The Importance of Technology Education in Schools Essay -- Teaching Ed

The Importance of Technology Education in Schools The education world has been greatly influenced by rapidly changing technology and the increasing availability of information. Schools have advanced by leaps and bounds when it comes to incorporating technology into the learning environment, however, many more advances need to be made. In all areas of the country, educators are trying to help students keep up with technology, but there are more changes that are essential for preparing the next generation for the future. By increasing computer usage by students, installing classroom Internet access and providing instructional classes dedicated to software and hardware education, schools have tried to provide an up-to-date education for students. This is all very important, but is it enough? I feel that perhaps this just isn’t going to cut it for the twenty-first century. Michael Eisenberg and Doug Johnson pose the question in the ERIC Digest, â€Å"Can the student who operates a computer well enough to play a game, send e-mail, or surf the Web be considered computer literate?† [1] I believe the answer is yes and no, it depends on whom you are comparing them to. If you are comparing these kids with many adults, then yes they are; however, if you are comparing them to the next younger generation of children that are learning to do these things before they even learn to read, then the answer is a large resounding NO. Schools need to incorporate technology education into all areas of curriculum. Students need to be able to understand not only the how-to of computers, but they need to understand when to use it, where to use it, and why it should be used. Many students only have a basic working knowledge of computer... ... 5. 5. Network systems and data communications analysts 6. 6. Desktop publishers 7. 7. Database administrators 8. 8. Personal and home care aides 9. 9. Computer systems analysts 10. 10. Medical assistants3 Locally, the high schools have begun to understand this growing need and have issued laptops to all students in the freshman classes. This is just a first step. The teachers must now make good use of these new tools and help the students understand the how, when, where, and why of their gifts. It will be awhile before education can afford to catch up to societies needs, but if we recognize the need now, changes can be made to ensure that our next generation will be prepared for the future. A future were bugs are very different from insects, surfing requires no water and viruses have nothing to do with infection.

Organizational change at Shlar of Newton

Shlar of Newton is an organization catering to patients’ dietary needs. The company’s mission is to seek new ways everyday to improve the lives of patients. The decision to implement steam table serving system just started out as a simple initiative to improve the quality of life of patients. Initially, the top management did not realize the magnitude of change required to implement this system. However, when they gradually began to understand the various interconnected variables involved, a decision to make a significant organizational change to facilitate the new system was finalized.It was agreed that organizational change would be effected in accordance with the company’s mission and values (Free Management Library 2008). The company also decided in advance that organizational change would not come at the cost of weakening or compromising established and successful operational methods that have been its cornerstone for years, unless a significant reason is pu t forth. This included current practices in the kitchen floor, dining room or managerial functions.The cost factor involved in organizational change was analyzed and sufficient funds were allocated in the yearly budget to pursue the necessary actions. However, no expansion in manpower was initially foreseen by management as the new equipment did not need expert assistance. Introduction of Steam Table To begin with, new steam table equipment, utensils and other allied accessories had to be purchased. There were a lot of choices in brands as well as features to consider when it came to choosing the right hardware. The senior staff members in the kitchen were consulted in this regard to understand their requirements.Steam tables could be powered by gas, hot water bath, as well as electricity. Each one had its fair share of advantages and disadvantages. Steam tables functioning on water bath were comparatively inexpensive, but not very efficient for our requirements. The gas-powered ste am table was quite efficient, but it lacked in features. The electric steam table was finally chosen for its efficiency as well as features; certain models of electric steam tables also had a cold-storage compartment, which could be useful to store fruits and refreshments (Steam Table world 2008).After conducting an exhaustive research on the numerous brands available in the market, â€Å"Eagle Group† brand was selected based on its reasonable pricing, durable hardware, favorable customer service reputation and free installation offer. The steam table is an expensive piece of machinery which needs professional maintenance from time to time. Hence, an annual maintenance contract was signed with the same company to facilitate periodic maintenance, repair and refurbishing. The new equipments installed in the facility also were insured to cover for accidents and unforeseen events.The steam table system required a more robust power supply to meet the added power requirements. Henc e, this required hiring electricians to upgrade the power supply in the premises. A training program was also designed to make kitchen staff comfortable using and cleaning the new steam table equipment; its features as well as emergency measures to handle a hardware malfunction were also clearly demonstrated. As steam tables as well as steam table pans needed regular cleaning, a staff member was needed to accomplish this task.The same staff member who was responsible for cleaning the trays in the previous tray passing system received appropriate training and took over the new responsibility. Soon after installing the steam tables, there was a noticeable raise in temperature due to the heat generated by the new equipment. So, the management decided to rectify the situation immediately before it started making patients uncomfortable. Hence, additional air-conditioning equipment was installed to lower the temperature to comfortable levels.These problems were solved smoothly because the management understood that organizational change was a long process that needed to be approached with extreme caution and sensitivity. It anticipated unforeseen expenses and was well-prepared, as it viewed the expenses an investment towards its stable future. Merits of Steam Tables The primary advantage of implementation of the steam table system is the availability of fresher food, which is tastier and more nutritious to the patients. The steam table also acts as a quality-check mechanism, wherein food items that are not preferred are not requested by patients and they stay on the counter.Hence, food items that are not favored by patients can be avoided or improved in future, thereby eliminating food wastage. In the conventional passing tray system, the food items that are not preferred by patients would have been served anyway and eventually wasted. This system also helps understand patients overall food preferences better and more effectively cater to their needs. Moreover, redu cing food wastage would eventually benefit the patients as cutting down on our expenses would translate to cheaper food bills on the long run.The steam table system affords patients the freedom of choice to consume the food they want. This has been shown to psychologically as well as physiologically improve the patients’ condition (Hay 1932). Shlar of Newton also firmly believes that right food, in combination with medical treatment, plays a critical food in treating a person’s illness. Although talking a small stroll to the steam table counter to take food may sound insignificant to the average person, it can serve as a mild form of exercise that is critical for most patients.In the field of health care, it is important to understand that even the minutest of factors can add up and lend a patient a better lifestyle. Hence, the most marginal benefits could be treated as significant when it comes to health care, since the quality of life of a human being is at stake (Su llivan & Atlas 1998). Organizational Resources Our management team is spearheaded by the Nutrition Care Manager and Director of Dining, working in coordination with a dining service agency named Morrion Service Dining. The Nutrition Care Manager, Tina Miller works out the menu by rigorously analyzing our patients’ nutritional needs.She constantly experiments with different combination of food items to ensure that the menus do not stay stale, while also meeting nutritional needs of patients. Hence, the responsibility of managing the fine balance between taste and nutrition is handled by her. Tina Miller gives a lot importance to ensure that the quality of food served meets the higher standards of hygiene and health, since we understand the importance of food in healing patients and improving their quality of life. Nutrition Care Manager also briefs the serving staff about specific food allergies of various patients, thereby eliminating any food-allergy related incidents.The Di rector of Dining, Timothy Smith takes care of maintaining the dining hall that serves the patients food. He keeps operations in dinning hall running smoothly by handling infrastructural demands of the facility by making sure that the water, electricity and staff charges are paid on time. He also coordinates with staff to ensure that the dining environment comprising of basic amenities and furniture is well kempt. He also interacts with patients to get their perspective on things, and duly works on their complaints and suggestions.The Director of Dining also conveys the patient’s grievances to the dining service agency and constantly works with them to bring about changes. Timothy Smith also functions as a company representative while dealing with public relation initiatives and external agents such as Health Inspectors. Teamwork at Shlar of Newton Morrion Service Dining is very customer-friendly and takes frequent inputs from our managerial team. The company has been working seamlessly well with them for quite sometime and are satisfied with the quality of their food as well service.The Director of Dinning and Nutrition Care Manager often pay surprise visits to asses their kitchen conditions, and until now they have fared quite well on our satisfaction scale. The company also frequently interacts with the nursing staff to get their inputs on patients’ specific requirements. It employs only legitimate chefs and other kitchen staff, while paying a lot of attention to kitchen hygiene. The kitchen staffs also have been well-trained to cater to patients’ unique demands and also exhibit the highest standards of professionalism expected in this sector (Kongstved 2007).Besides all these resources, we have also accumulated a powerful knowledge base over time, by learning from patient feedback and behavior. Post-implementation Phase Although a lot of positive changes were envisioned out of the stream table system, a monitoring mechanism had to be de signed to measure the impact of the new system and justify its implementation. The company already had a system for regularly measuring its performance, so as to constantly improve service and ensure business sustainability.It was designed in-house as quality measuring system based on several aspects such as patients’ satisfaction, nutritional value, and nurses’ feedback. Patients, nurses and doctors were also encouraged to fill out questionnaires to measure improvement in quality of service to improve on the current system Quality-check Mechanism Patients as well as the nursing staff reported that they were more satisfied with quality of food, after the enforcing organizational change. Some doctors also reported subtle improvements in few patients’ psyche, although there is no empirical evidence to support this claim.It was also observed the overall quality of food factor went up from 3. 77 in 2007 to 4. 1 in 2008. This improvement was quite steep compared to l ast year’s marginal improvement from 3. 58 to 3. 77. Although a multitude of elements had contributed to our success, this year’s surge in performance can most certainly be attributed to the steam table system. These figures explicitly convey that the organizational change has impacted the company positively. Hence, the efforts and expenses incurred have been worthwhile in improving the company’s brand image as well as quality of service.

ESL Lesson Plain for a Class Job Fair

Putting on a class job fair is a fun way of exploring English skills related to employment. The following lesson plan extends much further than just a lesson. This series of exercises can be used over approximately three to five hours of classroom time and takes students from a general exploration of jobs students might be interested in, through vocabulary related to specific positions, into discussions of ideal employees and, finally, through the job application process. The class can be fun or focus on working on professional skills development. Students will learn a wide range of vocabulary related to work skills, as well as practice conversational skills, tense usage, and pronunciation. This series of exercises include using an informational employment website. I recommend using the Occupational Outlook Handbook, but for more general classes its a good idea to visit a listing of unique jobs that students might find more interesting. Jobsmonkey has a unique jobs page which lists a number of fun jobs. Aim: Develop, extend and practice work-skills related vocabulary Activity: In-class Job Fair Level: Intermediate through advanced Outline Write a number of professions on the board or brainstorm as a class. Its a good idea to have a mix of professions in order to generate a wider range of vocabulary (fire fighter, manager, engineer, programmer).Have a quick discussion of each type of profession. What skills does each profession require? What would they have to do? What type of person should they be? Etc.Put students in pairs or small groups and pass out the adjectives matching sheet. Ask students to match each adjective to a definition. Help students by making descriptions of professionals who are diligent, precise, etc.Correct as a class. Ask students to discuss which professions would require which characteristics using the vocabulary they have learned.Discuss as a class, or have students each stand-up and give an answer for the profession of their choice.Ask students what type of job they (would like to) have. Using one students job as an example, navigate to the Occupational Outlook Handbook or similar job descript ion site. Search for or choose the students position, and navigate the resources provided. Its a good idea to focus on the What do they do? section, as students will learn vocabulary related to the profession. Make sure the students get the url for any job site you recommend.Provide the worksheet on finding an ideal job. Students should name the job, write a brief overview of the job, as well as do research on the principal responsibilities of the job they have chosen.With their research in hand, have students pair up and interview each other about the jobs they have chosen.Ask students to find a partner to write up job fair advertisement. Together students will decide which job theyd like to create an announcement for.Using their informational sheets, ask students to create a job advertisement to announce a job opening based on the materials below. Provide large sheets of paper, colored markers, scissors and any other necessary equipment. If possible, students can print out or cut out pictures to accompany their poster.Students post their job advertisements up for other students to browse. Each student should choose at least two jobs theyd like to interview for.As a class, brainstorm typical questions they might be asked in an interview. Discuss possible answers with students.Get students back into the job poster pairs. Have each pair write up at least five interview questions about their position using their original information sheets including work duties.Have your job fair! It will be chaotic, but everyone will get a chance to practice using vocabulary they have learned throughout this activity. The job fair can be free form, or you can have students trade off roles at intervals.To expand the job interviewing of the aspect use this job interviewing practice lesson. Match each adjective to its definition bravedependablediligenthard workingintelligentoutgoingpersonableprecisepunctual someone who is always on timesomeone who can work steadily and with accuracysomeone who gets along well with otherssomeone who people like to likesomeone who people can trustsomeone who is smartsomeone who works hardsomeone who doesnt make mistakes Can you think of more? Answers punctual - someone who is always on timediligent - someone who can work steadily and with accuracyoutgoing - someone who gets along well with otherspersonable - someone who people like to likedependable - someone who people can trustintelligent - someone who is smarthard working - someone who works hardbrave - someone who isnt afraidprecise - someone who doesnt make mistakes Job Worksheet Questions Which job did you choose? Why did you choose it? What type of person should do this job? What do they do? Please describe with at least five sentences describing the positions responsibilities.

Chaos And Struggle In 1984 - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 636 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2019/04/10 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: 1984 Essay Did you like this example? Following the political chaos and struggle for power after World War 2, George Orwells novel 1984 brings attention to the dangers of oppression and shows the nightmarish world of the possible future. The book portrays a totalitarian dystopian world where citizens are restricted from having their own thoughts and are constantly being brainwashed. Citizens serve for the party like miners in a landslide, without any knowledge of the past or freedom. The politicians in 1984 suppress and eliminate their freedom by creating fear through propaganda, strict laws, and incessant surveillance. In 1984 the government uses fake information to control how citizens think. The Party mostly uses propaganda as their weapon of control. Propaganda increases the citizens confidence and makes them think that what the party tells them to do is always right. There are two main types of propaganda; Doublespeak changes the truth, and another creates fear. The partys popular slogan WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. (George Orwell, 4) is a good example of doublespeak. The action-point of the slogan is to persuade citizens into thinking that what they want, is what they already have. Only war can make peace, so peace is no longer peace, it becomes war. Anyone who is enslaved and wants freedom, already has freedom. You can only have strength by not knowing things and being ignorant. The slogan changes the truth and make the citizens think that anything they want, that is not what their government wants, can only make them unhappy, therefore, no one will consider rebell ing because they truly believe that the Partys way of governing is the best and only way. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Chaos And Struggle In 1984" essay for you Create order The laws in the world of 1984 are another tool for politicians to limit citizens freedom. The citizens live a very restricted life with no parties, no dates, no love, and a curfew. Although these laws are strictly applied, they cannot technically be called laws because they are not written in a system. In 1984, there is no such thing as a constitution or court, but that is how fear is created, because citizens are always living in doubt and uncertainty. An example is , And yet it was a fact that if Syme grasped, even for three seconds, the nature of his, Winstons, secret opinions, he would betray him instantly to the Thought Police (George Orwell, 30). There is not a real law that defines thoughtcrime but Winston could be arrested any time for committing thoughtcrime. Even an almost unnoticeable facial twitch that suggest struggle, could get anyone arrested on the spot. The idea of having no written laws is quite fairly political genius because the Party can adjust the strictness of laws whenever it wants. Citizens will never know if they have committed a crime so fear is created within the population. Surveillance is virtually everywhere in Oceania but it is mostly used through televisions. There is a two-way screened television in every apartment and street that monitors all of the citizens. The Party gets images of what its people are doing at the exact time that they are doing them. Only senior members of the Inner Party have access to turn them off for short periods of time. Children are also used to watch their parents, The children, on the other hand, were systematically turned against their parents and taught to spy on them and report their deviations (76). This system was used by the communist party of China during the Cultural revolution. With extreme surveillance, citizens have no way to express their negativity towards the Party. In 1984 Orwell creates a world where language, a word, or a sentence, can determine a persons life. Through language, strict laws, surveillance, and total government control, the part manages to manipulate its entire population. In Oceania, thoughts are suppressed until they vanish after generations. In this world, not even a bird is free.

Implementing A Plan For Managing Change - 1428 Words

A plan, a desire, and a decision. Which one comes first and how can you align these three aspects to make the change in your life that you need? There are several aspects of change that must be defined before you can figure out which direction you need to go. First, change can enter your life in two ways. You can initiate change or change will be initiated for you. Either way, you need to anticipate and plan for change. It is the How to plan for change? where most people make poor decisions. If you are going to initiate change, it is highly recommended that you have a plan. Having a plan is nothing more than laying out the groundwork of strategic goal setting. The planning process is actually quite simple. You can use the following model†¦show more content†¦Where do you want to go? and What does that look like? The purpose of the desired future state analysis is two-fold: To accurately identify your sustainable target and to establish the path you are going to follow. The gap analysis asks and answers two questions. What am I missing that I will need in order to successfully achieve my goals? and What will it take to acquire these? The gap analysis requires the most amount of mental energy in the planning process. The gap analysis is a personal S.W.O.T. analysis which helps identify your objectives and defines your time frame. The S.W.O.T. analysis looks at 9 critical areas: God given gifts, Natural talent, Formal knowledge, Experiential knowledge, Observational knowledge, Temperament, Motivators, Drivers, and Passion. Objectives are the actual elements upon which you take action. Objectives ask and answer two questions. What must I do in the foreseeable future to impact achievement? and What is the logical progression of actions towards achievement? The first question lays out the positive, progressive steps required to achieve your goal. The second question lays out the priority of your objectives. Objectives create accountability and measurability. Three levels of time concerning goals: Short-term (12 months or less), Mid-range (twelve to thirty-six months), Long-term (more than thirty-six months). Time limitations increases your sense of urgency. The time line feeds off of

Minocycline and Public Misinformation Free Essays

The potential role of minocycline in limiting neurological stroke damage is a widely studied arena, as evident by the numerous studies conducted on the topic and the implications of these findings are widely circulated in the scientific and public community using the print and broadcast media. But, it is highly unlikely that the common media would religiously reflect the findings based on the scientific research as potentiated by the ‘knowledge gap’ that exists between them. In the light of this statement, there is a general aim to investigate the â€Å"knowledge gaps† that may have been loss from information transfer of the technical work to that of the more popular broad print media. We will write a custom essay sample on Minocycline and Public Misinformation or any similar topic only for you Order Now The Recent Study Conducted on Minocycline Minocycline, a tetracycline derivative is more popular for its an anti-inflammatory activity rather than its antibiotic effect. Minocycline alleviates the blood brain barrier disruption by decreasing the activity of microglia and metalloproteinase, reduction of edema and hemorrhage and reduce ischemia. The specificity of mitocycline as inhibitor of microglial activity by limiting p38-mitogen-activated protein kinase makes it a potential drug for neurological disorders. Lampl et al. (2007) conducted an open label, evaluator blinded study on the monocycline treatment in acute stroke. This scientific approach diverted from the normal â€Å"animal models† and the â€Å"in vivo and the in vitro approach† classic method of studying drug medication effect by using actual human models. One hundred fifty two stroke patients were used for the study; 74 received minocycline treatment [(200 mg/day/5 days; start: 6-24 hr after stroke onset)] and 77 received placebo. The NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS), modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and Barthel index were assessed for day 7, 30 and 90 (7 and 90 for NIHSS). Data analysis (covariance and two tailed   t-test) were carried out using SPSS statistical analysis software. Results indicate that there was significant reduction NIHSS score at day 90 for monocycline patients compared that of the placebo patients. The reduction was apparent from baseline up to last day of treatment. Barthel index was significantly reduced at day 7 till the end of the treatment and mRS difference started at day 2 onwards. Covariance (co-variance: age, presence of peptic ulcer, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) , sulfonylurea(SU) were performed again for NHSS test and results show significant difference between the groups with mean difference increase for covariates. The study indicates that the administration of minocycline at acute stage of stroke using five day treatment therapeutic onset window of 24 hr is effective in alleviating stroke damages. The â€Å"24 hr therapeutic onset† is based on results of previous studies stating that edema peaks at 24 to 48 hr following ischemia and inhibition at this timescale of apoptopic pathway is most effective. The limitations of the study are the six hr post-stroke administration, the oral medication, and small sampling units. Confirmation is still needed for this study. The Public Mis-Conveyance of the Minocycline Efficacy Last October 27, 2007, Thomas H. Maugh II of Los Angeles Times wrote â€Å"[Minocycline] taken within 24 hours, the drug is found to help reduce disabling effects in a patient’s body and brain.† Thomas H. Maugh based his article on the aforementioned study above. However there are discrepancies that can be found between the article and the actual study which he allegedly used as the fountain of information on minocycline efficiency. First, he intimated that the drug should be administered within the first three hours. He also forgot to mention that the dosage administered was 200 mg.There was nothing in the journal that said that the drug must be administered at within 3 hr. In fact, the therapeutic window indicated in the scientific journal was â€Å"within 24 hr† and the experimental method involved â€Å"six hr post stroke†. Second, he elicited the â€Å"secondary† opinion from the scientific community specifically Dr. Steven Pacia of Lenox Hospital, Dr. John Marler of National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and Dr. Raymond Swanson of University of California. There is nothing wrong with eliciting opinions from known field experts on neurology. But the fact is that he should have elicited ‘primary’ source of information from the Israeli scientists and not from those who are not really involved the conducted study. Maugh also wrote that subjects for the study excluded â€Å"those who had already shown signs of recovery.† There was no line on the methodology of the paper mentioning this. He also failed to indicated chronic renal failure as a category in the exclusion of study. (This is very important since there is strong association of inefficacy of oral administration in chronic renal patients). He also wrote that Lampl said that the improvement was apparent within a week. It is a misnomer of information; there was ‘significant’ improvement from Day 90 and not Day 7. He also wrote that the minocycline receivers did ‘4x’ times better. He forgot to mention if at what scale this 4x is. Is it from the baseline or is it a comparison to the placebo group? Lampl’s group cited that the study must be performed on a larger scale to attest its efficacy. Maugh’s misnomers and some information deletions may have mislead the reader into believing that the minocycline is proven and tested as effective. Health information to the public should be delivered as precise as possible. Journalist should be more careful about what they write because they are open to misinterpretation by the public. What would happen if a desperate stroke patient took this information seriously and drank more than 200 mg per day? Results are inconclusive on this. However, it should be deeply noted that, in the end, the public is the one who suffers from this misinformation. Works Cited Lampl, Y., Boaz, M. Gilad, R., M. Loberboym, Dabby, R., Rapoport, A., Anca-hershowitz, M., and M. Sadeh. â€Å"Minocycline Treatment in Acute Stroke.† Neurology.   1609 (2007): 1404-1410. Maugh, H. Thomas. â€Å"Antibiotic Limits Stroke Damage, Study Finds.† Los Angeles Times. 2 October 2007.       How to cite Minocycline and Public Misinformation, Essay examples

The Question of Gender Equality in the Armed Forces free essay sample

This study draws on qualitative data and secondary research to analyse the themes of gender, militarism, violence and war. Paying particular attention to women’s experiences in the British Military throughout the study, the ideologies of gender within the armed forces are examined with examples from history. The effect of women’s increased integration into militaries is analysed for both ideological and policy changes to the armed forces, and the effects on the women’s own identities. Focusing on the military as a labour market and as a means to citizenship rights allows for discussions of equality for women within militaries, finally leading to theoretical discussion of the ethics and impact of violence and militarism, exploring the subjectivity of knowledge and the possibility of imaging alternative orders. INTRODUCTION Rationale and Literature Review That we have to talk about ‘women and the armed forces,’ shows the deeply gendered nature of our understandings of militaries and war. The fact that it is necessary to specify ‘female combatants’ indicates their historical rarity, and symbolic position as unconventional figures. Traditionally, war has been perceived as a masculine endeavour for which women may serve as victim, spectator, or prize. Perhaps, as Francine DAmico suggests, the abundance of feminist analysis of the subject is precisely a result of women’s positioning within wars, and the silencing of their war stories. 1 Perhaps our scrutiny is a fascination for the unknown. Perhaps we need to reclaim an erased identity, to legitimize our ability to speak within heavily masculine arenas. The question raised by this study is whether we must participate in war to claim that voice? Cynthia Enloe reminds us to question all which seems most natural, inevitable, or traditional to us. Masculinity and femininity are two categories which demand such attention, and the work of feminists and gender theorists have formed increasingly strong cases which reveal these distinctions as having been made through particular decisions, by specific people. 2 By this understanding, the involvement of women in state militaries is never random. 3 Robert W. Connell’s theory of hegemonic masculinity refers to a particular set of masculine norms and practices that have become dominant in specific institutions of social control. To become hegemonic, cultural norms must be supported by institutional power. Hence, hegemonic masculinity is a set of norms and practices associated with men in powerful social institutions. 4 Once a particular set of behaviours has been established as the norm for appropriate conduct within any institution, it becomes difficult to critique, partly because normativity makes certain practices appear ‘natural’. As Annica Kronsell argues in her study of the Swedish Military, in the history of most military institutions, â€Å"masculinity has been normalized and regularized. †5 This study will draw particularly from existing research about the British context. In a relatively short time, the armed forces of the United Kingdom have made significant advances to integrate women within their military, for various organisational, political and social reasons. 6 Reflecting the political trends in global security and developments towards non-traditional military operations (for instance peacekeeping, peace enforcement and humanitarian intervention), the international movement has been towards an extension of military roles for women, and at present women play a more active and visible role in the armed forces than ever before. 7 â€Å"The increase in the proportion of women in the Armed Forces raises practical and policy issues for the decision-makers within the armed forces. It also raises cultural questions about how gender is understood within the Armed Forces; the challenges which the presence of women in increasing numbers bring to military culture8 and how these matters circulate within and beyond the military into the British society and the international arena as whole. The extent to which women are integrated into the armed forces will be discussed in relation to ideological processes generated by security elites. In the process by which elites in any state conceptualize ‘security,’ the decision-makers must compare threats and enemies, and in doing so, some concerns are prioritised, and others ignored. Such ideological procedures inevitably affect the validity of alternative defence strategies, and again, these are ranked according to their ability to maintain the current order. It is the defense and maintenance of the structures of public authority in the face of either domestic or external challenge which will receive most attention. While constructions of masculinity and femininity are always circulating in and around militarism and war, women -and their bodies- are primary considerations for military and state leaders. The ideological processes that shapes a state’s uses of women in the armed forces are determined by the structures distinguishing and reconciling women’s many roles and ‘natural’ characteristics within that society. 9 One of our goals will be to uncover the process by which gender ideologies are modified, contested and renegotiated by war and militaries. How has war shaped what the culture accepts as ‘natural’ or ’true’ about men and women? And how are men and women shaping militaries and the war-system? Does war result in increased sexual equality? By exploring the conditions under which states include women in the militaries, we contribute to the mounting social science literature and theory concerned with women’s military roles cross-culturally and historically. Research into women’s contemporary military roles, and how gender is constructed within the armed forces is of course, not new within the social sciences, nor is the study of the military experience oriented towards understanding construction of gender identities. There is a growing body of work on femininities and the military experience, with Cynthia Enloe’s work regarding the militarisation of women’s lives providing fresh insights for the Post-Cold War years. Nira Yuval-Davis’ examinations of the links between gender, militarism, and national identities; Christopher Dandeker and L. P. Peach’s cross-national comparative work on combat exclusion; Juanita Firestone and Carole Pateman’s studies on occupational segregation and Segal’s exposition of a broader cross-cultural theorization of women’s military roles, have all contributed to broader theories about the social construction of gender, and have provided the discussion about gender and the military experience with much insight and diversity of theory. Philosophers Hannah Arendt and Jean Bethke Elshtain provide great insight into deconstructing violence and militarism with the purpose of exposing the temporal and subjective nature of political Realism, and its excessive focus on war. The subject of women’s relationship with the military has created intense debate amongst many protagonists, reflecting the controversy and the importance of the issues involved. 10 They may be briefly sketched according to their basic orientation on this issue of combat, ranging from those who are strictly opposed to any utilization of women in the armed forces, to those who ardently support complete access for women. Both military traditionalists and the pacifist feminists, for example, are opposed to women in the armed forces in general and in the combat arms in particular, but their reasoning could not be more opposed. The military often portrays women soldiers as disruptive in combat situations, by exposing the military gender system and therefore damaging the efficiency of the masculine war machine. 11 Feminist observers, on the other hand, tend to regard women soldiers role in a wider debate, as either serving or harming women’s interests. 12 As Orna Sasson-Levy points out, the ongoing debate regarding women’s military service tends to view women soldiers as â€Å"pawns in a bigger game. †13 The most dominant question in this debate is whether military service is a venue for equal citizenship for women or a reinforcement of masculine concepts of security and power. Thus, the contemporary debate on women in the military tends to remain on the macro level and ignores the gender experience of women soldiers themselves. I find that the most interesting arenas for studying gender are those where the ideologies of masculinity and femininity are central to the organisation of social activity, and identity. In these more extreme settings, gender becomes a crucial distinction for stratifying society, and deciding how roles and responsibilities should be assigned. The inclusion of women in ultra-masculinised arenas can simultaneously expose the prioritisation of masculinities within cultures, and calls into question the gender identity of the women themselves. As women represent what has been conceptually and physically denied from masculinised institutions, women’s presence in these spheres reveals the shapes and forms of gender power within such organizations. 14 The narratives of the women become integral to the study, as their agency is often disregarded within the debate as a whole. It is also interesting to analyse how institutions that embody these understandings of gender, also play a dominant role in broader cultural meanings of gender. I find the consequences of this, and the processes by which ideologies of gender become naturalised fascinating, and especially seek to locate these debates within international and epistemological contexts. Theoretical Framework The complex nature of women’s location in institutions of hegemonic masculinity presents a challenge to researchers. Feminist standpoint and postmodernist theories support the argument that the individual woman within these institutions can generate important insights about systems of control, and the effects of gendered hierarchies. Meghana Nayak and Jennifer Suchland have shown that by analysing practices carried out in different sites within hegemonic institutions, highly abstract notions of masculinity can become concrete. The narratives of military women reveal the highly complex operations of hegemonic masculinity. 15 Nancy Harstock’s argues that in this respect, that â€Å"one can only know and appropriate the world (change it and be changed by it) through practical activity. †16 Thus, it is not only what women experience as they go through life, but the insight or consciousness they can gain from their activities and interactions in a gendered world, that produces knowledge. This approach is particularly useful when looking at the effects of militarism on women, and Enloe’s extensive work on this subject prioritises their voice, and their knowledge. I would argue, however, that standpoint theory’s focus on ‘women’s knowledge’ and ‘women’s lives’ as a privileged position for making knowledge claims has tended to essentialize and universalize deconstruct the category ‘woman. ’17 The stability of the category ‘woman’ in standpoint theory has been contested at length by theorists such as bell hooks, along lines of class, sexuality and ethnicity. 18 Since all societies are stratified by class, ethnicity, race, access to natural resources as well as gender, hooks and others argue that there are no ‘women’ standing outside these stratifications. As such, I also utilise feminist and postmodern conceptualizations of identity as relational and situational specific, constructed through everyday repetitive practices. 19 Following much of Judith Butler’s theory, gender identities are analyzed as a â€Å"never-ending series of performative practices, which are repetitive imitations of an imagined gender identity. †20 This theory is extremely useful when analysing identity practices within militaries, as it espouses open and changeable notions of gender. The contrast between the approaches of standpoint and postmodern feminism will help to evaluate whether the possibility of mutual or common political interests between women are possible, despite the unstable and shifting the status of the category ‘woman’. They will also enable us to evaluate the subjectivity of knowledge gained from the various sources of this study. Methodology Theorists of Feminism and International Relations Rebecca Grant and Kathleen Newland regard a feminist epistemology a simply meaning that gender is a key element to the theory and practice of research. 21 They argue that â€Å"The lens of gender offers not just an alternative vision of the world, but one that is more whole and more representative of the spectrum of experience out of which international conflict and cooperation arise. It offers the possibility of an escape from one of the major sources of fragmentation and distortion in our discipline. †22 The extent to which a methodology is feminist, however, stretches beyond the theory which underpins the study. Helena Carreiras reminds us of the importance of â€Å"analysis† exclusively based on the ‘subjective’ dimension of women’s perceptions and representations†23 This study focuses on the subjective gender experience of women soldiers in military roles and the meaning of those experiences at both the microlevel of women’s lives and the macrolevel of the military and state â€Å"gender regimes†. 24 The primary qualitative data for this study will be collected by a small sample of semi-structured interviews informed by feminist interview techniques, with women from the British Military, focusing on prioritising the voice of the research participant throughout the study. Semi-structured interviewing is more flexible than standardised methods such as the structured interview or survey, and a feminist interview method encourages a more reflexive approach that aims to neutralise the hierarchical, exploitative power relations that were claimed to be inherent in the more traditional interview structure, which has traditionally marginalised, inadequately represented, and even excluded womens experiences. Contemporary feminist approaches acknowledge gender inequality and seeks to incorporate an awareness of gender relations through a reflexive approach to interviews. Ann Oakley’s methodology addresses these issues, and she argues that, â€Å"In most cases, the goal of finding out about people through interviewing is best achieved when the relationship of interviewer and interviewee is non-hierarchical and when the interviewer is prepared to invest his or her own personal identity in the relationship. †25 The feminist researchers primary motivations are to empower women and to restructure the imbalance of equality in understanding womens experiences, and so feminist research challenges both the knowledge which is produced and the methods of producing knowledge. Through social research, feminist methods go beyond studying women as objects of investigation. Rather they seek to challenge gender inequalities in social research and to motivate emancipatory, political change of womens experiences in society, engaging with them and recognising the role of the researcher and the influence this has upon the study. In their study of feminist methodologies, Judith A. Cook and Mary Margaret Fonow emphasise the need to challenge the norm of objectivity that assumes that the subject and object of research can be separated from one another and that personal and grounded experiences are unscientific. 26 One way in which feminist researchers have addressed this is through treating the interview as co-constructive. Ann Oakley’s feminist paradigm for interviewing aims to minimize objectification of the subject as data by viewing the interview as an â€Å"interactional exchange. †27 Feminist researchers claim that developing a rapport with interviewees is an essential part of establishing trust, respect and maintaining an empathetic position, and gathering knowledge not just ‘for the sake of it’, but for the women who are providing the information too. Oakley advocates that answering the questions of interviewees humanizes the researcher and places the interaction on a more equal footing. 28 This research method rejects the positivistic ideal of producing an impersonal and objective account of experience. Although the interviewer in this technique will have some established general topics for investigation, this method allows for the exploration of emergent themes and ideas rather than relying only on concepts and questions defined in advance of the interview. Cook and Fonow note that a further aspect of feminist methodology requires investigation into professional gate-keeping practices, including the influence of gate-keeping on topic selection and research funding and the formulation and implementation of alternatives to the present gate keeping system. 29 The relatively closed nature of the military can make it difficult for an interested researcher to secure access to this field. As such, interviews will be arranged with individual women from the Royal Navy, the Royal Airforce (RAF) and the Army through personal recommendations. Despite these connections, the concern for ethical implications of the research are central to the study, and correct ethics procedures will be maintained throug hout the study, with participants being reassured of their anonymity, the availability of copies of the final draft, and security that the information provided will only be used for the purpose of this dissertation, without any view for publication. Studies such as Pamela Cotterill’s concerned with the subject of interviewing women have highlighted the problem that ‘public’ and ‘private’ divisions have their equivalent within language. 30 I have been conscious of the language I have used in this study so as to avoid subordinating women through my research. 31 The experience of individual women, does not, unsurprisingly, produce analogous understandings of gender patterns and feminist theories. Therefore, consciousness about any particular experience must be connected to a wider set of gendered power relations that structures those experiences. We must contextualize individual experiences and isolated events and an important role for the feminist academic is to become a ‘mediator’ between knowledge gained through women’s and men’s daily experiences and knowledge of global gender relations gained from ‘outside. ’32 Despite my focus on the British experience, the case studies and secondary readings used in this research project provide rich empirical material from countries and cultures across the globe, with examples selected which combine both variations and similarities which are sufficient to engage in and develop my research. The standpoint and postmodern theories employed in the approach the semi-structured interviews and their analysis will develop my understanding of whether identity practices reflect a human agency capable of negotiation, renewal, and change and the extent to which they are limited and conditioned by the structure of social relations. 33 Thus, focusing on identity practices enables me to comprehend more fully â€Å"the complexities of structural demands versus human agency, without unduly privileging one over the other† 34 Informed by Sasson-Levy’s interview style in her study of Israeli soldiers, I can analyze how subjective meanings are created at different locations within structures of inequality. 35 As such, I address questions at both the macro- and micro-level, focusing both on the interaction between state institutions and identity practices. CHAPTER ONE THE MILITARY AND IDEOLOGIES OF GENDER â€Å"What we do we often do somewhat unthinkingly, repeating inherited patterns, reconstructing familiar identities, re-encoding traditional scripts. †36 Jean Bethke Elshtain In contrast to Clausewitzs description of war as a continuation of politics by other means, philosopher Hannah Arendt questions the historic transformations and practices that have made possible â€Å"a consensus among political theorists from Left to Right to the effect that violence is nothing more than the most flagrant manifestation of power. †37 Revealing the war system and militaries in this light, demands that we pay attention to the conceptions that allow for this current order. War is understood within an international system and state culture that bases its conceptions of political community on the premise that men’s membership in certain kinds of political collectivities, is related to their preparedness to sacrifice their lives for national security or state interest. 38 The pervasiveness of war in history, and our expectation that men will take part in war has profound consequences for our understandings of masculinity and femininity, and in her work Women and War, Jean Bethke Elshtain has argued that women’s social roles can only be understood when the significance of war and militarism within our societies is fully realised. Thus, for both men and women, ‘gender’ and ‘war’ are inescapably bound together in the history of western thought and practice. There is a close connection between state-making and war-making. Max Weber defines the state precisely by its monopoly over the legitimate use of force, which forms the basis of the coercive power from which states rule particular territories and people. 39 Following this, Nira Yuval-Davis notes that establishing a ‘people’s army’ or introducing national draft has historically been one key method of legitimating particular regimes and governments in various cultures and eras. 40 Gendered and feminist analyses reveal that the state is in almost all cases male dominated, and is in many different ways a masculinist construct. Jan Jindy Pettman argues that â€Å"It is simply not possible to explain state power without explaining women’s systematic exclusion from it. †41 Cynthia Enloe articulates that the military is â€Å"not just another patriarchal institution,†42 but is the institution most closely identified with the state and its particular ideologies. In her historical and cross-cultural study of women’s military roles, Mady Wechsler Segal confirms that the armed forces have traditionally been defined as the most prototypically masculine of all social institutions. 43 It follows that for women to participate in this manly endeavour, either the perception of the armed forces must have changed to make it more amenable to women and femininity, or women have to be perceived as changing in ways that make them more compatible for military service. Segal notes a third option, that the security situation could be so extreme that the ideological concerns are less of a priority than that of national defense. 44 Analysis of the various interrelational factors influencing women’s relationship to, and conceptions of, the armed forces will bring us closer to understanding whether a state’s greater emphasis on ascription by gender limits womens military role. The apparent malleable nature of women’s involvement in the military indicates that conceptions and ideologies are not objective, but socially constructed, and require constant redefinition over time, as the priorities and demands of the armed forces change, and as other structural influences also evolve. Women’s experiences of war, therefore, whether they are treated as actors or subjects, are susceptible to the construction of gender, but also race, class national and political structures operating in and around their lives. Cultural norms about gender have a profound impact on how women are regarded in relation to war, what is expected of them in times of national crisis, and the strength of the repercussions suffered for acting outside the accepted gender boundaries. 45 Developing Segal’s arguments, Darlene Iskra et al. argue that social values about force, power and domination particularly determine how the military is perceived in the society and how the society is able to imagine conflict, and conceive of its resolution. 46 The further into the study of gender relations we explore, particularly with regard to military policies and ideologies, the more apparent it seems that we should not concern ourselves with any objectively ‘true’ or ‘neutral’ knowledge. Rather, this study begins only with the understanding that the discourse of gender and importantly, gender differences, have presently in most societies, great importance attached to them. This has resulted in profound consequences for women and men’s lives. I look to analyse how the interpretation of these ideologies is contextual and changeable, and the effects of these processes are made visible in sites of contention, such as the military. Which particular ideologies of gender have allowed for war to be elevated to its current position within our realist international security agenda? And how are women’s experiences of military life affected by preconceptions of gender roles capabilities? Examining the extent to which wars depend on ideologies of gender and gendered power relations in order to function and evaluating the effect of social, national and political influences on women’s integration into the military will help us to theorise about the constructions of gender implicit to these policy debates, and what this will mean for women’s future military participation. Social Construction and Prevailing Notions of Gender The meanings of sex and gender are socially and historically contingent, and as such, not concepts that are easily definable. Feminists and gender theorists interrogate the essentialist categories of man and woman; male and female, that we use to understand both sex and gender. 47 Even the distinction of ‘sex’ as a purely biological classification, and ‘gender’ as a socially constructed phenomenon is problematic, and excludes those people who identify themselves as asexual, intersexual, transsexual and hermaphroditic. We must also interrogate the dominance of gender as mode of identity formation. Postmodern feminist theory has challenged the universal application of gender, and the perpetuation of its discursive effects, focussing on the category of ‘woman’ in its ability to represent and initiate feminist interests and goals within the discourse. Judith Butler explores the concept of representation as a normative function of a language which is said to â€Å"reveal or to distort what is assumed to be true about the category of women,†48 primarily as this approach pre-empts who is included, and importantly, who is misrepresented or entirely excluded from that category. This undermines the stability of the term ‘women’ and following this argument, the subjects of feminism are themselves regulated, defined and reproduced by the discursive structures which determine them to be ‘women’ in the first place. Whilst the collapse of the category of ‘woman’ would indeed signify a real change to the present gender order, the primacy of gender roles in war and militaries must be attended to if social change and equality are to be realised. It is useful to consider the dynamic construction of sex and gender by theorising about masculinities and femininities broadly, conceptions which Laura Sjoberg describes as â€Å"stereotypes, behavioural norms and rules assigned to people based on their perceived membership in sex categories. †49 I support the approach that gender is not static, but a contingent and changing social process. Connell’s interpretation of gender as a set of discourses which represent and construct and have the power to alter meaning and power within our cultures shows the importance of gender as an analytical concept. 50 This approach enables us to understand the diverse, and sometimes conflicting nature of gender representations, whilst also acknowledging the prevalence of gendered discourses in both international politics and interpersonal identity formation. Following Connell’s approach, social structures such as labour and power are all implicated in any society’s ideas of ‘masculinity’ and ‘femininity’. These structures ideologically construct ‘women’ and ‘men’ in terms of certain characteristics. Zarina Maharaj notes that a certain type of sexuality and a certain possession or lack of authoritative, decision making capacity are regarded as gender identity markers in this way. 51 The extent to which particular roles and norms are seen as appropriate to each gender is therefore socially determined,52 and the division of social activities, responsibilities and capabilities are made along the lines of ‘male’ and ‘female. ’ The degree to which a society exaggerates or minimises the importance of sex differences is reflected in the fabric of its institutions, the history of its traditions and cultures, and the perceptions of its citizens. Therefore, it is my belief that the social roles of men and women, the extent to which deviations to these roles are tolerated, and the boundaries which confine our understandings of gender and sex, are regulated by states and elites in decision-making positions. It follows then, that these definitions are subject to change and due to the activities and knowledge produced by the women’s movement of the past decades, gender roles have indeed been widely discussed in society at large and, have resulted in the establishment of different, non-traditional role models for women. The feminist actions of women themselves are not, however, the only source of change where ideologies of gender are concerned, and in Segal’s model for theorising the women’s involvement in militaries, she argues that political, international, social, cultural and military pressures all influence the level of integration in a state’s armed forces,53 and furthermore, the causal links between these influences and the structure of a society are not always clear, but operate in a interrelational fashion. It is important to understand that the military plays a significant role in determining the degree to which women have become integrated within the armed forces, and economic, political and technological changes have all affected the physical and ideological positioning on women in regard to the military, and in response to its particular requirements. The Status of War Anthropologist Walter Goldschmidt concludes that with war, as with â€Å"all matters cultural, the society shapes natural human capacities and potentialities to it’s accepted purposes, reinforcing some and suppressing others†¦by systematically rewarding and punishing, by indoctrinating youth, creating role models to be emulated, and honouring those who perform well. †54 Behind any war is a system of beliefs that permits them to occur. Standing militaries, training and defence funding take up large proportions of almost every state budget, directly impacting on society, its institutions and its culture. This reflects the global â€Å"predisposition to resort to violence†55 to resolve conflict or pursue interests. This constructivist argument frames war as a human activity and there is much space within it for imagining alternatives to the war system we know. The same capabilities could be applied in a different culture, into non-warlike practices. However, in his study of war and gender, Joshua Goldstein maintains that the connection between the two is â€Å"more stable, across cultures and through time, than are either gender roles outside of war or the forms and frequency of war itself. †56 This can be explained by taking the approach that war is not a natural endeavour for neither man or woman, but in an effort to convince men to lay their lives down for national causes, state ideologies have connected the most highly regarded forms of masculinity with soldiering and war. Goldstein contends that the war system as we recognise it has been shaped and adjusted but that the selection of men as combatants and women as supporters has been consistent across cultures and through time. 57 This tradition is evident in classical social contract theories, where the legitimation of violence, and the accordant citizenship rights attached to this, are exclusive masculine privileges, and this responsibility been utilised by states to divide its citizenry into active and passive halves. 58 This structure is not limited to the national context, and in the anarchical international system which dominant political realists imagine, Tickner confirms that power, autonomy, self-reliance, and rationality are all necessary characteristics of state behaviour, and all of these attributes are ones we associate with a socially constructed ‘ideal-type’ masculinity. 59 In the same way that men within societies have traditionally born the physical duty of defending their nati