Falls in Older Adults With Mental Illness

Falls in Older Adults With Mental Illness Aim The aim of this research paper is to examine the cases of falls in older adults mainly due to the mental illness. The decreasing level of mental health in older adult is a primary reason of fall leading to multiple serious injuries. The research paper will analyze the role of mental illness in causing the falls in older adults. Objective This study establishes the fact that mental illness in older adults is responsible for a fall causing major injuries, which can prove fatal. This study further investigates the various preventive measures which can be adopted to prevent the fall of mentally older adults. Introduction Human body is the complex machine ever made. Like machines, Human body is also prone to wear tear. The phenomenon of ageing in human being is universally known. With increase in age, body’s resistivity decreases, thus many old age problems arises. With the advancements of medical technology, human life expectancy has been increased from 50 years to 65 years. The possibility of leading a healthier life after 50 years is possible which was not possible in earlier days (Rowe kahn 1987 1997). Increased health education, various financial programmes better care of human body has increased the average life of a human to 70 or 80 years. But with increased age, certain chronic diseases are bound to happen. It is true that due to best medical practices human life has increased but human body being a part of nature has its own fate. With increased life expectancy, we can see a lot of older active members in our today’s society. With increase in active older adults, there is a subsequent increase in adults with mental physical problems as well (Zarit, Johansson Malmberg 1995). Mental problems are the result of social dilemma in older adults. Many cases are recently divorced male female, sometimes the loss of near and dear ones plunges one into darkness. Despite all the best of technological advancements and innovative medical treatments, the mental well being of older adult people is declining (Zarit Zarit 2012). The solidarity living, unable to socialize are also seen as few causes of mental illness. Older adults, sometimes divorcee or single suffering from mental disorder become victim of fall, due to losing of consciousness. The fall is a major reason of unintentional injuries (Sattin 1992). A faller is a person who falls, which is usually more than once in case of mentally ill people. The fall, induces by mental illness is increasing day by day. Hospitalization due to fall is increasing in the age group of 55-65 years (Heslop et. Al. 2012). Fall resulted to mental disorder leads to major injuries. Depression due to single living style is a major reas on causing the mental imbalance. The loss of confidence due to multiple falls in patient with high level of mental disorder is seen in patients who fall at least three times in a year. Due to singular living style being popular these days, people are unable to mingling socially, a patient suffering from mental disorder will remain unhealthy until his atmosphere gets changed. Easing out the feeling of depression in people is the first cure of mental illness which doesn’t usually happens these days until you visit a doctor. Literature review The social confinement of living alone is a major cause of increasing mental illness and subsequent fall of patients (Treas 1995). Although, the fall is a resultant of both external factors as well internal. Change in environment, Affect of Drugs or any labour intensive activity performed under harsh condition can also lead to fall (Nyberg 1996). Mental well being is often attributed to heavy drug intake, which leads to dizziness. Intuitional admittance is often regarded as a remedy to prevent any fatal injury but falls are in increasing number by two – third to those people who are under institutional care (Bergland et. al. 1998). Mental well is often regarded something which comes with age, but that is not the usual case. Certain minor or mid aged adults too have shown sign of mental illness, although number of fall accidents in not serious in this age group. Mental illness deteriorates with increasing age resulting in increasing number of fall as age increases, which increa ses the number of hospitalized cases due to fall (Mathers et. al. 1998). Prevention is the best remedy to cure the mental illness as well as to prevent any serious injury due to fall. The mental illness can be caused to various factors including generic inheritance (Sellers et. al. 2012). Although several researches have been done on the cause of mental illness but nothing specific is researched on fall as a result of mental instability. Also fall is not the direct resultant of mental illness, it’s the after affect of various drugs that patient take as a cure of mental illness. A recently concluded report find linkages of mental illness with other age related diseases also (Griffin 2013). Risk assessment should be the specific case while dealing a patient with multiple disorders. Considering the less neighbourhood friendly nature of our modern living, a single person is always prone to mental imbalance. A woman who is a divorcee and now lives single is more prone to mental illness (Schoevers et. al. 2006). The risk of depression is much greater tha n compared to the one living in a joint family. Fall in the case of single living patient is more serious. Delay in hospitalization can lead to death of a patient in case if nobody reports to the hospital which usually can happen if you are living alone. A faller falling at multiple times in a year is more prone to neurological disorder (Nevitt et. al. 2006). Fall is often related to the depression and mental unconsciousness of a person. A subsequent increase in the order of fall can increase the mental depression (Krishnaswamy n.d.). The Australian Commission of Safety Quality in Health care has established that treatment of fall can be useful in treating multiple illnesses. The guidelines issued by them include the risk assessment test to be done for person crossing a threshold level of age. Certain literature focuses on preventive measures with regard to spatial planning, lighting ambiance user friendly approaches of the houses to be designed for older adults. Identifying the gaps Although separate studies and researches have been done on various effect of fall, the specific reason of fall in mental disturbed patient is not been studied. A direct link needs to be established between the mental illness and fall. This further should be analyzed on the increasing rate of mental illness with age groups and duration of fall period. Moreover, the physical assessment of a faller needs to be done as to what is he doing at the time of fall, what’s the mental stress level during his falls at what time of the day is the fall occurring. Any literature which can establish direct link of mental illness on a fall of a person is not been done. A study needs to be focused on establishing preventive measure which can be under taken by the patient at spatial level in order to minimize the injuries. This gap is to be answered by the medium of this research paper, with specific need of establishing time occurrence of fall in mentally ill people. Although separate qualitat ive analysis needs to be done for patients live in the institutional care and those living in individual homes. Formulating research question How mental illness linked to the fall of older adult’s people? Specifying the significance The cases of fall are increasing with the increase of age life expectancy. Increasing level of segregation at neighbourhood level has become a way of living. Reporting of fall in case of mentally ill people living single is more important. This research study is important as it will establish a direct link between mentally ill people to their fall, considering the fact that mentally ill people often don’t relate their fall to the mental illness. Risk assessment is also a main focus of this study, as the fall cases are often increases with the increase of age. The research is important owing to the fact that mental illness goes unnoticed despite subsequent fall, that too for the patients living in the institutional care. Bibliography

Women Leadership

WOMEN AND LEADERSHIP Leadership: A simple definition of leadership is that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. Put even more simply, the leader is the inspiration and director of the action. He or she is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and skills that makes others want to follow his or her direction. In business, leadership is welded to performance. Effective leaders are those who increase their companies‘ bottom lines. To further confuse the issue, we tend to use the terms â€Å"leadership† and â€Å"management† interchangeably, referring to a company's management structure as its leadership, or to individuals who are actually managers as the â€Å"leaders† of various management teams. Is a leader born or made? While there are people who seem to be naturally endowed with more leadership abilities than others, all believe that people can learn to become leaders by concentrating on improving particular leadership skills. 1. A leader plans. 2. A leader has a vision. 3. A leader takes charge . A leader shares her vision 5. A leader inspires through example. Women Leadership: When modern feminists movement emerged it dint feature much discussion of leadership. There was virtually no analysis of what feminist leadership might entail. Because leadership has been largely a privilege of men, and feminism focused on women. It is understandable that study of leadership dint have much sali ence. Feminists wanted to understand the women‘s experiences and routes of women‘s oppression. Psychologists is particular have neglected study of women. Therefore, new topics emerged – sexual harassment, rape, math anxiety, family violence and the politics of reproductive rights, to name just a few. To study leadership is it in organizations or in politics would have meant focusing on men. The discovery and development of women focus topics made a good sense. Much has changed. Women are now far more common in ranks of leaders. For example, women occupy 24% of chief executive positions in United States (U. S Bureau of Labor Statistics- 2006). They constitute 44% of school principles (U. S National Center for Education Statistics, 2005) and 21% of college and University presidents (Corrigan, 2002). It makes sense that feminists find the study of leadership appropriate now that it addresses the experiences of women as well as men. Although women remain rare in the corporate leadership and greatly under presented in politics, women‘s increasing presence in these and other leadership roles raises many questions about their functioning as leaders. When it comes to leadership, does gender matter? Is there a difference between women leaders and men who lead? Characteristics that distinguish women leaders from men in leadership: ? Women leaders are more assertive and persuasive, have a stronger need to get things done and are more willing to take risks than male leaders. ? Women leaders were also found to be more empathetic and flexible, as well as stronger in interpersonal skills than their male counterparts enabling them to read situations accurately and take information in from all sides. ? These women leaders are able to bring others around to their point of view because they are leading feel more understood, supported and valued. Four specific statements about women's leadership qualities: ? ? ? ? Women leaders are more persuasive than their male counterparts. When feeling the sting of rejection, women leaders learn from adversity and carry on with an â€Å"I'll show you† attitude. Women leaders demonstrate an inclusive, team-building leadership style of problem solving and decision making. Women leaders are more likely to ignore rules and take risks. This evidence – that the leadership style of women is not simply unique but possibly at odds with what men practice – begs the question: Do these qualities have value in the marketplace? Is this type of leadership welcomed by society and by the public and private sector? Differences between women and men leadership: There are several key ways in which people respond differently to women and men who are leaders. Conflicting, sets of expectations, high-profile women leaders in the United States are relentlessly held to a higher standard than their male counterparts. ? Different Responses to Women and Men in Leadership Roles Researchers have identified four key ways in which female and male leaders elicit different responses from those around them. These different responses appear to be due, not so much to different leadership behaviors by women and men, as to the stimulus value of women or men in these roles. A woman leader stimulates a different reaction than a male leader because of learned expectations, shaped and supported by the surrounding social structure, that invalidate and undercut women‘s attempts to be effective, influential, and powerful. ? Women are expected to combine Leadership with Compassion—and are disliked when they don’t Researchers have long found that people think ? male? when they think ? leader?. Because of perceived incompatibility between the requirements of femininity and those of leadership, women are often required to ? soften? their leadership styles to gain the approval of their constituents. Women who do not temper their agency and competence with warmth and friendliness risk being disliked and less influential. Women who lead with an autocratic style are the targets of more disapproval than those who enact a more democratic style; men may choose the autocratic style with relative impunity, if they are effective leaders. Often requires the application of a ? harder? eadership style, they are disliked and disparaged. ? People do not listen to or take direction from women as comfortably as from men The stereotype that women are more talkative than men is unsupported by evidence. Women report that they do not feel listened to, that when they speak in meetings their comments and suggestions are ignored or belittled—and that the same comments or suggestions from men have more impact. Field studies of small group meetings in organizations show that women leaders are targets of more displays of negative emotion than men leaders, even when both sets of leaders are viewed as equally competent. Women who promote themselves and their abilities reap disapproval Women who act more confident and assertive than is normative for women run the risk of disapproval. Research demonstrates that when women promote their own accomplishments it can cause their audience to view them as more competent—but at the cost of viewing them as less likeable. Men who promote their own accomplishments do not reap the same mixed outcomes: as long as they do not overdo it, self-promotion brings them both higher evaluations of competence and likeability. ? Women require more external validation than men do to be accepted as leaders in some contexts In competitive, highly-masculinized contexts, simply having leadership training or taskrelated expertise does not guarantee a woman‘s success unless accompanied by legitimating by another established leader. Gender stereotypes interfere with observers‘ ability to see women‘s competence; it is sometimes necessary to for a high-status other to provide them with credibility. Qualities of Women Leader: ? Committed. ? Outspoken. ? Enthusing. ? Vivacious. ? Happy. ? Creator. ? Charismatic. ? Lively. ? Talented. ? Friendly. ? Free-Spirited. ? Outgoing. ? Measured. ? Reflective. ? Spirited. ? Open and Honest. ? Determined. ? Cheerful. Altruistic. ? Keeping my interests ? Feisty. ? Inspirational. ? Trustworthy. ? Positive. ? Forthright. ? Energetic. ? Passion. ? Inspiring. ? Supportive. ? Optimistic. ? Cosmopolitan. ? Impressive. ? Eclectic. ? Fair. ? Hardworking. ? Confident. ? Assertive. ? Caring. ? Articulate. ? Humorous. to my self. ? Complex. ? Resilient. ? Calm. ? Spar kling Women Empowerment: ‘Women's empowerment' is the ability to exercise full control over one's actions. The Government of India had ushered in the new millennium by declaring the year 2001 as ‘Women's Empowerment Year' to focus on a vision ‘where women are equal partners like men'. The last decades have witnessed some basic changes in the status and role of women in our society. There has been shift in policy approaches from the concept of ‘welfare' in the seventies to ‘development' in the eighties and now to 'empowerment' in the nineties. The Constitution of India grants equality to women in various fields of life. Yet a large number of women are either ill equipped or not in a position to propel themselves out of their traditionally unsatisfactory socio-economic conditions. Leaving a meager number of urban and sub-urban women, Indian women are still crying for social justice. A review of government's various programmes for women empowerment such as Swashakti, Swayamsidha, Streeshakti, Balika samrudhi yojana and another two thousand projects reveal that little has been done or achieved through these programmes. The discrepancy in the ideology and practice of the empowerment policy of women in India constitutes its continued social, economic and social backwardness Empowerment would not hold any meaning unless they are made strong, alert and aware of their equal status in the society. The need of the hour is to improve female literacy as education holds the key to development. Empowerment would become more relevant if women are educated, better informed and can take rational decisions. The greatest challenge is to recognize the obstacles that stand in the way of their right to good health. To be useful to the family, community and the society, women must be provided with health care facilities. They should be provided with proper wages and work at par with men so that their status can be elevated in society. In recent years there have been explicit moves to increase women's political participation. The Women's reservation policy bill is however a very sad story as it is repeatedly being scuttled in parliament. In the Panchayati Raj system, however, women have been given representation as a sign of political empowerment. There are many elected women representatives at the village council level. However their power is restricted, as it the men who wield all the authority. Their decisions are often over-ruled by the government machinery. It is crucial to train and give real power to these women leaders so that they can catalyst change in their villages regarding women. All this shows that the process of gender equality and women's empowerment still has a long way to go and may even have become more difficult in the recent years. The main reason for the contradiction is that, targeted schemes tend to have only limited impact when the basic thrust of development is not reaching an average woman, making her life more fragile and vulnerable. To make a positive change basic infrastructure should be provided in every village and city. To begin with, providing safe drinking water supply and better sanitation not only directly improved the lives and health of women but also reduces their workload in terms of provisioning and ensuring such facilities. An access to affordable cooking fuel reduces the need to travel long distances in search of fuel wood. Improved transport connecting villages with each other and with towns can also directly improve living conditions as well as unpaid labour time spent in transporting household items. It can also lead to access to a wider range of goods and services plus a better access to health facilities. Expenditure on food subsidy and better provisions for public distribution services directly affects the lives of women and girl children in terms of adequate nutrition. The patterns of resource mobilization by government also have significant effects on women that are usually not recognized. When taxes are regressive and fall disproportionately on items of mass consumption, once again these tend to affect women more. This is not only because the consumption of such items may be curtailed but also because the provisioning of such items is frequently considered to be the responsibility of the women of the household. Also credit policies reduce the flow of credit to small-scale enterprises thus reducing the employment opportunities for women. There is a need to have womenfriendly economic policies that can enhance their social and economic position and make them self-reliant. There is no doubt about the fact that development of women has always been the central focus of planning since Independence. Empowerment is a major step in this direction but it has to be seen in a relational context. A clear vision is needed to remove the obstacles to the path of women's emancipation both from the government and women themselves. Efforts should be directed towards all round development of each and every section of Indian women by giving them their due share. Impact women leaders contribute to business: ? There are three key drivers why businesses are interested in women today: leadership, talent and markets. There is now data and studies to prove that more women in leadership means better bottom-line performance. Fortune 500 companies with the most women at the top have a 35 percent higher return on shareholder return to equity, and a Catalyst study showed boards with more than three women on them have an 83 percent higher return to shareholder value than boards without women. It's not about women taking over everything, it's about having gender balance because that really does seem to tie into much greater profitability and striking performance financially. ? One of the most compelling reasons for an organization to pay attention to the demographic makeup of its workforce is that a diverse employee base can have significant bottom-line impact. Yet, when the issue is workplace gender balance and actualizing women's economic and leadership potential, India trails behind less developing countries. ? Oftentimes when the subject of women in business is discussed, comparisons with men are made as if men are the barometer for business. This is a false perception and false too is the language. Business is not an entity separated from life; it is an entity encompassed by life. The definitions of a business consists of a line of work, to work, a profession, a job, a trade, a position, a vocation, a field, a calling and a career. Before today, societies around the globe have claimed that women didn‘t work and therefore couldn‘t understand the parameters of ? formal? business. This misconception rivals some of the largest platitudes in history: the near-sighted earth is flat, the purposeful stork delivers babies and the perforated theory of evolution. The business world has presented itself to women as if it spoke a foreign language on an uncharted map. But the truth is that the language is fabricated and the world of business operates in a land not unknown to women. By definition, everything women do and have always done is in fact a business. Women have labored the child, harvested the crop, fed the hungry, nursed the needy and educated the willing. All of those are jobs, careers, trades, vocations and callings. Women aren‘t new to business; they‘re only new to the financial rewards. ? Today, more than ever, women are in the workplace and now own the workplace. Women have always been established in business but now they are in business for profit by way of monetary means. Today over 10 million businesses are owned or controlled by women and those businesses account for over two (2) trillion dollars in sales. That‘s an astounding number and a resounding accomplishment when all considerations are factored. This doesn‘t come as a result of women learning anything new. This is a manifestation of which women already are: industrious, innovative, instinctive and intelligent. The traits of women are not to be compared with that of men, just shared in composition of a more productive and progressive society. Every household around the world that houses women, women manage and most commonly manage well. The interactive and intuitive management style of women is a prerequisite to a thriving business and a productive workplace environment. Women-owned businesses employ almost 20 million people and steadily rising. ? There was a time not long ago when any man in a three-piece suit could qualify for a business loan. Those times are no more, as much money was lost and many laws were circumvented. The measures applied in today‘s market are far more reasonable and more accessible to female entrepreneurs. Commercial lenders and Venture Capitalists want to see that the company has done its research in that respective field. It‘s important for them to know that you have experience in this area of expertise. Another major factor will be how you intend to market the product and what the infrastructure of the company is. As you design your company, research successful companies already in that industry, introduce yourselves to other women in business and network to assist each other. Those around you that make claims of what you can‘t do must be excluded from your conversations, so that you may focus on the task at hand. Whether you are single, a single mother or married, taking advantage of free enterprise is the way to independence and interdependence. The success in business that any male has experienced is not because males possess some superior trait over women; it‘s because men have been the only players. Women can compete in any and every business. It‘s just a matter of choice and now that choice is ours. For one to operate a successful business, they must first define what su ccess is in their own terms. ? The sole reason why the numbers of women-owned businesses aren‘t more reflective of the population is because they haven‘t been encouraged to do and supported when doing so. It‘s been a blight on the world community and a recessive gene to societal growth. Today we see women straightening that crooked path and every society will become a more powerful force because of it. Yesterday, we gorged the bitterness of bigotry. Today, we taste the fruits of unity and diversity. Today, we plant the untainted seeds of effortless innovation and boundless meritocracy. Today, little girls and little boys will witness the ubiquitous talents of women in power and exalt their leadership. Young women will know they have a reasonable option before them and no law will disallow their choices. It‘s paramount that not only young women see their defined roles as unrestrained but that young men do and work in concert as we brave a new world. It‘s true: Today is the greatest day in the history of the world and tomorrow will be even better. Challenges for women leadership: In spite of decades of organization and legislative support for gender equality, it appears that there is still very much a glass ceiling facing women in many aspects of leadership. Most women gaining or holding leadership roles – whether in the workplace or in community organizations – Face many challenges and oppositions which can be very hurtful and demoralizing. Women leaders still face many unique challenges brought on by a combination of social and cultural stereotyping, gender bias, family demands and also their innate female tendencies. Women leaders still earn less in general, receive less recognition and less support especially in the male dominated, competitive corporate world but also in other professional fields, such as medicine. The most common challenges faced by women leaders are: ? The challenge of family responsibility: It is a common lament that women are expected to juggle the demands of career and family, with constant criticism from both sides for failure to achieve perfection. For women leaders, the constant struggle to balance their responsibilities in both the professional and personal arena can be overwhelming, especially given the lack of support and the constant fight they have against the obstacles generated from traditional prejudices and gender stereotyping. In the greatest majority of break ups it is the woman who leaves. She leaves because her needs weren‘t given sufficient weight in the relationship. However still men around with a 1950‘s masculinity are happy for their women to work if they can manage it around all their other commitments at home. They expect their working wives to do everything that their stay -at-home mothers do. ? The challenges from personal inclinations: For many women, learning to operate and succeed in a male dominated world means having to learn to over ride or ignore their more feminine inclinations. When the women get overwhelmed by the responsibility of looking after everyone and everything, these men offer no support except to tell their wives that they will have to quit their job if they can‘t cope. ? Woman has a potential and power to be a leader. However women often lack opportunities skills and resources for realizing their potential. Much of women‘s leadership over the centuries has been invisible because the question of leadership has been viewed through gender – biased lenses. Women have been pulling together to make something happen , but all of these have been viewed as ordinary and domestic work, performed in the private sphere that did not qualify for leadership. So the first challenge is to make women‘s leadership visible. ? Gender biased lenses see leadership as happening in the ? public sphere ? hich was for generations and still is to an extent the domain of men. Ironically even women have and still reinforce this bias, which is an indication that the way we are socialized determines how we think and act. a very big challenge is becoming aware that we need new lenses that will make us see thing differently. How to overcome the challenges faced by women in leadership: When we have seen each other 's work we learned the value of different work and further understood the roles of women in disasters and communities and how to strengthen their leadership. Leadership has no gender does it? May be women are more conscious of themselves, they can lead as well as men. The Leader at home is mostly a woman who have created talented children, built savings, assets and they can built Nation with character 1. The philosophy of Panchayati Raj is deeply steeped in the tradition and culture of rural India and is by no means a new concept. ?The rationale behind the concept is to involve the public in local planning, identification of beneficiaries, decision making and proper implementation of policies and programmes of the people as described by them. Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) have today the basic commitment towards rural development. 2 . Panchayati Raj, as a system of governance, has had its ebbs and flows in the Indian polity ever since Indian attained independence. Various committees headed by Balwant Rai Mehta, Ashok Mehta, V. P. Naik, P. B. Patil, G. V. R. Rao, L. N. Singhvi overhauled these institutions which gave necessary impetus to the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act. Gender equality and gender equity are emerging as major challenges in the global development debate. Social scientists and development activists are giving increasing emphasis to these fields in their agenda for research and development. 4 As Noble Prizewinning economist Amartya Sen has pointed out, ? Democracy is not only the goal of development, it is the primary means of development. 5. Women‘s participation in political processes is important for strengthening democracy and for their struggle against marginalisation, trivialisation and oppression. Emergence of women as a strong group would change the prevailing political practices, the nature and content of debates in the legislature and women‘s issues can be taken care of from the feminist perspective both in policy formulation and implementation. .6. In fact, right from the days of the freedom struggle the Indian women have been consistently encouraged to take part in active politics. But due to the vitiated political milieu, resulting from increasing politicization and criminalization of politics, he level of political participation of women has been adversely affected despite the fact that there has been a marked increase in the level of literacy and political awareness among women. . India is perhaps the first country to recognize this social fact underlined by Lenin on the International Working Women‘s Day in 1921,8 and to have taken concrete measures to draw women into leadership positions and thereby into politics by giving them one-third reservation in wha t may now be called the third tier of governance—the Panchayati Raj. The constitutional amendment providing one-third representation to women in elected bodies as well as reserving one-third of the offices of chairpersons for them will have far-reaching consequences in Indian political and social life. Now, some general observations can be made regarding the role of women in grassroots level governance. It has come to the notice that the percentage of women at various levels of political activities has increased formally. The general trend is that those in politics are women belonging to the younger age-group between 25-45. It is also revealed that women take up political career as an extension of their domestic role. While women have been active in mass movements, their presence is not felt in decisionmaking. The influence of the husbands and close relatives is quite palpable. This tendency is due to lack of confidence. This dependency is a stumping block in their empowerment. ?Another positive impact of the grassroot level experiment is the increase in the female literacy rate. Studies reveal that after two years of their election to PRIs, many women demanded literacy skills and also felt the need to educate their daughters. Issues in which women representatives generally take interest are drinking water supply, primary health, child care, public distribution system and environmental protection. One quality observed among women representatives is their patience to hear the problems of the public. They also work in adverse circumstances. It has been observed that women representatives are honest and accurate in presenting issues to the decision-making bodies and authorities. Women would bring new ideas in local governance. They believe in a sustainable development and their emphasis is on natural resources management. Women representatives working at the grassroot level also believe that communal harmony is an important element of development and they strive to achieve this objective. Another promising fact is that they do not indulge in corrupt practices. The elected women have exhibited their leadership in solving some of the local problems and creating facilities for betterment of the rural society. Women are considered an extremely pivotal point in the process of change in the rural areas. Women‘s participation in panchayats provided opportunities to women to participate in the decision-making process. Women‘s participation proved to be the most effective instrument in bringing about a change in their way of life in terms of economic well-being and adoption of new technology. Women‘s entry into PRIs, both as members as well as heads of Panchayats, has pushed them into the policy-making and policy-implementation process in a very big way. Whether their husbands, fathers, brothers or other relatives compelled them to take up these roles, or whether they assumed these roles as dummy incumbents, one thing is certain: they crossed the rigid boundaries drawn through their households by the same male relatives. omen are leading in ensuring that families function well and have necessities for development. Women are running the ? Caring Industry,? by managing the well being of the sick, the children and the elderly etc. Women are resolving conflict and finding solutions for issues in communities, whether it is getting clean water in a village or a streetlight fixed to prevent ch ildren and pedestrians from being knocked down by cars. Women throughout history have always been making priorities, budgets, and action plans. Women have as managers of families and communities to the management of our nations, our businesses, religious institutions and our world. This is about making the personal public and the private political. It is about tearing down the walls of dualism and discrimination. Negotiating to ensure that women are in positions at every level of public governance beginning from kindergarten through parliaments, businesses all the way to the United Nations require strong women-led politically-motivated civil societies to support their leaders and hold them accountable. Advocacy work ust show that both women and men must work together for common good. There has to be a critical mass of women in leadership so that they can be companions with each other and allow themselves to be what they want or be allowed to be themselves and not to prove themselves . The first sign of success is when the women pioneers in leadership have space and voice to be visible on their own terms and to practice their leadership in positions commensurate with their skills . Female leadership including the skills that mothers use to manage sibling fights there will be possibilities for new beginnings. We should have more women in politics. workshops are essential to train potential leaders as well as encourage the ones who are successful at the local governance level to enter the State Assemblies and National Parliament. More women should participate in political system to set an example for the entire world by efficiently working on issues that are close to their heart?. Top 10 women leaders in India: ? Pratibha Patil- Pratibha Devisingh Patil, the current President of India, is the first woman to hold the office. She was also the first woman Governor of Rajasthan (2004-2007). ? Vasundhara Raje Scindia- Vasundhara Raje, the daughter of Rajmata Vijayraje Scindia and Jivaji Rao Scindia of Gwalior, entered the politics in 1984. Besides being the first women Chief Minister of Rajasthan, she was the Minister of State for External Affairs. ? Uma Bharti- Uma Bharti held various state-level portfolios in India including Youth Affairs & Sports, Human Resource Development, Tourism and Coal & Mines. ? Sushma Swaraj- Sushma swaraj, a lawyer by profession, was elected as a member of Rajya Sabha in 1990. Later, she became the Minister of Information and Broadcasting and president of Hindu Sahitya Sammelan for Four years. ? Sonia Gandhi- Sonia Gandhi, the President of the Indian National Congress Party (NCP), was married to Rajeev Gandhi in 1969. Now a widow of former Prime Minister of India, Sonia was named the sixth most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine. ? Mehmooba Mufti- Mehmooba Mufti, the president of the Jammu and Kashmir people Democratic Party, is the daughter of the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mufti Mohmmad Sayeed. Brinda Karat- Brinda Karat was the first women member of the Communist Party of India. ? Mamta Banerjee- Mamata Banerjee is the founder and chief executive of the All India Trinamool Congress Party. Later, she was also made the Youth Affairs and Sport, Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development and Women and Child Development. ? Sheila Dixit- Sheila Dixit, belonging to the Indian National Congress, is the Chief Minister of Delhi since 1998. ? Mayawati Kumari- Mayawati Naina Kumari, the current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, is the highest income tax payer among all politicians in India. Besides these top 10 women leaders in India, Late Indira Gandhi has also been an epitome of leadership in India. References: Women and Leadership – Jean Lau Chin, Bernice Lott, Joy K. Rice http://www. emergingwomenleaders. org/ http://books. google. co. in/books? id=ZyhRWzTm_RwC&pg=PR4&lpg=PP1&ots=IPACfy zBWQ&dq=women+leadership#v=onepage&q&f=false http://www. emergingwomenleaders. org/2009/11/women-leadership-and-personalityinsights-form-the-myers-briggs-type-indicator/ Team Members: V. Ashwini Reddy Mala Mankotia Manjusha. P Ramya Sree Rashmi Kumari G. Swetha Reddy R. Swathi Sree Usha Kiran

First Extended Stay Away from Home Essay

The Cathedral Effect Emotions are a thing that nobody escapes themselves from, no matter how hard they try. They are something we are born and die with. Emotions are the also a foundation to how we see things. If someone is sad then most of the things they come across will be viewed as sad. Now, if someone is happy or open minded then they will deal with things they come across much better. In Carver’s short story â€Å"Cathedral†, the narrator is jealous and bitter. This causes his views to be distorted to something that is not correct. His wife’s friend comes and he is mean and jealous towards him. If the narrator changed his mood, then he would see things in a new better perspective. In â€Å"Cathedral†, written by Raymond Carver, the narrator starts off as a bitter man with a bad attitude of mind who changes throughout the story as to have a better attitude which results being more open minded and having a better aspect at life. At the beginning of the story, the narrator is a jealous and bitter husband. Although he has no reason to as he does not acknowledge his wife very much. The narrator is very lonely, â€Å"Every night I smoke dope and stay up as long as I could before I fall asleep.† The narrator could go with his wife instead of staying up all alone. When he does this it only shows how lonely he really is and how much he does not communicate with his wife. Maybe if he talked to her he would understand her and would feel comfortable when her blind friend came to visit. The narrator was not so excited for the visit, â€Å"My idea of blindness came from the movies†¦the blind moved slowly and never laughed†¦a blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to.† Clearly the narrators perception of blind people is very close minded as he only thought of blind people to fit stereo types. He has no idea what blind people are like and only goes with his own poor judgment. If h e changed his attitude towards things like these then maybe he would be able  to understand his wife and even the blind man. Later on in the story he begins to change just slightly. At first when the blind man arrives he only makes rude comments and stares as his wife smiles and interacts with him. Later though he begins to talk with him, â€Å"I asked if he wanted to smoke some dope with me.† The narrator invites Robert, the blind man, to smoke with him which is something he usually does by himself. It is not much but it is a step towards getting to know the man. As they smoked, his wife fell asleep and eventually left to sleep in her own bed. Robert and the narrator stayed up and watched television and as they watched it, a Cathedral came up. The narrator tried to explain the cathedral to Robert but failed to do so, â€Å"I stared some more at the Cathedral before the picture flipped into the countryside. There was no use.† Although the narrator was sharing thoughts with Robert, it was still not enough. The narrator soon gave up when trying to explain the Cathedral to Robert instead of tryi ng harder to help Robert picture a Cathedral in his mind. He did change his attitude a bit by communicating with Robert, but not enough. As the story concludes, the narrator has an epiphany. They continue to watch television when the blind man has an idea as to how the narrator could show him how a Cathedral looks like. Robert tells him, â€Å"I got an idea. Why don’t you find us some heavy paper? And a pen. We’ll do something. We’ll draw one together.† Robert suggests an activity that will benefit him and the narrator will be helpful. The narrator looks for what Robert requested and comes back after a while so they could do whatever he wants to do. Robert found the narrators hand and they began to draw a Cathedral together. The narrator guides the pen and Robert following along like a shadow. As the narrator was drawing the Cathedral he closed his eyes and thought, â€Å"His fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing else in my life up to now† This is where the narrators epiphany occurs. He finally sees something differently in life that changes his attitude towards many things. He experienced being blind for once and in a good way not in a bad way. Before he was blind intellectually and as to how people were. Now he was blind physically and it benefited him much  more than his useless jealous stereo typical thoughts. All he had to do was experience something that he had no insight towards. Lots of times humans let their emotions dictate the way they view life. Due to this, we should all try and be content and keep a positive attitude. If we keep a positive attitude then things won’t seem so harsh, miserable, or as lonely. If we have a negative attitude though, then things will be harder for us to understand and harder to interact with all sorts of different people. Sometimes it takes an experience that leads to an epiphany in order to change our attitude in life. In Raymond Carver’s story â€Å"Cathedral†, the narrator is a perfect example of someone having an epiphany that changes their attitude and view towards life. There’s always hope for everyone, you just need that extra push to have a better view towards things.

Comparison Between the Great Gatsby and Ebb Sonnets - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1063 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/09/16 Category Advertising Essay Tags: The Great Gatsby Essay Did you like this example? ‘A deeper understanding of aspirations and identity emerges from considering the parallels between the Great Gatsby and Browning’s poetry’. Compare how these texts explore aspirations and identity? Both the texts ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald and ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning explore the ideas of aspirations and identity developing a deeper understanding of the texts. Both texts share these ideas through the characters and the values of idealism and hope, and personal voice and identity. Although the two texts are separated in time and context, they both reflect the world of the text and composer. ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’ was written during the 19th Century in the period known as the Victorian era. This was a period where the role of women was very limited and their position was within the home. This era is commonly associated with a society that was staid and conservative. The sequence appropriates the male voice and shifts it to a feminine voice, communicating the love story between Elizabeth and Robert Browning. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Comparison Between the Great Gatsby and Ebb Sonnets" essay for you Create order The poems are intensely personal, exploring the power of love, the absence of love and making sense of the turbulent emotions involved with love. Brownings sonnets emphasize a type of idealized love, one that she hopes and dreams of. A love that is not ordinary, that is not based on physical appearance or on a feeling of pity or concern but for â€Å"loves sake only†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ through loves eternity† (Sonnet 14). This personified statement of which she repeats continually throughout the sonnet emphasizes her demands which seem extremely idealistic and hard to meet. The sonnets explore the idea that she has never experienced love, and has only read about it, hence the discussion of Theocritus and â€Å"the antique tongue† in Sonnet 1, specifically love in its idealistic and dreamt state. This demonstrates how this text explores the idea of aspirations. Browning continues through her sonnets to attempt to explain what type of love she hopes and dreams for. Her hope of ideal love is something that can fulfill her completely, it is so special to her that it can hardly be repeated â€Å"O love, thy words have ill availed If, what this said, I dared epeat at last† (Sonnet 28). She continues to list her idealized love in Sonnets 43 and 14, stating that love should be pure as men â€Å"turn from praise†, a love which people endure because it is right and correct. She again through imagery demands the purity of genuine love that can grow through time and endure â€Å"on, through loves eternity†. This clearly explores the idea of aspirations, hope and idealism within the sonnet sequence. The Sonnet sequence also involves the idea of identity with Barrett Browning coming to terms with her emerging sexuality and realisation of love. The sequence was written by Barrett Browning thus providing a personal voice to the sonnets allowing a portrayal of the sequence of events of her personal identity and expression of love. Throughout the sonnet sequence Browning develops a stronger sense and realisation of her love for Robert, hence shaping her identity. By sonnet 43 a series of elements introduced by the simple phrase â€Å"I love thee† where the repetition intensifies the affirmation, she declares that her love is free and pure and possesses passion. Most importantly Browning now holds a sense of identity as she has achieved her idealized type of love. ‘The Great Gatsby’ was written in the early 20th Century during the period known as the ‘Roaring Twenties’ or ‘the Jazz age’. It was a time where money was spent extravagantly on having a good time, but more commonly it was a period of social upheaval, a time of changing values when the roles that people had played for so many years were simply abandoned. The character Gatsby’s’ cars, lavish parties, reckless conduct and carelessness is all part of this atmosphere of enjoyment in the context of the 1920’s. Like Browning, Gatsby also shares similar aspirations, also longing for an ideal type of love that is not ordinary. But Gatsby’s idea of love is simply to recreate the past that he had with Daisy, whereas Browning explains the type of love she demands at length. Nick, the narrator describes Gatsby as a â€Å"dreamer†, a man who believes in the love he creates in his imagination an ideal world with his ideal woman Daisy, and then attempts to live out the fantasy in reality. His love for Daisy is pure but obsessive, primarily based on the relationship that he had with her 5 years ago â€Å"committing imself to the following of a grail†. Nick the narrator states that â€Å"Daisy vanished into her rich house, into her rich, full life, leaving Gatsby—nothing. He felt married to her that was all. † Nick seems to be implying that Daisy appears to be incapable of possessing real love. She contributes nothing to the relationship and will always return to Tom her husband, despite Gatsby’s greater, genuine love for her. Gatsby’s relationship with daisy does not ever really start and in the end he meets a violent death because of his hope. This clearly explores the idea of aspirations in the text. Like Browning’s sonnets, The Great Gatsby also involves the idea of identity, through the characters Gatsby and Daisy, but more as an illusion and unrealistic. This idea of a missing identity is evident in Chapter 1 when Nick describes Gatsby’s mansion being only a replica of a real castle â€Å"it was a factual imitation of some hotel de ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a think beard of raw ivy†. Gatsby tries to give the impression that his wealth is inherited but in reality everything about Gatsby is an illusion. Similar to Gatsby is Daisy. Nick writes â€Å"her face was sad and lonely†. Her happiness is an illusion. For all her wealth and comfort, true love is still missing. Both Gatsby and Daisy are literally missing an identity, living an illusion. This text clearly explores the ideas of both aspirations and identity in similar context to Barrett Browning’s sonnets. Both ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald and ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese† by Elizabeth Barrett Browning share and explore ideas of aspirations and identity. Their comparison of context, characters and themes provides a deeper understanding of the ideas represented in the two texts. Word count: 1054