What Duty of Care Means in Children’s and Young People’s Settings

1, What duty of care means in children's and young people's settings. Duty of care in children's and young peoples setting means the adults providing care have to ensure the child is kept safe from any form of harm or abuse. This can include giving full attention, watching for hazards, accidents and mistakes and following correct procedures. Also ensuring the child is the most important part of your day. 2, How the duty of care contributes to the safeguarding or protection of individuals.The duty of care contributes to safeguarding by ensuring the child is happy, healthy and safe whilst in your care. This can be done by undertaking thorougher risk assessments and procedures/precautions to avoid accidents, mistakes and hazards such as making sure all equipment is clean and not broken, children are supervised at all time by staff who have the relevant checks and health standards are maintained when preparing food and changing nappies.Giving children attention and observing their behavi or also contributes to safeguarding as you will be better placed to notice any needs the child has as they develop. Task C 1, The main points of agreed procedures for handling complaints in children and young people's settings Listen to complaint Record complaint in writing including all details and facts Speak to manager Ensure person complaining knows a time frame for complaint to be investigated and dealt with Manager will then speak to relevant people, investigate and report back to complainant , How would you respond to a complaint. I would listen carefully and respectfully to the complaint, if appropriate (depending on the nature of the complaint) I would ask other members of staff if they can offer an insight as to what happened, then refer it to my manager. If the manager was not available I would take a written account of all the details/facts and contact the manager who would then investigate and report back to me and the complainant. If the complaint was a staff on staff complaint I would refer it straight to my manager.

The Doctrine of the Word of God

The Doctrine of the Word of God The world of God is often believed to be the deliverance of the God’s Spirit. Hence, the word spoken by the God is essentially the power of the word that is spoken by the God. Thus, this word is impersonal. Hence, the discourse of the word falls evenly on all the people who hear them.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Doctrine of the Word of God specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Scripture, on the other hand, discusses how it will determine the responses favorably as was argued by Paul in Roman 9:1-28 (Frame 2013, 529). Thus, to demonstrate the power of the word, scripture accompanies it all the time, rendering it powerless. Does that mean that the power of God becomes negligible when there is no scripture to support it? Effectually, the above statement implies that the scripture always follows the power of the God. The intensity and the nature of the power depend on God’s intent. The word of G od is often compared to the omnipotence of the divine: as stated in Isaiah 55:11, â€Å"So shall my word be that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I purpose, and shall succeed in thing for which I sent it† (Frame 2013, 529). The presence of power in the word of the God is essential as it is power that steers things in meaningful direction. The word of God towards Adam and Eve during the beginning of Genesis was more authoritative and imposed on the hearers to listen to the dictum attentively and respond appropriately. The presence of the God is perpetuated through the word of God. In other words, the word of God implies his presence. This has been properly described by Paul in Romans 10:6-8: But the righteousness based on faith says, â€Å"Do not say in your heart, â€Å"Who will ascend into heaven?† (that is, to bring Christ down) or â€Å"Who will descend into the abyss?† (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it sa y? â€Å"The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart† (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim). (Frame 2013, 531)Advertising Looking for research paper on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Thus, it can be stressed that the presence of Christ is through his words and the faith that we have on Him is actually the faith for His words. The Holy Spirit is also believed to be close to the word of the God. The presence of the spirit and the word is simultaneous, and one does not exist without the other. God’s word is the essence of Christian belief. The idea of God is based on his words. The word of God is believed to be able to rule all aspects of human life. The word of God is not restricted only to evangelical activity, but rather to all aspects of the life. Thus, our belief in God and our whole existence, our work, thought, what we eat or drink is dictated by the word of th e God. Hence, the scholastic work that we do is dominated by Christian beliefs and in turn by the word of the God. The Gospel is a tradition, but His word that is transferred through ancestors, the apostles, and churches, creates a criterion of discipleship dominated by a doctrine or behavior. According to a prominent scholar of recent times, Karl Barth, the revelation of God cannot be preserved and exists only in a moment of crisis and leaves us with memories and expectations (Frame 2013, 565). The sovereignty of God is established through scriptures preserved in monasteries. The scripture enunciates that God, in order to ensure the sovereignty of his revelation, established as a permanent part of the human life and not simply as a recollection. The book of the law was presented in the holiest part of the tabernacle. The permanent law of God established the sovereignty of God over other people. It is man who tries to add word, ignore it, and/or misuse the permanence of the sign: â €Å"The grass withers, the flowers fades, but the word of our God will stand forever† (from Isa. 40:8, Frame 2013, 565).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Doctrine of the Word of God specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Written prophecy by God after the time of Moses and Joshua shows that the word of God was present all throguh. The Isaiah 8:1-2 mentioend: Then the Lord said to me, â€Å"Take a large tablet and write on ti in common characters ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-has-baz.’ And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechairiah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.† (Frame 2013, 569). Thus, the ideas of a Christian would be different from that of people who are not Christians. Frame does not imply that Christians have to disagree with the non-Christian views (2013, 569). Thus, the knowledge of Christianity as discoursed through God is the word of human knowledg e. The written word of God is related to divine revelation and not to divine experience. The Genesis 8:20 points out that Noah built an alter on occasion of God delivering him from the flood (Frame 2013, 564). The revelation of Jesus is something that Paul had seen and then had spread the word. Thus Paul states, â€Å"So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions [paradosis] that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter† (Frame 2013, 564). In Christian faith, the sovereignty of God lies not only in the control of God, but also in his conventional presence. The involvement is with the presence of authority. Authority is thus described as scripting the reformed faith and gains an abstract idea of the divine control. The most important aspect is that of presence. God’s presence is confronted through every fact, through every affair and all people. Thus, due to the presence of prevalence of the conventional lordship of God under the domi nion nothing remains in neutrality or as it is. It is during this time that the comprehensiveness of God’s power is questioned and reformed by people. The â€Å"word† is an attribute of the speech. This word when attributed to God results in his orally disseminating the message. Thus, God is a speaking person rather than an inanimate idol (Whelan 1990, 132). The word of God is not similar to God himself, but God’s word is substitutable – God accepts the word and speaks it as a dictum to all. The differences in scriptures establish little difference in the word spoken by God.Advertising Looking for research paper on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Further, there lies a difference between the unity and/or dissimilarity between God’s word and God himself. The mystery is related to that of the trinity and is reminiscent of the name or word given to the trinity i.e. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (McNeill 1959, 141). Thus, it will not be right to equate the word with that of the second person. Thus, Jesus speaks the word but he is not the word itself. However, it must be noted that the underlying relationship that may exist between word and the holy trinity is probably beyond our understanding. The word of God is similar to that of the divine presence. The essence of divinity is imbued in the word spoken by God. Thus, the word may be treated in second person and equate to others. The texts on theology demonstrate the relation between the attributes of divinity and the essence of God. It is believed that divine attributes are not parts of God, but rather inseparable aspects of the being. These attributes are responsible for t he holiness and the wisdom of the infinite people registered in the name of God and thus becomes an inseparable entity. The attributes represent a link to holiness and that of the infinite. The purpose, therefore, is to understand the essence of wisdom through the word of God. Thus, the word and God become inseparable. The word of God and the essence of the God’s presence are not related to the creation of the Bible as the God’s mode of existence. Thus, it can be deduced that God will cease to retain his sovereign status without the presence of his words. The communication between the trinity and the ontological aspects of the life within the trinity assists in establishing the presence of God. However, it must be noted that God’s words are not strewn with speeches about the God’s creatures. It is not because that would make God dependent on his subjects. Instead, God speaks of free speech, which is not necessary for the divine being. Reference List Frame , John M. 2013. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief. Pillipsburg, NJ: PR Publishing. McNeill, John T. 1959. The Significance of the Word of God for Calvin. Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture 28, no. 02 (June): 131-146. Whelan, Estelle. 1990. Writing the Word of God: Some Early QurÄ n Manuscripts and Their Milieux, Part I. Ars Orientalis 20: 113-147.

What causes the 1979 rice riot in Monrovia, Liberia What are the Coursework

What causes the 1979 rice riot in Monrovia, Liberia What are the effects of this riot This is a cause and effect essay - Coursework Example Moreover, the negative effects of the rice riots continued for long period. Most importantly, the administration was forced to get down and give the way for new government. As it was resisted by the ruling regime, all intensified efforts were made to throw away the administration and in that process, the public life was paralyzed for a long period in the name of civil war. The inflation and prices of other commodities also increased considerably (AllAfrica.com, 2005). The people faced difficulty in having access to necessary services like health and education and hence their quality of life suffered severely. Hence, keeping these points in consideration, the present essay is an attempt to answer the following thesis statement. The main reason for the origin of rice riots in 1979 is the increase in rice price by 39%. The Tolbert administration wanted to increase the rice price to encourage the local rice production and to discourage the imports of rice from other nations to Liberia (Broderick, 2007). On 14th APRIL, 1979, the price of parboiled rice was hiked from $22 per 100 lb. bag of rice, to $30 which has angered the general public severely as the price rise of rice affected their daily intake and consumption of rice leading to malnutrition. They couldn’t tolerate this decision and started conducting the demonstrations in Monrovia to which the government responded with firearms. This has led to death of forty people several others were wounded which has fuelled the crisis further and civilians felt that the government was forcefully controlling them to continue the price rise of rice (Emmanuel, 2008). Moreover, the President Tolbert even called some foreign troops from neighboring Republic of Gui nea for establishing peace, but the people felt it as another forceful measure of imposing the rigid decision taken by the

Strategic Marketing Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Strategic Marketing Management - Essay Example The group was founded in the year 1968 and its first restaurant was opened up in the district of Causeway Bay of Hong Kong in the year 1969. At present, the group has over 540 retail outlets all over the world with its several brands. This paper will deal with the study and analysis of the fast food industry in Hong Kong and accordingly will penetrate into one of the strategic business units of Cafe de Coral. The strategic business units of Cafe de Coral consist of fast food, specialty restaurants, institutional catering, food processing and distribution and overseas. In this research paper, the fast food unit of Cafe de Coral at Hong Kong will be taken up for evaluation. With respect to the analysis of the industry and strategic business unit of Cafe de Coral, specific strategic direction and relevant execution explanation will be provided (Cafe de Coral, 2011). 2.0 Industry Competition The fast food industry competitiveness in Hong Kong will be discussed in this section with refere nce to the Porter’s Five Forces Model. The forces of the model consist of barriers to entry into the Hong Kong’s fast food industry, bargaining power of the buyers in the industry, bargaining power of the suppliers, threat of the substitutes in the industry and the rivalry among the existing players in the industry. 2.1 Threats of New Entrants The threats of the new entrants have to be described in terms of a few aspects for evaluating the factors totally. The aspects are the economies of scale, capital requirements, product differentiation and cost disadvantages. Taking the advantage of the economies of scale, the new entrants interested in the class of limited service restaurants can seek certain favour to economies of scale. But these advantages get weakened by the alleviation of founding a restaurant that provides quick service. Differentiating the products or the fast food being provided is a difficult task in the industry, but for private start-ups this is not a difficulty and thus not a barrier to entry. The requirements of initial capital might repress the development of nation. The cost disadvantages stem from the fact that the established companies in the fast food industry already enjoy the advantage of innovative technology, favourable sites, access to raw materials, experience and government subsidies. There is stiff competition in the Hong Kong fast food industry due to the presence of an enormous number of fast food chains and restaurants. In spite of all these facts, the strategic business unit of Cafe de Coral perceives a high future growth as the receipts of food and beverages have showed upward trend during the past years. From all these analysis, it can be inferred that the entry barriers in the Hong Kong fast food industry is not high and according to the current market condition, the SBU expects growth (ACCA, 2010). 2.2 Bargaining Power of Buyers The Hong Kong fast food industry is characterised by several individual custome rs who place pretty small orders.

Delegation Example in a Health Care Setting Presentation Speech or

Delegation Example in a Health Care Setting - Speech or Presentation Example Fifthly it would focus on such stakeholders and aiders in the nursing process that would be impacted by changes in decision making. Sixthly out of the different stakeholders the project would focus on identifying the Right Stakeholder for Conducting and implementing the decision taken. Seventhly it would focus on choosing the right mode of communication to communicate the plan to the staff and stakeholders for solving the problem. Eighthly strategies are also needed to design the process of countering potential conflicts. Ninthly a model of gaining proper feedback from the participants needs to be formulated that in the tenth case would help in making effective evaluation of the problem-solving delegation model and also place needed recommendations where essential. Slide 3 The Delegation Model The Delegation Model chosen for nursing is based essentially on Five Rights. The Factors of Righteousness concerning Delegation can be conceptually underlined as follows. Firstly, it must be no ted that that the tasks assigned fall in the category of being rightly delegated to others and should not fall in the ambit of nursing practice. Secondly, in the process of delegation it is required to be understood that the person chosen to be delegated is competent and right enough to satisfy the requirements of the task chosen. Thirdly, evaluation must be conducted as to whether the decision taken pertaining to the assignment of the task enhances the right of nursing care rendered to patients and thereby involves the accomplishment of different steps to achieve a favorable outcome. In the process of delegation it is required to rightly communicate the process or steps involved in the plan to the different stakeholder groups elucidating and emphasizing the process of conducts and expectations thereof. Finally the fifth step focuses on gaining effective feedback from the participants or stakeholder groups in the task delegation process that in turn would help in enhancing the amoun t of benefits rendered to the patients. This step also includes rightly evaluating the model in helping in achieving the objectives for which it had been incorporated and thereby providing useful recommendations (Clark, 2008, p.186). Slide 4 The Healthcare Problem Quality of services rendered through healthcare is countering problems owing to the shift from standards or best practices involved pertaining to pathological timings. It is observed that in many cases the morning pathological functions concerning collection of blood, urine and stool samples and subjecting them to tests get disrupted owing to the loss of focus and unavailability of required staff. Owing to the above case the formulation of pathological reports counters a major problem thereby rendering threat to the process of medication and treatment involved pertaining to the patients (Harris, 2005, p.395-396). Slide 5 Stakeholders to the Delegation Process The stakeholders to the delegation of tasks pertaining to the ef fective operation of the morning laboratories would consist of the following parties: Doctors, Laboratory Staff, Nursing Aids, Patients Involved and Nursing Staff. These people are identified as stakeholders to the delegation process in healthcare for they have significant interests and also would be potentially affected pertaining to the level of outcomes resulting thereof. These groups of stakeholders consist of both external and

Gone with the Wind Essay Example for Free

Gone with the Wind Essay Gone with the Wind is an adaptation of an historical romance. The film, set in Civil War-era southern United States, tends to be highly sentimental. Paradoxically, the circumstances in which it is set are often harrowing and serve to highlight the bravery required to survive during that time. The frothiness of the plot is in stark contrast to the utter seriousness of its context. The film opens in the antebellum South, on a Georgia plantation where the heroine entertains two gentlemen callers. The talk is of imminent war, a theme which guests carry through the subsequent picnic. Talk then turns to action and the men depart to enlist in the Confederate Army. Confidence and jubilation quickly become disappointment which gives way to horror as the realities of war intrude upon the genteel tableau. Under assault, the Southerners struggle to keep their society together in the face of poverty, filth, and chaos. We see the major historical points of the period, especially Shermans march through Georgia and the burning of Atlanta, a scorched earth policy. The women are the main characters in the film. In the effects of war and its aftermath we see destitution, famine, terror, desperation. The wounded are legion and supplies dwindle and disappear. The war ends and the soldiers come home to regroup. Carpetbaggers descend and begin an uneasy alliance with enterprising individuals, notably Scarlett. She casts aside honor to regain prosperity, marrying for money and using her combination of feminine wiles and shrewdness to rise above abject poverty. Finally she marries Rhett, a selfish opportunist like her. At the end he realizes that she will never love him and leaves Scarlett with that which has sustained her; an abiding love for Tara. This narrative is history seen from the womens perspective. They are alternately brave, childish, and childlike, treading on the line between what they are and what they must be. They do it for the men of the South, themselves, and for the South itself. The depiction of the war and the events surrounding it is largely consistent with the historical record. The factual portions of the film are in part accurate. For instance, at a benefit supporting the war, the ladies are asked to relinquish their jewelry. Such a depiction is consistent with the account in The American Civil War by Peter J. Parish and it highlights one of the sacrifices women made during this time. George A. Trenholm, who replaced Secretary of the Confederate Treasury Memminger, asked for these concessions as the finances of the South became particularly desperate. This detail concerns one of the points at which Gone With the Wind succeeds as history. †¦wealthy female slaveholders escaped significant disruption in their lives at the outset of the war, for they had money to maintain their antebellum lifestyle and the slaves to maintain plantation production. (Frank 514) Thus the sheltered experience depicted in the film is wholly consistent with rich womens lives until the last stages of the period. In opposition, several events as depicted in Gone with the Wind are inaccurate. At the end and after the war, black people did not leap to the aid of their former masters as the film asserts. The character Mammy would have sought paid employment rather than stay on a ruined plantation. In reality, the vast majority of the planters used violence to subjugate their property. In one scene, the character Ashley Wilkes chides Scarlett for treating the convict workers in her lumber mill cruelly in supposed contrast with their treatment of the slaves. It is true that in the darkest days for the South they did choose to prevail upon the Negroes to fight for their own oppression. There was no greater irony in all the efforts of the Confederacy to find adequate means to match its ambitious goals than the proposal to arm Negroes. (Parish 561) But the slaves did not fight for the South as much for a newfound and cherished liberty, greater than they had ever known. And once they had tasted that liberty, they did not willingly acquiesce in the imposition of a terrible, unjust burden. The importance of the Civil War and its aftermath can hardly be overstated. The struggle has been the only armed conflict fought on our territory. It consumed nearly 500,000 lives, the largest wartime death toll in American history. It also was a first step in remedying the shame of slavery which Americans had perpetrated in a country which largely had been the realization of a vision of freedom and equality. They fought with not only the political reality of the Souths secession of 1861, but with the regions separate psychology. By 1860 the South was a state of mind as well as a place on the map. A definition of Southernness was and is at least as much a task for the psychologist as for the geographer. (Parish 303) This enduring mindset notwithstanding, had the South won, not only would the crime of slavery have been continued, it is doubtful that the U. S. would have grown into the superpower it is today. The war determined that an integral part of the union would remain. The significance of the war for the world at large in the mid-nineteenth century †¦belongs in part to the realm of might-have-beens; its long-term consequences derived less from what did happen from what did not. (Parish 381) Among the events that very well might have happened were interference from foreign governments, international recognition of the Confederacy, and the widening of this internecine war into a general conflagration abroad. Such luck for the union was due to the relative isolation the U. S. has enjoyed throughout its history. Americans fought their war amid constant threats from abroad. There was nothing inevitable about the fact that it remained a domestic†¦affair. It remained a purely American affair through a combination of good fortune and great skill on the part of those who wished to keep it so, gross errors on the part of those who did not, and canny calculations of national and self-interest on the part of those who might have been caught in its toils. (Parish 381) Although some continue to fight this war in their minds, they benefit from over 200 years of federal association and its attendant largess. As I stated earlier, with regard to the historical accuracy of the film as document, it is a womens narrative. Though there was no Scarlett OHara per se, the things we see her experience and perpetrate on others is consistent with the accounts of those who actually lived in that time and place. The threat of starvation was indeed present in all households in the later stages. Domestic production and ingenuity staved off a state of crisis for slaveholding women for a while, but, by the end of the war starvation and material deprivation shook even the most affluent households. (Frank 515) When Scarlett was forced to hide her wagon under a bridge with three highly vulnerable people in it while Northern soldiers passed overhead, she was surviving a circumstance familiar to many Southern women. †¦many faced the hazards of living in the path of the Union army. Those who resided near the battlefront risked having their property commandeered, stolen, or destroyed by Northern soldiers. (Frank 515) Such dangers were in addition to the threat, both potential and realized, of bodily violation. Scarlett valiantly, not to say desperately, defends herself and her loved ones against a looting Union soldier when she shoots him in the face. It is an act not uncommon to those willing and able to defend themselves. The depiction of slave and ex-slave loyalty is highly romanticized to say the least. Gone with the Wind depicts Negroes as possessing a childlike innocence. They seem to be a rich vein of merriment instead of the human beings upon which the horrors of bondage had been visited. Nowhere do we see slaverys pain and degradation. The black characters in the film are even more a caricature than even the heroine is at times. The films tendency toward opaque sentiment at first glance is a terrible injustice to a period quite painful to the American psyche be it black or white, Northern or Southern. Certainly the film is nowhere near the caliber of slave narratives, Ken Burns the Civil War, or Uncle Toms Cabin. However, it is important as hitherto all-too-often neglected genre of womens history. Seldom in mainstream culture is the womens perspective represented so faithfully. And equally seldom is it given the attention and resources devoted to this film. It is simply not taken seriously enough and shunted off into womens studies classes rather than included in the mainstream of scholarship. Valuable though they are, the womens studies classes or gender studies courses tend to attract the favor of those predisposed to appreciate them. Gone With the Wind, for a long while a staple of popular culture, has reached a much wider audience. In many ways this movie is indeed an historical romance, ladies fiction. However it is also a significant historical document. Many more people have learned about the Civil War from the womens point of view by means of viewing this film than from any other source. This fact, in addition to its inclusion of important data, renders it deserving of attention and respect. For instance, it highlights the worthlessness of the Confederate currency, a situation which underscores the sheer lack of administrative competence displayed in the South at all stages of the war. Not only did the Confederates fight the North, they also had to contend with the inherent weaknesses of their fledgling nation, as they sought to envision it. Many things weakened The Cause, most notably slaverys lack of long-term viability as an economic model. The South was heavily invested in a system which had no hope of succeeding beyond a few years. To a great extent, the Confederacy fell under its own weight, much to the past and continuing chagrin if its champions and much to the edification of the nation of which it is a part as well as humankind in general. If only the proof of that assertion would not have required the death of so many and the maiming of still more. Bibliography Frank, Lisa Tendrich. Women in the American Civil War Vol. II. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, Inc. , 2008 Parish, Peter J. American Civil War, the. New York: Holmes and Meier, 1975.

The Difference Between Men And Women

The Difference Between Men And Women Understanding The Difference Between Men And Women For centuries, the differences between men and women were socially defined and distorted through a lens of sexism in which men assumed superiority over women and maintained it through domination. As the goal of equality between men and women now grows closer we are also losing our awareness of important differences. In some circles of society, politically correct thinking is obliterating important discussion as well as our awareness of the similarities and differences between men and women. The vision of equality between the sexes has narrowed the possibilities for discovery of what truly exists within a man and within a woman. The world is less interesting when everything is same. It is my position that men and women are equal but different. When I say equal, I mean that men and women have a right to equal opportunity and protection under the law. The fact that people in this country are assured these rights does not negate my observation that men and women are at least as different psychologically as they are physically. None of us would argue the fact that men and women are physically different. The physical differences are rather obvious and most of these can be seen and easily measured. Weight, shape, size and anatomy are not political opinions but rather tangible and easily measured. The physical differences between men and women provide functional advantages and have survival value. Men usually have greater upper body strength, build muscle easily, have thicker skin, bruise less easily and have a lower threshold of awareness of injuries to their extremities. Men are essentially built for physical confrontation and the use of force. Their joints are well suited for throwing objects. A man’s skull is almost always thicker and stronger than a women’s. The stereotype that men are more thick-headed than women is not far fetched. A man’s thick headedness, and other anatomical differences have been associated with a uniquely male attraction to high speed activities and reckless beh avior that usually involve collisions with other males or automobiles. Men invented the game chicken, not women. Men, and a number of other male species of animal seem to charge and crash into each other a great deal in their spare time. Women on the other hand have four times as many brain cells (neurons) connecting the right and left side of their brain. This latter finding provides physical evidence that supports the observation that men rely easily and more heavily on their left brain to solve one problem one step at a time. Women have more efficient access to both sides of their brain and therefore greater use of their right brain. Women can focus on more than one problem at one time and frequently prefer to solve problems through multiple activities at a time. Nearly every parent has observed how young girls find the conversations of young boys boring. Young boys express confusion and would rather play sports than participate actively in a conversation between 5 girls who are discussing as many as three subjects at once! The psychological differences between man and women are less obvious. They can be difficult to describe. Yet these differences can profoundly influence how we form and maintain relationships that can range from work and friendships to marriage and parenting. Recognizing, understanding, discussing as well as acting skillfully in light of the differences between men and women can be difficult. Our failure to recognize and appreciate these differences can become a life long source of disappointment, frustration, tension and eventually our downfall in a relationship. Not only can these differences destroy a promising relationship, but most people will grudgingly accept or learn to live with the consequences. Eventually they find some compromise or way to cope. Few people ever work past these difficulties. People tend to accept what they don’t understand when they feel powerless to change it. Relationships between men and women are not impossible or necessarily difficult. Problems simply arise when we expect or assume the opposite sex should think, feel or act the way we do. It’s not that men and women live in completely different realities. Rather, our lack of knowledge and mutual experience gives rise to our difficulties. Despite great strides in this country toward equality, modern society hasn’t made relationships between men and women any easier. Today’s society has taught us and has imposed on us the expectation that men and women should live together continuously, in communion, and in harmony. These expectations are not only unrealistic but ultimately they leave people feeling unloved, inadequate, cynical, apathetic or ashamed. The challenge facing men and women is to become aware of their identities, to accept their differences, and to live their lives fully and as skillfully as possible. To do this we must first understand in what ways we are different. We must avoid trying to change others to suit our needs. The following illustrates some important differences between men and women. These differences are not absolute. They describe how men and women are in most situations most of the time. Problems Men and women approach problems with similar goals but with different considerations. While men and women can solve problems equally well, their approach and their process are often quit different. For most women, sharing and discussing a problem presents an opportunity to explore, deepen or strengthen the relationship with the person they are talking with. Woman are usually more concerned about how problems are solved than merely solving the problem itself. For women, solving a problem can profoundly impact whether they feel closer and less alone or whether they feel distant and less connected. The process of solving a problem can strengthen or weaken a relationship. Most men are less concerned and do not feel the same as women when solving a problem. Men approach problems in a very different manner than women. For most men, solving a problem presents an opportunity to demonstrate their competence, their strength of resolve, and their commitment to a relationship. How the problem is solved is not nearly as important as solving it effectively and in the best possible manner. Men have a tendency to dominate and to assume authority in a problem solving process. They set aside their feelings provided the dominance hierarchy was agreed upon in advance and respected. They are often distracted and do not attend well to the quality of the relationship while solving problems. Some of the more important differences can be illustrated by observing groups of young teenage boys and groups of young teenage girls when they attempt to find their way out of a maze. A group of boys generally establish a hierarchy or chain of command with a leader who emerges on his own or through demonstrations of ability and power. Boys explore the maze using scouts while remaining in distant proximity to each other. Groups of girls tend to explore the maze together as a group without establishing a clear or dominant leader. Relationships tends to be co-equal. Girls tend to elicit discussion a nd employ collective intelligence to the task of discovering a way out. Girls tend to work their way through the maze as a group. Boys tend to search and explore using structured links and a chain of command. Thinking While men and women can reach similar conclusions and make similar decisions, the process they use can be quit different and in some cases can lead to entirely different outcomes. In general, men and women consider and process information differently. Women tend to be intuitive global thinkers. They consider multiple sources of information within a process that can be described as simultaneous, global in perspective and will view elements in the task in terms of their interconnectedness. Women come to understand and consider problems all at once. They take a broad or collective perspective, and they view elements in a task as interconnected and interdependent. Women are prone to become overwhelmed with complexities that exist, or may exist, and may have difficulty separating their personal experience from problems. Men tend to focus on one problem at a time or a limited number of problems at a time. They have an enhanced ability to separate themselves from problems and minimize the c omplexity that may exist. Men come to understand and consider problems one piece at a time. They take a linear or sequential perspective, and view elements in a task as less interconnected and more independent. Men are prone to minimize and fail to appreciate subtleties that can be crucial to successful solutions. A male may work through a problem repeatedly, talking about the same thing over and over, rather than trying to address the the problem all at once. While there are differences in the ways that men and women think, it must be emphasized that they can and do solve problems in a similar manner. There are no absolutes, only tendencies. Memory Women have an enhanced ability to recall memories that have strong emotional components. They can also recall events or experiences that have similar emotions in common. Women are very adept at recalling information, events or experiences in which there is a common emotional theme. Men tend to recall events using strategies that rely on reconstructing the experience in terms of elements, tasks or activities that took place. Profound experiences that are associated with competition or physical activities are more easily recalled. There appears to be a structural and chemical basis for observed memory differences. For instance, the hippocampus, the area in the brain primarily responsible for memory, reacts differently to testosterone in men and it reacts differently to changing levels of estrogen and progesterone in women. Women tend to remember or be reminded of different emotional memories and content to some extent as part of their menstrual cycle. Sensitivity There is evidence to suggest that a great deal of the sensitivity that exists within men and women has a physiological basis. It has been observed that is many cases, women have an enhanced physical alarm response to danger or threat. Their autonomic and sympathetic systems have a lower threshold of arousal and greater reactivity than men. In both men and women, higher levels of testosterone directly affect the aggressive response and behavior centers of the brain. Increasing estrogen and progesterone in men has a feminizing effect. Sexually aggressive males become less focused on sexual aggressive behavior and content when they are given female hormones. On the other hand, changing estrogen and progesterone levels in women during menstrual cycles can produce a flood of memories as well as strong emotions. Increasing or high levels of testosterone can produce an emotional insensitivity, empathic block and increased indifference to the distress others. At the heart of sensitivity is o ur capacity to form, appreciate and maintain relationships that are rewarding. Even here there are important differences. For men, what demonstrates a solid relationship is quite different from that of most women. Men feel closer and validated through shared activities. Such activities include sports, competition, outdoor activities or sexual activities that are decidedly active and physical. While both men and women can appreciate and engage in these activities they often have preferential differences. Women, on the other hand, feel closer and validated through communication, dialogue and intimate sharing of experience, emotional content and personal perspectives. Many men tend to find such sharing and involvement uncomfortable, if not, overwhelming. The Task Of Relationship Facing Men and Women The task that faces men and women is to learn to accept their differences, avoid taking their differences as personal attempts to frustrate each other, and to compromise whenever possible. The idea that one gender can think and feel like the other if they truly loved each is rather absurd. Sure, a man or women could act in consideration of the other’s needs, but this would not necessarily be rewarding and honest. Holding the benefit of another above our own is rewarding. But from time to time, and more often for most of us, it is important to be our self and to be accepted, and not to be the source of distress and disappointment in the lives of people we love. The Role Of Counseling and Therapy Counseling and therapy can help a couple understand and appreciate each other, and even benefit from their differences. Understanding these differences intellectually is not enough. A counselor or therapist can help point out these differences, as they surface, and guide a couple to a greater level of relationship. Understanding that differences are not intentional and that misunderstandings are merely the result of expectations that are not realistic can make a huge difference in a relationship. The differences that can be sensed between a man and women can deepen their relationship. More importantly, when men seek to understand and appreciate that which is feminine, they come to a deeper understanding of their self. And when a women seeks to understand that which is masculine in men, they come to appreciate and understand more about their own masculinity. THE SOCIAL ROLES OF MEN AND WOMEN In all societies the obvious biological difference between men and women is used as a justification for forcing them into different social roles which limit and shape their attitudes and behavior. That is to say, no society is content with the natural difference of sex, but each insists on adding to it a cultural difference of gender. The simple physical facts therefore always become associated with complex psychological qualities. It is not enough for a man to be male; he also has to appear masculine. A woman, in addition to being female, must also be feminine. However, once the contrast between men and women has been increased and accentuated in this fashion, it is usually taken as a further manifestation of biological differences which confirm the need for different social roles. Or, to put it another way, sex differences are used to create gender differences which are then explained as sex differences which, in turn, require gender differences, and so on. This may be no more than circular reasoning, but it is socially very effective. For example, in our own patriarchal society males enjoy a socially dominant position. Thus, from an early age, boys are helped to acquire a masculinity that allows them to assume and maintain that position. By the same token, girls are taught to cultivate a submissive femininity. The resulting difference in the male and female character is then described as inborn and used to defend the existing power arrangement. Only those who accept it are normal, and only they can expect to succeed. The male social role is designed to reward masculine men, while the female social role offers its relative advantages only to feminine women. (The aggressive man will run the bigger business; the pretty, agreeable woman will find the richer husband.) In other words, masculinity and femininity are gender qualities which are developed in response to social discrimination. However, once they have been developed, they justify and cement it. The masculine and feminine gender roles mutually reinforce each other and thereby perpetuate the inequality on which they are based. Obviously, this psychological mechanism can operate only as long as the behavior of men and women does not transgress the generally accepted limits. Every society tries therefore to prevent such transgressions by calling the socially defined gender roles natural, eternal, and unchangeable. Any person who refuses to accept them is persecuted as a deviant and punished as an offender not only against society, but against nature itself. An hist orical example of such deviance is the case of Joan of Arc who, as a young girl, not only led the French army to victory over the English, but also wore male clothing. In her later trial she was promptly accused of having thus violated the laws of nature. Over the centuries, many people have, of course, wondered why allegedly natural roles should need such rigorous social enforcement. After all, if they were truly natural, they would come naturally to both men and women. However, it is noteworthy that the advocates of the so-called natural inequality of the sexes resent nothing more than letting nature take its course. Yet, if their arguments were true, there would be no need to deny women equal opportunities, since they would be unable to compete with men. If women were naturally inferior, men would have nothing to fear. Therefore, the fact that many men do fear such competition raises sufficient doubt as to the validity of their claim. The truth is that human desires and capacities have a tendency to go beyond the narrow limits of our traditional gender roles. Indeed, it takes a constant combined effort by all social authorities to keep this tendency under control. Such social control appears not only externally, in the form of parental guidance, peer-group pressure, and law enforcement, but also internally in the form of concepts and values which determine the self-image of every individual, and it is in the individual mind where the confusion of sex and gender can create the most serious problems. For instance, men and women who feel that they do not fit the masculine and feminine stereotypes, or who resent them as too restrictive, may also develop ambiguous feelings about their biological sex. They may begin to wish for different bodies which would allow them to play a role more to their liking. Or, to take another example, since men have been told that women are socially and sexually passive, they are usually gravely disturbed by encountering a woman who is socially aggressive and who takes the initiative in sexual intercourse. Confronted with this lack of femininity in a woman, a man may feel tempted to dispute her womanhood. If this contention does not hold up in face of the evidence, he may instead begin to doubt his own masculinity and become sexually dysfunctional. Conversely, a handsome, gentle, and passive male may invite ridicule and may be denounced as a pervert or queer. Real women may regard him as less than a real man and therefore reject him as a sexual partner. However, the confusion goes still further. The notion that in every sexual encounter there has to be one active (masculine) and one passive (feminine) partner is so persistent that it not only ruins many heterosexual relationships, but also influences the behavior of certain homosexuals who feel compelled to model themselves after these stereotypes. By doing so, they give support to the curious belief that even in sexual relationships between members of the same sex, there always has to be one to play the man, while the other must assume the role of the woman. There is, in fact a general impression that every homosexual couple (whether male or female) consists of one active, masculine and one passive, feminine partner. People who hold this belief are, of course, at a total loss to explain phenomena like the famous homosexual elite troops of ancient Greece, which consisted entirely of male lovers. All of these views are based on a wrong conclusion drawn from a false assumption. The false assumption states that women are naturally passive, while men are naturally active. The wrong conclusion asserts that every passive person is playing a feminine role and that every active person is playing a masculine role. However, in actual fact neither sex nor gender need be characterized in this fashion. After all, in some human societies the role assignment for men and women is the reverse of our own. In short, there is nothing natural or definite about our sexual stereotypes. By the same token, full human equality will not be achieved until it becomes conceivable to both sexes that active and passive attitudes can be appropriate for either of them, and that even two active or two passive partners can have a rewarding relationship. This does not mean that, in an ideal future, all human differences will disappear. Indeed, once the old stereotypes have been discarded, the differences between individuals within each sex are likely to increase. Furthermore, under conditions of social equality, these individuals may also happily continue to play different gender roles. There should be no need to point out that there is nothing wrong with gender differences as such. They can greatly enrich our lives, as long as we understand that, in human beings, different does not have to mean superior or inferior. In other words, those who demand equal rights for men and women are not asking for drab uniformity, but for a social climate in which variety can flourish without being exploited. The following pages first elaborate further on the basic concepts of sex and gender and then offer a brief discussion of the different moral standards for men and women. Male Logic and Womens Intuition The split in our thinking between masculine and feminine is probably as old as language itself. Human beings seem to have a natural tendency to divide things into pairs: good/bad, light/dark, subject/object and so on. It is not surprising, then, that the male/female or masculine/feminine dichotomy is used to classify things other than men and women. Many languages actually classify all nouns as masculine or feminine (although not very consistently: for example, the Spanish masculine noun pollo means hen, while the feminine polla is slang for penis). This is perfectly natural; it is part of the way categorisation works in language. This does not, however, mean that it is right. It is probably unimportant whether a table or a chair is thought of as masculine or feminine. It may not even be very important these days whether we think of the sun as male and the moon as female (like the ancient Greeks) or vice versa (like most of the German tribes). However, when we start associating abstr act concepts like Reason or Nature with men and women, we run into serious difficulties. The association of Reason with men and Nature with women is well-known, and has been widely criticised. Aristotle defined Man as a rational animal, and by that he really meant men, not human beings. Unlike Plato, he saw women as less able to reason, hence less human and more animal. In Europe, well into the twentieth century, women were generally seen as somehow intellectually deficient. An English woman recently became Oxfords oldest graduate because although she had completed her degree course in the 1920s, at that time the university did not award degrees to female students. Presumably it would have decreased the status of the university to award degrees to an intellectually inferior sex! Nearly all societies, from hunting and gathering tribes to post-industrial nations, offer some kind of compensation to those who lose out in the status game. For example, among the practically matriarchal Zuni Indians of New Mexico, the economically powerless men were credited with the ability to make rain. Black slaves in the American South were thought to be naturally stronger (which they generally were), better at music and dancing (which they may have been) and more cheerful (highly unlikely for slaves, but a good justification for treating them badly). In the same way, women are compensated for their supposed inability to think rationally by a mysterious womens intuition. Attempts were made to justify this in biological terms; women were seen as naturally more emotional and/or in touch with Nature because of their strange biology (menstruation, hormones, vapours or whatever). This was about as scientific as the Zuni Indians theory that men could make rain. Men and women are, of course, biologically different. There are even significant differences in male and female brains; women, for example, have a thicker corpus callosum (the thing that connects the two halves of the brain). However, it is a giant leap from observing that there are neurological differences between the sexes to assuming that these differences correspond to the classic Reason/Nature or logic/emotion dichotomies. In fact, some of these differences may even indicate the opposite. The left hemisphere of the brain generally deals with linear processing, as found in language and some types of mathematics, and this hemisphere develops faster in girls than in boys. The old 11 plus test of verbal reasoning used in British schools was actually adjusted to bring boys scores up to the level of girls! Whatever the case, it is a mistake to look at peoples brains and then decide that they must think in a certain way; it would be far better to try and find out how people actually th ink, and then to see if this corresponds to brain structure. When we talk about the way men and women think, we are actually dealing with not one, but at least three separate things: how men and women usually think, how men and women can think, and how we think men and women think. Usually when we think we are looking at the first or second subjects, we are actually only describing the third. Since our main guide to how people think is their language, the fact that in most cultures men and women talk in different ways, and about different things, may lead us to false conclusions about the way they think in general. Womens conversation tends to emphasise feelings more, which may also mean that they think about feelings more. It does not, however, mean that woman are more emotional. It is perfectly possible that men are just as emotional, but for social reasons they talk (and think) about their feelings less. Similarly, the fact that in most cultures men argue more about abstract things does not mean that men are naturally more logical, it just means that the things men prefer to talk about require logical argument more than they require expression of feelings. Obviously the more you argue, the better you get at it, hence the prejudice that men are somehow biologically more logical. This would be like assuming that I am biologically better at speaking English (my first language) than Turkish (my second). Problems also arise with the actual words we use: logic, reason, intuition and emotion. Logic is simply a set of principles for getting from something we already knew, to something we didnt. If we know that all cows eat grass, and we know that Daisy is a cow, we can use very simple logic to say that Daisy eats grass, even if we have never seen her eat anything. The more complex logic that we use in constructing philosophical arguments or designing computers is really only doing the same kind of thing. The word rational is a little more problematic, since it involves an assessment of aims and actions. If our aims are consistent with each other and our actions achieve our aims, then we can fairly say that we are behaving rationally. If we act in a way that prevents us from realising our aims, then we are behaving irrationally, or in other words, stupidly. For example, if I know that I will have a better relationship with my wife if I dont shout at her, but I still shout at her because I am in a bad mood, my problem is not that I am being emotional, it is that I am being stupid. The opposite of rational is not, then, emotional but irrational. If we set up a pair of opposites, rational/emotional, we are likely to make the assumption that women are more emotional and therefore irrational, which is a polite way of saying that women are stupid. While having strong emotions can sometimes interfere with your thought processes, this is not automatically the case. For example, I often get quite excited when I am working on a new theory or project, but this usually makes my thinking better, not worse. Strong negative emotions such as rage, jealousy or depression are usually the result of irrational thinking as much as a cause of it, and men are just as vulnerable to this type of stupidity as women. Intuition is an even trickier concept. We usually say that we arrive at an idea or solution to a problem intuitively when we know something without knowing how we came to know it. A scientist may arrive at a new theory because the idea just pops into his or her head, or even turns up in a dream. You may get an intuitive feeling that a person is dishonest without actually having heard them say something you know to be untrue. In both these cases, what seems to be happening is that the mind stores and sorts information unconsciously, providing us only with the end result of this process. There is no guarantee, of course, that this conclusion will be true; a scientist would still have to perform experiments to prove their intuitive theory, and you would probably want some hard evidence to prove that the person you feel is dishonest really does tell lies. There is therefore nothing particularly strange or mystical about intuition; it is something we do all the time. Why, then, do we talk about womens intuition, as though men never arrive at a conclusion without consciously following all the stages that were necessary to reach it? Again, the answer is probably linguistic. As we have seen, traditionally womens conversation is less formal, less argumentative, and more concerned with feelings than mens conversation. Intuitive conclusions are therefore more acceptable in an all-female group. Men, on the other hand, are expected to argue more, and to argue more logically, presenting evidence in a systematic way to back up their conclusions. It is less socially acceptable in an all-male conversation (or a conversation where the men are doing most of the talking) to say Well guys, I dont know why, but I just get this kind of feeling that e=mc2. We can see, then, that these pairs of opposites, logic/intuition and rational/emotional, are not only false, but also damaging, particularly to women. It therefore surprising that some feminists actually support a version of this patriarchal nonsense. Particularly at the more spiritual end of the Radical Feminist community, there is a tendency to glorify womens intuition and closeness to Nature, and to avoid logic as somehow male, as though it were a psychological problem resulting from too much testosterone. The fact that men often use logic, or at least logical-sounding arguments, to put women in their place is not a fault of logic, it is the fault of those mens sexism and lack of social skills. More innocently, men are often accused of being too cold and logical, not because there is anything wrong with their ideas, but because they do not understand the unspoken rules of female conversation, in the same way that women are often accused of being illogical or emotional because they do not argue using the same language as men. If women reject logic and rely solely on feelings, they are left in the weak position of having to argue with feelings. Feeling that something is true does not make it true, and it will not convince anyone else that it is true either. You can say, I feel X, but the person you are arguing with can just as well reply, Well I dont. The result is that the argument usually goes nowhere. This is particularly damaging in arguments between men and women, since both sides are likely to go away with their prejudices strengthened; the men think women are subjective, emotional and illogical, and the women think men are impersonal, cold and over-intellectual. To justify their feelings of hurt at being beaten in an argument, the women concerned may go further and dismiss the whole thing as male logic, as though there were two types of logic, on for men and anoth