International Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

International Human Resource Management - Essay Example In order to delve further, it is important to establish IHRM and its functions in today’s multi-national companies (MNCs). â€Å"...the International Organisation will be called on to operate across a wide variety of competitive environments and yet somehow balance these diverse social, political and economic contexts with the requirements of the original home context.† (Dowling et al, 2008, pg25) IHRM is a relatively recent addition to the field of human resources, developed mainly because of the rapid pace at which businesses are getting internationalized as a result of globalization (Scullion, 2001). Even though IHRM’s operations are based on the same four parameters of domestic HRM mentioned above, it is much more complex as it deals with sensitive cross-cultural issues and calls for proper education of the local behaviour in terms of culture, values, business practices, and employment laws of the host country of a subsidiary of an MNC (Torbiorn, 1997). Hence IHRM can be defined as, â€Å"the HRM issues and problems arising from the internationalization of business, and the HRM strategies, policies and practices which firms pursue in response to the internationalization of business† (Scullion, 1995 cited in Scullion and Linehan, 2005, pg4). The four parameters of HRM are then extended into three main issues for IHRM, namely, the management and development of expatriates; the internationalisation of management throughout the organisation; and, creating a new corporate culture that would reflect on internationalising the whole organisation, by focusing on increasing the international experience of staff, to be able to effectively counter the frequency of cross-cultural interactions as a result of investing abroad (Hendry, 1994). As a result, IHRM covers a much wider spectrum of worldwide management of people (Dowling et al, 1999, 2008), and is concerned with how MNC’s manage their ‘geographically dispersed’ workforce by being able to dispose their resources to obtain and maintain ‘local’ and ‘global’ competitive advantage (Schuler et al, 2002, single quotes mine).

Promotional Effectiveness of an Advertisement Essay Example for Free

Promotional Effectiveness of an Advertisement Essay This paper will examine the effectiveness of an advertisement for Giorgio Armani’s fragrance for men found in Men’s Health magazine. Focusing on the specifics of the ad, analysis will be done to depict the ins and outs of how the advertisement is conveying its message to the reader. To understand how marketers exploit their products to the consumers, the dynamics of an ad can be studied. Assessing the advertisement on a few important characteristics such as how the product is differentiated from the competitors, is there a need for redesign to obtain a more universal appeal, or are there any triggers which might evoke some negative emotions towards the product. The ad is a full page, double sided ad in the magazine. This is one of many fragrance promotions which are found throughout the magazine. To assess the characteristics of the ad, a number of questions can be asked to depict if there is room from improvement to effectively relay the marketer’s promotion. Promotional Effectiveness of an Advertisement Assessing the characteristics of an advertisement can lead to an understanding of how marketers promote their products to the consumer in effective or not so effective ways. Thumbing through Men’s Health magazine there are numerous ads. In fact, there seems to be an ad on every other page screaming out at the reader. To differentiate their product from other competitors, marketers have the task of effectively appealing to a universal customer without sacrificing the effectiveness of the target segment. In some cases there is a glaring need for a possible redesign or some other way to improve the advertisement. The strategies used by marketers to promote the Giorgio Armani’s fragrance can be assessed through a number of questions focusing on the effectiveness of the advertisement. According to Mullins and Walker Jr. (2010), identifying and having a clear understanding of the target market is essential for the planning and implementation of an effective promotional program (p. 368). By asking whether or not the ad effectively communicates the products benefits is a basic start and exactly what marketers want to relay to the reader. The target market is men who are reading through Men’s Health who come across this ad to see a young, attractive looking man in black and white photo with the fragrance bottle in the corner. On the other side a clear, bright picture of a wave crashing with a bottle of the fragrance in front of the wave. The marketers want the reader to see the benefits of being in the elite class of young, sleek looking men who wear the Armani fragrance. Marketers push a message of distinguished men wear our product. The wave gives the reader a feeling of clean, cool, and refreshing emotions and benefits from wearing the fragrance. Marketers use these pictures to convey the message of the products benefits. For marketers, differentiating from the competition is an important factor in promoting a product. In a magazine specifically for men, marketers of all big name brands take out full page ads to promote their individual product. Mullins and Walker Jr. (2010), mention that print media is much different than broadcast media because the reader selects the advertisement they want to read and take as much time as they want to read it (p. 354). With the Armani ad, there is a simple shot of a young man starring at the camera and a bottle in the corner. The back side has a flip up part to sample the fragrance. Thumbing through the rest of the magazine there are nine other, full paged fragrance ads located in the front of the magazine and most have a flip up sample on the back. All of them have a young attractive man looking at the camera in some similar variations of the Armani ad. Of course the fragrances all have their unique smell and that is a matter of taste in the consumer’s mind, but esthetically, the ad is not different at all. Improvements to better their uniqueness and elite class could be made. The market segment targeted in the ad is based on the person who is most likely to pick up a Men’s Health magazine, men. This might mean young or old but typically a young man in his twenties, thirties, forties, and maybe fifties. Marketers for Armani already have an advantage in knowing who are most likely to be the readers of Men’s Health and can narrow down their strategies to direct them towards the appropriate market segment. The ad is basically designed to have a universal appeal without sacrificing its effectiveness at the targeted segment and there really is not enough visual or literate information on the advertisement to trigger any real negative emotions towards the product, however, there could be room for improvement in some marketing strategies to improve the advertisement. The advertisement for Armani’s fragrance is clearly based around the sample of the fragrance on the back side which serves as the hook to get men craving that smell. There is not much that a marketer can do if the consumer does not enjoy the smell of the fragrance. However, to differentiate the product from the competitors’ products, a possible change in the typical shot of a man starring into the camera could improve the advertisement by creating interest in the uniqueness of the ad. The ad is in black and white which is different than the rest, but a change in the esthetics of the ad might separate Armani from the completion. An article in the Journal of American Academy of Business (2011) describes the importance of evaluating the marketing strategy. Possible improvements can be made in the advertisement for Armani by evaluating how effective there ad is with selling their product. Selecting and placing more importance on the pricing strategy might improve the effectiveness of the ad. The company could run a bundle deal with the different sized bottles. If the market segment is men, an attractive woman might get readers to stop more often. Celebrities always seem to push products well so maybe an endorsement could help. In the end, setting a clear and measurable objective can only be effective if it is evaluated right. Marketing managers for Armani face strategic decisions about how they can create a need and want for their fragrance. In the medium of print, marketers can narrow down their targeted market to exploit their product further and analyze what gets readers to select their promotional advertisement to read. Communicating the benefits, differentiating the product form competitors, identifying the market segment targeted, and analyzing the appeal of the product are ways to analyze the effectiveness of the promotion and find room for improvement if any. The Armani advertisement conveys a clear benefit through the use of their product by appealing to a targeted segment, but could use improvements in differentiating their strategies from the competition.

Child Soldiers Essay

Child Soldiers Essay What is a Child Soldier? Is using Child Soldiers really ok? Some may say that it’s alright to use child soldiers while others are trying to stop some countries in our world from using children as soldiers. Child soldiers are being used in our world today, these children are used to be spies, decoys, cooks, in the front lines of the battles and the girls are many times used as sex slaves. To become a child soldier many times the children are kidnapped from their homes and forced to kill their own family so they won’t have a home to return to. Many people in our world today do not agree with militaries using children to fight battles because it is ruining the lives children and also it is not fair to put a child fighting against a grown man or woman. The United Nations or the UN is trying to put a stop to children being used as soldiers and they have made a goal to have no child soldiers in the world by 2016. Many people believe that using child soldiers is very wrong and messed up, yet some countries use children as soldiers. The number of children being used as soldiers in our world has been growing every year. In our world today the number of child soldiers being used in wars i s close to 250, 000 children. Of all the child soldier in this world about 60% of them are boys and about 40% are girls. Back in the old days when guns were not as popular as they are in today’s world, child soldiers were not as popular. They weren’t as popular because the weapons used during wars were swords or large knifes which were much too heavy for a child to use against an enemy and would not have a chance against an actual adult soldier. Although in our world today the child soldiers are able to use assault rifles that are light enough for a child to handle. The assault rifles that are commonly found being used by the child soldiers are the M16 and the AK47 because these weapons are very light as well as very simple to operate. These weapons are so simple to use that a child soldier at an age of 10 years old can disassemble and reassemble it in a matter of minutes. Groups will use child soldiers during wars because nobody in the world wants to kill a child duri ng a war. The reason children are used as soldiers is because they are very easy to brainwash and manipulate. When an army or group has a child as a soldier they do not need to pay the child as much as they would have to pay adults in the army. Children also have not developed a full sense of danger so the army does not need to worry very much about the children running away from the battle. Since the children do not eat as much as adults the army does not need to spend a lot of money on food. Another reason militaries like to use children as soldiers is because they can be used as spies or even decoys because children can more easily blend into a crowd than an adult spy could because most people look at a child and don’t think they could do any harm to anyone or be an enemy. Children are very vulnerable to recruitment by groups or armies if they are not educated, poor, not with a family, or they live in a war zone. Many children do not volunteer to join these militaries that have child soldiers but instead they have been forcibly recruited by the militaries. Even though many governments have declared that using children as a soldier is illegal, rebel groups and armies still use children as soldiers. Many times in today’s world children are abducted from their homes and these children mainly come out of the country’s poorest villages and cities. A village may be forced to give a required number of their children to the army or group and in return they would be safe from any attacks by that army or group; a tactic that was made popular by the Lord’s Resistance Army which, is a rebel group that originated in Uganda that is known for using children as soldiers. Some children would be forced by their parents to volunteer because the paren ts could afford to pay for the food and shelter of their children, so if the children went into one of these armies then the child would at least be able to have food and water. Sometimes, the group will say that if the child joins the army then the child will be granted protection, food, and even payment but, most of the time the children aren’t given everything they were told they would get. When soldiers are going to go and get new child soldier recruits they many times make the child kill a member of their own family so then they would not be able to back to their family. â€Å"Once recruited, children undergo varying degrees of indoctrination, often verging on the brutal†¦..Some rebel groups in Cambodia and Mozambique turned children into fierce warriors by subjecting them to a brief period of terror and physical abuse—socializing them into violence.† Since many of these children have been outlawed by their village, have been brutal beaten both physically and mentally as well as being drugged multiple times, they are able to go to different villages and do the same thing to other children and recruit them because they have been brainwashed. Girls are used as well but not found as often in the gun fights like the boys. The girls are instead mainly used as cooks and fetching water for the soldiers. Unfortunately the young girls are very vulnerable the re for they are often used for sexual pleasures by the soldiers. (Children as Soldiers.Children as Soldiers. UNICEF, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2014). The effects on the children after what they have done and been through will stick with them longer than it took their physical scars to heal and for them to recover from their drug addictions. Many of these children don’t think anything of the violent acts they commit, whether that is beating someone or killing someone they do not see what they are doing is wrong. This can damage the child’s brain for the rest of their life because when they were committing all of the violence, their brain was in its developing stages. Even when the children that were one of the child soldiers have escaped or set free, the children cannot return back to the their villages and families because they have been outlawed by their community. These children have been outlawed from their village because when the children were being recruited for the army they had to kill a family member of theirs in order to join. A good amount of the girls that are child soldiers can’t return to their v illages because while they were a child soldier they became pregnant from one of the soldiers and now have a baby, which their village would not allow inside the village. Almost all of the child soldiers have little or no education since they missed so many years of school in the early years of their life. Since they do not have much of an education they do not have a very promising future ahead of them so they will go back to these groups that originally recruited them so that they will at least be able to have food and water. â€Å"In June 2013 the UN set a goal to have no child soldiers anywhere in the world by 2016.There are eight Government armies listed for the recruitment and use of children and six of them have already committed to making their armies child ­free. In 2012, South Sudan, Myanmar, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed action plans with the United Nations. The previous year, Afghanistan and Chad made similar commitments. Discussions initiated with the Governments of Yemen and Sudan are expected to lead to action plans in the near future.† Even though most of these governments have outlawed the use of children as soldiers, rebel groups within these countries will still continue to use children as soldiers, (Child Soldiers. Child Soldiers. War Child, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2014). The Child Soldiers International is a group of people from around the world that are working together to make sure that all children under the age of 18 are allowed to live in peace, have their rights and grow up in an area where they can thrive and reach their full potential. They believe that if this is to happen then children must be protected from being in any form of military and stay out of the wars. Child Soldiers International says that a child is anyone under the age of 18 years old; also these children must be protected because they are in their most important developmental stages of their lives, where they develop what is morally right or wrong and maturity both physically and psychologically. This international group has set an international law stating that a child under the age of 18 cannot be recruited to be in any form of military or armed group. The use of children through both civil wars and country wars has been obvious over the years. Many times the leaders of these groups and armies give the children false hopes and promises, the children are drugged to kill other people and even kill their own family. Even though using children as soldiers is looked down upon people in our world don’t see the harm it does to the children, they just look at how the children will help them. â€Å"Despite this, in the last ten years over two million children have been killed, over one million orphaned, over six million have been left seriously injured or permanently disabled and over 10 million have been diagnosed with psychological trauma.† There are two arguments when it comes down to the topic of whether child soldiers should be held responsible for their violent acts, (Child Soldiers: Invisible Children Child Soldiers- Defining the Topic. Child Soldiers: Invisible Children. Weebly, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2014). One side of the argument says that child soldiers should not be help responsible for their actions. They should not be held accountable because many of them did not have a choice of whether or not they wanted to become a child soldier. Also while they were child soldiers they were brainwashed through the use of drugs. The drugs would allow the child soldier to commit violent acts and not think acts were wrong. Some children would join to get food and water but never would have thought that they would have to do any actual fighting. The other side of the argument is that child soldiers should be held responsible for the violent acts they have committed. Some believe that child criminals and child soldiers are the same thing in a way and should be treated the same and be prosecuted. Child soldiers have been accountable for some of the most disturbing, brutal, and violent acts during a time of war, for example raping and killing large amounts of innocent people in villages and cities. Child soldiers are still being put in jail and put on trial, even though International Criminal Court Article 26 states that anyone under the age of 18 may not be prosecuted in a court of law. It would be a lie to say that all child soldiers are forced to fight because some child soldiers join the fight because they want to avenge a family members death. If a child is not forced to become a soldier but joins by free will then that child should be taken into custody because this child understood what they were doing and that it was wr ong. Some believe that it is not right to the victims of the child soldiers if the children are just allowed to walk free. If child soldiers did not have to be prosecuted for their crimes then their leaders would most likely make the children do all the crimes against others since the children will not be charged with anything. In our world today everyone has different opinions about whether or not child soldiers should be held accountable for their violent acts. The Children and Justice During and in the Aftermath of Armed Conflict report says: â€Å"If a child under the age of 15 is considered too young to fight, then he or she must also be considered too young to be held criminally responsible for serious violations of IHL while associated with armed forces or armed groups.† Children are recruited so much to be a soldier because they are very easily manipulated and intimidated. The children are to young to understand what the consequences of their actions can lead to, in other words they haven’t developed much mental maturity. All of the drugs that are used on the children does a lot of mental damage because their frontal lobes which controls what decisions to make is being significantly damaged and will not develop right. Radhika Coomaraswamy, SRSG for child soldiers, said, â€Å"If minor children who have committed serious war crimes are not prosecuted, this could be an incentive for their commanders to delegate to them the dirtiest orders, aiming at impunity,† ( Humanitarian News and Analysis. IRINnews. IRIN, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2014). In my opinion, I believe that child soldiers should not be held accountable for the violent acts. I have learned that child soldiers are many times kidnapped from their families and forced to kill a family member and are given many false hopes from their leaders. The child soldiers are drugged and brainwashed so that they can go around and kill innocent people as well as recruit more children like themselves. I believe that any person, especially a child, should not be prosecuted for their violent acts because they were not aware of whether what they were doing was right or wrong. I believe there is a difference in a child criminal and a child soldier because a child criminal is making a decision themselves and are completely aware of that they are doing, while a child soldier does not. For example, lets say a 10 year old boy kills his baby brother by drowning him in the tub. The 10 year old boy would be considered a child criminal and should be prosecuted because the boy was not for ced to kill his baby brother. Now if a child soldier has killed another person then I do not think they should be persecuted because they were forced to commit the violent act. Instead the child soldier should have to go through rehab. The Truth and Reconciliation Commissions and Disarmament is a much better way of helping children recover from their violent acts as a soldier so that they can go back out into the real world. Rehab programs have been proven to be successful when it comes to people recovering from war. A good example of someone that was a child soldier in Sierra Leone and went through rehab when he was rescued is Ishmael Beah, the author of A Long Way Gone. â€Å"At age sixteen, he was removed from fighting by UNICEF, and through the help of the staff at his rehabilitation center, he learned how to forgive himself, to regain his humanity, and, finally, to heal,† (Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007 . Print). A child soldier has a very rough and confusing life. A child soldier begins without having a family or village anymore because they have been outlawed due to killing a family member. The children are drugged and are forced to commit the most brutal acts of violence such as, raping and killing innocent people. Some say that child soldiers should be prosecuted due to the violent acts they have committed but, most of these children did not even understand what they were doing when committing the crimes. No child should have to kill to survive, if they try to escape the horror that surrounds them then they are killed. Our world today needs to make a huge effort to stop the use of children as soldiers because it is not right to ruin a child’s life for something they do not even understand. Bibliography Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Print. Cambridge Journals Online The Journal of Modern African Studies Abstract Children of War: Child Soldiers as Victims and Participants in the Sudan Civil War by C. Ryan London: I.B. Tauris, 2012. Pp. 320.  £59.50 (hbk). Cambridge Journals Online The Journal of Modern African Studies Abstract Children of War: Child Soldiers as Victims and Participants in the Sudan Civil War by C. Ryan London: I.B. Tauris, 2012. Pp. 320.  £59.50 (hbk). Cambridge University Press, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.Child Soldiers. Child Soldiers. War Child, n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2014. Child Soldiers: Invisible Children Child Soldiers- Defining the Topic. Child Soldiers: Invisible Children. Weebly, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. Dixon, Robyn. Former Sierra Leone Child Soldier Helps Other Victims. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2012. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. Government Forces Commit to End Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers. United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral for Children and Armed Conflict. United Nations, 17 June 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014. Humanitarian News and Analysis. IRINnews. IRIN, n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Employment Discrimination Essay -- Gender Discrimination

Issue 1. Did ABC advertising discriminate against Jean on the basis of sex when they failed to promote her? 2. Did ABC discriminate against Jean because of her religious beliefs and practices? 3. Did ABC discriminate against Jean because of her national origin? Brief Answers 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ms.Riyadh has not proved enough evidence to conclude that ABC discriminated against her because of her sex. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yes, Ms. Riyadh has some strong evidence that a reasonable jury might conclude that she has been discriminated against because of her religious beliefs. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  No, Ms. Riyadh hasn’t any proof of being discriminated against because of her national origin. Pg3 Statement of Facts   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ms.Riyadh has been employed as a account executive by ABC Advertising since 1978. ABC Advertising is a national marketing and advertising firm specializing in domestic and international advertising. She was hired by ABC after receiving her M.B.A with honors from the University of Michigan. While being employed by this company she has won three national awards.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ms.Riyadh feels that ABC has illegally discriminated against her. She alleges that it is company practice to promote employees from within. She states that each year she has received â€Å"outstanding performance† evaluation ratings since she has been employed there ABC has never given her a promotion and has repeatly pasted her over for any.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ms. Riyadh claims that all the male employees hired between 1978 and 1988 in same classification as she is have received a promotion from one to four times, and they also earn higher salaries. None of these employees have won any awards and are marginal employees. Ms.Riyadh says only three women have been promoted since she was hired, but men do outnumber women in all positions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At a preliminary inquiry ABC’s response to Ms.Riyadh’s allegations were that she was not promoted because she doesn’t â€Å"fit the image† that is right for the higher positions. They claim that the higher positions have high visibility, require extensive travel and have increased client contact which include presentations before corporate and professional groups. Although ABC states that Ms.Riya... ...9 F. Supp. 2d 844, 855; 2000) Plaintiff did not show that his employers refusal to give him a light- duty assignment was because he was a Jew. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ms.Riyadh has proved that she is a good employee ABC doesn’t dispute this fact. She has shown that she is qualified for the administrative position. Ms.Riyadh has not proved enough evidence that she was discriminated against because of her sex or gender. Nor has she prove enough evidence that her national origin played a role in not being promoted . I feel that she has provided enough evidence of being discriminated against due to her religious beliefs and practices. A reasonable jury would likely conclude that ABC legitimate non discriminatory reason for not promoting Ms.Riyadh is merely pretext and that her failure to believe in drinking alcohol and eating certain foods would not interfere with a higher position with ABC. Pg11 Reference: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  www.lexis.com †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  www.eeoc.gov.com †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  www.findlaw.com †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Legal Research and Writing for Paralegals by Deborah E. Bouchoux

A Women Of No Importance Essay

Explore the ways Wilde presents late nineteenth century women. What he is saying about the fashionable women of the time, their interests, ideas, attitudes and treatment in A Women f No Importance? A woman of no importance is a play about the upper and middle class. Wilde uses the women to portray is attitudes and views on the society of the nineteenth century. He portrays women in a way women would not have behaved at that time; this gives a comical atmosphere to the audience. In 1893 A women of no importance would have been very entertaining to watch, the audience would have found the play amusing however they would have been laughing at themselves as Wilde wrote the play to criticize the society. The play’s first setting is a female home with conversation between women; Wilde may have done this to show the importance of women. Lady Caroline is the first character the audience meet; Wilde may have also done this for a purpose. From the title ‘Lady’ we know Lady Caroline is a wealthy and high up in the aristocracy in England. She is a typical member of the high society; she has a very dominating overbearing personality and shows pride in her position. The Audience would have immediately recognised this from Lady Caroline’s conversation with Hester. She speaks down to her American guest, Hester who is travailing alone, â€Å"you have no country houses, I am told, in America?† Another theme that Wilde conveys through women is the theme Hypocrisy and double standards. This is again shown through Lady Caroline and her attitudes towards the puritan Hester. Lady Caroline criticises lady Hunstaton choice of guests â€Å"But Mrs Allonby is hardly a very suitable person† but then praises Lady Hunstaton for inviting her to a pleasant party, Wilde is effectively satirising members of high society. Hester vocalises her opinion that she dislikes Mrs Allonby but Lady Caroline patronises Hester â€Å"I am not sure, that foreigners like yourself should cultivate like or dislikes.† suggesting that Hester is not a valued member of society. Wilde mocks the attitude of the high society through the ignorant women. Lady Caroline is not as knowledgeable as she likes to make out, she continually keeps getting the name of the politician wrong, mistaking him for ‘Me kettle’ â€Å"Kevil, my love kevil.† The audience would mock Lady Caroline for this foolish mistake she keeps making. Hester Worsley’s title is changed as the play progresses. Hester is first referred to as ‘Miss Worsley’ then she becomes known as the ‘American’ and finally ‘A puritan’. Hester is a contrast to all the other women in A women of no importance and all the women take a dislike to her she told me yesterday, and in quite a loud voice, that she was only eighteen. It was most annoying.† She has strong morals, values and opinions which she is not afraid to express ‘I dislike London Dinner Parties’. Wilde may have used Hester’s character to present his on views on the English aristocratic society. Members of the high society frown upon those who are unmarried â€Å"I don’t think that England should be represented abroad by unmarried man† being married is more socially accepted. This gives the audience an impression of how shallow the society was and how status and social position dictate how people lived their lives. Lady Caroline’s and Sir Johns is very different to a traditional Victorian marriage. Usually the man is the dominant one and women were known as men’s property. However Wilde contrasts this view, by Lady Caroline having control over her husband, being the dominant one in the relationship â€Å"John you should have your muffler. What is the use of my always knitting mufflers for you if you don’t wear them?† Their relationship is clearly showing a lack of love and affection. Their relationship is more like a child and parent relationship because of the idea of Lady Caroline ‘spoiling’ Sir John. Wilde is suggesting that they are together out of convenience and presentation. Lady Caroline gives her husband orders in the same way lady Hunstaton orders her servants â€Å"you had better go and put your overshoes at once.† During the Victorian times when A women of no importance was written, women rights were begging to increase. In 1857 the matrimonial causes Act was established, in 1882 married women’s property act was confirmed, which gave women more rights and power over themselves, property and their children. These factors contributed to the way Wilde presented certain women especially Lady Caroline and Mrs Allonby. Mrs Allonby is very similar to lord Illingworth they are both described as ‘dandies’ they use language which is intended to shock the audience. At the end of act one is it clear that Mrs Allonby is flirting with Lord Illingworth â€Å"What a thoroughly bad man you must be!† Wilde creates Mrs Allonby as a character who considers being a person who restricts the morals and norms of the society, in Victorian times there would have been very strict morals and social codes. â€Å"Women adore failures, they lean on us† Mrs Allonby is going against the stereotype, the man having control within Victorian marriages. At the end of Act one Lord Illingworth reads Mrs Arbuthnot’s letter, he says â€Å"no one in particular A Woman of no importance†, the title of the play, which demonstrates Wilde’s views on the treatment of women in society. Act 1 ends giving the audience an impression of a self-concerned, hypocritical society. Wilde presents these ideas through the use of comedy which give a strong message to the audience.

The Rust Belt

The Rust Belt The term â€Å"Rust Belt† refers to what once served as the hub of American Industry. Located in the Great Lakes region, the Rust Belt covers much of the American Midwest (map). Also known as the â€Å"Industrial Heartland of North America†, the Great Lakes and nearby Appalachia were utilized for transportation and natural resources. This combination enabled the thriving coal and steel industries. Today, the landscape is characterized by the presence of old factory towns and post-industrial skylines. At the root of this 19th-century industrial explosion is an abundance of natural resources. The mid-Atlantic region is endowed with coal and iron ore reserves. Coal and iron ore are used to produce steel, and corresponding industries were able to grow through the availability of these commodities. Midwestern America has the water and transportation resources necessary for production and shipment. Factories and plants for coal, steel, automobiles, automotive parts, and weapons dominated the industrial landscape of the Rust Belt. Between 1890 and 1930, migrants from Europe and the American South came to the region in search of work. During the World War II era, the economy was fueled by a robust manufacturing sector and a high demand for steel. By the 1960s and 1970s, increased globalization and competition from overseas factories caused the dissolution of this industrial center. The designation â€Å"Rust Belt† originated at this time because of the deterioration of the industrial region. States primarily associated with the Rust Belt include Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. Bordering lands include parts of Wisconsin, New York, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Ontario, Canada. Some major industrial cities of the Rust Belt include Chicago, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Cleveland, and Detroit. Chicago, Illinois Chicago’s proximity to the American West, the Mississippi River, and Lake Michigan enabled a steady flow of people, manufactured goods, and natural resources through the city. By the 20th century, it became the transportation center of Illinois. Chicago’s earliest industrial specialties were lumber, cattle, and wheat. Built in 1848, The Illinois and Michigan Canal was the primary connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, and an asset to Chicagoan commerce. With its extensive rail network, Chicago became one of the largest railroad centers in North America and is the manufacturing center for freight and passenger railroad cars. The city is the hub of Amtrak and is directly connected by rail to Cleveland, Detroit, Cincinnati, and the Gulf Coast. The state of Illinois remains a great producer of meat and grain, as well as iron and steel. Baltimore, Maryland On the eastern shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, roughly 35 miles south of the Mason Dixon Line lies Baltimore. The rivers and inlets of Chesapeake Bay endow Maryland one of the longest waterfronts of all the states. As a result, Maryland is a leader in the production of metals and transportation equipment, primarily ships. Between the early 1900s and the 1970s, much of Baltimore’s young populace sought factory jobs at the local General Motors and Bethlehem Steel plants. Today, Baltimore is one of the nation’s largest ports and receives the second greatest amount of foreign tonnage. Despite Baltimore’s location east of Appalachia and the Industrial Heartland, its proximity to water and the resources of Pennsylvania and Virginia created an atmosphere in which large industries could thrive. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh experienced its industrial awakening during the Civil War. Factories began producing weapons, and the demand for steel grew. In 1875, Andrew Carnegie built the first Pittsburgh steel mills. Steel production created demand for coal, an industry that succeeded similarly. The city was also a major player in the World War II effort when it produced nearly one hundred million tons of steel. Located on the western edge of Appalachia, coal resources were readily available to Pittsburgh, making steel an ideal economic venture. When the demand for this resource collapsed during the 1970s and 1980s, Pittsburgh’s population fell dramatically. Buffalo, New York Located on the eastern shores of Lake Erie, the City of Buffalo expanded greatly during the 1800s. The construction of the Erie Canal facilitated travel from the east, and heavy traffic sparked the development of the Buffalo Harbor on Lake Erie. Trade and transportation through Lake Erie and Lake Ontario poised Buffalo as the â€Å"Gateway to the West†. Wheat and grain produced in the Midwest were processed at what became the largest grain port in the world. Thousands in Buffalo were employed by the grain and steel industries; notably Bethlehem Steel, the city’s major 20th-century steel producer. As a significant port for trade, Buffalo was also one of the country’s largest railroad centers. Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland was a key American industrial center during the late 19th century. Built near large coal and iron ore deposits, the city was home to John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company in the 1860s. Meanwhile, steel became an industrial staple that contributed to Cleveland’s flourishing economy. Rockefeller’s oil refining was reliant on the steel production taking place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Cleveland became a transportation hub, serving as the half-point between the natural resources from the west, and the mills and factories of the east. Following the 1860s, railroads were the primary method of transport through the city. The Cuyahoga River, the Ohio and Erie Canal, and nearby Lake Erie also provided Cleveland accessible water resources and transportation throughout the Midwest. Detroit, Michigan As the epicenter of Michigan’s motor vehicle and parts production industry, Detroit once housed many wealthy industrialists and entrepreneurs. The post World War II automobile demands led to the city’s rapid expansion, and the metro area became home to General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. The increase in demand for automobile production labor led to a population boom. When parts production moved to the Sun Belt and overseas, residents went with. Smaller cities in Michigan such as Flint and Lansing experienced a similar fate. Located along the Detroit River between Lake Erie and Lake Huron, Detroit’s successes were aided by resource accessibility and the draw of promising employment opportunities. Conclusion Albeit â€Å"rusty† reminders of what they once were, Rust Belt cities remain today as centers of American commerce. Their rich economic and industrial histories equipped them with the memory of a great deal of diversity and talent, and they are of American social and cultural significance.

Free Essays on Distorted Sexual Values

Williams 1 Distorted Sexual Values In today’s society it is evident that premarital sex is a common view. This can be due to several reasons. The meaning of sex is different o different people the word sex alone has several connotations it may refer to gender, the reality of our being male or female example â€Å"opposite sex†. It may pertain to erotic awareness and arousal the attraction toward and desire for intimacy with another example sex appeal. The word sex also used to indicate function activity involving the genital organ as in "having sex"(Clarke 230). This causes confusion in the minds of may people in society today. In the comic strip â€Å"Cathy† Cathy Guise- Wite captures the confusion of many in this comic. As the almost but not quite liberated â€Å"Cathy† is getting dressed to go out on a date, she reflects: â€Å"I’m wearing the â€Å"heirloom lace’ of my grandmothers generation †¦with the conscience of my mothers generation †¦coping with the mora ls of my generation†¦ No mater what I do tonight, I’m going to offend myself† (Clark 231). Society as a whole is confused about sex and its sex values. Sex is a gift from the creator, a part of human God given nature and as such it is good. Writers of scripture clearly endorse the celebration of human sexuality. Society must remember, â€Å"sexuality must be expressed according to the makers instructions† (Clarke 233). Sex has been given this view or definition of something that should be used naturally everyday, when ever we want enjoyment (Leone 22). In the world today all that we do is for self-gratification and pleasing one’s desires. This has had a major role on people’s sexual values/ morals. Williams 2 There is a large group of people in society today that hold the belief that premarital sec is helping society. Leone quotes The Humanist to show the views that many have. Physical pleasure ha worth as a moral value. Traditional religious and social v... Free Essays on Distorted Sexual Values Free Essays on Distorted Sexual Values Williams 1 Distorted Sexual Values In today’s society it is evident that premarital sex is a common view. This can be due to several reasons. The meaning of sex is different o different people the word sex alone has several connotations it may refer to gender, the reality of our being male or female example â€Å"opposite sex†. It may pertain to erotic awareness and arousal the attraction toward and desire for intimacy with another example sex appeal. The word sex also used to indicate function activity involving the genital organ as in "having sex"(Clarke 230). This causes confusion in the minds of may people in society today. In the comic strip â€Å"Cathy† Cathy Guise- Wite captures the confusion of many in this comic. As the almost but not quite liberated â€Å"Cathy† is getting dressed to go out on a date, she reflects: â€Å"I’m wearing the â€Å"heirloom lace’ of my grandmothers generation †¦with the conscience of my mothers generation †¦coping with the mora ls of my generation†¦ No mater what I do tonight, I’m going to offend myself† (Clark 231). Society as a whole is confused about sex and its sex values. Sex is a gift from the creator, a part of human God given nature and as such it is good. Writers of scripture clearly endorse the celebration of human sexuality. Society must remember, â€Å"sexuality must be expressed according to the makers instructions† (Clarke 233). Sex has been given this view or definition of something that should be used naturally everyday, when ever we want enjoyment (Leone 22). In the world today all that we do is for self-gratification and pleasing one’s desires. This has had a major role on people’s sexual values/ morals. Williams 2 There is a large group of people in society today that hold the belief that premarital sec is helping society. Leone quotes The Humanist to show the views that many have. Physical pleasure ha worth as a moral value. Traditional religious and social v...