Essays about Issue.

Essay On IKEA’s Response to Global Challenges

Abstract

The contemporary globalized environment poses numerous challenges for business to achieve success. In this regard, various dimensions of globalization become more and more entwined and companies need to adapt to these changes. One of the most complex aspects is the socio-cultural dimension which requires systematic and multi-stakeholder involvement. The aim of this paper is to address the case of IKEA and its approach to resolving the issue of child labor used by its suppliers in India. Consequently, the rationale for IKEA’s approach is outlined with further implications for the company and global businesses in general. IKEA’s case demonstrates the new trends in globalization and business conduct which require multi-dimensional cooperation towards the sustainable development as a precondition for the successful business performance of a company. From the perspective of the local population, the primary benefit is long-term commitments of the international corporations and the consequent stability of the local socio-cultural development and economic growth.
Key words: IKEA, child labor, globalization, corporate responsibility.

IKEA’s Response to Global Challenges

In the contemporary globalized and internationalized world, of the company to achieve success it has to address numerous issues except the quality and cost-efficiency of its production. To achieve success, a company has to consider diverse political and cultural aspects of its business conduct and manufacturing of the final products. Although this concern becomes essential in the contemporary business environment, it can be incredibly challenging to fulfill monitoring across various branches located in around the word. On the other hand, in order to preserve a successful and continuous profile, the company has to make sure that its profile is integral across all branches and cooperation with suppliers corresponds to its profile and values. The aim of this paper is to address the issues of globalization and continuity of company’s profile in the example of IKEA and its child labor issue in India.
Although globalization poses numerous economic benefits for a business to expand, optimize its manufacturing capacities in the third world, and reduce cost of the final product, globalization also has numerous threats and challenges that company has to deal with and develop a consistent approach within its strategy (Smith, 2010). In this regard, a company also has to address such dimensions of globalization as political, cultural and ecological. In other words, having a strong public profile in the country of origin is no longer enough for one’s success. The company also has to demonstrate the consistency of its public profile on the global scale. In other words, the company has to abide by the rules and public perceptions of the country of its origin or according to the international standards also in other countries in order not to damage its image (Spinello, 2014).

IKEA had a negative experience of being criticized for some of its carpet supplier from India using child labor in carpets production. The company faced with cultural and political-legal challenges posed by globalization. Moreover, unlike nowadays, when a company has various cases and strategies to follow in resolving such issues, IKEA faced the problem when the issue of child labor was quite new in the business environment and consequent options for its handling were limited (Smith, 2010). In this regard, the available options branch manager Marianna Barner could choose from included cancelling contract with suppliers, withdrawing from the market or addressing the issue in some way. The first two options would mean financial losses, while the last one had very little certainty in its application (Spinello, 2014). On the other hand, the issue could not be ignored since media programs on the subject had already damaged company’s image before.

The primary threat of such issues on the global scale is that the national image of the company can be easily damaged and its core values challenged. For IKEA that placed equal access to its products across various categories of society, equality and humanness were the core of its philosophy. Moreover, the relationship with suppliers was based on the crucial principle of using sources in an unconventional way. Thus, giving up on suppliers would have been damage to that principle and could result in further deterioration of relations with other existing suppliers (Vogel, 2006).

The most functional resolution of the issue is to preserve company’s presence in the country and continue doing business but in a new way. In this regard, the company would have to develop its own way of dealing with the matter in accordance with the international law and company’s concept and values. Barner did the right choice of getting involved with the national and international organizations dealing with the issue of child labor. This gave her and the company the relevant knowledge of the issue and related aspects such as age differences of children allowed working in different countries, local legislature, a relationship between child labor and schooling (Spinello, 2014). In this context, IKEA created a precedent how other companies have to deal with similar issues – promoting the higher standards through cooperation with the local NGOs, international organizations and local suppliers:

organization promoting the well-being of children. Together with UNICEF experts,
local governments and NGOs, IKEA started an ambitious and large-scale project
aimed at improving education, recruiting for schools and raising awareness among
parents that education is important for their children. In order to decrease
dependency on child labor, a microcredit program was started mainly aimed at
strengthening the economic position of women” (Jeurissen, 2007, p. 135).
Moreover, as part of this response, the company introduced zero-tolerance policy regarding suppliers using child labor. For these purposes, monitoring workshops with suppliers in the target countries were introduced and strict rules were imposed. If the instance of child labor was found and not resolved, IKEA would cancel a contract with its supplier and would not conduct business with the anymore (Vogel, 2006).

IKEA’s solution of the issue is incredibly functional in dealing with various dimensions of globalization. It is three-fold in its nature. First of all, the company preserved its image and projected its values on the global scale. Secondly, it demonstrated the Western public that it follows the same standards in all countries were its conducts business, thus the company kept its customers. Finally, IKEA as an international company demonstrated its long-term commitments in the various foreign markets and moreover responsibilities with the local communities (Smith, 2010).

The last aspect is particularly essential since there is a tendency in the global business to demonstrate long-term commitments to the local communities rather than simple gaining profit schemes. In this regard, international companies accept the tendency of merging of different global dimensions and corporate responsibility in terms of development of the local communities (Vogel, 2006). The main benefit for the companies is that they build a functional relationship with the local people and also contribute to the improvement of the sustainable development of these communities. In a long-term perspective, these communities will become more functional labor force with desired skills and also future consumers of the companies’ products.

Stakeholder dialogue and co-operation are important ways for business to shape

their social responsibility, since businesses are often partially responsible for causing
a social problem. However, business cannot solve problems by themselves they did
not cause by themselves, so it is important to seek collaboration with others. An
important mechanism within these partnerships is that different parties can mutually
influence the conditions of their performance” (Jeurissen, 2007, p. 135).
Thus, the essence of IKEA’s response to the child labor issue with its suppliers was to take on board as many stakeholders as possible in order to address the issue in the most systematic and functional manner. A similar approach was taken by Marriott International that placed the cultural differences and traditions in the heart of its global strategy (Spinello, 2014). In this regard, cooperation with various stakeholders aimed at improvement of life through work with Marriott International made it one of the most desired working places in the hospitality business (Vogel, 2006).
Overall, from all mentioned above it can be concluded that with the strengthening of global trends, companies have to pay more attention to their socio-cultural commitments in the communities they do business in. IKEA’s approach was in involving numerous stakeholders and treating the issue in its systematic and contextual complexity. IKEA’s approach became a precedent in the field of child labor and an example to follow by many international companies.

References

Jeurissen, R. (2007). Ethics & Business. Assen: Royal Van Gorcum.
Smith, C. (2010). Global Challenges in responsible Business. Cambridge: Cambridge
Spinello, R. (2014). Global Capitalism, Culture, and Ethics. New York, NY: Routledge.
Vogel, D. (2006). The Market for Virtue: The Potential and Limitations of Corporate Social
responsibility. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.

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Should Same-Sex Marriage Ruling Improve Public Health? Research Paper Example

One issue on which I have a strong opinion is whether or not the same-sex marriage ruling improves public health. This issue is rooted in the argument for how the development of the concern for social rights effects the underlying public health.
The way in which the argument concerning the issue is that it is essentially an issue concerned with the overall ability of these rulings to lead to the improvement of public health. This issue was presented by a policy maker or member of media within the past six months. Furthermore, it presents the issue of how to

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Example Of The Complexity Of Genetically Modified Organisms Research Paper

In the contemporary society, there are various issues that tend to be very controversial yet essential for human existence. One of such issues is related to genetically modified organism (GMO) that is used in food production. GMOs are the organisms that were altered through genetic engineering for the improvement of their qualities and consequent different use in the human life. They are often used for food and industrial purposes. The aim of this paper is to explore the issue of genetically modified organisms from the contemporary perspective and outline their pros and cons. In this regard, attention is paid

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Essay On A New Way To Bully

Introduction

The Meaning of Cyberbullying and the Purpose for This Report
Cyberbullying is a new way in which students, and sometimes adults, choose to harass or verbally assault another student or adult. It can take on many forms, like direct messaging on social media sites like “facebook,” “twitter,” or ever growingly more popular “snapchat.” Indirect messages about the victim can be posted on the assailants page without the victim even knowing about it until after the whole school is made aware. Far more rare, moreover far more disgusting, is when a physical attack on the victim occurs, is filmed, and then posted online, or shared via group messages on the phone. To make matters even scarier, the Supreme Court, earlier this year, ruled on a case, virtually making it impossible to make social media, other than email or text messages, to be admissible in any court for the purpose of proving that harassment has occurred.

How This Report Will Affect the Readers

This report will affect the readers in multiple ways. It will help to bring light on a growing problem. Provide students with the information they need to know about cyberbullying, and hopefully provide instructors with enough adequate information to know when cyberbullying may, in fact, be occurring, and arm these instructors with the tools needed to potentially sit down with a student when the signs are recognized to see what is needed to resolve the situation. The Supreme Court (wusa-9.com, 2014) may have ruled that social media is not admissible in courts, but that does not mean that there cannot be consequences in a school setting. Moreover, hopefully by showing the results of the surveys and research conducted, students who have participated on the negative end of cyberbullying can see the harm they have caused, and might want to rethink how they act in the future. Hopefully the victims will know that they are not being ignored.

The Background

It is no longer kids being stupid and knocking over a kids lunch tray, or the after-school fight in the playground. The days of good old-fashioned bullying and abusive hazing are over, and have been replaced by new forms of bullying, forms that completely dehumanize the victim, often times leading to severe injury, severe, self injury, lifelong mental and emotional instabilities, and even suicide.

According to the huge development in the internet in the 21st century, it leads the whole world to the next stage of development, changing everyone’s living habits. When the time that social media became more common to the world, people could contact others with more convenience and more effectively, which prevents the delay from distance, via social media. Moreover, social media allows people to share their thought to their friends and even strangers.

Unfortunately, the increased use of social media as the primary source of communication is directly related to the increased aggression and bullying of others. Based upon the statistics from National Center for Education Statistics, there has a huge increase in numbers of students reported being cyberbullied-from 6.2% in 2009 to 9% in 2011.
The fact that occurs increased in aggression and bullying is the account creating for accessing social media only require few information about the user. People leaving comments with rude and violent without responsibility caused a big wound to the objects. The worst case scenarios end up in suicide. Many of these are by the LGBTQ community. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (c 2015) and Stern (2014), 46 percent of trans men and 42 percent of trans women in the United States have attempted suicide. This is compared to the national average of 4.6%. One of the most notable cases of this was the suicide of Megan Meier, at the age of twelve, because she was being cyberbullied by the parent of a girl who felt Megan was ignoring (Meier Foundation, 2015)

The Way the Issue Will Be Presented

The issue of cyberbullying will be presented to the reader methodically and scientifically, with original methods and data introduced by myself, and I will include reports, statistics, and data from other sources that will substantiate what I have found.
The main objective of my research is to understand why people be more aggressive on the internet atmosphere. The next step is to find out what kind of platform people use most to share their thoughts, via random-order survey questions to analyze the reason why people are more aggressive, and do so with as much accuracy as possible.

With a better understanding of the reason of the aggressive comments in social media, the research will move to the next objective: finding out how many people have ever suffered from the comments on social media, and get a better idea of what kind of comments made them suffer the most in order to help with the last objective be more accurate.
The last objective is find out the possible way to reduce cyberbullying in the future as a result of the research; suggestions will conclude with experts’ professional viewpoints, and from data retrieved from several reliable sources and compared with the results of our testing. From there, we will hedge off a discussion of what can be done, and what absolutely needs to be done, both on this campus, and in a larger context.

METHODS

How the research and Survey Were Conducted
First of all, I will ask the marketing department of Washington State University to help with my surveys since the department has a mature system to provide surveys.
Second, I will collect the data from surveys randomly, on the campus of Washington State University, targeting included students, employees and professors.
Third, I will look at other studies and surveys conducted throughout the country, and inspect to see if anything has been done by the government to control this issue. In addition, I will explore the various mechanisms that sees social media sites have in terms of recourse for abusive conversations.
Fourth, I will contact administrators of difference social media via email, social media and phone call to collect as much as possible about the numbers of people have experienced cyberbullying. The data collected from those social media admins could help with the analysis of my second and last objective mentioned above.
In order to be accurate in the data collection from surveys, it is necessary to get help from the experienced department in the surveys area. Washington State University’s (WSU) marketing department provided a perfect place to students at WSU for getting help on survey constructing.
Constructing an effective survey is always the most important part of work, so that the very first thing I did is arranging a meeting with WSU’s marketing department in order to complete the survey as soon as possible. Fortunately, it took only a short time waiting for the responses from the marketing department. We had the first meeting the day afterward, although the survey completion took extra time because not many people were working in the department. During the meeting with them, I have noticed that the survey I brought was far from perfect, so I rewrote my surveys under their professional suggestion. In addition, the surveys became clearer and shorter which allowed people doing surveys with more enjoyment.

I started the survey collection immediately right after the completion of surveys. Since then, I have gathered data from given out surveys to random people in campus as the plan. So far I have already gathered 753 people’s surveys, yet it was falling behind my plan. However, people in campus was enjoying to do the survey for me since the survey is well written under the recommendation from the meeting with WSU marketing department.
Besides the work on survey construction and data collection via surveys, one of the main progress I presented at the proposal is gathering information about cyberbullying from the administrators from different social media platform. When the time I was arranging meeting with WSU marketing department, I researched the top social media online at the same time. The top social media included Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Google Plus, Tumblr, Snapchat, Meetup, etc I tried to contact them with the administrator through the contact they left at the sites. There were a few administrators replied my message. I will definitely look for a new approach.

How Was Data Collected

Random Question Survey:
The Survey contained the following closed ended questions:
What is your status here at WSU?: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, Graduate, Post-Graduate, Faculty, Staff
What social media venues are you aware of?: Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Snapchat, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn
Have you ever felt bullied over any of these social media outlets? yes, no
What site(s) were you most likely to encounter bullying? (same choices as question 2)
Have you participated in actions that may have been perceived as hurtful via social media (remember this survey is anonymous): yes or no
do you identify as a minority racially? yes or no
do you identify as a member of the LGBT community? yes or no
has any abuse you may have encountered caused you to feel depressed? yes or no
Other:
Approximately twenty hours of online research to see what studies have been done regarding the issue at hand, whether or not there are solid data collection points, and whether there are viable solutions to the problem, such as in-school consequences, grade detriments, etc.

RESULTS

The first problem I met with was efficiency. On campus in the summer session is a lot slower than other times. I planned to complete writing the survey within two days, yet it ended up taking three days because the people working for the marketing department are fewer than the fall and spring semester.
The second issue was also time related and similar as the first problem. As I was already two weeks past my funding permission granted, only 753 surveys were gathered, far behind my expectation when I was writing my proposal. On the basis that the summer session in WSU has a lot fewer students taking classes in campus, I found it difficult to ask people to do surveys for me when the population in Pullman is low, unlike the fall and spring semesters. It absolutely slowed my step in moving to the next stage of my project.
The last problem I encountered is the difficulty of contacting the administrators of different social media. Based upon the platform of social media mostly contained their own mature system of message, it creates a complicated environment for me to contact them via e-mail or phone call. It took a lot more time to find out how to contact those administrators through their platform; in addition, a few social medias required extra time to register accounts in order to send private message to the administrators.

The Findings

What is your status here at WSU?:
Freshman: 38 (5%); Sophomores: 37 (5%); Juniors: 151 (20%) Seniors: 188 (25%);
Graduate: 105 (14%); Postgraduate 151 (20%); Faculty: 75 (10%) Staff: 8 (1%)
What social media venues are you aware of?:
Facebook - 100%, Twitter - 100%, Google Plus - 58%, Snapchat - 47%, Pinterest - 73%, Instagram - 70%, LinkedIn - 20%
Have you ever felt bullied over any of these social media outlets? yes, no
yes - 512 (68%); no - 241, (32%)
What site(s) were you most likely to encounter bullying? (same choices as question 2, only for people who answered yes)
Facebook - 100%, Twitter - 90%, Google Plus - 84%, SnapChat - 70%, Pinterest - 0%,
Instagram - 10%, LinkedIn - 0%
Have you participated in actions that may have been perceived as hurtful via social media (remember this survey is anonymous):
yes - 48%; no - 52%
do you identify as a minority racially?
yes - 32%; no - 63%; no answer - 5%
do you identify as a member of the LGBT community?
yes - 8% no - 79%; no answer - 12%
has any abuse you may have encountered caused you to feel depressed? (for those who answered yes)
yes - 73%; no- 25%; no answer - 2%
Outside Findings:
According to nobullying.com (2015), the main reasons for cyberbullying are as follows:
1- People with weight problems
2- People with Disabilities
3- People who belong to racial or religious minorities
4- People who are LGBTQ or perceived as LGBTQ
This is a great chart indicating what types of bullying take place across a plane of ages, socio-ecomonic classes etc, by Docstoc.com:
What Was Learned
I learned that although there is extensive research done on suicide and its prevention, outside of this study, and probably other university studies/surveys done, not much is really known about the true impact of cyberbullying.
I found that though many people were honest on this very private and quick survey, under other circumstances, cyberbullying goes underreported. I wish that in a broader scope, I could find ways to measure the reasons for why this is so; will add more subjectiveness in discussion.
I learned that cyberbullying is a huge problem here on campus, but questions were not asked regarding whether the bullying took place before or after coming here, and whether the assailants were also people that went to go to school here, though, the the survey indicates, assuming honesty, that at least a good portion of the cyberbullying that may be occurring here.

Conclusion and Discussion of Results

Perhaps the most shocking part of this research is how little concreteness there is regarding cyberbullying. I was saddened that the survey conducted was the most finite we could find, and even then, it was largely inconclusive for the reasons discussed above. I have been a victim of cyberbullying myself before coming to WSU, and when I reported it, I was met with doubt and a feeling of uncertainty on the part of faculty and parents on how to handle what happened. It is very clear that with easier access to other people in a much more personal way, bullying has become easier than ever for the bullies, and it seems to be out of control. Without consequences of some kind, it will continue to be just as big of an issue.

Recommendations

More studies need to be conducted throughout universities, high schools, and even grade schools, so we can come up with more concrete results of how big of a problem cyberbullying is, why is it such a problem.
Psychologists and Sociologists need to be invited into this battle more, to get behind why the targets (those being bullied) are being bullied. Considering the demographics that get bullied, we need to look into the minds of those doing the bullying. Perhaps rehabilitative steps, and harsher consequences will allow for these students to really consider the potential harm they are causing their fellow students.

Not mentioned in the survey results for the sake of this paper already being way too long, is the breakdown of age groups. Those who were in the graduate - faculty and staff range, although making up about half of the survey numbers, also accounted for the least amount of cyber-abuse (and thus were excluded from answering a lot of the more important survey questions), suggesting a gap between educational level and such abuse. Some of the postgraduate students and faculty appeared to be members of my generation, however age was not a question in the survey.

Furthermore, more conclusive results, we can make more suggestions to faculty about how to respond to clear incidents of bullying on college campuses, high schools and grade schools. Having more concrete evidence of the damage done to the individuals who are victims of cyberbullying can lead us to knowing how to better give the support that these victims need, both as fellow students, and as faculty.

Works Cited

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. www.afsp.org. Our effectiveness in preventing
suicide ultimately depends on more fully understanding how and why suicide occurs. 2015. Web. 2015.
Contributors. www.nobullying.com. The Complicated Web Of Teen Lives. 2015 Bullying
Report. June 2015. Web. 2015.
Bohanna I. & Wang X. Media guidelines for the responsible reporting of suicide: a
review of effectiveness. Crisis: Journal of Crisis Intervention & Suicide, 33(4): 190–8. 2012. Print. 2015.
Burdine, N. www.wusa9.com/. Supreme Court hears social media and free speech case.
TEGNA Company (Washington D.C.). Dec. 2014. Web. 2015
Megan Meier Foundation. MEGAN TAYLOR MEIER. Meganmeierfoundation.org. 2015
web. 2015.
Public Domain. www.docstoc.com. Bullying Behavior chart. June 2010. Web. 2015
Stern, M. www.slate.com. What Drives So Many Trans* People to Suicide?. Jan 2014.
Web. 2015.

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Critical Early Stages Of Childhood Essay Example

Abstract

The child’s trust in people is formed in the early stages of development. The factors that influence the impact of the child’s ambitions, such as taking the initiative and being active in the world, feeling confident were discussed. In studies reviewed, researchers wanted to determine the impact of relationship with parents and educators during the early stages of development. Research methods included questionnaires, surveys and statistical data. It was found that the relationship between a child and significant adults is very important to shaping the child’s personality, trust and love for her surroundings.
Keywords: childhood, parents,

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Sample Research Paper On Disability And Ableism

Summaries of Articles

In a sensitive article that confronts ableism, Hehir (2007) talks about the factors that make life miserable for the disabled. According to the author, society has put on a pervasive negative attitude towards disability, which defines ableism. The key problem, he says, is that ableist assumptions hinder the progress of the differently challenged.
For instance, the society preaches that it is better to be able to read normally, than to Braille. That is preferable to walk or hear on one’s won, rather than to use a wheelchair or hearing aid respectively. It is this attitude that brings in

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Good Essay About Freewill And Morality In Education

Abstract

This paper posits that freewill and morality will have to form the basic framework through which students must be educated. The paper shows that the future of education and the essence of education is to teach students that they have the right to freewill in life, but this comes with responsibilities. Thus, they need to be guided to take the most morally upright decisions. This should be done by teaching students to identify ethical dilemmas and moral ordeals and take the right decisions. There are options of absolute and relativist ethics and this must be mixed appropriately. The paper

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Essay On Gender Inequality In Sports

Abstract

Since time immemorial, women have been excluded from participating in a lot of things, be it politics or sports. Although they posses skill and talent, they are being excluded because they are ‘women’. Unfortunately for women, today, they do not receive opportunities like men. Even though the United States of America has made progress with regard to this issue, countries still exclude women from sports. There has been an increase in their participation but it is still not as great as the participation from men. Recently, the United Nations has started using sports as a ‘vehicle’ to eliminate gender inequality. Raising awareness and achieving 20% participation from women are some of its goals.

Gender Inequality in different parts of the World

While these organizations are moving forward, countries like South Africa and Canada are moving backwards. In South Africa, men still dominate sports and women are excluded due to gender and patriarchy (Taylor, Francis, 2015). Although there is an “Affirmative Action Policy”, there is no female representation in South Africa for games like golf and shooting. South Africa is known for being unequal. Efforts are being taken to eliminate inequality but the implementation is too slow. Nolubabolu Ndzundzuu was a South African cricketer with dreams to make it big in her cricketing career. Sadly for her, she wasn’t recognized and given equal opportunities like the South African cricketers. She said that the South African government had promised her many things but in the end, she had to rely on stipends for her meals. She also said that lack of sponsors for women’s sports is the sole reason for gender inequality. Not just South Africa, even Canada is showing signs of gender inequality in the field of sports. Gender inequality that thrives in Canada has captured the attention of the UN and many more. The wage gap problem is the predominant factor for poor participation of women in sports. A report said that women are paid 34 times lesser than men in Canada. Due to this, the Canadian government has taken steps in order to bridge the gap between men and women in terms of wages. Lectures and seminars are being conducted for women in order to make sports related employment choces. They could become coaches, trainers,, managers, administrators or players themselves, also because “Women have been much more a part of the sporting lives of different nations in the world than has previously been believed” (Hargreaves, 2000, p. 2).

Australia is another country with poor gender equality when it comes to sports. Recent statistics show that the impact that the men’s cricket team (Australia) had a greater impact than the women’s team. Although they are skilled, Australian women face harassment when they enter into this field. Objectification of women has always been a problem. Recently, Lingerie football league came to Australia. This is a football league for women where they have to play wearing lingerie. This is certainly raised eyebrows in other parts of the world. What’s more astonishing was that, the rules said that if the women wore anything but lingerie, they would be disqualified. This doesn’t just question the morals of the people hosting it but also the morals of the people watching it. Even in Olympics for that matter, women sports were brought in for their body and ultimately, viewership. As disgusting as it sounds, it’s the truth. Despite the existing inequality in Australia, a step has been taken forward to discard all gender stereotypes through a project called ‘Sport media and stereotypes’. Too often, though, “Controversy surrounds the different treatment of men and women in sport: the glorification of male achievements and the downgrading of women’s achievements” (Hargreaves, 2000, p. 3).

Muslim participation has been discouraged when it comes to sports, especially for women. It’s been that way for a very long time now. Isn’t physical activity a right for both men and women? Why the racism? It’s because of partiality and prejudice that has led to the discrimination of Muslim women in organized sports which have caused them to extract themselves from interaction and various other activities. The reason why all Muslim women cover themselves completely is because of morale and simplicity since clothing is a noticeable feature of culture. Since they come from such a background, they aren’t allowed to wear clothes which expose their body. Sports clothing can be an obstacle for rivalry for women who want to cover up and a lot of disruptions are caused because of this. For example, University of Birmingham academics highlight the exclusion of Muslim sports women at the Olympics. So, why are women excluded from the main sports? Shouldn’t sports lead to empowerment of women and promote gender equality? However, women are prevented from harnessing opportunities which in turn leads to societal exclusion. Thus, sports isn’t globally perceived as it is continues to be overlooked by males. Sports can satisfy women by strengthening their well being as it also promotes self esteem and ensures integrity by enhancing their abilities.

As well as masking the harmful features of modern sport, popularizing the individual heroine tends also to legitimate inequalities” (Hargreaves, 2000, p. 5). Under the eyes of law, women and men will always be the same. This brings us to the question,” How and why are women excluded in sports”. To answer the first question, we know there is gender inequality when it comes to distributing the prize money. Although women are allowed to participate, men get a larger portion of the prize money than women. According to A BBC report, this includes games like cricket, squash and golf (BBC SPORT, 2014). Secondly, women have to face criticism as their physical prowess is always compared to that of men. Talent among women is not nonexistent but since men play sports at a higher level, fans enjoying watching those more. Women are usually seen as ‘sex objects’ when they are participating in sports. More so, that they are used for marketing. This causes a great deal of discomfort for the women race. Society always stands as a barrier to most good things. Even in this case, the society doesn’t want to see women performing because that would mean women doing something that they ‘shouldn’t be’. When it comes to viewership, it is said that viewers look for ‘quality’ more than ‘quantity. Physical strength and aggression are two otter things that keep women away from sports. The physical strength that men posses is definitely greater than that of women but that would only matter when women and men have to go against each other in sports. This is a common understanding that “stories of sport are almost exclusively stories of those in power” (Hargreaves, 2000, p. 8).
Recently, women have also become coaches to train other women and nurture their skills. Allowing women participation in this field has also helped enhance their leadership and decision making skills. Besides all this, in Malaysia, there has been development with regard to training women with disabilities. This is a big step forward for the country and the world, as a whole. Since viewership is solely based on education right from school, educational institutions are making it a point to develop gender equality. They are also giving physical education to girls and women so that they can make their choices to be a part of this field. Since the needs and interests of women vary from men, the United Nations has made it a point to study all the differences and come up with a neutral approach. Health is one such factor.

Combating health-related issues has always been a negative point for women. Therefore, United Nations along with a few countries is trying to bring out a solution for this. Poland has implanted a plan regarding the maternity issue. Most sportswomen, after their pregnancy, quit their job. Poland has started giving funds to these women, that is, stipends during their maternity leave so that it will motivate them to rejoin the field after giving birth. In other parts of the world, like Egypt, it is believed that older women should also be given a chance to participate. Therefore, physical trainers have been appointed in local parks to train elderly women. In Lithuania and West Bengal, steps have been taken forward by nongovernmental organizations to spread awareness regarding gender inequality in sports. A number of initiatives are being implemented to give girls the chance to be leaders, improve their confidence, increase their self-awareness and strengthen their capacities in terms of decision-making, critical thinking and negotiating (United Nations Secretariat, 2005). The Sports welfare community in Ecuador has raised funds to support sportswomen. In Pakistan, a mini marathon was conducted for women to spread awareness. The International Olympic committee has also promised to contribute to gender equality by including women in various sports. Several countries have also introduced sports clothes for women. This is especially for women who come from communities that are strictly against exposing skin. These are important “questions about inclusion and exclusion, about power and privilege, and about local-global connections” (Hargreaves, 2000, p. 13).

Conclusions

All around the world, steps are being taken to promote gender equality in the field. But, even after all this, women athletes face inequality. They are paid less and they are often not respected enough. Is that fair? Only when the point of view is changed, gender equality in this field will prevail. Women will be able to showcase what they are capable of doing only when they are given the right opportunities. If westernized countries like Australia and Canada do not support gender equality, then how will the African Union be able to make progress? All in all, no matter what the progress is, only if we look at the issue from a vantage point, will an actual difference be made for women as well the field of sports.

References

BBC SPORT. (2014). Women In Sport Still Facing Inequality Over Prize Money. Retrieved July 26, 2015 from < http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/29786682 >
Division for the Advancement of Women Department of Economic and Social Affairs United Nations Secretariat. (2005). Women, Gender Equality And Sport. Retrieved July 26, 2015 from <http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/public/Women%20and%20Sport.pdf>
Failla, A. (2015). The Evolution of Women In Sport. Retrieved July 26, 2015 from
< http://www.femail.com.au/womeninsport.htm >
Hargreaves, J. (2000). Heroines of Sport. New York, NY: Routledge.
Rodriguez, A. (2013). Female Athletes Still Face Inequality. Retrieved July 26, 2015 from http://sundial.csun.edu/2013/09/female-athletes-still-face-inequality/
Taylor & Francis. (2015). Women's Sport Participation And Gender Equality: African Women In The Beautiful Game. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 26, 2015 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150624110200.htm

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