The Apple Company Managerial Marketing

Is Apple’s brand in danger following Steve Jobs’ death? Steve Jobs was a successful entrepreneur and innovator. Many people across the globe admired his innovations. He made Apple’s brand spectacular and powerful. The death of Steve Jobs was something unexpected. The new challenge after his death was to keep the corporation cool in the coming years.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Apple Company Managerial Marketing specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More I personally believe that Steve Jobs’ innovations and ideas will prevail at Apple. The case study explains how Schiller always uses Steve Job’s ideas and perspectives (Burrows Satariano, 2012). Schiller remains disciplined whenever analyzing and choosing new products for the Apple Incorporation. This strategy explains why the company might not go down. Phil Schiller understands how to re-define the company’s adverts and cam paigns. Such practices are critical towards the company’s performance. Schiller is always ready to achieve his goals. He believes any failure can destroy his reputation. The marketing executive always presents the best practices in order to make Apple successful. Schiller should consider the best practices in order to support the company’s brand. The executives should be ready to revitalize the company’s brand. This approach will sustain the extraordinary spirit created by Steve Jobs. It is agreeable that Apple Incorporation is at crossroads. Apple’s managers and executives can make the corporation successful. They can achieve this goal by promoting Apple’s unique brand. The managers should also come up with â€Å"better innovations in order to make Apple more competitive† (Finch, 2012, p. 65). The managers can place the company’s brand in jeopardy by failing to promote the best business practices. The future of Apple Incorporation de pends on the business practices and strategies applied by these managers and executives.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Generic and segmentation strategies to prevent Apple from going down Apple Incorporation can implement new strategies in order to remain competitive. The first generic approach is the use of cost leadership (Burrows Satariano, 2012). Apple Incorporation can maintain its performance by producing new products in order to attract more customers. Apple Incorporation will succeed because of its expertise in production (Finch, 2012). The corporation should use its distribution channels in order to realize its goals. The company can use cost leadership to market its quality products. This strategy will improve the company’s performance. This generic marketing strategy will target a wide market. The strategy will also improve the company’s efficienc y. The practice will reduce the company’s expenses. The company should use this approach because it has â€Å"the best skills in assembling different products† (Finch, 2012, p. 85). This company uses this strategy to produce its products much faster and efficiently. Apple Incorporation should support its business using the best segmentation strategies. The company should begin by identifying its major customers. The marketer will be able to identify every attractive segment. The company should also create an efficient marketing mix in order to address the changing needs of every consumer (Finch, 2012). The company should use the above generic strategy to address the needs of every consumer. This segmentation process will ensure the company â€Å"uses psychographics and demographics to identify its customers† (Finch, 2012, p. 103). This approach will ensure the company markets its products to more customers.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Apple Company Managerial Marketing specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Apple Incorporation should also analyze the changing behaviors of its targeted customers. This company will produce better devices and smartphones that address the needs of its customers. This marketing strategy will support Apple’s business strategy. My future expectations from Apple I strongly believe that Apple will remain competitive in the future. Apple has always produced some of the best devices and smartphones. These products have always addressed the changing needs of its customers. Apple Incorporation also produces the best brands in the sector. This situation explains why Apple Incorporation is a leading company in the country (Burrows Satariano, 2012). Apple Incorporation has examines every change in the market. The company also analyzes the changing needs of its customers. Apple Incorporation has always benefited from its outsourcing practices . The decision to outsource has reduced the company’s production costs. The company is currently attracting more customers. The death of Steve Jobs should not affect the company’s good fortune. Every leader needs to play his or her role in order to sustain the company’s fortune. Phil Schiller and his team should embrace the best practices at the corporation. The CEO should also make the best decisions in order to support the company’s vision. The above segmentation strategy will attract more customers. The company should also explore new markets in order to improve its performance (Finch, 2012). Apple Incorporation has some of the best devices in the global market. This situation explains why Apple’s brand is powerful and admirable. Every customer continues to support the company’s vision and mission (Burrows Satariano, 2012). The company should also produce new products in order to fulfill the expectations of every customer.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The leadership strategy at Apple Incorporation should support this trajectory. These practices will make Apple Incorporation a leading competitor in the industry. Reference List Burrows, P., Satariano, A. (2012). Can Phil Schiller Keep Apple Cool. Web. Finch, J. (2012). Managerial Marketing. New York: Bridgepoint Education. This essay on The Apple Company Managerial Marketing was written and submitted by user F1sher to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Woodlands Essay Example

Woodlands Essay Example Woodlands Essay Woodlands Essay When woodlands are set ablaze by man or nature made fires, it takes extreme effort on the part of local authorities and communities to put the fires out. In the woods, wildfires can happen naturally on an almost daily basis. In each incident of wild fire, getting to the heart of the flames to snuff it out involves heavy machinery and brave firefighters. There are instances when the fire is too out of control and driving a truck through the wood to put it out simply just won’t do. There are cases when helicopters that could douse the flames from up high cannot fly chose enough due to the treacherous smoke that could engulf them whole, denying the pilot of needed vision top steer clear of potential hazards. In these cases, we smokejumpers zoom in to save the day.Smokejumpers are wildland firefighters who specialize in parachuting into the wild to put out dangerous fires. We are trained with the use of two forest terrain type chutes namely the round and ram-air types which are em ployed by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land management respectively. We make jumps from high flying air planes that are faster than any chopper and drop onto the ground to reach a wild fire several times sooner than it would take any engine crew travelling on rough forest terrain. Given remote circumstances, we can outfit no more than typical hand tools like shovels, chainsaws and pulaskis or portable pumps to put the fire out. In most cases, the remote conditions leave us to improvise as much as we can in order to get the job done.There are several bases as to why I chose smoke jumping as my profession and stayed in it for seven years running, but the one major reason is because I believe that wildfires are truly a hazard that should be taken seriously. When I was younger, living in Montana exposed me to local news regarding how rampant the incidents could get. I’ve seen my share of sad stories regarding people trapped in wildfires with no one able to help them. Thes e early experiences caused the awakening of my perception towards the issue of keeping the wild safe from fires. Because of my initial interest, I sought for means through which I could obtain more information about my newfound interest. Luckily, my father’s friend happened to be a smoke jumper.Whenever he would visit, he would show me pictures of him in his jumps, landing on soft earth with nothing but a shovel and an axe. The pictures gave me the impression of how exciting and dangerous fighting fires in the wild could be. They also showed me that in the isolated areas where wildfires usually begin, urgency is at utmost important concern. If smoke jumpers weren’t there to prevent early fires from spreading, consequences could be disastrous. My reflections regarding my father’s friend’s experiences, the events that I’ve observed in the news about how bad wildfires could get, and other readings that I’ve made regarding what a smoke jumper do es inspired me altogether to sign up to be one. I took up several classes in fire technical specializations and eventually qualified to be a smoke jumper.Smoke jumping has turned out to be a very rewarding profession. I have always wanted to travel. Smoke jumping fulfills that dream of mine in two ways. Firstly, since smokejumpers are widely used in the United States for wildfire containment and there are not as many people brave enough to take the job as there are fires to put out, I usually get to travel from state to state. Secondly, being a smoke jumper necessarily makes parachuting a common event. This means that smoke jumping gives me the opportunity to jump from planes and into fires on a regular basis. Another reason why smoke jumping is very rewarding is that it lets me stay in shape. One cannot continue to be a smoke jumper if one is not in the best physical shape, mental, and psychological shape.Under the extreme conditions that smoke jumping puts upon me, I have to be ab le to handle physically challenging situations effectively, I have to stay on my wits and most importantly, I have to keep my nerves steady. These pre-requisites have led me to train hard every day and as a result maintain a healthy body, mind and lifestyle. While my younger experiences made me aware of the problem of wildfires, the courses that I took in preparing me for smoke jumping training made me understand the wildfire problem both in theory and practice. Thus, smoke jumping has taught me a great deal about how nature works and the management of fauna that it takes to restore or preserve our native ecosystems.Smoke jumping takes a great effort to pursue as a full time profession. The physical toll is enormous. Many smoke jumpers hang their chutes by the time they are 30. This is because the years of extreme exertions could wear out one’s limbs to make further exertions lethal. Another factor is that smoke jumping virtually takes out your social life. The intensive trai ning and maintenance needed for the job hardly leaves me any time to go out on dates! However despite of these factors, smoke jumping is still the job that I was born to do, and I will do it for as long as I possibly can.

Healthcare Decisions for Capacitated Patients Research Paper

Healthcare Decisions for Capacitated Patients - Research Paper Example As a result, health-care providers face challenges in such situations, because they routinely turn to available formal or informal surrogates as a way of expressing the best interests’ standard as they make health related decisions for the capacitated person. More so, depending on the beliefs and philosophical leanings, of different individuals perception on removal of life-sustaining treatment could be viewed as the cause of allowing a patient to die. More importantly, the doctrine of informed consent was formulated to represent the legal right of embodiment of self-determination in health care cases (Kleinman,I. (1991). As a result, the doctrine acts as a guiding process of medical decision making as it defines the restrictions of the patient-physician dialogue. Therefore, the health practitioners have to follow the clear and consistent health legal principles that stipulate their directives on treatment limitation, and decision making for patients who lack capacity even tho ugh they are capacitated. More so, the use of opioids, futility and physician-assisted suicide expose challenges to health-care providers based on the legal, ethical, societal and individual values that are either in favor or against making decisions for the capacitated patients. For this reason, those against the idea of making healthcare decisions for capacitated patients consent to the fact that it is ethically, legally, and clinically better to always ascertain the level of patient’s valid goals, preferences, wishes, and values as compared to taking an immediate default to a family member or other surrogate decision maker. Nonetheless, those in support of making decisions for the capacitated patients believe decisions made give best interest of the patient and family members as it relieves them from the pain and suffering. Pro Side Even though, patients are normally considered to have the right to participate in making decisions that relate to their care including cases o f diagnostic and treatment interventions, ambulation, diet, daily care, and end-of-life care. More significantly, health related decisions that involve capacitated patients expose health care providers to a challenging situation because it involves the health of a patient who cannot make sound decisions for themselves (Sessums, Zembrzuska, & Jackson, 2011). This is because some capacitated patients are considered to have either insufficient cognitive or emotional ability that will guarantee the health-care provider that the patient cannot make and express independent decisions personally. As a result, the health-care provider will depend on either an instruction directive that the patient previously executed in advance through a living will, or take the second alternative of available formal or informal surrogates. This is because the patient’s surrogates will give or withhold informed consent regarding the medical treatment options available on behalf of the capacitated pati ent who cannot make an independent decision. Nonetheless, such decisions should be in favor of the capacitated patient in legal, ethical, societal and individual values thus, should be unbiased. Societal and Individual Values Relevance More importantly, those in favor of making a decision for capacitated

E-HARMONY Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

E-HARMONY - Article Example Also, the buyers have high bargaining power as there is an increasing number of substitutes available and they show sensitivity to the prices charged to them. Moreover, they are looking for special customized services so that they feel valued. New entrants have medium to low intensity as there are low barriers for industry in general but relatively high barriers for specific target market. The enterprises have to invest huge amount of money in Research and there are patented algorithms. Additionally, there is strong requirement of having a strong brand name to compete effectively. In order to analyze E-Harmony’s value proposition or business model, the core competencies and value creating constituents are discussed. The core competency of the firm is in its highly integrated system which comprises of three components i.e. Personality Profile, Matching Algorithm and Guided Communication. This entire procedures has been designed in such a way that the customers are contended with the value for their money invested in availing the service. Also, this procedure has been incorporated after extensive research so that the matchmaking is undertaken with perfection. In addition to these three crucial elements, the other value generating activities are openness in communication, creation of E-Harmony labs, singles only policy, sufficient allocation of funds in marketing techniques and premium prices for memberships. After a detailed review of E-Harmony’s internal and external environment, it is apparent that it is following a differentiated strategy for attaining the competitive advantage. The company is mainly targeting the niche market which comprises of highly competent pool of candidates. Although the process of registration is time-consuming but eventually the customers are satisfied as they find the most compatible spouse. Furthermore, the enterprise has allocated adequate amount of funds in marketing campaigns so that it can employ

Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 61

Case study - Essay Example It may be difficult tocontrol the employees in the company if the recruiters fail to consider the interests of the company in their recruitment exercise. As a staffing professional in the human resources department, it is very important to represent the organization’s interest. It should be noted that each organization has its own culture and this determines factors such as behaviour of employees, their performance as well as basic values that describe the organization. Basically, â€Å"organizational culture refers to a system of shared meaning held by the members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations,† (Robbins, 1993, p. 602). In a bid to achieve its set goals and objectives, it can be seen that there are certain key characteristics that the organization values. These shape its culture and they become entrenched it its operations. The other aim of representing the organization’s interests when hiring employees is that it helps the HR personnel to make sure that the right people are hired. The staffing officers are in a position to assess the competencies of the candidate and ascertain if they will be compatible with the organization’s culture and work ethic. Each organization has its own goals and objectives and there are different strategies that can be implemented in order to achieve these. However, this can only be possible if the organization has a clearly outlined culture that shapes the behaviour of the members within the company. There are certain values that are expected to be followed by each person in the organization and these should be represented from the onset through the recruitment and section process. The other significance of recognizing organizational culture is the element of group emphasis. This refers to the degree to which work activities are organized around groups rather than individuals (Robbins, 1993). This explains why it is important to represent the interests of the organization. Group cohesion is

Manifestations of Sexism Across Languages

Manifestations of Sexism Across Languages Social Sexism Language Abstract There is no denying that communication is one of the keys to success for individuals in a rapidly changing world. Why do mere words carry too much power? First of all, language can develop one’s consciousness from infancy. Children learning the language are likely to absorb the cultural assumptions, myths and prejudice underlying language use. Social inequity reflected in language, thus, can powerfully shapes children’s later behaviors and attitudes. In this way, language affects socialization of the community where it belongs. The aim of this paper is to develop human perspectives on sexism in language, its manifestations and its negative impacts on women. From theory to practice, the paper, furthermore, equips its readers with relevant guidelines to stay away from unwittingly using sexist language and apply the gender-neutral language. Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1. Discrimination against women Sexism or gender discrimination means treating people differently on the grounds of their genders, which they were born to be. In a popular old feminist slogan, which goes â€Å"You start by sinking into his arms and end up with your arms in his sink†, the prevalence of sexism is beyond question. For years, men have held the dominant position of power and ruled the world while women have been considered inferior and useless. Even in our modern times, millions of women across the world are living in inequality, in injustice: their basic human rights are severely infringed due to no other reasons than their gender. Discrimination against women is manifested in numerous aspects of life such as education, work, enjoyment of benefits, freedom, power, etc. Take education as an example. Women, who make up 66% of the world’s illiterate adults, may account for 55% of college students but even after they successfully completed the same course of education or training, their equal work opportunities, and equal treatment in their career life are not guaranteed. Sex Discrimination in the Workplace According to Women’s World Summit Foundation, globally, women perform 66% of the world’s work, but receive only 11% of the world’s income, and own only 1% of the world’s land. Also, a report released in August 2007 by the US Census Statistics showed that womens earnings in 2006 were 76.9% of mens,  leaving the wage gap statistically  unchanged from  last year Unequal payment against women The manifestation of sexism can be found almost everywhere on earth, from most developed countries to developing countries and under-developed ones in Asia and Africa. In parts of the world, like China, India and Vietnam, parents may terminate the foetus or put the baby up to adoption on the basis that it is a girl. Abuses against women are social epidemics throughout the world. More often than not, men in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, South Africa, and Peru, etc. beat their wives and daughters at home at an astounding rate. In Ukraine, Nigeria, and Thailand, women are bought and sold, trafficked and forced to work as prostitutes. In the meantime, women in Morocco, Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia tackle with discrimination that renders them unequal before the law. Even in the US, where freedom is believed to reach the extreme, breaking news and articles on polygamy keep showing up frequently in daily newspaper, radio and television. Recently, a huge scandal over a polygamist broke on the front page of all the papers. Warren Jeffs, head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Texas, was convicted after he forced a 14-year-old girl to marry her cousin. That unfortunate girl is not the only case. Hundreds of other girls and women there suffer from the same ill-treatment. Members in the sect led by Jeffs believe that a man must marry at least three wives in order to ascend to heaven. Women are meanwhile taught that their path to heaven depends on being subservient to their husbands. 1.2. Gender Equality Thanks to the dawn of civilization, the vital roles of women have been recognized and gender equality has received major attention. Since the 1960s, feminism movements began and have blossomed all over the world. People’s attitude and ways of thinking toward women have been changing positively. In many countries, girls have the opportunity to go to school and enjoy the same rights as their male classmates. The number of female employees in the workplace has risen up dramatically. A peak in social changes is the adoption of Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women by the United Nations General Assembly on December, 18th, 1979. It came into full force as an international treaty after the twentieth country ratified it on September, 3rd, 1981. In its approach, the Convention covers three dimensions of the situation of women. Civil rights and the legal status of women are dealt with in great detail. In addition, the Convention, unlike other human rights treaties, is also concerned with the dimension of human reproduction as well as with the impact of cultural factors on gender relations. The implementation of the Convention is monitored by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Committees mandate and the administration of the treaty are defined in the Articles 17 to 30 of the Convention. The Committee is composed of 23 experts nominated by their Governments and elected by the States parties as individuals of high moral standing and competence in the field covered by the Convention. At least every four years, the States parties are expected to submit a national report to the Committee, indicating the measures they have adopted to give effect to the provisions of the Convention. During its annual session, the Committee members discuss these reports with the Government representatives and explore with them areas for further action by the specific country. The Committee also makes general recommendations to the States parties on matters concerning the elimination of discrimination against women. 1.3. Language as the reflector of society Language is not merely a means of communication; rather, it connects people to each other in social relationships and allows them to participate in a variety of activities in daily life. There is a reciprocal relationship between language and the society in which the society dominates the kind of language spoken in its community. And in return, people’s thought is strongly affected by their languages. Every little change in the thought takes language’s influence to the extreme, transcending the whole society. Consequently, under the canopy of sexism world, language in general or English in particular is greatly influenced and turns out to be sexist, creating Sexism in Language. For example, in the Western countries, the manifestation of sexist language emerged on the very early days in the Bible. This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and he blessed them and he named them Man in the day when they were created. (Genesis 5:1, 2) When Neil Armstrong, the legendary American astronaut, made his very first step on the moon, he uttered a memorable sentence: Thats one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. If he had landed on the moon in the mid-90s, he would definitely have said a much more politically correct sentence: Thats one small step for a person, one giant leap for humankind.† which is less poetic but certainly more literally representative of the whole of the human race. In the progressive, civilized world today, women and men are to be recognized equal. In the same vein, sexist language should not be welcomed and that is the reason why neutral-gender language is preferred to the sexist one by many people. 1.4. Aims and objectives There is a long way to go until the deep-rooted concept of sexism vanishes completely though a lot of changes have come in subtle ways through our actions, our movements, our laws,. As one more step towards this end, important things like the usage of words should be taken into consideration. If children are exposed to sexist words used by their parents, relatives since their childhood, they will take it for granted that sexism is not a matter, that language is language and that we just swim with the tide. Clearly, language may shape human thought. Therefore, in this paper, my overall aim and objectives are: To raise public awareness in using language. To help English learners to improve their understanding in sexist language. To provide information that, to some extent, shows English learners to the right track of language usage so as not to unwittingly offend or hurt anyone. To describe how discrimination against women appears in spoken and written language and explain what sexist language is and what meaning lies behind it. To manifest sexism in Vietnamese roughly and sexism in English in more details. Last but not least, to provide English users with some practical tips to avoid sexist language. Chapter 2 Review Of The Related Literature The relationship between language and gender has long been of interest within sociolinguistics and related disciplines. The possibility of eliminating sexism from language originally stems from the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which states that language is not only shaped by society, but society by its language. Since the early 1900s, Edward Sapir first identified a new concept, which is language determinism. In his perspectives, language defines the way a person behaves and thinks. He believed that language and the thoughts that we have are somehow interwoven, and that all people are equally being affected by the confines of their language. Later, Benjamin Whorf, Sapir’s student, picked up on the idea of linguistic determinism and really made it his own. Whorf coined the so-called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which is more properly referred to as the Whorf hypothesis. Under this hypothesis, language is believed to be more than a way of voicing ideas, but the element which shapes those ideas. One cannot think outside the confines of their language. Whorf put his whole trust in linguistic determinism; that what one thinks is fully determined by its language. He also supported linguistic relativity, which means that the differences in language reflect the different views of different people. For example, Whorf conducted a study on the Hopi language. He did research on a Hopi speaker who lived in New York City near the place he lived. He concluded that Hopi speakers do not include tense in their sentences, and therefore must have a different sense of time than other groups of people. On a parting note, the strong form of the hypothesis is not now widely believed. After all, speakers of one language can explain and understand the conceptual systems of another language. And grammatical categories do not thoroughly explain cultural systems. Indo-European languages put gender into a grammatical category, and their speakers may be sexist but speakers of Turkish or Chinese, languages without grammatical gender, are not notably less sexist. A weak form of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, that language influences without determining our categories of thought still seems justifiable, and is even backed up by some psychological experiments like the finding of Kay Kempton which depicts, in distinguishing colour triads, a pair distinguished by colour names can seem more distinct than a pair with the same name which are actually more divergent optically. As a field, prompted by the blossoming Western Women’s Movement, language and gender really took off in the 1970s with particular interest from feminist researchers, in the potential for male dominance of mixed-gender talk such as men interrupting women more often than the reverse case or in the clarification of distinction between female and male speaking styles and in sexism, or sexist bias, in language. The year 1975 can be regarded as a milestone in the study of language and gender in the West. In that year three important books were published. They are Robin Lakoff’s work Language and Women’s Place, Thorne and Henley’s co-edited collection named Language and Sex: Difference and Dominance, and Key’s book about Male /Female Language. With a closer look at Lakoff’s book, he focuses especially on female use of woman talk in society and the problems women must overcome to be seen as effective, strong thinkers and speakers. The author uses classroom observations and examples to convey the idea that children are taught to speak politely and to accept peoples ideas. Ridicule from older boys causes boys around the age of five to stop using woman talk and adopt a masculine language. Girls sustain their old language and are discouraged from using masculine language. As for adults, a problem arises when women has to handle both business and personal relationships. They use neutral language for business but mostly feminine language when talking to friends. If they refuse to talk like ladies, they are ridiculed for being masculine, but they are also ridiculed when they use feminine language because they are seen as unable to speak forcefully. Basically, women are damned if they do and damned if they dont. Men, from childhood on, have taken control over the society and speech by using strong expressions while women have had to adapt their language to variations, no matter business or personal. For instance, a woman may say an idea is terrific in a board meeting, but when she is talking to her female friend she may utter that the idea is divine. The adjectives used vary with a womans environment. Because women have to make adjustments in their speech, Lakoff observes, most women never really master either language or feel comfortable using both. Therefore, the overall effect of womans talk is to engage a womans personal identity and her ideas, erasing the chance to take power. Thanks to observations, the author notes that women outnumbered men in utilizing more tag questions (questions that dont commit the speaker to an idea either way) because they want reassurance that their statement is correct. Lakoff concludes that womens speech is devised by society and taught to girls through socialization to prevent the expression of ideas that may increase womens status. A writer and administrator at Arizona State University, Nelsin P.A (1977) carried out a study of the dictionary prescribing sexism in English. Using richly detailed historical evidence, she disclosed how often English expresses sexist assumptions among males and females. In her study, she read a desk dictionary and jotted down note cards on every entry that seemed to refer to male and female. Her collection of note cards brought to her mind the association of English with the society. As for her, â€Å"Language and society are intertwined as a chicken and an egg†. The values and beliefs of a culture can be revealed through its language. A language may change fast as new words can be easily introduced but it also takes a whale of time for old words and usages to disappear. Based on Nilsen’s note cards, she found out three main points about the comparison between men and women: â€Å"Women are sexy and Men are successful†, â€Å"Women are passive and Men are active† and â€Å"Women are connected with Negative Connotations; Men with Positive Connotations.† More recently, Marlis Hellinger and Madumod Bussman (2002) (as cited in Ansary and Babaii 2005), two German linguists published their work â€Å"Gender across Languages – Linguistic representation of women and men†. They have managed a long time of intensive preparation to create an outstanding project gathering linguists to present research on gender representation across 30 countries, namely China, Norway, Spain, Finland, Holland, Vietnam, etc. The project provides an incredible huge amount of new insights into the topic of linguistic representation of gender in different languages. Various pieces of linguistic research from different countries have been collected in three volumes. Each of the three volumes is introduced by an identical article of the editors giving some general information about the project, the topics to be discussed for the different languages in the volumes and the terminology used. Take Vietnamese research as an example. Ms. Hoa Pham manages to show in her very informative article in Vietnamese the role, social status and traditional values play for person reference forms. She focuses in her study on terms women and men use in various relationships in urban settings among young and/or educated people. Her study therefore emphasizes the role concrete communicational situations play in person reference. Vietnamese as a classifier language expresses gender mainly by special morphemes used as modifiers. The role gender specific reference takes and the way it is expressed is dependent on the communicational context including the relative status and age of the people addressed, speaking and referred to. Nevertheless, social changes play an important role here as well. Terms of address, self-reference and reference have changed in the last few decades with the change of womens roles in society. Chapter 3 Sexist Language 3.1 Background Definition Research on sex roles conducted by Swim, Mallett and Stangor (2004) indicates that sexism comes out in many forms, which are blatant, covert and subtle sexism. Both blatant sexism and covert sexism are defined as intended but differ from each other in the visibility. Blatant sexism which means unjust and discriminatory treatment of women relative to men is showed up obviously while covert sexism inclines to invisible ill-treatment of women. Compared to those two kinds, subtle sexism represents unfair treatment to women, which is hardly recognized for it is perceived as normative and conventional. Similar to covert sexism, subtle sexism is hidden away but it is not unintentionally harmful. In fact, subtle sexism is of particular interest of researchers due to its wide prevalence and adverse impacts on its victims. Sexist language is part and parcel of subtle sexism. It is the â€Å"language which devalues members of one sex, almost invariably women, and thus foster gender inequality†. In other words, sexist language consists of speeches and utterances that strengthens, perpetuates gender stereotypes and status differences between women and men. In a human life chart, sexist language may appear in the very first lines. Kids learn it from their parents, siblings, neighbors and as time passes by, it mutates and evolves into a linguistic habit. People may use sexist language for a handful of reasons. It may be owing to the tradition, the norm ingrained in current written and spoken language and hard to change. Some people lack the knowledge about what makes up sexist language. Some do not believe that such language is sexist. Others may attempt to uphold the hierarchism in their societies. 3.2 Sexism in English Is English sexist? There is nothing denying it. English, one of the world’s most spoken languages indeed proves to be sexist through its historical and current use. It has been a norm in the past to refer to individuals in general terms as being male as in the sentence: â€Å"When an average British goes out in the rain, he takes an umbrella with him.† To the ear of most of English speakers, the use of â€Å"she† and â€Å"her† in that context would sound a little strange. In deed, the word â€Å"woman† in English is defined in terms of â€Å"man†. From the Old English, the word â€Å"man† means â€Å"person† while â€Å"woman† clings to the view of â€Å"wife of a person†. In his translation of the Book of Genesis, which explained Eva was formed by a â€Å"spare rib† of Adam and Adam made his declaration: â€Å"This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.† And the fact remains till today that â€Å"woman† derives from â€Å"man† as Winston Churchill put it: â€Å"In grammar, as in love, the male embraces the female† when he was asked by a feminist on this point. Ambiguities may occur when using only one word â€Å"man† for both sexes like in the following examples: Eg 1: Like other animals, man nourishes his baby with milk. Hearing such sentence could make people roll on the floor laugh because it sounds contradictory to the common sense. Eg 2: The Company only employs experienced men with good English command. The sentence could make listeners confused since they do not know what the exact sex that the Company wants to employ. Can experienced women with good English command or with much better qualities get a job in the Company? â€Å" 3.3 Sexism in Vietnamese Under a thousands-of-years feudal regime, especially the prolonged domination of China, patriarchal ideology was adopted, nurtured and practiced by the whole Vietnamese society. Such ideology dominated the Vietnamese culture for quite a long time, breeding malicious disregard and contempt of women. Though Vietnam has endeavored to develop a country of gender equality, sexism still exists in many parts of the country, especially in rural areas. This is, to some extent, reflected through the society’s conceptions of women in general and the sexist language people used when it comes to women in particular. â€Å"Nhà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥t nam vià ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿t hà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯u, thà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ­p nà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¯ vià ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿t và ´Ã¢â‚¬  The above sentence can be read literally â€Å"One boy child, write â€Å"yes†, ten girl children, write â€Å"no†. Right at birth, a gender discrimination barrier was set up between a male and a female. The saying affirms the dominant role of the male the family clan and yet if the baby turns out to be a daughter, her existence would mean nothing: her name will not be registered in the family tree. This perspective of the Vietnamese older generations, unfortunately lingers on. In reality, it is common in Vietnam that a poor couple may already have a dozen of daughters but still wish for more until they have a son who will be considered the only heir to the family’s property and tradition. The concept of â€Å"Tam tà ²ng† adopted from Confucius philosophy has been spread out widely from generation to generation in Vietnamese families. Tà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡i gia tà ²ng phà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¥, xuà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥t già ¡ tà ²ng phu, phu tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ­ tà ²ng tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ­ means a girl, since her birth, is a belonging of her father; after she gets married, she becomes a property of her husband and even when her husband passes away, she belongs to their son. In all the stages of her life, the woman has never lived, even for a minute, as an independent human being but an item passed over from one man to another. She cannot make a decision for her own life. Vietnamese literature contains a staggering amount of sexist proverbs and folk- songs where men are deemed to be superior to women. Phà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ­n gà ¡i cà ³ hai bà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿n sà ´ng, Bà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿n Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ¥c thà ¬ chà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¹u, bà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿n trong thà ¬ nhà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  . The two sentences in the folk-song describe the unpredictable fate of women. They have to accept and unconditionally obey the decision made by her parents whether it is right or wrong one. If , for example, a woman was fortunate enough to marry a good man, she could live a happy life. Otherwise, she would have to endure all the hardships, misery or even sufferings for the rest of her life. The unpredictability of a woman’s life in the past can be found in many other folk-songs and old poems such as: â€Å"Thà ¢n em nhÆ ° hà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡t mÆ °a xa Hà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡t rÆ ¡i xuà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœng già ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿ng hà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡t và  o vÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ n hoa.† Thà ¢n em trà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¯ng phà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ­n em trà ²n Bay nà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¢i ba chà ¬m và ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºi nÆ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ºc non Rà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¯n nà ¡t mà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ·c Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ ºu tay kà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ » nà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ·n.. Not only Vietnamese women lost their freedom, did they also suffer from the disrespect for their intelligence and education. â€Å"Ä Ãƒ  n à ´ng nà ´ng nà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¢i già ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¿ng khÆ ¡i. Ä Ãƒ  n bà   sà ¢u sà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¯c nhÆ ° cÆ ¡i Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ±ng trà ¡Ã‚ ºu.† Literally translated, a man may act hastily but his thought is likened to a deep well whereas a woman may think deeply but her thought is just as narrow as the platter of betel. These two sentences implied a gross underestimate of women’s mind in comparison with men. In the old days, women had almost no access to education and very few opportunities to communicate with the outside world. For this reason, women at that time were not as knowledgeable as men who were granted a preference to pursue their study. Women can also mean misfortune or bad luck, which is clearly expressed in the following tip-of-the-tongue saying: â€Å"Ra ngà µ gà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ·p gà ¡i.† This expression says when you go out in the morning, if the first person you meet is a female, you are deemed to fail to gain what you planned to do or you may face with some trouble or even with an accident. A lot of Vietnamese, especially old and rural people, remain sexist in their language usage. They now often say, for example, â€Å"Ä Ãƒ  n bà   thà ¬ là  m Ä‘Æ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ £c gà ¬!†, which covers the idea that women are worthless and women are never able to do anything serious or important. The word â€Å"gà ¡i† which used to refer to the prime time of a female now comes to be used in many contexts as a derogatory term, for example: gà ¡i Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥y (that’s a whore.), gà ¡i gà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ i Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥y (that’s a call girl), Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å" gà ¡i gà ³a (that’s a stuff of widow), Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Å" gà ¡i Ä‘Ä © (that’s a promiscuous stuff), etc. Those judgements, nevertheless, no longer holds water in the 21st century Vietnam society, in which women enjoy the same right to go to school and interact socially with others. It is a society where men and women are equal in all aspects: a great number of women are now members of Parliament, senior officials in the government, leaders in a number of industries, honoured professors and doctors. Chapter 4 Sexist English Its Manifestations Language can be likened to a social phenomenon, closely related to social attitudes. What happens in our daily life is partly reflected in our language. The existence of sexist language depicts in the pervasion of sexism in our day-by-day conversations, in our messages, and in our thoughts. In the past, women were supposed to stay at home, remaining powerless and generally subordinates to men whereas men were the focus, the centre of the family and even the whole society. Women have been looked down on as â€Å"the weaker sex† and should be dependent on men. Language simply reflects social facts. 4.1. Ways of addressing Addressing practices for men and women are asymmetric. Inequality is implied when different endearments â€Å"Mrs.† and â€Å"Miss† are used for women in different situations while men are associated with only one endearment â€Å"Mr.† Choosing a title for women depends on their marital status. If a woman is still single, she will be called â€Å"Miss† but after she gets married (or was married as with widow), the title will be changed into â€Å"Mrs.† Thereby, when noticing how a woman is addressed, people can tell that woman has made a wedding vow or not. Using title â€Å"Mr.† before the name of a person, on the other hand, merely shows that the person is a male adult. The term â€Å"Mr.†, used for both single and married men, has perfectly masked the marital status of a man. This linguistic distinction implies that it is more important for woman than man to show whether one is married. However, in a modern and civilized society, a woman’s avowed commitment to another human being which characterizes a marriage is a personal and private matter that bears no relevance in the public sphere. Hence, women should be able to enjoy the same status with the male counterparts who do not need to define themselves in terms of marriage. 4.2. Terms ending in â€Å"man† refer to functions performed by both sexes In English, there is a huge amount of male-oriented words (those contain the element â€Å"–man†) that can in fact apply to both sexes. In deed, when referring to students newly joined a university, the word â€Å"freshmen† is used as if all new students were male. For example:chairman  congressman  councilman newsman  foreman  freshman policeman  salesman  mailman Occupational nouns and job titles ending in -man obscure the presence of women in such professions and positions. For a long period of time, women are deserted from power and the right to voice their opinion in such fields as politics. Hence, it is common sense to view jobs like â€Å"congressman† as for male only, discounting the fact that the number of women making contribution to the political arena is skyrocketing. 4.3. Sex-linked modifiers While male-oriented words are used for both sexes, some other words, especially name of some professions which can be applied for both sexes, are habitually associated with male only. In order to refer to female of those professions, we have to add a modifier such as â€Å"woman†, â€Å"lady† or â€Å"girl† before each name of profession albeit those names of common gender. Common Gender Female Doctor  Woman doctor Professor  Woman professor Engineer  Woman engineer Lawyer  Lady lawyer Reporter  Girl reporter The addition of modifier is a piece of evidence for discrimination against women as it reflects the perspective that women are appendages of men. 4.4. Bound morpheme used for a feminine form of a noun Gender discrimination in language also shows in the fact that a feminine noun of some words can only be obtained by adding a bound morpheme. For example: MALE  FEMALE  MALE  FEMALE Man  Woman  Manager  Manageress Prince  Princess  God  Goddess Author  Authoress  Mayor  Mayoress Count  Countess  Shepherd  Shepherdess Host  Hostess  Steward  Stewardess Poet  Poetess  Usher  Usherette Heir  Heiress  Sailor  Sailorette Hero  Heroine  Conductor  Conductette 4.5. Words that point to Marriage issue In a wedding ceremony, after the couple exchange their rings, the priest will utter his last words: â€Å"I pronounce you man and wife† to officially recognise the connection between two human beings. In the priest’s sentence, there is a lack of parallelism in â€Å"man and wife†. After marriage, the man remains the status of a â€Å"man† while the woman shifts her status into the â€Å"wife of a man†. In a traditional Christian wedding, the official asked â€Å"Who gives the bride away†. And the father would reply â€Å"I do† or â€Å"Her mother and I do† but there in the question lied an inherent problem. The idea that the bride is something to be handed over from one man to another conjures up images of the day when wife and children of a man were considered his properties and establishes the woman in the subservient role of wife. More interestingly, there is much linguistic evidence depicting that weddings are more important to women than to men. A woman cherishes the wedding and is considered a bride for a whole year, but a man is referred to as a groom only on the wedding day. The word â€Å"bride† appears in â€Å"bridal attendant†, â€Å"bridal gown†, â€Å"bridesmaid†, â€Å"bridal shower†, and even â€Å"bridegroom†. The word â€Å"groom† comes from the Middle English word â€Å"grom†, meaning â€Å"man† and in the sense is seldom used outside of the wedding. With most pairs of male/female words, people habitually put the masculine word first, Mr. and Mrs., his and hers, boys and girls, men and women, kings  and queens, brothers and sisters, guys and dolls, and host and hostess, but it is the â€Å"bride and groom† who are talked about, not the â€Å"groom and bride†. The importance of marriage to a woman is also shown by the fact that when a  marriage ends in death, the woman gets the title of â€Å"widow†. A man gets the derived  title of â€Å"widower†, which is not used in other phrases or contexts, but widow is seen  in â€Å"widowhood†, â€Å"widows peak†, and â€Å"widows walk†. A â€Å"widow† in a card game is an

The Harlem Renaissance, Jazz and Billie Holiday Essay -- Billie Holida

The Harlem Renaissance, Jazz and Billie Holiday In Harlem, the people sit on their front porches in protest of the summer Sunday sun, fanning themselves with the morning paper as the day slides away. Out on the streets, neighbors call to each other. A woman’s voice is audible from an open window, singing nonsensically as she scrubs. Her melodies tumble out the window and intertwine with the trembling harmonica rising from the heat of the pavement and venture into the store on the corner. The boisterous laughter of men on the porch mixes with the skip of the jump rope slapping the sidewalk and the shrieking of children. All the faces on the streets, inside the houses, and emitting the shrieks are not the same ones to be found along Fifth Avenue, across town. This small portion of Manhattan is entirely black, except when the sun sets. Dusk somehow radiates calm to the slightly jittery Whites that pour into the city for an evening of entertainment. Only in darkness is when the Whites feel safer in making the pilgrimage to Harlem. Differentiating skin color isn’t a chore when pedestrians are only a possibility-- when the sun doesn’t make lightness or darkness so apparent. People parade into the city dressed up to the nines, out to hear the latest style of music, dance the latest dance, or see the latest revue. Creation spewing from this cultural Mecca is insatiably sought after and people of all ethnicities wish to embrace it as their own. High heels and wingtips carry stocking feet into various downtown dumps and dives for a change of pace, clamoring for Black artists to whom they would never give the time of day if the sun were out. Yet the patience of nighttime is incontestable. The rhythms and rhymes coinciding with th... ... to break into show business at all. The great "Lady Day" lived her whirlwind life, making decisions that would have made any mother’s head spin. But her unbelievable life helped pave the way for other Black female artists, so that they had a strong female example that didn’t back down in the face of Racial and Sexist tensions and worked so hard to overcome them that the stress was too much, and she sought solace in narcotics because the pressure was too great. Today, the legacy of Billie Holiday lives on. People are continuously intrigued by her life, inspired by her music, and impressed with the difficulties she faced. Armed with her music, Billie Holiday faced the world on the offensive, constantly battling those who presented her with obstacles. Though she did not fight flawlessly, her ambitions and her dreams carried her through life as best they could.