WOMEN HARASSMENT

It still remains a strong control from men over women and the degradation of human rights worldwide. That is the case of the Dowry in India.

A DOWRY is “the practice of the bride's family providing the groom's family money or goods in exchange for their daughter's marriage. Dowry consists of both money and valuable goods such a jewelry, refrigerators, TVs, cars and even homes. The typical dowry is seven times the yearly salary of the breadwinner. It originated as voluntary gift giving but now is considered obligatory if a family wants their daughter to marry”.

In India is very common to hear about Dowry abuse, the most common is the “bride burning” (The woman is restrained in the kitchen and doused by cooking kerosene and lit by a match) and occurs when the groom and his family burns the bride until death because the dowry was not enough. They try to cover these deaths as if they were accidents or suicides committed by the bride herself. Even that the dowry was avoided in the 1960’s, these practices still happen and as I read, the dowry deaths are increasing constantly (In Delhi, a woman is burned to death almost every twelve hours).

It is hard to understand this phenomenon of women abuse especially in a developed country that has opened its doors to a liberalize economy, but is a reality that affects millions of women around the world no matter the religion, status or country, by non-respecting our human rights, especially dignity.

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Reference

http://www.indianchild.com/dowry_in_india.htm

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2009/08/27/bride-burning-in-the-name-of-dowry

THE PAST AND FUTURE OF IMMIGRATION TO CANADA (David Verbeeten)

Main argument: Since the very beginning of history, Canada was not recognized as a country of immigrants, but, as read in the document, the immigration process will be, as always, an important practice to follow the economical booms of each historical period.

1. In the 1890’s, all the sectors of the Canadian economy began to grow up, so they had the need to import people. One of the highest rates of migration to Canada was because they demanded people to work in the new farms and in the new factories.

2. In the 1960’s the need was for people that were able to fulfill the demand of the new era: urban, post-industrial and service sector economy. Later on, Canada became the country with the highest rate of legal immigration per capita.

3.Nowadays, there is this huge trend of “drain brains” to the US. Canada once again has to take into account the recruitment of skilled people that fulfill the outflow of talent from the country.

My Impression:

I lived in CANADA for six months and I met a lot of Colombian immigrants that were living in Toronto. They had better opportunities in Canada compared with countries like the United States or England. They could study, work and get the residence easier than in other states. I also travelled around Canada and I met not only Colombians but also Asians that were doing their studies there and searching for better job opportunities. This is a good case because Canada can “adopt” some Asians (especially from the huge population of China) in order to fulfill their drain brains and give them excellent benefits so they can set roots and contribute with the Canadian economy, as seen in the Canadian history.

During the years, the meaning for the word CULTURE has changed significantly. However, some authors agree that it is those values, beliefs, customs and behavior that a certain group of people share within a society.

In words of Edward Taylor, is “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society" (Taylor 1924 [orig. 1871]:1)

Since the 80’s, due to the decline of the north American economy, and the success of the Japanese, academics began to study Japanese’s companies and introduce the definition of culture in ORGANIZATIONS. As some authors state, in corporations there are certain social interrelations that its members develop, the ones at the same time are influenced by external and internal factors that compound the well known ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE. That culture is shared through generations, can be shaped, and it is adaptable to its individuals and to the time conditions.

In order to construct a better definition of culture in the organizations, it is necessary to quote EDGAR SCHEIN, who defines it as:"A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way you perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems"

To conclude, there is not a difference between corporate culture and culture itself. Organizational culture is an extension of the definition of culture in a specific scenario.