Wall Street Women Essay Example for Free

Wall Street Women Essay The book Wall Street Women is book talking about the first generation women who have been able to establish themselves as professional in Wall Street. It goes back to the 1960’s when women began their careers and were faced by blatant discrimination and challenges in their advancement, they created and formed formal and informal associations with an aim of bolstering each other’s careers. This historical ethnography by Melissa S. Fisher borrows from fieldwork, archival research and extensive interviews with successful women of the first generation in Wall Street. She goes on to describe their professional and political associations most common being the Women’s Campaign Fund and the Financial Women’s Association of New York which were groups formed to promote the election of pro-choice women. Melissa S. Fisher charts the evolution of women’s careers and how they have grown both politically and economically. She looks at the changes in their perspectives and the cultural climate in Wall Street as well as the 2008 financial collapse. In Wall Street most of the pioneering subjects never participated in the women’s movement that had been happening in the 1960’s and 1970’s. She argues that these women did produce a â€Å"market feminism† which was in line with the liberal feminist ideas on meritocracy and gender equity with the logic of the market. This is a book that has been well researched and thoroughly documented and it’s a portrait of pioneer women by providing context for understanding the emergent discourse of feminizing markets. Fisher saw an opportunity to carve out a niche within the academic literature to examine career movements and the underlying motivation for women in Wall Street. She began by interviewing a group of 20 women who were in senior level management in 1993. She went on to keep in touch with them to throughout the financial crisis and kept track of their careers and identified their frustrations and challenges as well as ultimately locating their trajectories within a cultural framework. The results of this research ended up in a book Wall Street Women. Discussion Wall Street Women looks into what it’s really like to make a career in the boardrooms of the incorrigible boys club of high finance. Fisher is a scholar at New York University in the department of Social and Cultural Analysis and traces fifty years of the personal and professional lives of the first generation women who make it as executives on Wall Street. The females in this book served in the top most units of major investment banks and brokerage firms as well as ran their own boutique management firms. She did a decade worth of research with interviews conducted in offices in London and New York. All this female professionals were picked from fundraisers and networks during events at the Upper East Side manses and they were followed up even after the financial crisis. She displays how women who made it on Wall Street deftly deployed their supposedly innate risk-averse qualities to be able to stay at the top of their game. This means that women had to deploy their female innate qualities to be able to stay afloat for a long term. Since the 1990’s female executives have cast and portrayed themselves as prudent â€Å"mothers making family purchases† this is directly opposite to the hot-blooded male investors on Wall Street. These same traits that made these women would be â€Å"saviors of the economy†. According to Fisher this is a function strategy and not part of a biological function. Some people believe that women are more conservative and risk-averse than their male counterparts. Some also believe that if women had filled more top leadership roles the financial crisis and recession would not have come out that way. They believe that things would have unfolded differently. According to Wall Street Women it shows like women have different intrinsic qualities and are capable of handling issues different. According to Fisher this is not purely biological rather its psychological asp ect. Its more on the socialization nature of women rather, women are brought up to inhabit and possess some of this characters and qualities. There could be a connection between being a woman and being risk-averse. The bottom line however is that it never about the women; it’s always about the powers that are in play. Systems of power play a big role in influencing socialization and how people run things. People need to realize that some of these ideas are culturally constructed and can be changed if people became more culturally conscious on issues being raised. Wall Street Women does not reveal the names of the women or the names of their firms. However, the book does give us the pleasure of hearing conversations that take place behind closed doors in corporate boardrooms and offices. These women in Wall Street dish and talk about the guys in their offices and companies they really dish. The women in book share their fears on what men think of them and they are unnervingly nervous. One of the female executives is worried about the lay-off post crash due to the recession and is worried that she is becoming a â€Å"a bag lady†. This is a really odd concern by a multimillionaire. In the same scenario we get a younger employee who wants to take a maternity leave being told by her female boss â€Å"As far as I’m concerned, you have screwed up your job†. There is an aspect of homo sociality in the book, where employers in most sectors tend to hire other who act and look like them. This only means one thing that even at that time fewer women got hired in Wall Street. This scenario has led to fewer women being promoted and moving up the ladder. One wonders if recognizing this as a phenomenon in the business world is going to help change things and if it’s an innate practice how can society help change it. Fisher shows us that is really hard to completely take over power over culture. Some of these practices are ingrained in peoples mind and they believe in them. These are broader economic systems and it will require a large number of women in the sector to be able to pressure them to a point of rupture. To change some ideologies and stereotypes against women there is need for more women to rise and become professionals so that they can become part of the change mechanism. By rising and proving to the world that its possible for some belief systems to be brought down women will be able to influence some of the issues that are facing them. The groups of female executives in Wall Street Women are an example of what women can become when they believe in themselves and when they raise to the occasion and work towards empowering themselves. Women need to be their own champions when it comes to matters changing how society views them. Having a few women at the top and running things does not change things. As seen in Wall Street Women things in the business world on matters involving women did not change much even when this few women worked their way to the top and ran successful businesses. Today the world hasn’t accepted the fact that women can take control of things and handle bu siness well even when a few have risen to the occasion and done so. Some of the policies in the workplace do not accommodate women. However, there some policies being implemented for the good of women but when it comes to real practice the story is not the same. One example is with flexible time, men are not the ones who are supposed to take flex time. Even with some of these policies in place culture and cultural beliefs still come into play. Sometimes and actual shift may not take place because there is a stronger cultural hold that is informal and is prevailing over formal rule. Most of the women in the book Wall Street Women started their business careers back in the early 1970’s and were beneficiaries of the post war affluence that democratized and reigned college enrollment. They were also boosted by the civil rights-era laws that banned hiring discrimination laws that mostly locked women out of the corporate and business world. Wall Street was becoming more diverse. Wall Street had become more meritocratic as well as relatively diverse with a great number of middle-class strivers without the luster of a distinguished family pedigree and joined investment banks and brokerage firms. These women did not have MBA’s and insider connections, a common path that cut through the banking industry research divisions as well as back office support when they joined Wall Street. The brokers had all the unrepentant brashness and frat boy chumminess but they still went on and depended on number crunchers. When the deal making became more complex and harder the need for more research grew and became more important. Fisher says, â€Å"Joined investment bankers and traders in the ‘front office’†. These women had to go down on the ground to do the research on investment and study markets for themselves. They never allowed whatever they lacked disrupt them or make them miss in their goal to success. For this women change came slowly, with time they learnt the ropes and got to know how to overcome challenges. Wall Street was not smooth sailing they had to stand and learn the trick behind all those deals and business transactions. Back in the 1970’s there were less than 100 professional women working on Wall Street. They had to negotiate work attire when there were no models that they could draw from and they had constant headaches for those who didn’t want to look like secretaries. Some of the female investors even donned suits and ties just like their men colleagues in the business. â€Å"I feel like I am Jane Goodall†, was marveled by one woman recalling the dynamics of a male-run board meeting. The first professional group of women in Wall Street was the Financial Women’s Association was formed in 1956. By all accounts the women group was very conservative and in 1978 they voted against advocating the Equal Rights Amendment. They worked to advance themselves on Wall Street as they felt they couldn’t be overtly political. They became more relaxed in their fight for equality in the work place as well as the business world. The Financial Women Association and an offshoot the Women’s Campaign Fund played a central and important role in another movement that funded an early generation of women politicians. By the 1990’s the group of female investors that Fisher was studying presented the first organized group of rich women who weren’t heiresses and widows. They had made their way to the top and on the way had made a lot of money to help the stay there. These women would go on to bankroll a new wave of pro-choice female candidates. They started influencing other sectors apart from the business world in Wall Street. In this part Fisher goes on to explain a little known bit of history. These women furthered the careers of women like the former Texas Governor Ann Richards as well as Senators Olympia Snowe a Republican from Maine and Barbara Boxer a Democrat from California. Back then there was an advocacy for corporate diversity and affirmative action ideas that did not seem to sit well with the women in Wall Street in Fishers book. Congress had mandated a twelve week of unpaid maternity leave in the year 1993. One wonders now that they were the bosses in these companies, how generous should they be to younger women? â€Å"We expected so little in the way of a combination of work and family,† one of the women said. â€Å" I was shocked at the entitlement of the younger women†. By the time the bottom went down out of the market most of the female investors in Fishers book were coming into retirement. The financial recession did not only raise discomforting questions and it saw women both old and young get purged into Wall Street ranks. Currently the financial sector has the biggest gender gap wage compared to other profession. The statistics stand at 55 ¢ to 62 ¢ for every $1 made by men, compared to 77 ¢ on average. On their own many of the women regretted their laser like focus when it came to individual advancement and they sought to stay clear of what had happened. One of the female investors laments â€Å"Wall Street as a casino is not the Wall Street we all entered†. Conclusion The book shows the extent to which women think they are feminist. While there is a group of women out there who are marching in the streets championing for the rights of women, there others who have entered the Wall Street and been there for some decades and are working on enacting the feminism. Most of the women who were interviewed by Melissa Fisher for her book Wall Street Women show us a group of women who take the advocacy into a higher level and moved in to change things. Women not only need to advocate for their rights and what they belief but they also need to empower themselves, believe in themselves and work towards setting the pace. Wall Street Women is a representation of what women can do when they believe in themselves. The women in this book came from different background and possessed diverse capabilities but their belief in success allowed them to enter what was believed to be a â€Å"male world† and take over by storm. Although they never got the chance to run and change things as they wished and believed, they got a chance to stand and represent women and show that it can be done. The women never had the pedigree qualities that some heiresses and widows of wealthy men in the business world but they have been able to take over and forge the way to their success as well as encourage others. If women can be able to support and empower each other as seen in the way this female executives supported the pro-life politicians there is a possibility that women will be able to bring the change they believe in. these women faced blatant discrimination and barriers to advancement, they created formal and informal associations to push and support each other’s careers. Work Cited Fisher, S. M. Wall Street Women. Duke University Press. 2012. Print. Wall Street Women. Retrieved from: http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Street-Women-Melissa-Fisher/dp/0822353458. Fisher, M. Wall Street Women. Retrieved from: http://www.dukeupress.edu/Assets/PubMaterials/978-0-8223-5345-4_601.pdf. Analysis of Wall Street Women. Retrieved from: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-07-26/book-review-wall-street-women-by-melissa-s-dot-fisher. Melissa Fisher: Wall Street Woman. Retrieved from: http://www.nyu.edu/global/global-academic-centers/washington-dc/nyu-washingtondc-events/melissa-s-fisher-wall-street-women.html

Comedy Newspaper Aricle about Smoking -- Spoof Joke Anti Smoking

A Smoking Spoof The Daily Smoker Funded by the Institute for Smoking and Hacking and by the makers of FLEM: "Stay happy while we get rid of the nasty." The Smoker's Perspective Nicotine: The Supreme Drug for Supreme Health Staff Writer: Jo "The Butthead" Khamel For many years, anti-smoking groups, such as the American Cancer Association, and government agencies, like the Food and Drug Administration, have confused and mislead the public by incorrectly concluding that smoking is bad and unhealthy. Nonsense! In fact, there are several articles that would support nicotine as a drug that promotes perfect health. For instance, and article by Doug Levy of the USA Today discusses nicotine's power of promoting alertness. Nicotine speeds up the communication between brain cells and stimulates areas of the brain tied to alertness and memory. Mr. Levy also writes about nicotine's relationship toward Parkinson's disease. Levy also writes that cigarette smoking can lower the risk of Parkinson's disease. Researchers claim that something in smoke lowers the levels of an enzyme known as MAO B. Smokers have about 40% less MAO B than nonsmokers or ex-smokers, according to Joanna Fowler of the Brookhaven National Lab in Upton, NY. Because reduced levels of MAO B result in greater amounts of dopamine, smokers may have a lower risk of Parkinson's, a nerve disease aggravated by dopamine shortages. In another article by the Associated Press in the USA Today, researchers suggested that cigarette smoking sharpens short-term learning and memory among young people. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, tested young smokers and nonsmokers at a word game that required rapid memory and quick recall. The 12 electrodes attac... ...JR Renolds, Inc., and The Council for Smoking and Hacking Research. References Begley, S. "Memories Are Made of...." Newsweek. November 4, 2007. 68. Associated Press. "Research suggests smoking sharpens thinking." USA Today. November 19, 2007. Levy, D. "Nicotine's power on brain tied to smoker's alertness." USA Today, August 8, 2007. ......"Smoking, lower Parkinson's risk linked." USA Today. August 8, 2007. Disclaimer: The odd names (FLEM, Flip Moris, JR Renolds, Institute for Smoking and Hacking) are not real in any form. For certain purposes, those odd names are meant to be comical and should not be affiliated with actual tobacco institutions and companies. However, the cited references in the essay are reported facts found in newspapers and magazine articles. Jo "The Butthead" Khamel is not a real person. If it is, then the use was unintentional.

The Crucible Diary

I cannot believe that John Proctor! Why has he chosen his sniveling wife over me? I am more of a woman than Goody Proctor. Goody Proctor does possess of the qualities needed of a good wife. She is naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve, simple, and talented. However, I possess the qualities of a lover. I am intelligent, able, and adventurous. To be blatantly honest, I think any man would be lucky to call me his wife. Diary, why am I good enough for any man, but I am not good enough for the man I desire? I know why. It is because I want a married man. Diary, do you agree that John should leave Goody Proctor and marry me? Do you think I am better than she is? I believe I would be a much better wife. Think about it, if Goody Proctor were good to John would he have come to me? I do not believe so. To me, it is the duty of a wife to keep her husband satisfied and in line. However, if John had not strayed from his wife, John would have never sought me. If John had never sought me, I would have never felt love. John may have sought me, but he is still married to Goody Proctor. She is keeping me from my John. Because of that, I loathe her. There is not a single thing in the world that she can do that I cannot. She can cook, clean, and pray. I can do all that, and even more! I am willing to do anything to be with my John. All I want is to be with him. Diary, do you have any ideas to cause the end of the Proctor marriage? I believe I do. I will receive vengeance on Goody Proctor. I will claim that Goody Proctor is a witch! It is a brilliant idea. When Salem village hears of this, the village people will believe it and order her hanging. It is genius! I would be overcome with joy to see the body of Goody Proctor hanging. At last, I would be with my beloved John! Oh Diary, I know it is a terrible to wish death upon someone, but in this case, Goody Proctor's death is necessary in order for John and me to be together. Diary, I need to be with John. He loves me and I love him. I know we are destined to be with one another. Diary, I thank you for listening to me. You have always been a faithful friend. Besides John, no one seems to want to listen to me, Oh, how I miss my John! Oh no, I fear Uncle has arrived home. I must go. He will be expecting me. I promise I will write again soon. Love, Abbey

Manejar en EEUU auto con placas de México

Es obvio que en la zona fronteriza los turistas mexicanos pueden ingresar a Estados Unidos manejando sus autos con placas mexicanas. Ademà ¡s,  nada impide que el viaje se extienda mucho mà ¡s allà ¡ de la frontera y alcance cualquiera de los 48 estados continentales contiguos del paà ­s. Es decir, se excluye Alaska y Hawaii. Para manejar sin problemas en Estados Unidos con un auto con placas de Mà ©xico este artà ­culo explica cuà ¡les son los requisitos que se deben cumplir, con informacià ³n detallada sobre el seguro del auto. Ademà ¡s, se  detalla quà © acciones se deben evitar y, finalmente, informacià ³n general pero relevante sobre cruce de frontera y procedimientos migratorios y de aduanas que deben ser tenidos en cuenta. Requerimientos para manejar un auto con placas mexicanas en EE.UU. Todos los dà ­as miles de autos mexicanos cruzan la frontera por los puentes internacionales. Generalmente, limitan sus viajes a unas pocas millas dentro del territorio estadounidense y se regresan inmediatamente pero nada impide estancias mà ¡s largas y alejadas de la zona fronteriza. Para no tener problemas, hay que tener en cuenta los siguientes puntos: En primer lugar, el chà ³fer mexicano debe tener una licencia de manejar de su paà ­s và ¡lida. Ademà ¡s, si va a adentrarse a estados no fronterizos serà ­a conveniente que antes de salir de Mà ©xico adquiriese una licencia internacional de manejar, que es una traduccià ³n a varios idiomas, incluido el inglà ©s, de su licencia. En segundo lugar, el automà ³vil debe tener placas y registracià ³n và ¡lidas.   En tercer lugar, tener en cuenta que en las aduanas y fronteras de los Estados Unidos, los  autos viejos  pueden ser rechazados para ingresar  por incumplir con los requerimientos medioambientales. Por lo tanto, verificar que se està ¡ al dà ­a en el cumplimiento de estos requisitos, principalmente cuando se trata de un auto viejo. En cuarto lugar, un auto mexicano puede estar en manos de un turista hasta un mà ¡ximo de un aà ±o. Pero,  si se va a estar mà ¡s de 30 dà ­as en el mismo estado, comprobar con el Department of Motor Vehicles del estado en el que se encuentre sobre si hay algà ºn requerimiento adicional que cumplir. Destacar que aunque el auto puede estar legalmente en EE.UU., en teorà ­a, hasta un aà ±o, eso no quiere decir que el turista que lo maneja o todos los que viajan en su interior puedan estar legalmente en Estados Unidos por todo ese tiempo. Hay que mirar las condiciones de la visa americana con la que se ingresa al paà ­s. Si se tiene una là ¡ser, el tiempo que se puede permanecer en Estados Unidos y los lugares a los que se puede viajar son mà ¡s restringidos que si se ingresa con una visa de turista. Si se tiene una de estas visas, verificar en el I-94 cuà ¡nto tiempo es posible permanecer legalmente en EE.UU. Generalmente la estancia se permite por 180 dà ­as, pero puede ser por menos tiempo. Ademà ¡s, si se quiere prolongar la estancia es posible solicitar una extensià ³n de la visa de turista. Seguro de auto mexicano en carreteras de EE.UU. Quizà ¡ el requisito fundamental es contar con una pà ³liza de seguro de auto que dà © cobertura, como mà ­nimo, para lesiones de ocupantes y daà ±os a terceros en sus personas y/o bienes. Y hay que obtener una certificacià ³n de esa pà ³liza en inglà ©s. En muchas ocasiones, este seguro mexicano no cubre eventualidades que puedan ocurrir manejando el auto en Estados Unidos. En este caso, hay que contratar uno que sà ­ brinde esta cobertura. Ademà ¡s, es importante incluir en esa pà ³liza a todos los posible conductores que vayan a manejar el auto en Estados Unidos, si es que va a hacerlo mà ¡s de un ocupante del automà ³vil. Estos seguros se pueden contratar por un sà ³lo dà ­a, por meses o hasta un aà ±o. Es muy importante tener en cuenta que si se planea viajar por varios estados, la cobertura mà ­nima puede variar. Asegurarse de cumplir con las leyes estatales que se pueden consultar en el Departamento de Vehà ­culos a Motor de cada estado (liability, en inglà ©s). Varias aseguradoras mexicanas ofrecen este tipo de pà ³liza. Tambià ©n es posible contratarla cerca de la frontera, del lado mexicano.  Si la policà ­a para al auto, sin duda van a pedir que se enseà ±e esta certificacià ³n. Si se tiene alguna inquietud,  marcar al telà ©fono de la CIAM. Se puede llamar desde Estados Unidos y tambià ©n desde Mà ©xico.  Resuelven dudas de diverso tipo, incluidas las que afectan a seguros de auto  y son muy competentes en sus respuestas. Cà ³mo evitar problemas manejando en EE.UU. un auto con placas mexicanas El asunto del manejo en Estados Unidos de automà ³viles con placas extranjeras està ¡ regulado por ley federal y por las leyes estatales. La federal es el tratado de 1949 conocido como Inter-American Convenction Road Traffic. Si la policà ­a para el automà ³vil y uno de los ocupantes resulta ser un inmigrante indocumentado, es posible que el auto acabe embargado por la Policà ­a de Fronteras (ICE, por sus siglas en inglà ©s) y que acabe siendo subastado. Es decir, que el dueà ±o se quede sin su auto. En los casos de multas por una infraccià ³n de trà ¡nsito, es conveniente pagarla. En la actualidad, las computadoras en los controles migratorios de Estados Unidos està ¡n conectados a una base de datos que se llama TECS que contiene, entre otras, informacià ³n que proveen los Departamentos de Vehà ­culos de los diferentes estados y està ¡n notificando multas de trà ¡fico, aunque no es asà ­ en todos los casos. Finalmente, los  ciudadanos americanos y los residentes permanentes legales con licencias de manejar de los Estados Unidos (que es la que tienen que tener) no pueden manejar en el paà ­s un automà ³vil con placas mexicanas. Està ¡ prohibido, del mismo modo que los mexicanos residentes en Mà ©xico  no pueden por ley manejar en su paà ­s un auto con placas de los Estados Unidos. Tips à ºtiles para turistas mexicanos en Estados Unidos   Para evitar problemas muy serios como quedarse en situacià ³n de ilegalidad, cancelacià ³n o revocacià ³n de visas o que en el control migratorio simplemente impidan el ingreso al paà ­s, es necesario tener en cuenta asunto como con  Ã‚  cuà ¡nta frecuencia se puede ingresar como turista a Estados Unidos  y tener muy claro quà ©Ã‚  pasa si se queda en Estados Unidos mà ¡s tiempo del permitido. Tambià ©n es interesante  saber  cuà ¡nto dinero se puede  ingresar legalmente a Estados Unidos  y, si trae mascota, asegurarse de que goce de buen estado de salud y de que tenga todos los documentos en regla. Lo que se pide va a depender del lugar de procedencia y  del tipo de mascota.   A la hora de cruzar la frontera terrestre entre Mà ©xico y Estados Unidos es posible acelerar el paso por el control migratorio si se forma parte del programa  SENTRI. En los demà ¡s casos, conviene evitar los dà ­as y horas de mucho trà ¡fico, cuando los retrasos pueden ser enormes en los puentes internacionales.   Finalmente, se recomienda tomar este  test o quiz  sobre la visa de turista  para asegurarte de que tienes los conocimientos que debes saber para sacarla y conservarla.   Este artà ­culo no es asesorà ­a legal para ningà ºn caso especà ­fico. Es sà ³lo informacià ³n de carà ¡cter general.