A Look at Iraqi Women Essay Example for Free

A Look at Iraqi Women Essay The country of Iraq has been the venue of much turmoil and unrest. A war that began in 1980 between Iran and Iraq, which was supposed to be quick and speedy, lasted longer than expected and as a result, more males were needed for the army. More draftees meant higher mortality rates, greater costs for the military arm of the government, higher need for recruits. (Efrati, 28) All the same, the prolonged duration of the war brought about a crisis in Iraq’s economy. Factories and various companies found themselves suddenly lacking in workers as the majority of Iraq’s men were drafted to fight in the army. Women, however, being left in the country, were many and were a clear source for human resources. This led to the encouragement, by the government, of having women in Iraq take on new roles and parts to play both economically and politically. (Efrati, 28) The government came up with numerous ways to include Iraqi women in the production process of society. Economy, which was once a man’s field in Iraq, broadened to include the now strong force of women all over the country. However, this was a period of stress and turmoil. War was raging and everywhere individuals were taking on roles they never used to have. Would this change remain upon the conclusion of the war? What would these newly inducted Iraqi women have to look forward to when war between Iraq and Iran would finally come to an end? In truth, in post-war situations, women are often at the receiving end of a social backlash. When the troops come back home, roles are reestablished. The women, who were taken out of their well-carved places in society to replace the men during the war, are made to go back to the traditional gender roles they once had prior to the war. It is almost as if war has ended for the country, between Iraq and Iran, but not for its citizens as the men and women struggle to reestablish former roles. (Al-ali, 742) In present day Iraq, there is evidence of the violence and anarchy that occurs during post-war situations. Women are at the receiving end of a constant chain of abuse and aggression to a degree that is greater than even that which existed during the period of war or during the period of intervention by the military. The women are subjected to lawlessness, lack of security, abductions, sexual abuse and harassment, chaos, and even the extreme events of rape. (Al-ali, 742; Ziad, 16) These occurences may be due to the fact that the males of the society, who were once an integral part of the household of these women, are intimidated by the fact that their roles were so easily replaced and taken over. The intimidation felt by the males may have led to a lashing out at the females who, in fact, did nothing more than that which was needed and asked of them by the country during the time of war. Also, the violence and physical nature of the work they conducted for the military has carried over to bring violence even into their own homes after the war. (Al-ali, 742) This paper tries to understand and enumerate the different roles that Iraqi women play both during and after a period of war. These will be categorized into three types of roles: social, economic and political. The political role will involve any roles they have had in relation to the government and its dealings. The economic role will involve any roles Iraqi women have had to play in relation to business and finance. And the social roles will involve all other uncovered role that these women have had to play in a society that has been predominantly ruled through male hegemony. Political Role of Iraqi Women Before the rule of the infamous Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Iraqi women were known to have participated politically and some were even noted to have been activists. However, autonomous political participation of these women was cut short at the onset of the 1970s. At this time, they were encouraged to join the Baath party and to try to earn positions in the government by running for the rubber-stamp parliament. The results of these elections showed how greatly marginalized women were in the Iraqi society. In the first Baathist parliamentary elections held in 1980, only 16 women won a seat in a 250-seat Council. The results of the 1985 Baathist parliamentary elections were not all that different when 33 women candidates won seats in the Council. (Al-ali, 754) In 2003, only a scrawny 8% of the parliamentary Council were females, showing the continued decline of women participation in the political arena of Iraq. This was despite the fact that an organization called the General Federation of Iraqi Women served as the political vehicle of women in Iraq. Over 1 million Iraqi women were members of this federation and yet the political representation of women in the government of Iraq remains negligible and even questionable. (Al-ali, 754) However, Iraqi Kurdistan which gained semi-autonomy was able to become a venue wherein Iraqi women could establish civil society organizations and associations. These women soon became steeped in party politics. Although of the 20 ministers of the Kurdistan Regional government, only two were female ministers, females in Kurdistan began to be able to avail of employment in the civil service. Although political activity of women in Iraqi Kurdistan was growing and they were gaining important political roles as members of the government, their political pariticaption was often opposed and blocked off by the other male politicians. Harassment of female activists denouncing killings were often reported. Also, projects of certain women-led organizations aiming to foster a more positive social situation, especially for the female citizens, were most often met by opposition from male politicians and in most cases were shut down and discontinued due to the strength of the opposition. (Al-ali, 754) Although females were beginning to voice out and claim new positions as active movers in the political arena, their actions were unappreciated and even reviled by their male counterparts. The political roles that females played were roles that they had to fight for. These were not freely given by the society they lived in. Although during the war women were held in high esteem for the important contributions they could make to the war-torn Iraq, their roles were once again brought down to those they traditionally had once war was concluded. (Al-ali, 756-757) After the war, women were seen to be pushed further back into the background of Iraqi society. Their political roles were greater and more influential prior to the war and continued to decrease significantly as war ravaged the country and even after the war was finished. Iraqi women, although aspiring and fighting for equal political representation, are greatly marginalized in the society they so bitterly fought hard to keep alive during the period of war. (Al-ali, 756) Political research has shown, however, that greater progress can be achieved by the war-torn Iraq if women are allowed to take a more active political role. Studies of post-war countries such as Northern Ireland, Bosniz Herzegovina, Cyprus and Israel have shown that including female perspective will hasten the reconstruction progress. Women are an essential aspect of the political arena of a country and the Iraqi government has to realize this if they wish to speed up the rebuilding of their society after the war. (Al-ali, 756-757) Economic Role of Iraqi Women The onset of the Iran-Iraq war proved to be damaging to the economy of both countries. As the male citizens of both countries continued to be drafted for the drawn out war, females were the main source of labor and skill for the ongoing economic processes. During the war, females were taken out of their traditional role of reproduction to more challenging economic roles of production.

Industrial Revolution DBQ :: American America History

Industrial Revolution DBQ The impact of the Industrial Revolution was a positive experience for some, but it was a great difficulty for others. Because of the demands for reform and protection for workers arose, government and unions began to take place. That was how the evils of the Industrial Revolution addressed in England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Unions are voluntary associations joined by workers. The Combination Act of 1800, which hindered the growth of unions, states that every workman's goal, who are entering into any combination should not be obtaining an advance of wages, or to lessen or alter the hours, or influencing any other to quit his work. Any workman who did so shall be committed to jail (Doc 1). Although the Combination Act of 1800 prevented the growth of unions, Ralph Chaplin believes that a worker should join the union. He states that there can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun, but the unions, which makes it strong (Doc 2). Since there's so many workers working in bad conditions, the labor laws came to action. The Health and Morals Act of 1802 limited children under fourteen from working over twelve hours a day (Doc 3). The factor Act of 1833, which enacted that no person under 18 years of age shall be allowed to work at night in machinery (Doc 4). It allowed the child under 18 to work less than 12 hours a day or less than 69 hours in any one-week. There was a ten hours act, which said that the women or children's limit workdays are 10 hours. Socialism is one of the roles of government in the economy. Adam Smith, who is the father of capitalism, believes in laissez-faire, "hands off" the government. He believes all production should be sale at the best possible lowest price. (Doc 5) While Adam Smith believes in capitalism, Engel is criticizing it. Engel believes the capitalism seizes everything for themselves but not the poor, they remain nothing. (Doc 7) Karl Marx, the author of a 23 page pamphlet, "The Communist Manifesto", and Engels recommend that all the working men of all countries should unite and is to be equal, should overthrow of all existing social conditions.

Qualitative Data and Collection Methods

Here are the characteristics of a good qualitative data: 1) naturalistic (derived from actual participation or analysis of a subjective data, 2) â€Å"rich† and â€Å"deep† data (that is, specifics of dynamics of an event or context can be discerned or analyzed), 3) subjective (data should be perceptions of the people in the environment), 4) credible (that is, the data are derived from actual experiences of the people involved – the source of data), and 5) confirmable (that is, the data derived may be collaborated by other subjective sources).There is though an additional characteristic (but not required) of a good qualitative data. In some cases, social scientists attribute a good qualitative data based on its transformability into quantitative data (this is though not necessary). Types of Qualitative Data Collection (Qualitative Methods, 2006: URL cited) There are generally four qualitative data collection methods that are frequently used in the social sciences . Here are as follows: 1) participant observation, 2) direct observation, 3) unstructured interviewing, and 4) case studies.There are though variations in qualitative data collection methods. In anthropology, ethnography is used as the primary mode of qualitative data collection. In a sense, it is case study on a wide range (all aspects of a culture are examined and analyzed). In psychology, psychoanalysis methods of qualitative data collection are used to code and validate a person’s psychological standing or perhaps his/her state of mind. For simplicity’s sake, we shall not tackle on these methods. Participant Observation.This method requires that the researcher become a participant in an event or the place being observed. This approach allows the researcher to know the specifics as well as the intent of an activity or the people involved. Without bias or prejudgment, this method becomes more pronounced when the researcher is accepted as a natural part of the culture , assuming that the observations are natural phenomena. Here, the researcher collects first-hand qualitative data, and hence allows him/her to relate it simultaneously with the event or activity (or culture).Direct Observation. This is a different from the previous method in a number of ways. First, the researcher is not a participant in the context or event. The researcher in this case does not in any way mingle or influence the actions of the participants in a context or event. Doing so would undermine data authenticity as well as validation (see Hawthorne Effect). Second, direct observation is a detached perspective. Technologies replace actual participation as a measuring tool for validation and procurement of good qualitative data (as presented earlier).Third, the researcher is observing sampled situations or groups of people; in no way the researcher is immersed in the activity or event. Lastly, direct observations are usually shorter in scope than participant observation in t erms of data viability as well as practicality. Unstructured Interviewing or In-Depth Interviewing. Here the researcher and the respondent have direct interaction. The researcher usually uses a short guide to his interview questions (unstructured) or core concepts to ask about. The interviewer may ask additional or supporting questions that are relevant or connected to the main problem of the research.This allows the researcher flexibility in structuring his/her qualitative data as well as representative tools like bodily gestures and facial expressions. The protocol however in this type of method is that the interviewer respects the principle of confidentiality. Only information approved by the interviewee can be released to the public or to academic associations. Case Studies. This is the frequently used research method in the social sciences (especially in anthropology and sociology). This involves an intensive and extensive study of an individual on a specific milieu.In a sense, this is a combination of structured interview, participant observation, and direct observation. Using all the methods in one setting allows the researcher to get the whole picture of the problem. It also allows him/her to determine the variables or factors at play without undermining validity. Most of the time, if only one method is utilized, there is a tendency for variables to be neglected or misrepresented. There was a case when voting behavior was concluded to be attributed to the party affiliation of the group being studied (participant observation was the only method used) – note that only one variable was used.When the study was replicated using combinations of methods, party affiliation accounted only 19% of the relations (when the qualitative data was converted to quantitative data). Although this is not to say that a combination of data is more desirable or more academically reliable (this would depend on the context of the research problem), it is often noted that this type of method has all the requirements for procuring good qualitative data. Process for Analyzing Qualitative DataQualitative data analysis is composed of three general processes: 1) noticing things, 2) collecting things, and 3) thinking about things. These three general processes are connected are related with each other. We shall discuss each of the processes below. Noticing Things. This refers to the general observation of an event or context and the manner by which it is coded. It generally means â€Å"making observations, writing field notes, tape recording, interviews, gathering documents, etc. When you do this you are producing a record of the things hat you have noticed†(Seidel, 1998:3). Collecting Things. This process is similar to solving jigsaw puzzles (Seidel, 1998:5). The data coded are assembled or disassembled into groups. In this way, relations can easily be extracted. Thinking About Things. This is generally the theoretical part of the research process . Each part of the â€Å"puzzle† are examined and related to the main problem. After relationships between variables are stated, they are then referred to the main problem (as well as the specific propositions).

Book Review “Thinking, Fast and Slow” - 868 Words

I read the international bestseller â€Å"Thinking, Fast and Slow† of Daniel Kahneman (Winner of the Nobel Prize) over the last 3-4 weeks. I think it is a very interesting book and it is describing very critically the human brain and mind, which gave me many insights into decision-making and errors we are doing automatically without noticing it every day. He is very often talking about System 1 and System 2. System 1 is fast; its intuitive, associative, metaphorical, automatic, impressionistic, and it cant be switched off. Its operations involve no sense of intentional control, but its the secret author of many of the choices and judgments you make and its the hero of Daniel Kahnemans book Thinking, Fast and Slow. System 2 is†¦show more content†¦Finally, they were asked whether the prison sentence for the shoplifting offence should be greater or fewer, in months, than the total showing on the dice. Normally the judges would have made extremely similar judgments, but those who had just rolled nine proposed an average of eight months while those who had rolled three proposed an average of only five months. All were unaware of the anchoring effect. The same goes for all of us, almost all the time. We think were smart; were confident we wont be unconsciously swayed by the high list price of a house. Were wrong. (Kahneman admits his own inability to counter some of these effects.) Were also hopelessly subject to the focusing illusion, which can be conveyed in one sentence: Nothing in life is as important as you think it is when youre thinking about it. Whatever we focus on, it bulges in the heat of our attention until we assume its role in our life as a whole is greater than it is. Daniel Kahneman won a Nobel prize for economics in 2002 and much of his time he’s working together with Amos Tversky. Thinking, Fast and Slow has its roots in their joint work. 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