Men and Women Quotes Filled with Timeless Wisdom
Men and Women Relationship Advice For The Long Term
If you are having problems with your long term relationship, this advice can really help. Being in a relationship sometimes means you can’t see the woods for the trees, so some outside input can help you to see things in a new perspective. Check out this article for five golden pieces of advice.
Long Term Relationship Advice 1
Learn to communicate again. By far the most common cause of problems with any long term relationship is lack of communication, or lack of appropriate communication. Everyday life tends to blunt our communication skills, and before we know what’s happened we spend more time looking at the TV than we do looking at and speaking to our partners. You can fix this by setting aside some time to talk everyday, even if it’s just sharing whatever happened in your day. A great tip to get this going is to have a “No TV During Dinner” rule.
Long Term Relationship Advice 2
Arrange some quality time with each other. Again, everyday life can often force us into a life of routine, and sometimes our partners can become part of that routine. You can break this habit by starting something out of the ordinary. Find a hobby for you both to take part in and do it together. If you can’t find anything you both want to do it can be something as basic as just taking walks together-the key is just to spend time together outside of the confines of your usual relationship.
Long Term Relationship Advice 3
Remember why you love your partner. When things become stale and routine, it’s very easy to begin to see your partner as something other than a partner, just someone who lives with you, like a housemate or whatever. This is not a good place for your relationship to be, so if you feel like this sometimes, take a moment to remember what it is about your partner that you love. If you can remember what brought you together, you can make sure you do things which involve or bring out those qualities in each other.
Long Term Relationship Advice 4
Show your partner that you respect them. In a long term relationship, respect is one of the hardest things to get back once it has gone, so it’s always important to show your partner respect and to threat them with respect. You can show respect by trying not to be critical about them and their ideas, and always making a point of listening when they speak to you. After a while you’ll find that your partner will begin to do the same for you, and you will develop a better understanding of each other as a result.
Long Term Relationship Advice 5
Let it out. They say a problem shared is a problem halved, but I think it’s even more so when you are in a long term relationship. If you do have something that’s bothering you, even if it directly concerns your partner, you are best of speaking about it with them. You’ll usually find that if you don’t tell them, things will get a little worse and a little harder for each day that passes. Plus, when you talk things over and resolve them in an open and direct fashion, you make your relationship stronger.
Long term relationship advice really can fix most problems before they get to be a big deal. If you value your time spent with your significant other, you will heed this advice and enjoy a long lasting and loving relationship.
Women’s History Month
March is Women’s History Month during which we celebrate the contributions of women to our rich culture and to celebrate the long way that women’s rights have come. March of 2010 marked the 30th anniversary of the National Women’s History Project, the theme of which is the reintegration of women into our history records. Women have been historically absent from the pages of American history, their accomplishments diminished or even outright omitted.
When the designation of a time period to celebrating women’s history first came into existence, it wasn’t even a month to begin with. During the Carter administration it was simply a week, and it wasn’t until 1987 when lobbyists were able to extend a week of women’s history into Women’s History Month in March. This is only one of several struggles that women have had to overcome in order to have their rights and achievements recognized.
The celebration of women’s history isn’t relevant only to women—the inclusion of the role of women in history documentation has led history to expand its horizons in general. History was first limited to strictly politics and male politicians, but since then history has taken a wider social perspective in order to incorporate the other aspects of our cultural past.
History is more than just peace treaties, presidential elections and even women in politics. There are working class struggles, disease epidemics, intersections and clashes of racial diversity, and media influence which are all a part of our history just as much as politics is. Laws and government might build the foundations of our country, but people and society form the components of American life itself and we can’t only have one or the other.
History is the story of everything and everyone. So Women’s History Month isn’t so much about putting women into history books as it is about including all genders, all races, all events and not just the happy ones. Along with American independence comes slavery—the story of the United States comes with its accomplishments and triumphs as well as shortcomings and tragedies.
History isn’t the story of how things should have been or how we wanted them to be, it’s the story of what was. They say that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and the only way we can learn from history is if it’s presented in its entirety.
Will women leaders prevent disaster in 2012?
Despite women’s liberation and apparent equality in most of the ‘civilized’ world, it is still very much a man’s world. In the west, women are still being passed over for promotions and are hardly represented on company boards, while in the East many women continue to be subjected to horrific discrimination and abuse.
Is this situation is sustainable? One could argue that the state of the world today is largely due to primarily ‘male’ drivers – such as aggression, competition, ego and ruthlessness. If those in power used their ‘right’ or female brains a little more often, then perhaps conflicts could be resolved through arbitration rather than war, and a sustainable future could be enjoyed by all.
Chinese medicine equates this to an imbalance of the world’s Yin and Yang. Yin is the feminine, quiet, cool aspect of nature linked with the Moon and the Earth, while Yang is the masculine aspect of nature, linked with the Sun, that is active, bright and expansive. It is said that the continued balance of Yin and Yang keeps the life energy or ‘Chi’ flowing through the body and life in general.
It is evident that too much Yang energy exists in the world today, creating the delusion that we can live selfishly, in constant conflict, and with little regard for our connection with others and the Earth. Yang people are still admired, as they are the aggressive movers and shakers in society, while Yin people can often be regarded as weak and ineffectual.
These perceptions have contributed to the frequently dysfunctional attitudes towards women in society both past and present. In the Middle Ages, they burned women as witches, in an attempt to quell their instinctive rapport with nature and the elements. In many primitive societies women are severely oppressed and subject to barbaric and archaic laws. Today’s advertising frequently trivializes women and stereotypes them as either boring housewives, neutered executives, or dumb sex kittens.
Relationships between men and women suffer as a result: instead of appreciating each other’s strengths and weaknesses, men and women often either idealize or degrade each other. Astonishing as it may seem, Internet porn, which both idealizes and trivializes women, has become for many more exciting than actual sex.
The Chinese remedy for distorted Yang – in other words, Yang that has little or no healthy Yin balance – is to strengthen the Yin. To do this, we all need to become more Yin, in other words, develop, foster and revere our Yin qualities of introspection, intuition, sensitivity, gentleness, compassion and love. We need to reconnect with ourselves, and start to understand our intrinsic connection with others, and the Earth.
Does this mean that women leaders, who are more likely to display Yin characteristics, need to take power to lead humanity in the right direction? Probably.
Men, and their excess of Yang energy (and women with too much of it), have led the world into the state it is today. It will take a completely different approach to lead us out of it, because the current world system is in a state of collapse. It is still fragile, and the ‘fix-it’ measures that governments keep applying are just band aids. Our world’s current economic and social system is not healthy and sustainable. The only way we will survive is by creating a new paradigm, and it is quite likely, and indeed preferable, that the chief architects of this new world order will be women.
Ultimately, leadership in the 21st century will involve a balance of feminine and masculine intelligence. When we truly balance our masculine and feminine, we open to our true potential. Our left and right brains integrate throughout the body and nervous systems, grounding our connection with Spirit. Leaders displaying this quality will restore the natural balance with Earth.
You Make The Difference – Leadership With A Definition
The leadership, a term borrowed from English, defines the capacity of an individual to carry out or lead other individuals or organizations with an aim of achieving certain goals. It will be said whereas a leader is somebody who is able to guide, to influence and inspire.
A leader is distinguished from a manager or a decision maker, which has capacities for the administration, without “to carry out” the group, the organization or the country at another stage of its development. A good manager can be a leader, but two qualities are not automatically dependent. Associated the political sphere a long time, the leadership is a quality sought in a great number of fields. Thus, one will also speak about leadership in that, business world of the culture or the science or in the field of the sport. One will distinguish also public leadership from private leadership, this last being directed towards the company. A politician is thus not necessarily a leader; conversely, many leaders are not politicians.
As much the coverages by the leadership evolved/moved, as much qualities which define it multiplied. If the leadership in the past were closely associated with the personality with the leader and particularly with its charisma, much of recent studies suggest a capacity learned, fruit of the experiment and dependent on specific contexts. Among competences (or qualities) which one finds in the leaders, one can quote: vision, strategy, persuasion, the communication, confidence and ethics.
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How To Become Famous Leader
It is natural if every individual wants to be recognized in any neighborhood wherever they are. In other words they need to be different and then called famous. If you are a leader of an organization, there are some ways on how to become famous that can be used. The first thing to do is the need for more focus on the tasks rather than the dream. The task is real, while the dream is a kind of delusion or ideals. If the portion of dream is bigger than the performance of duties so that’s a utopia.
Leonard Bernstein, a famous composer and conductor, once had been asked, which instrument players that most difficult to find for an orchestra. He replied “a subordinate or second person”. There are lots of major skilled violinists but someone who could become the second violinist with full enthusiasm is evidently difficult.
In other words if you just rely on the main violinist but exclude the second players, then the orchestra will not be able to play excellent. The conclusions, you often fascinated to focus on dreams and goals but simply ignore the responsibility in front of your eyes. Therefore, the effective leaders are those who put much attention on productive activities rather than self-promotion.
The next way on how to become famous is to appreciate the value of your own position. But that does not mean to brag. You know for sure each position contains certain value, but often you cannot judge or ignore it. Whereas, the judgment needs to be done to know the weaknesses and strengths of your position.
If you always despise on your position, that may mean you have been infected by psychological illness or waver in reaching a higher position. In addition the neighborhood is always considered superior than you. “The grass of neighbor always looks green and fresh”. Thus, if you too focus to see the external elements that you think are always better, then you would not enjoy the work and the positions that you has achieved. Therefore, enjoy any shape and the results of your work. This will motivate you to work smarter and harder.
Besides the two ways above you need to get the satisfaction of your own work. For that reason, it needs to be understood why you as a leader respected by the neighborhood, whether because you have the qualities of humility, charismatic, intelligent, visionary, and trust. The satisfaction that is achieved should reflect that you are able to cooperate with the subordination and colleagues. The success of the organization is seen as a success of the subordination in running the duties that you lead. This should give you satisfaction. If this continues then the neighborhood would be more respect for you.
Another way is a promotional activity. Let’s see, recently in print and electronic media there are many individuals who claim to be future leaders by promoting themselves. That is something normal. However, self-promotion does not necessarily mean boast. Promotion is considered to be low because of your arrogant behavior and talk without the support of facts.
In this case, neighborhood is the audience; they have been more intelligent and critically assess their leader which one is good and not. Therefore, besides it should be supported by the fact, the good appearance of promotion is also very important. In the world of work, the success of the promotion (often without fanfare) showed by how far you have leadership that received by neighborhood.
Fight Boredom at the Office with Power Women?s Suits
Being at the office can be dull and a bore. You get stuck with a computer, talk to people virtually and dumped with a mountain of papers to read and analyzed. It would be a bonus if you can talk with your officemates something unrelated to your job. Other than that, it would be the same as work. One way that you can relieve yourself from office boredom is to enhance your fashion taste at work. While you may be required to wear women’s suits to give the respectable impression, a classic long sleeve shirt should never be the same option. Be more creative with your office wear and create a new and stylish look!
Women’s suits are among the classic wardrobe that never goes out of style. This is because suits can magically transform a simple woman into a respectable and dominating executive. Suits make the impression of corporate success and identity. However though, wearing suits should not make you old and traditional. Turn corporate suits modern and trendy by incorporating new and stylish clothes with the suits.
Your work dress up should be a prelude on how your look should be. In the corporate world, dressing up gives the clients and colleagues an impression of you. This becomes the key on how you close deals and business meetings. Therefore, you should be choosy on what clothes you wear on these purposes. Try to wear the classic trousers and match it with the modern turtle neck. If you want to play with skirts and dress, experiment with the flair and elegance of pencil skirts or stylish tube dress paired with killer stilettos or cigarette-pipe heels.
Working in the corporate world becomes challenging when it comes to fashion creativity. Investing in suits is a must in executive dressing up. A black power suit with a crisp white shirt and stylish pumps would spell confidence and power. If you want to stay away from classics, add colorful shoes, wide belts, bangles and brooches to your fashion list. Invest time in looking good and you will motivated and excited to do your work; much more, you won’t feel bored and dull at the office anymore.
One important rule in dressing up is to be yourself. Don’t try to wear stylish clothes just because other people wear them. Inject your personality in your outfits and dress comfortably. In addition, consider when to spend and when to make pass on the fashion clothes that you saw. This way, you can make fashion in the office smart and realistic. Being in the corporate world should never be a boredom. Invest in a few classic clothes as well with the trendy ones. Make women’s suits in your fashion list and be happy with your job.
Ict and Women’s Empowerment
The empowerment of women has been recognized as a vital element in national development efforts. This is equally true in building the information society in our country where wide technical and economic disparities exist between men and women. Therefore the developments that shape the formation society should pursue goals of gender equality and women’s advancement as well as social, political and economic justice and sustainable human development. The information society should be grounded on a human rights approach as a means to ensure the rights to all, including the rights to non-discrimination and the right communicate. Communication is a basic human need, indispensable for the organization of societies and should be the foundation for building the information society.
The rapid breakthroughs in new information and communication technologies (ICTs) is changing the way knowledge is developed, acquired and delivered. The new technologies offer opportunities to innovate on course content and teaching methods and to widen access to higher learning.
The development and implementation of ICTs forces today’s universities and college to respond to societal trends that point to a transformation of our society into a so-called knowledge economy. Globalization and ICT applications place new demands on higher education establishments and hold important implications for their teaching and research functions, especially in light of the growing importance placed upon lifelong learning and upon more flexible forms of higher education delivery.
The new technologies does not reduce the need for teachers but changes their role in relation to the learning process and that the continuous dialogue that converts information into knowledge and understanding becomes fundamental. Higher education institutions should lead in drawing on the advantages and potential of new information and communication technologies, ensuring quality and maintaining high standards for education practices and outcomes in a spirit of openness, equity and international co-operation by engaging in networks, technology transfer, capacity-building, developing teaching materials and sharing experience of their application in teaching, training and research.
The isolation of women from the main stream economy and their lack of access to information because of societal, cultural and market constraints have led to their distancing from the global pool o information and knowledge. This distance is reflected in the low levels of empowerment and equality of men and women has enormously contributed to the slow pace of development in our country. It is now a well understood fact that without progress towards empowerment of women, any attempt to raise the quality of lives of people would be incomplete. There is an increasing amount of evidence substantiating the truth that societies which discriminate by gender, pay a high price in terms of their stunted ability to develop and to reduce poverty.
In the context of knowledge sphere, the issue of gender equality, equity and empowerment of women become even more significant as women have a strategic role in the incubation and transfer o critical knowledge. This knowledge often forms the blue print of survival for communities to adapt and minimize their risks in adverse circumstances. Women, because of their biological and social roles, are generally more rooted than men in the confines of their locality. They are therefore more aware of the social, economic and environmental needs of their own communities. Women have been the traditional incubators and transfer media of knowledge relating to seed preservation and storage, food processing, indigenous health practices etc. Such forms of knowledge are often contextual, rooted in experience and experiments but are non-codified. Therefore it is essential that any knowledge sharing mechanism recognizes the value of knowledge possessed by women and provides space for value-addition and the amalgamation of women’s knowledge in the global knowledge pool.
A benefit of Women’s Networking :-
1. It allows women to form a community and became creators / participants.
It develops independent exploration.
It promotes collaboration and socialization.
It promotes participatory approach it facilitates.
Need for Technological Education for Empowering Women :-
Women play constructive role in the family and community. ICT would help women to educate her without going to colleges; everything can be done possible at home with ICTS Increase in self empowerment jobs.
More number of women entrepreneurs is encouraged.
Women can explore the knowledge by sitting at home through internet. Present and future environment is all around ICT. It is an advantage and need for women to equip, where many ICT industries and BPOS give more opposite for Women’s participle. The scarp of Equal Remunerative for women is available in the IT field. In rural areas, Pan Raj and SHG’s concentrate on Women empowerment through ICTs empowerment demaking concept among women.
ICT as an interdisciplinary domain develops K, S and BR attitude which enable women to develop new thinking and learning skills that produce creative and innovative insights develop more productive ways of working and solving problems individually and collaboratively create information products that demonstrate their understanding of concepts, issues, relationship and processes. Express themselves in contemporary and socially relevant ways communicate locally and globally to solve problems and to share knowledge understand the implications of the use of ICT and their social and ethical responsibilities as users of ICT.
Empowerment of Women
Enhancement of
Quality of Life.
Participation in Economic &
Political activities.
Decision Making
Power.
Knowledge
Network
Capacity
Building
ICT
WOMEN ENPOWERMENT
WOMEN ENPOWERMENT *N.V.S.SURYANARAYANA **G. HIMABINDU ***N.V.S.BRAMARAMBA
The term “empowerment” has become one of the most widely used development terms. Women’s groups, non-governmental development organizations, activists, politicians, governments and international agencies refer to empowerment as one of their goals. Yet it is one of the least understood in terms of how it is to be measured or observed. It is used precisely because this word has now been one of the fashionable concepts to include in policies/programmes/projects that there is a need to clarify and come up with tentative definitions.
Women constitute more than 50% of the population, undertake most of the work (two thirds) but only receive one tenth of the total income rather than men. The working hours of women are longer than that of men, often 12-16 hours per day. In addition to their domestic responsibilities in child care, women have to be responsible for housework, such as fetching firewood, water and cooking and even hard work as ploughing and raking, planting, transplanting and harvesting. Women have to suffer from continuing under nutrition and two thirds of them are anemic. Rural women lack sex education and have poor health due to frequent pregnancies. The illiterate women especially lack of information on balanced diet, family planning, house cleaning and other information to improve their health and the quality of life. They have lower status and low paid occupations, lower economic positions so they are less conscious and lack self-confidence. They have a few books and a little time to read so they can not appreciate the benefits of reading and have no motivation for reading.
The Concept of Empowerment:
Empowerment has become a widely used word. In spheres as different as management and labor unions, health care and ecology, banking and education, one hears of empowerment taking place. The popular use of the word also means that it has been overextended and applied in circumstances that clearly do not involve much power acquisition beyond some symbolic activity or event. It is also a concept that does not merely concern personal identity but brings out a broader analysis of human rights and social justice.
The term empowerment has been bandied about so much in recent years that there is now a genuine danger of it being co-opted as a ‘development buzzword’ that will meet the same fate as terms such as ‘decentralization’, ‘people’s participation’ etc. After attempting a review of literature, Shetty (1992) comes to the conclusion that empowerment is easy to ‘intuit’ but complex to define. But while it may be difficult to define it, one is able to understand its meaning when one sees the manifestation of what it implies. “Thus an empowered individual would be one who experiences a sense of self-confidence and self-worth; a person who critically analyzes his/her social and political environment; a person who is able to exercise control over decisions that affect his/her life”. An attempt is made in this paper to examine how a literacy campaign has brought about women’s empowerment. The nature of empowerment renders it difficult to define. On the one hand, it is often referred to as a goal for many development programmes/projects. On the other hand, it can also be conceived as a process that people undergo, which eventually leads to changes. Nelly Stromquist, for instance, defines empowerment as “a process to change the distribution of power both in interpersonal relations and in institutions through out society” while Lucy Lazo describes it as “a process of acquiring, providing, bestowing the resources and the means or enabling the access to a control over such means and resources”.
Given the above, the term is therefore more relevant to the marginalized groups the poor, the illiterates, the indigenous communities and of course, cutting across these categories, the women. Namtip Aksornkool looks at the individual level when she cites Paz’s definition of empowerment as “the ability to direct and control one’s own life”. “It is a process in which women gain control over their own lives by knowing and claiming their rights at all levels of society at the international, local, and household levels. Self-empowerment means that women gain autonomy, are able to set their own agenda and are fully involved in the economic, political and social decision-making process.”
To add to the already complex nature of empowerment, it was also pointed out that it is difficult to come out with a general definition since it can be somehow determined by the respective cultural contexts. The relativity of empowerment, although in a different sense, is one of the important features discussed in Ms.Lazo’s paper. She argues that” empowerment is a moving state; it is continuum that varies in degree of power. It is relative…One can move from an extreme state of absolute lack of power to the other extreme of having absolute power.” Empowerment can have four components: cognitive, psychological, economic and political.
According to Ms.Stromquist, the cognitive component would include the ‘women are understanding of their conditions of subordination and the causes of such conditions at both micro and macro levels of society. It involves acquiring new knowledge to create a different understanding of gender relations as well as destroying old beliefs that structure powerful gender ideologies”. The psychological component, on the other hand, would include the “development of feelings that women can act upon to improve their condition. This means formation of the belief that they can succeed in change efforts.”
According to Stromquist The economic component “requires that women can be able to engage in a productive activity that will allow them some degree of autonomy, no matter how small and hard to obtain at the beginning”. The case study of Ms.Lazo demonstrates how socio-economic aid (through granting of revolving funds, marketing assistance and product development) has helped in the setting up of micro-enterprises run by women.
The political component would encompass the “ability to organize and mobilize for change. Consequently, an empowerment process must involve not only individual awareness but collective awareness and collective action. The notion of collective action is fundamental to the aim of attaining social transformation” (Stromquist).
It is clear that women can be empowered individually, the feminist vision is one where women are able to articulate a collective voice and demonstrate collective strength. It was also stressed that incorporating the feminist perspective in the concept of empowerment implies a long-term re-designing of societies that will be based on democratic relationships. According to Ms.Dighe talks about empowerment as dealing with strategic rather than practical gender needs.
Indicators of Empowerment:
Understanding that empowerment is a complex issue with varying interpretations in different societal, national and cultural contexts, there is some listing of indicators.
At the level of woman and her household:
. Participation in crucial decision-making processes;
. Extent of sharing of domestic work by men;
. Extent to which a woman takes control of her reproductive functions and decides on family size;
. Extent to which a woman is able to decide where the income she has earned will be channeled to;
.feeling and expression of pride and value in her work;
. Self-confidence and self-esteem; and
. Ability to prevent violence.
At the community / organizational level:
. Existence of women’s organizations;
. Allocation of funds to women and women’s projects;
. Increased number of women leaders at village, district, state and national levels;
. Involvement of women in the design, development and application of technology;
. Participation in community programmes, productive enterprises, politics and arts;
. Involvement of women in non-traditional tasks;
. Increased training programmes for women; and
. Exercising her legal rights when necessary;
At the national level:
. Awareness of her social and political rights;
. Integration of women in the general national development plan;
. Existence of women’s networks and publications;
. Extent to which women are officially visible and recognized; and
. The degree to which the media take on women’s issues.
Facilitating and Constraining Factors of Empowerment
Empowerment does not take place in a vacuum. In the same way that Ms.Lazo talks about women’s state of powerlessness as a result of “a combination and interaction of environmental factors, “one can also discuss the condition/factors the can hasten or hinder empowerment. As above, the listing is a preliminary one based on the discussions.
Facilitating factors
. Existence of women’s organizations;
. Availability of support systems for women;
. Availability of women-specific data and other relevant information;
. Availability of funds
. Feminist leadership;
. Networking;
. Favorable media coverage;
. Favorable policy climate.
Constraining factors :
. Heavy work load of women;
. Isolation of women from each other;.
. Illiteracy;
. Traditional views that limit women’s participation;
. No funds;
. Internal strife/militarization/wars;
. Disagreements/conflicts among women’s groups;
. Structural adjustment policies;
. Discriminatory policy environment;
. Negative and sensational coverage of media.
Strategies for the Future :
Empowerment through education is ideally seen as a continuous holistic process with cognitive, psychological, economic and political dimensions in order to achieve emancipation. Given the complexity of political, societal and international interrelations, one has to systematically think about the strategies and concrete proposals for future action if one hopes to achieve such a goal.
a) Education
The formal and non-formal education systems would need to be considered. It would be important to analyze the gender content and to ascertain the manner in which it is addressed/not addressed in the educational system. On the basis of the analysis, curriculum changes would need to be brought about. Likewise it would be important to reorient the teachers on gender issues so that overall gender sensitization in the educational system could be brought about. In concrete terms, this would mean ;
. Reorienting and re-educating policy makers;
. Securing equal access for boys and girls in education;
.Holding workshops/seminars for teachers
. Revising teaching materials;
. Producing materials in local languages;
-Implementing special programmes for women in the field of Adult Education;
. Incorporating issues such as tradition, race, ethnicity, gender sensitization, urban and
Rural contexts in the programmes;
. Raising awareness on the necessity for health care;
. To show them how macro level mismanagement is responsible for their loss of jobs
. Focusing on parents as role models
b) Research/Documentation
The importance of doing participatory and action research was underscored. It was considered important to organize workshops to train grass-roots women to conduct participatory research where they could develop skills to critically analyze their existing conditions. This will facilitate their organizing for collective action. The guiding principle, should framed for women in a language and manner that was understandable to them.
Research as a strategy would therefore entitle:
. Disseminating information;
. Producing and disseminating information leaflets regarding women’s rights;
. Referring to women in all national and UN statistics;
. Collecting oral history of women;
. Documenting and analyzing successful and failed progrmmes of the women’s movements;
. Analyzing successful advocacy cases in order to learn about the arguments that pursued policy makers;
. Collecting cross-cultural caste studies
. Constantly evaluating research; and
.Involving women as agents (instead of objects) of research
c) Campaigns
If one is to have an effect in society, it is important to undertake campaign and lobby activities that will put the issue of gender in the minds of the legislators, policy-makers and the large public. This will therefore mean:
. Pushing for a dialogue between stake holders;
. Raising gender issues within the national policy arena;
. Pressuring to upgrade women’s bureaus (which are a result of the UN Decade for Women) into ministries of women’s affairs;
. Lobbying for sex-equity and affirmative action legislation;
. Lobbying for “counter structural adjustment policies”;
. Organizing pressure groups (like “Greenpeace”);
. Using consumer power for boycotts;
. Securing access to information;
. Demanding child care centers; and
. Producing video and CDs, T-Shirts etc.
d) Networking :
Through networking, it would be possible to share experiences and learn from one another. In this manner, understanding and solidarity among women’s organizations, development organizations (governmental/non-government) and multilateral agencies could be forged. This would therefore entail networking at the national, regional and international levels. Moreover, at the international level, South-South linkages were considered to be particularly important.
. Organizing at least one meeting year of gender sensitive organizations;
. Bringing together donor agencies, governments and NGOs;
. Setting up a south-south cooperation and exchange;
. Linking women’s movements all over the world;
. Establishing alternative credit schemes that offer women access to funds.
e) Training :
In our societies, there is a gender division of labour which dictates the kind of training one acquires. If one talks about women’s empowerment, it is important that women hve access to the different training opportunities previously denied them. This therefore means:
. Preparing for jobs that are usually not open to them;
. Providing income-generating projects tht are market-oriented (not welfre-oriented projects); and
. Training capable female leaders at all levels.
f) Media :
Considering the attitudinal barriers in traditional societies and the role which the mass media play in reinforcing them, the following strategies were advanced:
. Organizing mass media campaigns to raise awareness;
. Creating a social climate friendly to women’s issues;
. Resisting the tendency to send women back to the kitchen; and
. disseminating information about conferences that will take place in the coming years.
It was pointed out that one of the key determinants of successful programmes is the extent to which they had taken the multiple roles of women into account and how they helped in alleviating the burden.
These are the suggested components for Women Empowerment:
. Promotion of gender awareness
. Lessons on health and nutrition;
. Integration of technical, entrepreneurial, cultural and communal aspects;
. Information and lessons on politics; and
. Provision of planning and thinking skills.
It was also necessary to clarify the goals of women’s education. The some more important objectives before us are:
. To eliminate illiteracy;
. To develop self-esteem and self-confidence;
. To have knowledge about their bodies and sexuality;
. To have the ability to make their own decisions and negotiate;
. To raise the women’s awareness of their civil rights;
. To provide skills for income generation;
. To make participation in community/society more effective; and
. To prepare them to be good women leaders.
Literacy is a tool that can help women and men understand themselves, their communities and society at large. Literacy involves change because it offers possibilities of new ways of looking and doing things. Crucial to education work are other complementary activities such as those in the areas of legal reform, transformation of international economic and political relations, action-oriented research and networking. It was stressed that it is equally important to convince men that better education of women will be beneficial to the entire family and the society as a whole.
References :
Bown, Lalage (1990) Preparing the Future. Women, Literacy, and Development. Action Aid Development Report No.4, Sommerset: Action Aid.
Carmichael, Stokely, and Hamilton, Charles (1967) Black Power: The Politics of Liberation. New York: Random House.
Commonwealth Secretariat (1989) Engendering Adjustment for the 1990s. London Commonwealth Secretriat.
Evans, Sara (1979) Development Thought and Development Strategies, Riverside: University of California, mimeo.
Jack, Raymond(1992) Women and Attempted Suicide. Hove, U.K.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
Lomintz, Larissa (1977) Networks of Marginality: Life in a Mexican Shantytown. New York: Academic Press.
Rao, Aruna, Feldstein, Hilary, Cloud, Kathleen, and Staudt, Kathleen (1991)Gender Training and Development Planning: Lerning from Experience. Conference Report. Bergan: The Chr. Michelsen Institute.
Stomquist, Nelly (1988) Women’s Education in Development: From Welfare to Empowerment, Convergence 21 (4): 5-17.
Stomquist, Nelly (1993b) Women’s Literacy and Empowerment in Latin America. In Carlos Torres (ed.), Edication in Latin America. Albert Park, Australia: James Nicholas Publishers.
UNESCO (1992) EFA 2000 No.9. Paris: UNESCO
UNICEF (1987) The Invisible Adjustment. Poor Women and the Economic Crisis Santiago: UNICEF Regional Office for the Americas and the Carribean.
USAID (1990b) The Democratic Initiative. Washington, D.C.: USAID, December.
About the Authors:
* N.V.S.Suryanarayana, M.Sc (Chem)., M.Sc (Geo)., M.A (Eng)., M.A (Phil)., M.A (CC&E)., PGDCA., PGDEPM., PGDIPM., CFA., CPFN., CIG., C.Yoga&Con., M.Ed., M.Phil. (Ph.D). Teaching Associate, Department of Education, Andhra University Campus, Vizianagaram, (AP)., India,e-Mail – suryanarayananistala@yahoo.in. ** G. Himabindu, M.A(Pol.)., M.Li.Sc., M.A (Edn.)., B.Ed., M.Phil., (Ph.D). Teaching Associate, Department of Politics., Andhra University Campus, Vizianagaram. (AP)., India e-Mail- gotetihimabindu@yahoo.com N.V.S.Bramaramba M.A(Pol.)., M.A (Edn.)., M.Li.Sc., (Ph.D.). Teacher, APSWER.Jr.College, Tallapalem, Visakhapatnam (AP)., India.
Leadership Lessons from the Presidential Election
Business executives don’t have to win votes to get appointed. But to be a successful leader, in the corporate world or the political world, you need to know who you are and what you stand for.
Even if you’re not the next president of the USA, I urge you to spare five minutes to read these questions. It’s a challenge, I warn you.
The Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Governance developed 15 questions for presidential candidates. It might be worth taking a look at the HowYouLead website.
But if you don’t have time to review the site, here’s the list of 15 questions, translated for managers and leaders in business.
Who Are You Really?
1. Values: What are your five core values and how do they shape how you lead?
2. Attributes and Competencies: What are the attributes and competencies you value most in yourself that will serve you well in your role?
3. Weaknesses and Mistakes: Recent history has many examples of leaders whose weaknesses brought them down. What are your tendencies that could cause your leadership to fail?
4. People I Have Learned From: What figure from your past has exercised leadership in a way that you aspire to? What were their strengths? Tell us about a situation that tested their leadership.
5. Multicultural Experience/World View: What experiences have helped you deeply understand the mindset and values of other cultures?
Who Will Be at the Table With You?
6. Building a Team: Tell us about a high-performing team that you’ve built. What made it high-performing?
7. Coalition Building: Can you share some examples of when you were a catalyst who brought groups with polarized opinions together so that all voices were at the table?
8. Increasing Participation: The internet and technology have flattened the business playing field, allowing for more participation and collective decision-making. How will you create a more participatory business and give people the opportunity to influence decision-making?
9. Increasing Participation: Young people are coming into the workforce in greater numbers than ever before. Please give us some examples of how you have listened and responded to the next generation in your leadership. How will you keep the next generation engaged?
How Will You Decide?
10. Decision-making Style: The leader’s role requires decisiveness. Please share some examples of your ability and willingness to be decisive. Can you tell us about a time when a lack of decisiveness got you into trouble? In retrospect, what would you have done differently?
11. Judgment: Tell us about a time when your judgment was tested in crisis. What do you want us to appreciate about your judgment?
How Will You Act? And What Will You Act On?
12. Leading Change: Can you give us an example of how you have overcome resistance to bring about a needed change?
13. Innovative Thinking: How will you create an environment for innovation within your leadership team?
14. Building the Confidence of Others: What are the first few things you’ll do to raise confidence inside your company and outside?
15. Indicators of Your Values: What leadership skills and values do you bring to the challenge of leading your business in a way that puts people first? Can you point to three things in your past that will help us understand that you care about this challenge?
These are the things that the voters need to know about a potential president. Most business executives may be relieved that they don’t have to undergo similar scrutiny when they are appointed!