent expansion of the private sector and the increased investment in the field of the curative services and the various sophisticated business equipments have increased the corruption in the private practices in the business sector in India. They explain that the payment to touts who get the clients for offices and to the corporates who refer clients has become a common practice in India Colclough (1997) explains commission to corporates who prescribe expensive investigations and procedures which are often unnecessary as another form of unethical practice and corruption in business sector in India. Dev and Rao (2009) criticize the unethical Indian corporates in the private sector putting them responsible for kickbacks, overbilling and expensive procedures. Phadke (2009) reveals though the client knows about the malpractice but he is afraid to bargain or to show lack of trust because of the fear that this might adversely affect the persons attitude towards the client and in turn, may affect the quality of the service provided. The picture of the business sector gets more clear while having a look at the PEST Analysis done by Holtz (2008) who alleges the lower annual per capita ($ 20) spending of the Indian government on of the public sector i.e the healthcare and the under-developed private health insurance in India which spends only 1% of the total spending on healthcare as major political reasons for the unethical practices in India Sharma (2004) critically argues the claims made by the other authors and says that majority of the population in the various developing countries is uneducated about the governmental structure of business sector and moreover, the inaccessibility of the services in a rural area with densely populated areas can be treated as primary reasons for the increased importance of the business Enterprises which further leads to following up of unethical practices by few individuals. Holtz (2008) shares a different view and feels that low wages to employees and staff in government services are the primary reasons responsible for the existence of the unethical practices in the business sector. Cygnus Business Consulting Research Pvt. Ltd. (2008) criticizes the governments for having access to less high-tech equipments with them as compared to private organizations. One of the other i

Arguments For And Arguments Against Democracy Politics Essay

Arguments For And Arguments Against Democracy Politics Essay There are many benefits or arguments that are for democracy; since the ample population is given rights and autonomy. A very important characteristic that leads to being a benefit of democracy is that it allows citizen from all walks of life to participate actively in the political proceedings of their homeland. However, there are arguments against (disadvantages of) democracy also. One of the main defects in the idea of democracy is that the authority given to the masses can also be distorted, made improper use of and become the tyranny of the ample/ majority. This can become a double-crossing issue in democracy. Benefits of Democracy It has been noted that most countries in todays era believe in the ideology of democracy and in its various theories. Some of the most powerful and advanced countries believe in democracy and follow democratic peace theory. Followers of democracy also argue that it is better to have the tyranny of the majority rather than tyranny of the minority. A research by Diplomatic Changes in the Government Democracy can offer adjustments in government without antagonism. In a democratic government, power can be moved from one party to another through the method of elections. The authority that is the hands of citizens or general public of a nation makes the decisions for its ruling power. Avoidance of Monopoly In addition, any government is restricted to an election term after which it has to compete against other parties to recover supremacy. This mean avoids monopoly of the controlling party. The reigning establishment has to make sure it operates effectively for its citizens as it cannot continue being the power unless the people re-elect the same government to come to term again. A Sense of Appreciation This instills a sense of accountability towards the people. The ruling party owes their triumph in winning the elections and coming to authority to the citizens of the country. This brings about a sense of appreciation towards the people. This appreciation can help play a role in the governments motivation to function for citizens as it is because of the votes and trust of the citizens that the party has power to rule. Sense of Contribution An important for-argument of democracy is that the people attain a sense of involvement in the process of choosing their administration for their Nation. They acquire the opportunity to speak out their observations and views by the process of voting. This gives rise to a feeling of belonging to the people and they also feel as if they belong to the society and can contribute towards its betterment. Having an upper hand during war time: A leading research by Ajin Choi (affiliated by the International Studies Quarterly 2004, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea), says that democracies execute better in the time of war than non-democracies, that is they are more likely to win wars than non-democracies. The author (Ajin Choi) points this chiefly to the simplicity of the policies, and the constancy of their inclinations, due to which they are better able to deal with their partners. Avoidance of famine: Followers of democracy quite freely quote the famous economist,  Amartya Sen, who believed that no operating democracy has ever managed to damage a large scale  famine  to affect its people. Disadvantages of Democracy: Until quite recently, conformist beliefs have believed that economic progress or development, predictably and with rapidness leads to democracy. Even though reality does show that almost all of the developed and rich countries of the world are democratic. But reality also shows that, the relationship between economic development and democracy is actually quite weak. The increasing number of prosperous non-democratic countries advocates that great wealth single-handedly doesnt involuntarily direct to more political liberalization. This is proved by the economic success of China and other non- democratic states in Asia. Wrong choice can be made In democratic countries, it is the ordinary person who has the ultimate right to decide their parliament and their current powers to be. Also all people are not conscious of the political circumstances of their nation. The people may not also be up to date of the political issues in their country. This can lead to a wrong decision of voting to the wrong party by the citizens. Hitler was rightly elected through democratic elections; though later he turned into a Fascist. This shows how a political leader could play with the emotions of people into blackmailing them to vote for him, ultimately misleading them into making a wrong choice. Government May Lose focus The government is bound to changes and adjustments once they are elected or re-elected, it may operate with a short-term purpose. As governments have to go through the method of election once their tenure ends and have to re-elected, they may lose focus on operating efficiently for the people and give attention to winning the elections. Masses Have Power Since majority has power- there can be a tyrannical rule of the majority which ultimately works against the minority. It has been proved by a research made by World Bank that though USA is a popular democratic country with loads of power and is one the most affluent and developed country, domestic inequality is largely seen. A huge countrywide score on the  human development index  (HDI) is partnered by the differences in health, education, and income amongst the various ethnic sets. In USA, almost every state has an  infant mortality  which is greater for the African-Americans then for local white people. Citizens might vote in favor of a party under pressure of the masses, because of the influence of people around them and because of their opinions, and end up making the wrong judgments. Though democracy tries to prevent discrimination and supports collaboration and harmonization. It also slows things down, stops those in power from committing an action that is against the majoritys wish.

Compare how visual images are used in Blessing and one other poem Essay

Compare how visual images are used in Blessing and one other poem (Vultures) to highlight political issues. The poet of Blessing Imtiaz Dharker and the poet of Vultures Chinua Achebe both use visual images to highlight the political issues in both poems. However both poems are very different from each other and contrast from of the poets’ views. The poem Blessing is about a water pipe bursting and how that is a blessing, as in the country they live in water is very limited and it doesn’t rain much in the country. The poem Vultures is about the evil of war and how evil always has good and good always has evil. The contrast in the two poems is Blessing is about Poverty and lack of water, whereas Vultures is about war and ethnic dying. In the poem Blessing the poet discusses the theme of third world poverty and the lack of water through using different language feature. For example line one â€Å"The skin cracks like a pod.† Using like in the sentence it shows that the poet is comparing dry skin to a pod, a pod dries out till it crack. There is also onomatopoeia used in this poem, â€Å"sliver crashes to the ground† crash is normally a negative onomatopoeia as the first thing that may come to our head may be car crash; however it is used as a positive as it is used with silver. Silver is a value metal and is precious, this shows how precious the water was to them. In the poem Vultures the poet discusses the theme of war and ethnic dying by using different language features. For example in Vultures the poet has used repetition of death and negative vocabulary a number of different times. â€Å"perching high on broken bone of a dead tree† in the phrase there are tow negative words. These negative words show that the Vul... ...g and Vultures to show the different political issues. In the poem Blessing visual images are portrayed about third world poverty, and in the poem Vultures it more about war a more political issue. Even though poverty is a political issue it could be easily stopped but would take a long time. War alternatively would take a long time and could also easily be. In contrast poverty could only be created by other countries it could also be created by the country it’s self. For example in the poem Vultures the commandment could stop imposing rules for others to follow, this would bring a stop to evil. However gathering the money to bring poverty to end would take a number of months. The in poem Blessing I thought the country may have been living in poverty for a number of years and didn’t have water for a number weeks. This could have lead to a number of deaths.

Feelings That Kill Essay -- Racism Racist African Americans Essays

Feelings That Kill Racism is defined as the mistreatment of a group of people on the basis of color, race, religion, or national origin. The term racism can also be used to represent a hatred or prejudice toward another group. The novel, To Kill A Mockingbird, takes place during an extremely racist time in America. Nella Harper Lee wrote this novel to give her readers a harsh sense of the segregation that went on in the south during this time period. Between the years of 1925 and 1935 there were many problems facing the south. The depression brought job and poverty issues to many blacks, which increased the segregation. To Kill A Mockingbird has many parallels between the fictional segregation in the novel and the factual racism that actually took place in this time span. Between the years of 1882 and 1968 there were many different types of racial discrimination and mistreatment of blacks. One of the main types of this behavior was lynching. â€Å"Lynching is the practice whereby a mob, usually several dozen or several hundred persons, takes the law into its own hands in order to injure and kill a person accused of some wrongdoing. The alleged offense can range from a serious crime like theft or murder to a mere violation of local customs and sensibilities† (The Reader’s Companion to American History). Lynching can also occur just from the violation of a local law, as stated in the definition. An example of this occurred in Birmingham, Alabama in 1925. â€Å"A group of black women, including Indiana Little, who was a social worker, are beaten by election officials while attempting to register to vote† (Browne). These women were trying to register to vote, but were beaten by white officials only because it was against th... ...001. University of California, Los Angeles. 10 Mar. 2002.<http://www.thediasporaproject.com/research_topics/race_timeline.htm#Tse kani Browne>. Lee, Nella Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird. Philadelphia: Harper & Row, 1982. Ransdell, Hollace. "The First Scottsboro Trials." REPORT ON THE SCOTTSBORO, ALA. CASE . 1999. American Civil Liberties Union . 10 Mar. 2002.<http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/scottsboro/SB_HRrep.h tml>. "The Handbook of Texas Online." The Texas State Historical Association. 23 July 2001. University of Texas at Austin. 12 March 2002. <http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/print/SS/jcs6.html> Zangrando, Robert L.. "The Reader's Companion to American History." Houghton Mifflin Co.. 1991. UIUC. 10 Mar. 2002. <http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/lynching/lynching.htm>.

The Potential of Medical Marijuana :: Marijuana Medicine Treatment Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marijuana is one of the oldest cultivated plants in the world (7). Since it became illegal in 1967 (5), there have been many questions of whether or not it is good for medical purposes. Debates between people that are for and against the use of marijuana in medicine have been heated and in recent years, referendums have been brought up in several states to make it available for medical treatment. Personally, I think that marijuana has the power to be a significant help with certain aliments, however, I think that more research is needed to prove its' medical potential.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first people to introduce the healing properties of marijuana, were the Chinese. About five thousand years ago, the people of the plains of Central Asia, just north of the Himalayas, began cultivating the plant. Though it is not exactly certain what cultivation of the plant was for, whether it was for its oil, fiber or medical properties, most experts believe that it was for its fibers. The fiber of the plant is so strong that it can be used to make thick, sturdy ropes. Its seeds also contain oils that can be used as a varnish. In some countries the seeds are used as bird and cattle feed and also in the manufacturing of soap. Something else that you may not know is that the seeds can be roasted and eaten as food. It is actually the flowers of a certain type of the plant that is used for its medicinal and intoxicating property. I say "a flower from a certain type of the plant" because from my personal experience, many people believe that there is only one type of marijuana. Actually, marijuana is such a wild plant, that it easily adapts to any soil and new varieties it then emerge. This is when the plants with the strongest fibers, most superior oils, and a more potent drug content are selected. Only around 1000 B.C., in India and Southeast Asia, when the plant started to grow in that region, the intoxicating features were recognized and appreciated (7).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  So when was the plant introduced to the Western Hemisphere? There is archeological evidence that the plant was brought toWestern Europe from Asia at around 1500 B.C., by the Scythian invaders and later reached the Mediterranean region. However, the people of western Europe didn't begin cultivating it as a plant crop in their area until about 500 A.

Privatizing Philippine Public Service Delivery

Privatization may seem like a perfect solution for deficit-plagued governments, but the morning after can bring some unpleasant surprises. As a city or country drowned in deficits and faced multiple lawsuits, city leaders saw outsourcing as a light at the end of a collapsing tunnel. But it was only a mirage. The search for financial salvation is sweeping the country as local governments grapple with waning sales and property tax revenues. The economic recession has strangled budgets, forcing layoffs and the disbanding of departments. Feeling pushed to the brink of bankruptcy, cities are trying to find effective ways to make do with less. Over the year, more public officials have turned to outside sources for help in providing services at a lower cost to the country’s provinces or cities. In theory, the idea of contracting public services to private companies to cut costs makes sense. If someone is willing to fix streets or put out fires for less money, that should be a plus for a government’s bottom line. Many provinces and local governments have identified hundreds of millions of pesos in savings by hiring outside contractors — or a neighbouring city’s services — to handle tasks like trash collection, electricity repair, and water and wastewater treatment. For me, privatization of public services is by no means a perfect solution. Some agencies don’t have the metrics in place to prove in advance that outsourcing a service will save money. Problems from poorly conceived contracts can create cost increases that surpass the costs of in-house services, and if there’s shoddy contract oversight, a government is vulnerable to corruption and profiteering. The privatization of public services can erode accountability and transparency, and drive governments deeper into debt. Governments at all levels are just desperate to balance their budgets, and they’re grasping at privatization as a panacea. But there’s evidence that it often is a very bad deal with hidden costs and consequences when you turn over public service to a for-profit company. Various governments — from small towns all the way up to provinces– have been sending public services to the private sector since the 1980s. The trend stems from the common belief that private companies can help governments save or make money by doing jobs faster and cheaper, or managing a public asset more efficiently. Sterile philosophical debates bout ‘public versus private’ are often detached from the day-to-day world of public management. Over the last several decades, in governments at all levels throughout the world, the public sector’s role has increasingly evolved from direct service provider to that of an indirect provider or broker of services; governments are relying far more on networks of public, private and non-profit organizations to deliver services. Like most countries, the Philippines telecommunications industry was once a monopoly of the Philippines Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) overseen by the Philippines government. In 1995, the government decided to privatize the industry and created the Public Telecommunications Policy Act of 1995 (RA 7925) in the hopes of creating a more level playing ground for all companies. The Act was defined as the new legal, policy, and regulatory framework in the promotion and governance of Philippine telecommunications development. The country was divided up into eleven regions, opening up the market to various competing telecommunication companies. The Act covers all telecommunications entities, protects users' rights, increases the roll-out period from five to three years, enforces the deregulation of value-added services and the complete privatization of all government telecommunications facilities by 1998. The dismantling of the monopoly and opening of the country to other telecom companies has resulted in a drastic improvement in teledensity. Local telephone service is provided by 78 private telephone companies and 4 government units. PLDT, the largest of the local telephone service providers, accounts for 67. 4% of the telephone service in the country. All the other telephone service providers combined account for 32. 76%. The government’s most successful in privatization created a permanent, centralized entity to manage and oversee the operation, from project analysis and vendor selection to contracting and procurement. For governments that forgo due diligence, choose ill-equipped contractors and fail to monitor pr ogress, however, outsourcing deals can turn into costly disasters. The problem is that outsourcing deals are really about risk. We are taking the risk of the unknown and dumping that on your supplier. We are outsourcing a problem to a company that has limited control over the root cause of the problem. The only way for a public-private partnership to work, is to drive transformation from within the agency, and that’s the hard part. Red tape usually prevents governments from making significant modifications, and private companies lack the authority to enforce real changes. When such a public-private stalemate stunts a project, it helps to have an exit strategy. Before governments hire outside contractors, it’s important to examine the cost-effectiveness. More times than not, it’s less expensive to use public workers instead of outside contractors. Take what happened in Metro Manila, the privatization of MWSS was initially welcomed by residents. Between 1997 and 2001, the two companies granted concessions for the eastern and western zones of the metropolitan area installed 238,000 new water connections, 128,000 of which were in urban poor communities. New service connections, which averaged only 17,040 per year from 1991-1995 tripled to 53,921 after privatization in 1997. Communities that used to have only limited water services found that they had water coming in 24 hours a day. Manila Water was allowed to raise its tariff six times higher than its original bid and Maynilad, which had a higher rate to begin with, was allowed to raise its rate four-fold. Even these rate increases, however, were insufficient to stabilize the situation and in March 2004, Benpres Holdings, the company in charge of Maynilad indicated it wanted to return its concession to MWSS as it was unable to pay its concession fees to the water agency. Under the original contract, Benpres had put up a performance bond of $120 million in favor of MWSS. As a compromise, Benpres forfeited $50 million of that bond but it did not have to pay its arrears in concession fees amounting to Pesos 8 billion. Moreover, Benpres was allowed to continue managing the company although its stake in its capitalization had been reduced to 2 per cent from an original 60 per cent. The Pesos 800 million that Benpres invested in Maynilad were wiped out. All in all, therefore, Benpres was losing P3. 2 billion in the fiasco. Interestingly, Manila Water, which got the eastern zone concession, has not suffered the same kinds of problems encountered by Maynilad. The main reason for this is the fact that Manila Water got a smaller zone of the metropolitan area, a relatively new area where the water infrastructure was not as badly dilapidated. Manila Water also assumed only $80 million of the debt of MWSS. When it was hit by the foreign exchange crisis, the government allowed it to raise its water rates six-fold because it had a much lower initial rate. A good outsourcing deal starts with a thorough cost-benefit analysis to see if a third party can effectively deliver services better and more cheaply than public employees. Government should hire an outsourcing consultant who can provide an independent assessment. But even with a consultant, conflicts of interest can tarnish a golden opportunity. After all, private companies may want to provide a service efficiently and well — and often do — but governments must ride herd on implementation of the contract. A company’s motivation is not the common good; it’s profit. If they can cut corners in any way, they often do. In that regard, the provider that offers the lowest bid might not be the best option. But with our country’s experience in several large-scale government outsourcing deals, we have seen first-hand that in a bidding war, the company that has a liberal interpretation for the lowest price wins, which inevitably leads to strife when high expectations meet underachievement. Anyone can bid any outsourcing deal 5 percent cheaper, but the problem is you don’t know what they cut out. When price reductions appear unrealistic, there’s no magic. They are unrealistic. Even with the proper oversight channels, policies won’t work if departments don’t participate. The laws were created to promote transparency and to ensure that agencies complete an effective cost-benefit analysis prior to procurements. But compliance has been low over the years. With these, I have come up with a generalization that the pros and cons of privatization of Philippines service delivery are as follows: PROS: 1. Government can raise funds to pay off other debts fast because of relieve from financial burden of the public sector enterprises being privatized; 2. It removes government’s monopolistic status and inability to be responsive to citizens' needs, resulting in inefficient, one-size-fits-all services. Like the above-cited case of PLDT. 3. In practice, all levels of government, seeking to reduce costs, have begun turning to the private sector to provide some of the services that are ordinarily provided by government. The spread of the privatization movement is grounded in the fundamental belief that market competition in the private sector is a more efficient way to provide these services and allows for greater citizen choice. Similar to the goal of the above-cited case of MWSS. 4. With privatization solidly on ground, costs will be reduced at the long run. 5. Public sector workers are not harmed by privatization. Displaced workers can be hired by contractors or transferred to other government positions. 6. It stops loss-making public sector enterprises from adding to government debts; 7. It gives new businesses access to investment capital that government cannot provide; CONS: 1. One of the disadvantages is that the privatized company will no longer operate in the public interest. While a state-owned company primarily serves the citizens of the state, the primary goal of a privately operated company is to make profit. It may make these profits at the expense of its customers without serving them properly. For example, it may choose the market which is most profitable to operate in and leave less wealthy customers without a service. 2. Prices may actually rise if the service was previously subsidized by the government like what happened to MWSS.. This is a common experience after a successful privatization process. This becomes imperative in a bid to provide qualitative service, improve efficiency and profitability. 3. Privatization alone may not lead to better quality or cost reduction in public service delivery. 4. Government no longer receives profits (if it was previously profitable), therefore, the revenue accruing to the government from public sector enterprises becomes shortened as a result of privatization. 5. The standard economic measures used to make privatization decisions fail to accurately assess the real costs and benefits of care. With all of the foregoing, I therefore conclude that privatization, when done right, works well. Privatization of public services is by no means a perfect solution. Privatization is not a blanket solution for the problems of poorly performing public sector enterprises. It cannot in and of itself make up totally for lack of competition, for weak capital markets, or for the absence of an appropriate regulatory framework. But where the market is basically competitive, or when a modicum of regulatory capacity is present, private ownership yields substantial benefits. A good outsourcing deal starts with a thorough cost-benefit analysis to see if a third party can effectively deliver services better and more cheaply than public employees. The success of any privatization arrangement, whichever technique is adopted, will be dependent on the sincerity of government to pursue it with unblemished policy implementation, support, co-operation and understanding of the citizenry. At the onset, privatization bites very hard, but at the long run, the benefits are multifarious and immeasurable.

Female characters: Coursework Essay

For this coursework I am going to be explaining how writers in my chosen stories have presented their female characters. I will be investigating whether or not the females fit their typical stereotype in the nineteenth Century of being very submissive and gullible. I will also look at what sort of way they fit that stereotype within everyday life or on a long term basis. To have a range in this investigation I will concentrate on the contradicting stereotype of being independent and confident as a women not fitting in with how a typical nineteenth century woman would expect to act. Certain consequences of not acting as the stereotype are proven to not necessarily make that particular woman worse off as we see in the short stories I am looking at. Through stories I have read containing characters based on the nineteenth century women one of the ideas that was most obvious to me was that of the characters being typical nineteenth century woman at the start of the short story and then turning out to be a lot stronger then we first perceived. The first character I am going to mention which fits into this idea is Dorothea from the short story ‘The Unexpected’ by Kate Chopin. Chopin shows Dorothea to be a loving, doting wife, impatient towards her husband arriving home. She is shown to be a perfect fit for her stereotype. She is dependant on her husband and excited and desperate for his arrival home. Chopin describes it as ‘torture’ for Dorothea as she waits for her husband. This is very extreme language for the author to use to demonstrate just how Dorothea is feeling. Dorothea is commented to having ‘reached the limit of her endurance’; this suggests why the reader feels she is very reliant on her beloved as it seems she cannot cope without him. All of the above qualities I have seen in Dorothea fit into being typical of the nineteenth century. Although this is how we first see this of her she turns out to be the opposite of this stereotype upon arrival of her husband. Dorothea is perceived as being independent, powerful and confident as she realises her husband is not what he used to be before he became ill. Now, Dorothea has to make the decision of whether she still wants to be with her beloved. She chooses to leave him unexpectedly and turns out to not be at all like her stereotype describes her. At the very end of the short story Dorothea says; ‘Never! Not for all his thousands! Never, never! Not for millions!’ This shows she wants more in her life then being at her husband’s bedside while he wastes away. Dorothea wants someone she can truly love and have feelings for. It shows she is going to be independent rather then like her stereotype. She is not shallow and staying with him just for his money. Chopin’s use of repetition in the above quote shows that she wants the reader to see how needy Dorothea is for a fulfilled life and not staying with her beloved when he is as frail as he is and only for his possessions. Another short story which fits into the idea of fitting the stereotype then contradicting it is ‘Tony Kytes the Arch-Deceiver’ by Thomas Hardy. There are two characters, in my opinion that fit this idea from this short story; Unity Sallet and Hannah Jolliver. Firstly I think Hannah Jolliver fits into this idea I have came up with of fitting the stereotype then contradicting it because of her role in the short story ‘Tony Kytes the Arch-Deceiver’. Hannah is very flirtatious with Tony even though she knows that she is out of bounds as he is engaged to another woman. She is disloyal to her own sex. She toys with his emotions and is very forward about their relationship and is presented as being very independent but shows her stereotype when she is very easily pleased as Tony says; ‘I haven’t quite promised her, and I think I can get out of it, and ask you that question you speak of.’ With regards to the wedding proposal to Milly. All this is being said when all three women Tony is playing against each to her are in the wagon with each other but unaware of it. She is shown to be very gullible at the start of the story when being told of how pretty she is by Tony, this is a feature of the stereotype which we see in all the characters mentioned in this section of my coursework. Hannah is almost won over completely by Tony’s charm but then something goes wrong. The wagon crashes due to Hannah being left by herself at the reins. Tony’s secret is out, all three women find each other to be hidden in the carriage and Hannah hurts herself when she falls out. Hannah is put across to be the complete opposite to her stereotype for now at the end of the short story. Her father arrives on the scene of the accident just as Tony says; ‘I’ve asked Hannah to be mine, and she is willing, and we are going to put up the banns next-‘ But was interrupted by Hannah’s father as Hannah was hurt; ‘My daughter is not willing, sir!’ And so Tony tries to save his and Hannah’s future, failing miserably. This is where Hannah feels the need to intervene, ‘I have spirit, and I do refuse him!’ Hannah is shown to be very much the opposite of her stereotype as we saw Dorothea do when things turned out to be different towards the end of her short story. Hannah is confident and strong in her decision of rejecting Tony’s proposal. We see that Hannah is a little bit more of her stereotype then we perceive her to be following what has just happened in the story. We are made to think that this decision was only reached because of the fact that her father was there as Hannah looks back once she is leaving with her father did she really mean it? I think that she would possibly say yes was Tony to ask her again at a later date and show she isn’t as different as she is put across to be at the end of the short story. Lastly I feel Unity fits into this idea as when we first meet her Hardy represents to us as being very desperate for attention from Tony through questions about her appearance; ‘And – can you say I’m not pretty Tony? Now look at me!’ Hardy backs up this quote with a statement from Unity which shows that she is quite weak because she has to ask the question and answer it to show Tony the answer she is looking for. ‘Prettier than she?’ This further proves how needy Unity is for Tony’s wise words and how gullible she is towards them. In my opinion Tony should not be saying such things to someone when he is supposed to be engaged to Milly Richards. This makes me thinks that he is able to realise that whoever he promises things will believe him because that is what women were expected to be like in the nineteenth century. As this question is put past Tony, Milly is in fact seen ahead while Unity is in Tony’s carriage. To prove how much more of the typical stereotype Unity is Tony asks her to ‘lie down in the back part of the wagon’ to hide from his future wife and Unity agrees. This is further proof that she is very much like her stereotype. Now is where the second part of my idea comes with regards to Unity. Towards the end of this short story Unity starts to stand up for herself. Tony asks for her hand in marriage AFTER he has already asked for Hannah’s. ‘Take her leavings? Not I! I’d scorn it!’ And she walks away. This is the opposite of what Unity’s stereotype is. She is shown to be strong and confident in the decision. Hardy shows Unity to stand up for her sex and not shame herself as being second choice, which in turn, leaves it down to Milly as the final choice for Tony†¦ A second idea worth of exploration from reading the range of short stories I was given is that of the characters totally fitting their stereotype of a nineteenth century women. The main character I feel fits into this idea is Sophy out of the story ‘The Son’s Veto’ by Thomas Hardy. Like the stereotype Sophy is weak and is described as a ‘poor thing’ within the opening of this short story. We also see just how weak Sophy is through her relationship with her son, Randolph. Her son is her biggest critic. We see this where he corrects Sophy’s grammar; ‘Has, dear mother – not have!’ This is showing that Randolph is using his education to take advantage of his mother disadvantages. Randolph is always correcting his mother and is ashamed of her as she is not as well educated as she should be; this is however, due to her background. Randolph is very impolite to Sophy even though she is his mother; ‘Surely you know that by this time.’ He is the child in this relationship but seemed to dominate Sophy showing how much more like her stereotype she is, especially when she does nothing about it. She realises her role in Randolph’s life and all men; she is considered to be beneath them and not worth their company. Randolph will not associate with those who are of a lower class then him, this includes Sophy. Hardy perceives Sophy as a fragile character by not letting her stand up for herself. When Sophy tells Mr Twycott she will not be working for him anymore so she can marry Sam, her reply to Mr Twycott when he asks if she wants to marry Sam is; ‘Not much but it would be a home for me.’ This shows she does not really care who she ends up with as long as she has a roof over her head. Another useful way that Hardy presents Sophy as being her typical stereotype is when she takes drastic action by marrying Mr Twycott instead of her beloved Sam after a fight with Sam. She marries Mr Twycott more for respect then love which ‘almost amounted to veneration’. Mr Twycott knows he is marrying beneath him and will lose all the respect he has gained as said in the narrative part of the story; ‘Mr Twycott knew perfectly well that he had committed social suicide by this step’. He moves to London because of the fact he feels Sophy is beneath him. Sophy could have refuses Mr Twycott’s marriage proposal but has no power or confidence in herself to do this as she is scared of the consequences if she does not do as she is told by the males in her life. Hardy puts Sophy across as being the perfect stereotype for typical nineteenth century through this action; domination by males. The second character that I feel fits into this stereotype for being totally stereotype is Milly Richards again from the short story ‘Tony Kytes the Arch-Deceiver’ by Thomas Hardy. Milly is seen to be the perfect stereotype for the nineteenth century woman. She has the husband ready for her and is very devoted to him and is presented as being very dominated by him and his needs. She is submissive to Tony and gullible to what he says. Her behaviour around him is very much like what women in the nineteenth century were expected to be like and did what was expected of them. As the short story develops we see that Milly is of a very naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve nature as she is asked to hide from one of the other women in the story for the sake of ‘keeping the peace’ between that particular woman and Tony. Fitting the stereotype Milly agrees to do as she has been told by Tony, ‘I don’t mind, to oblige you, Tony’ Milly does not seem to mind, in my opinion, that Tony seems ashamed to be seen with her. Milly didn’t ‘care much about doing it’ and crouches down in the wagon unaware that Unity is also hidden amongst the wagon at the other end. Further into the story Milly realises that Unity is in the wagon and creeps up closer to her. And even though Tony was in the wrong of having three women aboard his wagon Milly is very defensive of him; ‘Mind what you are saying!’ This proves she is even more like her stereotype due to her protecting the male and not thinking he could do anything to harm her and thinking he is perfect. She is extremely protective of Tony and does not think that he would do such things to her resulting in her being disloyal to her own sex for not believing what Unity is saying to her. Toward the end of the story Milly is found amongst the wagon by the other two women. Tony chooses the other two women over Milly and so chooses Milly last to wed him. This is because he knows she is the typical stereotypical woman for the nineteenth century otherwise he would not have wasted his breath. Milly being the perfect stereotype says; ‘If you like, Tony. You didn’t really mean what you said to them?’ And with a quick ‘No’ from Tony things were settled and Milly believed what he had told her. Tony is actually indeed disappointed he is left with his final choice as it is not seen as a challenge to win over Milly because she is the typical stereotype. For my third and final idea in this piece of coursework I will comment on contradicting stereotypes. The stereotypes that I have chosen that are perfect for this category are out of the short stories ‘Births. Mrs Meek, of a son’ and ‘The Woman’s Rose’. Firstly I will mention the character of ‘The girl’ in the story ‘The Woman’s Rose’. The basis of the story is a rose that ‘the girl’ has and is very important to her. This rose is not mentioned very much at all in the opening of the short story but closer to the end it is clear that it is important. At the start of this story ‘the girl’ is the only woman in the village and so has her choice of men, then ‘the narrator’ comes along. I feel that ‘the girl’ is contradicting of her stereotype for the typical nineteenth century woman due to the impact she has on men in the story. Instead of being reliant on men and thinking about men all the time she is more interested in the only other woman in this story and she has much more influence on the men in this short story then they will ever have on her. The men in this story worshipped ‘the girl’ like a queen as there was no other women to worship and all the men are trying to win her over and stand out so she will ‘choose them’. ‘The girl’ had power; she was the centre of attention and stood out, what women in the nineteenth century were not expected to do. Schreiner presents ‘the girl’ as being very much what women would loved to have been like and had the power to choose their choice of men rather then having to do the running themselves. At the end of the short story ‘the girl’ goes up to ‘the narrator’ in a bid to become her friend although she has received mixed messages of whether or not to speak to her or not. ‘The girl’ gave her one of the things that was most precious to her; the rose. ‘The girl’ is not the stereotype of what a typical nineteenth century woman should be. She concentrated more on her relationship with ‘the narrator’ then she did worrying about what typical women did back in those days; getting a husband and producing children for the male in their life. ‘The girl’ wanted more for herself then that and did not depend on males but influenced them. In this short story it was more of a role reversal. I am also going to mention the only other woman that is in the short story ‘The Woman’s Rose’. She is known as ‘The narrator’. The rose in this short story is straight away put across to be very important to ‘the narrator’ in the opening paragraph which ends; ‘but no one has my rose.’ To show its importance to her. The story then goes on to explain why it is of such treasure to ‘the narrator’. When ‘the narrator’ came into the small village of which ‘the girl’ used to be the only one attention was made of ‘the narrator’ took this away from her. She started t be the centre of attention towards men and they worshipped her instead. She influenced men. This was not necessarily because she was prettier then ‘the girl’ but because she was something new for the men in the village to concentrate on. This is something that she is not aware of but has the fear that it is because she is new and not because they are truly interested in her. She is fresh meat. This made her feelings towards men feelings of hatred and regret for going to the village. ‘The narrator’ liked the power she received from coming to the village but did not have a clue what to do with it and thinks she is hated by the one thing she does not want to be hated by in the story; ‘the girl’. She wants a friendship with ‘the girl’ but does not know how to go about it as she thinks she is hated and has plenty men to keep her occupied if not distracted from thinking about it. ‘The narrator’ never looked at the girl and never had any association with ‘the girl’ as she believed this was the better way to be if she was hated. Schreiner makes ‘the narrator’ defend ‘the girl’ if she is being spoke of amongst the village to show that she does care about what is said and does want to be her friend. For doing this it pays off towards the end of the short story when the white rose is obtained as an act of friendship by ‘the girl’. ‘The narrator’ is shown to be the complete opposite of her stereotype in this short story and not at all like she is expected to be. She is shown to have other worries than that of the typical worries for women in that time normally. For the other two characters I will comment on in this idea I turn my attention towards a short story named ‘Births. Mrs Meek, of a son’. The two characters that I am going to mention are Mrs Progit and Mrs Bigby. Firstly I will talk about how I think Mrs Bigby is contradicting towards her stereotype. Near the beginning of the story Mrs Bigby is said to be able to ‘storm a town, single-handed’ and that she could ‘terrify the stoutest heart’. Mrs Bigby is almost definitely not at all like her stereotype. She is a ‘remarkable woman’. Her son-in-law is scared of her as she is a scary woman. Other women in her time were not forward enough to be scary as such and did not have the confidence to scare males in their lives. This is the complete opposite of what we saw in ‘The Son’s Veto’ and the character of Sophy. She was not so much scared of her son but the roles were in the correct places for the nineteenth century. The opposite is what we see in the relationship between Mrs Bigby and her son-in-law. Most women in the nineteenth century don’t have much of an education and Mrs Bigby boasts of this knowledge. She is the total opposite of what is expected of women in her time. She is the dominate one in the relationship between her and Mr Meek. She won’t let him see his own son and as a result of this Mr Meek is angry and frustrated; he feels shoved aside. The male in this story feels left out in the cold. With emotions running wild Mr Meek thinks his son is being killed. Mr Meek shows the qualities of a nineteenth century woman instead of Mrs Meek as is expected as she is the woman in this short story. She is possibly the best example of the contradicting stereotype along with the next character I am going to talk about; Mrs Progit. Mrs Progit is a character of copious figure which gets in the way a lot and an obstruction to other people. She completely contradicts her stereotype by being very confident in her behaviour and brings desolation and devastation into other people lives in the short story. She has taken over the house. Mrs Progit won’t let Mr Meek see his son as well as Mrs Bigby. She wants to keep the child to herself and raised a storm about the subject. She has power and alienates Maria Jane’s affections towards Mr Meek with the power she has. She pushes Mr Meek about which is not what her stereotype would do. She is supposed to be quiet and dominated by males but instead there has been a role reversal regarding Mrs Progit. She is completely confident in her own nature and does not let herself get pushed around by the male but instead gives them a taste of their own medicine. This is what women in the nineteenth century did not have the power and confidence to do because they were afraid of the consequences. In conclusion of this piece of coursework I feel I have successfully explored how different writers have presented female characters in their short stories to show different ways in which women could act in the nineteenth century and the results how they act towards other characters in the stories. I read a range of different stories that I felt would get all the different views across and only included those stories that I thought had solid evidence of different ways in which women felt they had to be like or what they wanted to be like. I think I have investigated how the writers create their characters and form the reader’s opinions of those particular characters using structure and clever writing techniques.