The American Dream Reasearch Paper Free Essays

Zac Duncan Mrs. Hill English 6th February 3, 2013 Many people believe the American Dream today has faded. It is no longer achieved as often as in the past. We will write a custom essay sample on The American Dream Reasearch Paper or any similar topic only for you Order Now Although obtaining the Dream has become difficult, people still haven’t stopped pursuing it. Despite the obstacles, the American Dream is still full of hope and enlightenment both financially and emotionally. The American Dream is known for its positive connotation, but there are many obstacles surrounding it. According to, â€Å"Obstacles to the American Dream†, by Eddy Isango, the Dream is toughest for immigrants. Many immigrants have problems learning the English language. When they arrive it is as if they have to start all over. Immigrants also don’t receive state benefits such as health care and food stamps. They have to find jobs that provide these for them, which is tough with the lack of job opportunity and rising cost of living in America. Financial obstacles of the American Dream can be overcome. Rieva Lesonsky encourages people to get over these hills by saying, â€Å"Acknowledge the hard times† (Lesonsky 1). People believe the Dream is changing. â€Å"Today, they say, the ‘dream’ is more likely about making money†, (Lesonsky 1). People have moved towards opening small businesses to achieve their financial dreams. These businesses, over time, increase the revenue of the people. The American Dream is still filling the emotional needs of people. Jeremy Pratt has dealt with a learning disability his whole life, but doesn’t let this stop him from achieving his dream as he says: ‘I’ve always had to work a bit harder than my friends without disabilities,’ says the 28-year-old. ‘But I finally feel like I’m on the way to having what everyone dreams of. ’ Pratt’s diligence in saving money is paying off; he plans to start house hunting as early as 2013. Blatt 1) Jeremy is achieving his life-long goal of buying a house filled with his art. He fought through his disability and obtained what he wanted. The American Dream still has appeal to Americans today. People still strive for a better life for themselves and their families. The freedoms of America allow for people to obtain their financial and emotional dreams that they have longed for. Works Cited Blatt, Burton, Jeremy Pratt. Achieving the American Dream. February 5, 2013 Isango, Eddy. Obstacles to the American Dream. February 3, 2013 Lesonsky, Rieva. The American Dream is Alive and Well-and Transformed. February 3,2013 How to cite The American Dream Reasearch Paper, Papers

Marketing Does More Harm to Society Than Good free essay sample

The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the statement; â€Å"Marketing does more harm to society than good† This is done by outlining why the statement is made and then to present arguments for the relevance of marketing in society. 2. Introduction to Marketing Marketing has been a foundational study for many business schools since the 1950s and the practice has flourished internationally due to marketing’s universal concept of achieving value for the business firms and its customers. During the 1950s a management expert named Peter Drucker lead the development of the â€Å"marketing concept†, which asserted that firms must create value for customers and see the business from the customer’s point of view. This concept of â€Å"customer orientation† depends on all functional groups of the firm to adopt this type of management thinking (Drucker, 1954). Then in 2008 the American Marketing Association defined marketing as â€Å"an organization function and a set of processes for creating, communication, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. Harm of Marketing to Society In the 1950s the role of marketers in society was directly criticized by two commentators, Vance Packard and Kenneth Galbraith, who viewed the practice as immoral and self-seeking. These attacks were primary directed at the commercial aspects of marketing and more specifically at the advertising industry. In the next section of the paper we will look at Parkard’s and Galbraith views of marketing and also consider the view of Naomi Klein, who is a modern critic of how marketing harms society. 3. Criticism of Marketing in the 1950s. In Vance Packard’s 1957 book, The Hidden Persuaders, he describes the psychological dominance of advertising and how marketers look for the why of our behavior so that they can more effectively manipulate our habits and choices in their favor (Packard, 1957). His argument was that marketing made people buy things they did not want or purchase products that were bad for them. Packard raised two points of concern. First, if we suspect all organized communication is manipulated, then how can we know what to elieve? Second, Packard deemed the manipulation of our psyches disrespectful of the individual personalities (Packard, 1957). Schools of marketing may have been the scapegoat for deceptive advertising practices because of influences by Freudian psychoanalytic concepts and techniques in business during that time. In Ernest Dichter’s Harvard Business Review article in 1947, he discusses how both businessman and psychologist are interested in what makes people tick, what motivates them, and how consumers can be molded and influenced (Dichter, 1947). Dichter’s article further mentions motivation research, marketing strategy, and a technique for influencing consumer behavior. Dichter’s psychoanalytic approaches to marketing at the time caused damage to the budding field of marketing and were heavily criticized by Packard. In Kenneth Galbraith’s 1958 book, Affluent Society, he argued that sales promotion and advertising activities motivate people to consume more without making them better off because their desires were artificially created by marketers (Galbriath, 1958). Thus, in affluent societies, ever-increasing levels of production and consumption do not equate to an increased level of social welfare (Dutt, 2008). This relationship between consumption and welfare (happiness) was termed the â€Å"Dependence Effect† by Galbraith. Galbraith foresaw grave consequences flowing from this preoccupation with consumption and growth. He felt it imperiled economic security from the runaway growth in consumer debt that is part of the salesmanship activities (Stanfield, 1983). In Friedrich Hayek’s 1961 response to the â€Å"Dependence Effect,† he outlines why Galbraith’s conclusion does not logically flow from previous examples and statements in the Affluent Society. Heyek’s counter-argument is based consumers’ acquisition of taste through cultural interactions and socialization versus through channels directed by want-creating activities of producers (Hayek, 1961). 3. 2 Modern Criticism of Marketing Branding In Naomi Klein’s 2002 book, No Logo, she â€Å"skewered the role of brands in contemporary culture and the insidious power of corporations to infiltrate institutions throughout society, including schools and hospitals† (Rutland, 2009). This anti-corporate sediment was triggered by branding practices creating artificiality by stretching the notion of value and not taking into consideration aspects of corporate social responsibility. Brand equity mania in the 1980s was defined by the moment when Philip Morris purchased Kraft for $12. 6 billion, an amount six times its book value. The price difference between balance sheet valuations and the price paid was attributed to the value of the word and images related to â€Å"Kraft†. This meant that for the first time a big monetary â€Å"value had been assigned to something that had previously been abstract and unquantifiable: a brand name† (Klein, 2002). Klein goes on to describe how corporations’ choice of marketing over value defined a shift in thinking where the product was mere filler to branding. Nike, for example, leverages the deep emotional connection that people have with sports and fitness. With Starbucks, we see how coffee has woven itself into the fabric of peoples lives, and that is our opportunity for emotional leverage (Klein, 2002). In the case of both Nike and Starbucks we see how the concept of capturing emotional appeal through branding allows for a premium price, above and beyond intrinsic value, to be charged. As Nike CEO Phil Knight explains: For years we thought of ourselves as a production-oriented company, meaning we put all our emphasis on designing and manufacturing the product. But now we understand that the most important thing we do is market the product. Weve come around to saying that Nike is a marketing-oriented company, and the product is our most important marketing tool. † (Geraldine, 1992) In contrast to Klein’s work, Peter Doyle, through work on value-based branding strategies looks at how marketing professionals diluted the problem of building successful and lasting brands by not considering stakeholder impact. This is due to how brands can have a strong consumer connection and emotional appeal yet still not generate value for investors. â€Å"Marketing has overwhelmingly focused on the importance of developing an attractive consumer proposition† (Doyle, 2001). Doyle does however identify that financial orientation and profits depend crucially on the ability of the firm to satisfy its customers thereby shifting the focus to value-based activities of marketing. 4. Benefit of Marketing to Society After the assaults on the practice of marketing in corporations during the 1950s Philip Kotler in 1967 published â€Å"Broadening the Concept of Marketing† to refute accusation by critics like Packard and Galbraith. Kotler encourages readers that â€Å"marketing is a pervasive societal activity that goes considerably beyond selling of toothpaste, soap and steel†. This is because the true nature of marketing is a function the drives product improvement, pricing, distribution, and communication in order to serve and satisfy human needs (Kotler and Levy, 1967). The next section of this paper looks at the role of marketing in satisfying a higher social purpose. 4. 1 Product Improvement The notion of product improvement as a social factor in marketing was initially described in Wendell Smith’s 1956 article â€Å"Product Differentiation and Market Segmentation as Alternative Marketing Strategies† and more specifically the concept of product differentiation was based on Edward Chamberlin’s â€Å"Theory of Monopolistic Competition. † Smith’s view came from a marketer’s perspective, whereas Chamberlin’s view was purely economic in nature. Through the use of information on consumer needs and wants gathered through research and evaluation of the society, marketers develops products amp; services that satisfy societal needs. For example to satisfy the emerging need and demand for an eco-friendly automobile, Toyota developed the Toyota Prius. Using an electric motor and conventional engine together with smart recharging system equals reduction of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Product differentiation is not only equitable to the firm but provides a social benefit through continuous product improvement and innovation. In Castro and Desender’s study in 2010, they consider technological change and innovation through product differentiation to be at the very heart of the competitive process and the major driver of economic growth (Castro and Desender, 2010). They also refer to Porter’s remark about the central importance of â€Å"innovation as the origin of competitive advantages is particularly relevant in the case of dealing with a product innovation that generates a high improvement on the consumer surplus or the price people are willing to pay resulting in profitability. Milton Friedman once argued â€Å"there is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits† (Friedman, 1970). Sustainable profit margins play an important role in business but today we know more about how business contributes to society. â€Å"Good firms bring innovation to the marketplace, which facilitates their growth. Innovative, growing firms generate economic growth and employment, which, in turn, greatly improves people’s lives† (Ahlstrom, 2010). 4. 2 Pricing, Distribution and Communication In 1984 Theodore Levitt brought into the spotlight a relatively neglected debate. Levitt’s article â€Å"The Globalization of Market† advocated a standardized global marketing program versus a very narrow local adaptation. He contends that the â€Å"traditional strategy of tailoring its products to the needs of multiple markets may put it at a severe disadvantage vis-a-vis competitors who apply marketing imagination to the task of developing advanced, functional, reliable, standardized products, at the right price, on a global scale† (Levitt, 1984). Walmart in the USA, through supply chain optimization, is able to deliver products at best prices for the consumer, thereby meeting consumer expectations and providing product variety, and freedom of choice. Walmart considers customer preferences in making stocking decisions, maximizing efficiency and passing the savings back to the customers. Products that are manufactured all around the world and developed based on the prefaces of a wide range of cultures can be offered to distant customers as reasonable prices. Global convergence in consumers’ preference can be explain how â€Å"almost everyone everywhere wants all the things they have heard about, seen, or experienced via the new technologies of communication and distribution. There is a ubiquity of desire for the most advanced things that the world makes and sells-goods of the best quality and reliability at the lowest prices† (Levitt, 1984). 5. Conclusion Between 1980 and 2000 there was a paradigm shift that begins to unify the various divisions of marketing in major areas such as â€Å"customer and market orientation, services marketing, relationship marketing, quality management, value and supply chain management, resource management, and network analysis† (Vargo and Lusch, 2004). â€Å"A dominant logic began to emerge that largely views marketing as a continuous social and economic process in which operant resources are paramount† (Vargo and Lusch, 2004). This paramount shift in marketing was due to â€Å"service dominate logic† (S-D) which focuses on the building relationships that involves the customer developing customized, competitively compelling value propositions to meet specific needs through exchange of tangible (goods) and intangible (services) resources. Although S-D logic provides a framework for understanding how business and the process of value creation fosters sustainability and stakeholder thinking, it is focused only on economic value related to resources with little focus on societal and ethical consequences. Through research done by Bo Enquist and Samuel Sebhatu we see attempts of further unification of marketing concepts. The shift is now towards the inclusion of sustainable business practices with service dominate logic. Sustainability has five dimensions; ethical, social, â€Å"nature-philosophic†, economic, and legal (Enquist, 2005). â€Å"Sustainable Service Dominant Logic† was labeled to argue that value-based co-creation of the S-D logic framework can be used to create values-based services for sustainable business by examining the link between CSR and S-D logic based on values and service quality for sustainable business (Sebhatu, 2010). CSR is commonly defined as concepts and strategies involving the voluntary integration of social and environment dimensions into a firm’s business operations and stakeholder interactions. Enquist and Sebhatu used Ikea as a case study of how a firm can combine low prices, economics of scale, innovative thinking, service quality and CSR in order to develop a sustainable business model. IKEA is driven by social values, economic values, and communications (sharing). These functional qualities ensure that the design is attractive to customers and the environmental impact of packaging is minimal. The American Marketing Association has created a statement of ethics for promoting the highest standard of professional ethical norms that are expected and maintained by society and/or professional organizations (AMA, 2004). At the top of this listing of standards is that as â€Å"marketers, we must do no harm, this means consciously avoiding harmful actions or omissions by embodying ethical standards and adhering to all applicable laws and regulations in the choices we make. This shows that marketers are fully aware of the possible negative aspects of marketing but understand it is in their best interest to maintain ethical values and do no harm to society. Therefore through this critical analysis and review of the body of marketing knowledge it can be concluded that it is not the intent of marketing to do harm to society but to sustain relationships with stakeholders and possibly improve people’s lives. 6. Bibliography

Types of Soil free essay sample

This is how one sixth-grader describes the way of playing video games. Such video games can seem like harmless fun, but what if the violence gets personal and addicts young teenagers, affecting their behavior and their view of reality? Some studies have shown that violent game players just do not leave it there on their game screens; they transfer the violent acts they get attached to, to the real world. Violent games have been shown to increase game player’s quest to experiment how all that stuff will look like in the real world. There is no doubt that violent video games have no effect on certain people, but for the most and especially in teenagers, the effects are negative and have led to fatalities and destruction of properties in certain instances. Although some parents claim that violence video games have bad effects on teenagers because they’re behavior changes, teenagers play too much violent games because they are very addicting. We will write a custom essay sample on Types of Soil or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Some parents say that violent video games have bad effects on young teenagers. But most video- game players have normal lives. Most important, just because a player does not instantly take or follow violence found in video games does not mean the games will not have negative result on that player’s views and behavior. The violent games will have negative effects on teenagers. Young teenager’s behavior will have a big change. Because of this case, parents should be responsible for buying video games and should forbid young teenagers from buying those games that are violent. If parents do not take the responsibility than teenagers do not know what they are doing and what is good for them. Before teenagers take a big wrong step, parents should be there to take care of the situation. I have a little nephew in seventh grade and he loves violence video games. He loves playing call of duty. My aunt always gives him the money to buy any game that he likes. He loves the smell of money. She never checks to see what game he might have bought. Because of her not being responsible, my little cousin always gets into school fights with other children. So every parent must be responsible for their own child. Some parents say that violent video games have bad effects on young teenagers because a number of people claim that playing a violent video game does present a bad threat to user’s health. For an example, I have a younger brother who is seventeen years old. He loves playing violent video games. Every day, when he is home from school with his spiky brown hair, he starts playing the WrestleMania game. He does not eat anything and he talks to himself while playing the game. He does not realize that his behavior is changing by playing violent video games. One time, he tried to kick me in my stomach but a police man saw him and told him to stop. My parents made him quit playing violent video-games. Ever since he stopped playing violent video games his behavior has changed a lot. He now realizes he was out of control and it is all because of the violent video games. He sold his Xbox to one of his close friends. I am glad my parents took good care of it because it is their responsibility to look after their son. Some parents say that violent video games have bad effects on young teenagers because; there was a shooting in Colorado movie theatre. Twelve people were killed and fifty eight were injured by a graduate student. The guy who killed all these people was a very educated man. But he lost his sense of humor. He was out of control. People thought that the shooting was a part of the movie also. He was dressed up as the joker from the movie batman. Later the doctors found out he had some type of brain damage watching too much violent movies and playing games. So, he was not okay in his head. His behavior made so many people lose their lives. So many people lost their loved ones that day. And again violent community and games can damage people’s brains. Some parents say that violent video games have good effects on young teenagers because violent games can be new information to some teenagers, because it is something new and different from their daily lifestyle. They think violent games can help their child with memorization because it provides pretty text to look at. The video games have nice graphics for teenagers. It helps a teenager look at new information and advances them. Some parents think that teenagers learn better by looking at graphics and text that are provided by violent games. Parents think new and different inspires teenagers and games inspire them in a good way. But mostly business owner parents are saying this. But at the end of the day, it is every parent’s job to be responsible for their own child. Parents should pay more attention to their children while children are playing violent video games.

Las Tejanas 300 Years of History essays

Las Tejanas 300 Years of History essays Las Tejanas: 300 Years of History is the story of, in the words of its introduction, women of Spanish-Mexican origin in Texas (xv). Well researched and written by Teresa Palomo Acosta and Ruthe Winegarten, the non-fiction work attempts to fill in the gaps in the literature on Tejanas while capitalizing on recent primary source discoveries. The work offers a comprehensive look on women of Spanish-Mexican origin in all aspects of life from their origins as Natives to recent political advancements of Tejanas in the United States. A fine accomplishment, there is great evidence and detail and no area regarding these women is excluded from the work. While there is little theme to Las Tejanas, as sections are often unrelated, short, and disjointed, the general idea is the advancement of the women of Spanish-Mexican origin from their earliest days to their liberated accomplishments of the present. The authors accomplish this theme offering little analysis or bias and offer little of the ir own commentary in the work. Thus Las Tejanas reads almost as a fact sheet or a non-opinionated textbook, but the excellent level of detail and the scope of coverage make it an admirable work on the subject of Tejanas. It is difficult to summarize a work as broad in scope as Las Tejanas because the work covers nearly every conceivable aspect of these women of Spanish-Mexican origin. It, however, begins with an important introduction that defines the term and the importance of this study. This is critical that in reading this work, one understands the definition of who is being discussed as well as why it is important and where this work stands in relation to other literature on the subject. The authors use the term Tejana to define the woman who is the study of their subject, but there also are some related terms (xvi). In general, it is very clear who the subject is at this is important as is the aim of the boo...

Write about a time when you failed and what did you learn from it Essay

Write about a time when you failed and what did you learn from it - Essay Example The fact that I was going to join a private school in Nashville only made the whole experience more difficult. My parents felt that joining Ensworth would provide me with better education and a safer learning environment. In addition, they felt that the school environment would give me with the opportunity to develop enriching relationships. I wish they were right, but they were not. It subsequently took a whole year for my parents and me to agree that the school was not the ideal environment for me. I spent my entire freshman year at Ensworth trying to fit in the social circles. I discovered that I was working too hard to fit in. This was made difficult by the fact that I did not agree with conforming to different values from those I believed in, just to fit in. I did not know who to trust or relate to. I slowly realized that the students there had developed their friendships over the years, some since kindergarten. This made me an outsider, and on their part, they had difficulty letting in a new person into their groupings. It was then that I started to talk to my parents to transfer me to a public school. My parents were extremely reluctant to entertain this idea. This made me feel like a failure. I was disappointed in myself and I felt trapped. Over a period of time, my parents came to appreciate my predicament. It took long and painful discussions, some fighting, and frantic begging on my part. Eventually, they let me switch schools to Hillsboro High School. Hillsboro High School is a large, independent public school with a very diverse student population. After moving from Ensworth, I no longer had the gourmet lunches. There were no large spacious classrooms and state of the art fitness centers. However, I felt truly happy at Hillsboro. The refreshing burst of diversity and realness became two key principles in finding many friends and ultimately, my self. I quickly loved the feeling of not being judged or criticized for my thoughts and

Inception of Activity Based Costing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Inception of Activity Based Costing - Essay Example Activity-based costing enables reasonably accurate allocation of overheads. The activities in an organization are spread across the organizational processes and value chain. The traditional methods of costing faced severe criticism due to inaccuracies. While it is easy to apportion direct costs to individual products in a company with a wide product mix, it is difficult to apportion indirect costs to the products. Therefore traditional methods sought estimates to assign overhead costs. In the earlier paradigm, Labor costs constituted a substantial part of the total cost of manufacture. Therefore direct labour costs were used to assign the overhead costs to various jobs relating to the manufacture of products. But today there has been a paradigm shift with technology pervading the value chain replacing a large chunk of Labor by automated processes. The proportion of materials cost in many industries has augmented with the dwindling of labour costs. Similarly increasing automation and shrinking life span of machines have led to the increase in capital costs. T here has also been a concomitant increase in overhead costs pertaining to information technology and depreciation of expensive plant and machinery, maintenance and utilities in most industries. In the new paradigm, the companies found direct labour as the basis for apportionment of overheads inaccurate to capture the costs for the products. The companies, therefore, used machine hours instead of direct Labor for apportioning the overhead costs. With the growing complexity of manufacturing processes, neither direct Labor nor machine hour would suffice as bases for allocation of overhead costs to processes of products. Therefore the new circumstances demanded multiple bases for allocation of overhead costs. These factors paved the way for the evolution of activity-based costing, which uses multiple bases for overhead allocation.  Ã‚  

Issues for Women in Law Enforcement

Issues for Women in Law Enforcement Women were not considered for law enforcement employment unless it was in a typical job in the profession such as, special units, desk and office jobs and received lower pay. While women were often thought of as being weaker in this profession, they fought to be recognized by constantly trying to prove themselves to be better in a male dominated arena. Women have had their struggles as officers in the police system, they have made advances that wouldnt have been heard of in the early 1900s Overall, women have made great strides in non-traditional careers since the 1950s. With changes in society, cultures and legal mandates have cleared the way for women to become members of law enforcement as well as other male dominated jobs in America and other areas in the world. Compared to the last ten years, law enforcement has changed to meet the demands of a continuing diverse society. We have better trained, educated, and a more diverse law enforcement to help better deal with the issues in our communities. Women were not readily welcomed to this male dominated arena. The role woman played to make this happen has been challenging. Historically, women have always been part of the general workforce in American society, although usually in jobs that fulfilled traditional female employment roles, such as such as nurses, secretaries, schoolteachers, waitresses and flight attendants. Shusta,et al. (2005). In 1845, the first women to be hired by the New York City Police Department were called matrons. In 1888 Massachusetts and New York passed legislation require communities with a population over 20,000 to hire police matrons to care for female prisoners. The early history of women police consisted largely of social service, in which women had to meet higher standards for police employment; Women police officers were given duties that did not allow or require them to work street patrol. Assignments and roles were limited to positions such as juvenile delinquency and truancy prevention, child abuse, crimes against women, and custodial functions. Probably one of the most damaging acts to police officers was their denial to perform basic patrol duties. One of the main reasons for this was male officers also tend to be protective toward women. Being socially conditioned to protect women, they would insist that female officers remain in the police car during traffic stops or arrest. When women were finally given the right, as a Federal law mandating equal opportunity regardless of gender or race, to perform general police work and serve on patrol, they demonstrated their fitness for police work. In many smaller departments, women still hold less than ten percent of law enforcement positions. The National Center for Women and Policing reports that nearly 90 percent of all law enforcement agencies require a physical agility test for job applicants. Women face challenges when hiring practices include physical benchmarks based on male aptitude tests which require more upper body strength than women have, is a practice that has seen some changes in recent years. The survey reveals that departments that do not use the test have 45 percent more women on the force than those with the agility exams. Research has shown that women have encountered difficulties due to negative attitudes of men about being police officers. Most women indicated that when they were exposed to offensive behavior by male officers, they remained quiet for fear of negative male backlash. Sexual harassment is prevalent in most law enforcement agencies. Harassment on the basis of sex is a violation of Section 703 of Civil Rights  Act and is defined as unwelcome or unsolicited sexual advances, request for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Studies have found that 60 to 70 percent of women officers experienced sexual/gender harassment. Even though harassment exists, only 4 to 6 percent of these women ever reported the harassment. This lack of reporting can be directly attributed to the code of silence in law enforcement agencies and severe retaliation that occurs when women report misconduct. Bureau of Justice Assistance (2001). In a 1995 survey, of female officers in a medium sized department, 68 percent responded yes to the question, Have you ever been sexually harassed while on duty by a member of your agency Shusta,et al. (2005). Most of the women revealed that sexual harassment occurs at all levels of an organization and is not limited to male harassment of women. Women, too, can be offenders when they initiate sexual jokes or innuendoes and use of provocative language with men. This kind of behavior usually results in men countering in a similar fashion, which can contribute to and escalate the problem even more. Shusta,et al. (2005). Becoming a police officer might bring about a more radical change to a womans life than male officers. Even today police work is a predominantly male occupation and there persists the notion that assertiveness, aggressiveness, physical capability, and emotional toughness are male characteristics necessary to perform the job, but when female officers display these qualities they are often perceived as cold, emotionless, and uncaring. Lyman, M. D. (2005). According to male police officers, catching criminals is associated with bravery and danger, making it a mans job. It is believed by male officers that female officers cannot protect their male counterparts in confrontations where strength is required. Women who are accepted into the brotherhood of police or correctional officers have generally had to become one of the guys Shusta,et al. (2005). It is believed that if a woman has a hard walk, tends to be too hard, or too unemotional she may become criticized by her co-workers and supervisors. If she is too feminine or not sufficiently aggressive, men will not take her seriously and she will not do well in either police or correctional work. When women are confronted with a dilemma: they must be aggressive enough to do the job but feminine enough to be acceptable to male peers, and the must also be able to take different approaches to problems. Shusta,et al. (2005). In the corrections arena, male officers argued that women could not handle the violence and confrontations with inmates that occur in prisons. In a recent study it was found that women officers tended to respond to violent situations as aggressively as their male co-workers, and sometimes more aggressively. Women officers also seemed to have less trouble with the inmates than did their male counterparts; although they were harassed when they first appeared on the job. Clear and Cole (2003). Male inmates in minimum custody had surprisingly low opinions of women performing as correction officers, however, maximum custody inmates had high opinions of their competency and felt that such officers would be calm and cool in  problem situations. Female officers were thought to exert a softening influence on the environment making it more livable and less violent. Clear and Cole (2003). The status of women in correctional law enforcement with comparisons between the percentages of women sworn in as state, county and municipal officers indicate a huge difference. (http://www.womenandpolicing.org/PDF/2002_Status_Report.pdf 2010) Although there has been advantages and a broad leap for women in the law enforcement arena there has also been setbacks. Gender discrimination and double standards have always had women thinking that they had to perform and do better than male officers. They are often placed in jobs that are traditionally held by women police officers, such as domestic violence, child abuse, juveniles, and school programs. They are not usually considered for the more traditionally male jobs such as SWAT teams, gang units, narcotics, and homicide. Women usually face the difficult task of having the dual role of parent and career. Issues with child care, maternity leave, family responsibilities, flexible work schedules, job sharing, and mentoring and support groups. This can be especially hard for a single parent. If women had children when they entered law enforcement frequently find that they have a hard time balancing their commitments to family and work causing a significantly higher divorce rate than do male officers and have a lower group than the national female rate. Shusta,et al. (2005). More modernized police organizations try to show support by changing work schedules, being placed on light duty, Disability insurance and paid leave benefits. The proportion of women among sworn police personnel has steadily grown since the early 70s. In 1972 a survey of cities serving populations of 250,000 or more revealed that women comprised of only 2 percent of uniformed law enforcement personnel. In 1978, women made up 4.2 percent of sworn personnel in municipal departments serving populations over 50,000. By the end of 1986, the proportion of women had risen to 8.8 percent of all sworn officers in these agencies and by 1991, 9 percent of police were women. While women may face many difficulties, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and overall discrimination in the law enforcement field, the lack of women role models is a barrier for many women who are interested in policing as a career. It is essential that departments there are the few that is paving the way for women. In 2003, Annetta W. Nunn took the became Chief of Police in Birmingham Alabama, she sat in a chair once occupied by Eugene Bull Connor, who was an segregationist and a national symbol of the Souths flight against integration who jailed thousands of civil rights demonstrators during the 1960s when Chief Nunn was four years old in 1963. Schmalleger (2005). During her tenure, Chief Nunn was a 23 year veteran of the department heading a force of 838 men and women. In February 2005, Massachusetts had a celebration to its three top women in law enforcement. Boston police commissioner Kathleen OToole leads the nations oldest department. Suffolk county sheriff Andrea Cabral is in charge of 2,500 inmates and Massachusetts corrections commissioner Kathleen Dennehy oversees 18 prisons across the state. Each is the first woman to hold her position. Thompson (2006). In 2006, Cathy Lanier was appointed as the first ever female chief of Police Washington, D.C., by Mayor Adrian Fenty. She officially assumed the position on January 2, 2007. Chief Lanier has been with the Metropolitan Police Department beginning in 1990 with most of her career as a uniformed patrol officer, where she served as the Commander of the Fourth District, one of the largest and most diverse residential patrol districts in the city. She also served as the Commanding Officer of the Departments Major Narcotics Branch and Vehicular Homicide Units. Chief Laniers story is a testimony to overcoming strife and the hardships that life can bring. At the age of 15, she was an expectant mother, and dropped out of high school, but through determination and the willingness to succeed; she continued to pursue her education, despite having family support, she achieved and reached her goal to achieve academic and professional goals in a short matter of time. Premdas, P. (n.d.). Joanne Takasato was Honolulu Hawaiis first undercover female narcotics police officer during the 1980s who broke barriers had almost single handedly taken most of the Hawaiian island of Oahus drug dealers off the streets of Hawaii. Her 394 page book tells the story about how she was forced to sever all ties with family, and friends to create a new identity and lifestyle that would get her accepted into the drug community but to also remain undetected as an undercover officer and had almost lost everything she had known to include her family as well as her sanity in the process. This is some of the examples of some of the police women who have paved the way and proved themselves as mentors for women who would want to pursue criminal justice as a profession. It is essential that departments that want to attract women candidates have women working in a variety of different positions to highlight the many opportunities that a department has to offer and the equity in the promotional process and assignment to special units. Female officers working as detectives, tactical team officers, street supervisors and high ranking administrators need to exist on a department to maintain some sort of written policy on and procedure on recruitment. Law enforcement today is facing a crisis a loss of public confidence and trust in the wake of police scandals that are unparalleled in recent history. Highly publicized incidents of excessive force and police corruption have generated shocking headlines Los Angeles, New York, Texas, Louisiana, New Jersey, Washington, Seattle, and Chicago. Police brutality and corruption lawsuits are costing taxpayers millions of dollars each year and the number and costs are only increasing. With the payouts increasing, taxpayers will demand that officers and their organizations be held accountable for their actions. Lonsway et al. (2003) Research conducted both in the United States and internationally clearly demonstrates that women rely on a style of policing that uses less physical force are better at defusing and de escalating potentially violent confrontations with citizens and are less likely to become involved in situations with use of excessive force. Lonsway et al. (2003) As an additional benefit, female officers often respond more effectively to  incidents of violence against women, a crime that represents approximately half of all violent crimes calls to police. Lonsway et al. (2003) The National Center for Women Policing states that there are six advantages for law enforcement agencies that hire and retain more women: 1. Female officers are proven to be as competent as their male counterparts In one study, female police executives were found to be more flexible, emotionally independent, self-assertive, self confident, proactive, and creative than their male counterpart. 2. Female officers were less likely to use excessive force; One study found that male officers were the target of 50% more insults by citizens and almost three times as many threats or attempts at injury in comparison with their female peers. 3. More female officers will improve law enforcements response to violence against women. A 1985 study found that female officers demonstrated more concern, patience and understanding than their male colleagues when responding to calls of domestic violence. Battered women who had contact with a female officer rated the police response as more helpful than those without such contact. They also rated the performance of female officers more favorably. 4. Increasing the presence of female officers reduces problems of sex discrimination and harassment within a law enforcement agency. One of the most prominent impacts is in promotional opportunities. Male and female officers report the same desire for promotion, yet these opportunities are even seen as less available to women in comparison with their male counterparts. This is likely to be part of the explanation for the higher turnover rate that is consistently seen among female officers, at the academy and on the job. 5. The presence of women can bring about beneficial changes in policy for all officers. The Police Foundation noted in 1974 that the introduction of women will create in incentive to management practices which are less acceptable now that they must be applied to men and women alike. This may result in the development of improved selection criteria, performance standards, and supervision for all officers. 6. Female officers implement community-oriented policing One study found that instructors indicated that female officers have an advantage over their male peers in several areas, including empathy toward others and interacting in a way that is not designed to prove something. Lonsway et al. (2003) In conclusion, throughout history women have made a way for themselves by showing that they can compete with men if they when given the opportunity. As police officers, they have come from being matrons and doing police work that was considered only for women, to being accepted as officers on the force, to becoming Chiefs of Police. Although there are not as many in the force as there should be, police women and chiefs are they are constantly paving the way for the respect and acceptance that is rightfully deserved. Police women should not have to prove themselves to their male counterparts to become a member of a team. Many women have proven to their male counterparts that they can do police work just well as a male, if not better. Police women are needed to close the gender gap and bring a different perspective to policing to make any police force not just unique, but equal.