The Business Dream free essay sample

The car rumbled down the street with a flat tire and its lights worn out, just enough to pitch a light through the dark perils of the night. The screeching muffler pounding the street drew sirens that awakened the neighbors. The car kept pushing to reach its destination despite its condition. The car not only wanted to reach a safe place to call home, but by not giving up it wanted to set an example for those who felt helpless. Without knowing its full potential, it made everyone want to help the driver keep pushing his car. The car made it through the night almost destroyed but it made it through because it never gave up. The car resembled my childhood experience and my present pursuit for happiness. For as long as I could remember my life has never been perfect. Moving every year from place to place was not easy for me, my mom and my sister. We will write a custom essay sample on The Business Dream or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Despite having divorced parents I always saw my dad. He was a man with rocky hands from picking up boxes all day at his job working for Home Goods in the factories, a typical job for those who didn’t speak English. He would always come by and pick me up on the weekends. For some reason my mom could never work and her only income came from my dad’s forty dollar a week child support check and some money she got from the government that she received the 1st and 15th of the month, they were called welfare checks. My story begins when I was ten years old. I remember walking down the street with my mom, we were headed to the bodega, the jargon Spanish people used to describe the corner store. I saw a man put a needle in his arm and incautiously jerk his head back, as though he had just had the best feeling in the world. I asked my mom what was the man doing and she responded my telling me to hold a bag of groceries. As we began walking back home, she began talking to herself as though she was saying something under her breath. I knew she wanted to tell me something, but she avoided her response. I later learned the guy was a heroin addict shooting himself a fix. The weekends which I spent with my dad were only worse. I struggled to a find a peaceful place to study and concentrate on my studies. Even though my mom dropped out of high school in the Dominican Republic after her ninth grade year and my dad barely making it through his tenth grade year going only to school on Saturdays, they knew the only way to succeed was to excel in school. I always did the best I could in school and my chess coach, a man who dedicated his life helping kids in Urban cities like Providence, helped me in school and led the way for me to excel in chess by winning numerous state tournaments. I learned through chess to become more patient, to be able to think on my own, and make key decisions that not only helped my game but also my perspectives on life. I knew I came from a poor background and I was never ashamed having to fight through the struggles or even tell someone, because for all I knew every childhood friend around my neighborhood went through the same things. From having to use three blankets at night in the winter because we couldn’t afford heat to dodging gangs recruiting me into their team. It was a nightmare at times but amid the desperate situations I managed to stay out of trouble. Now a senior in high school, I have goals of owning a business so that I can support my future family and pave the way for those who think they can’t make it, those who were just like me. My dreams of having a successful business comes from the struggles I’ve seen my mom and my dad go through. If I owned a business and managed it properly so that so I could maximize my profits it would make a big difference. I’d make it grow and expand so that I could always support them. Even though I didn’t excel in my studies during my high school years I understand that grades do not define a person, but I am motivated to study, like the rumbling car, I will always keep pushing until I reach my destination.

Free Essays on Centaur Solutions, Inc. Invades New Orleans

Over the past few years New Orleans’ politics have lured software and technology business to the Crescent City. Although the job market has opened up for those seeking employment, most new employers are seeking employees with computer skills more demanding than checking email. Centaur Solutions, Inc. (CSI) is a software training and consulting corporation located in New Orleans, Louisiana. CSI is attempting to tap into the city’s lack of technology professionals. The owner/founder of CSI has been an instructor for the University of New Orleans’ Metropolitan College for several years. During which time he has taught numerous New Orleans professionals with little or no computer skills, including seminars for local businesses. Beginning my research with locating the current market demand for CSI in New Orleans, I decided to gather information on the action this city plans to take. According to former mayor Marc Morial, â€Å"New Orleans may not be synonymous with the information technology driven new economy, but it will be by 2020.† Technology companies have the freedom to set their roots wherever they choose, but research shows they’re looking for communities with plenty of amenities (NOWIB 2003). New Orleans is offering these industries a new home filled with affordable housing, unparalleled culture and history, and an energetic work force well equipped for the global economy (Hathaway 2001). Although the colleges and universities within New Orleans produce a high volume of graduates, New Orleans has been exporting talents for the last 20 years, and thereby producing a brain drain because there are no real jobs to keep people in New Orleans. However the sudden interest in promoting new technology jobs has increased the demand for qualified employees. Now the balance has shifted with more jobs available and less qualified applicants. Searching the web for jobs in New Orleans, over 60% of all jobs required some type of computer l... Free Essays on Centaur Solutions, Inc. Invades New Orleans Free Essays on Centaur Solutions, Inc. Invades New Orleans Over the past few years New Orleans’ politics have lured software and technology business to the Crescent City. Although the job market has opened up for those seeking employment, most new employers are seeking employees with computer skills more demanding than checking email. Centaur Solutions, Inc. (CSI) is a software training and consulting corporation located in New Orleans, Louisiana. CSI is attempting to tap into the city’s lack of technology professionals. The owner/founder of CSI has been an instructor for the University of New Orleans’ Metropolitan College for several years. During which time he has taught numerous New Orleans professionals with little or no computer skills, including seminars for local businesses. Beginning my research with locating the current market demand for CSI in New Orleans, I decided to gather information on the action this city plans to take. According to former mayor Marc Morial, â€Å"New Orleans may not be synonymous with the information technology driven new economy, but it will be by 2020.† Technology companies have the freedom to set their roots wherever they choose, but research shows they’re looking for communities with plenty of amenities (NOWIB 2003). New Orleans is offering these industries a new home filled with affordable housing, unparalleled culture and history, and an energetic work force well equipped for the global economy (Hathaway 2001). Although the colleges and universities within New Orleans produce a high volume of graduates, New Orleans has been exporting talents for the last 20 years, and thereby producing a brain drain because there are no real jobs to keep people in New Orleans. However the sudden interest in promoting new technology jobs has increased the demand for qualified employees. Now the balance has shifted with more jobs available and less qualified applicants. Searching the web for jobs in New Orleans, over 60% of all jobs required some type of computer l...

U.S History 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

U.S History 1 - Essay Example After Columbus’ discovery of the New World, the entry of the wide variety of globally acclaimed luxury commodities in the European markets through the sea route stopped the earlier market of the luxury goods that was prevailing. The pre-existing German and Italian trading powers were ousted by the Atlantic trade. There had been social changes in the European luxury markets as the new luxury items like chinaware, silk, spices and sugar made their entry. During the Age of Discovery, Western Europe has been had become the Economic Center for the European Union shifting from the Mediterranean. At that time the city of Antwerp, which was a part of Duchy of Barabant, was considered to be Europe’s richest city and also center of the international economy. During the Age of Discovery, the religious sentiments, gave rise to the discoveries at this age. It was seen that while the Islamic community was expanding its horizon, the Western Christendom was getting destroyed. European Union became vulnerable and they feared to be attacked by infidel East. It was also agreed and known by the Europeans that the Far East was highly rich and luxurious. If we take a deeper look into these discoveries, we find the similarities with the Crusaders prevailed during the 12th and 13th centuries. The main effort in spreading the belief of Christianity among the New World residents was mainly started by the Catholic Church during the Age of Discovery. The Catholic Church also took the initiative of converting the indigenous people as well as the Native Americans. Portugal, France and Spain were the three countries that put the colonial efforts in forming the European powers, majority of which was the missionary effort and gave a partial justification for the same. Catholic nations’ colonial efforts and indigenous people’s Christian Mission ran in parallel. Moreover, Dominicans, Jesuits, Franciscans

Intercultural Experience Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Intercultural Experience Assignment - Essay Example There are many different subcultures among the Latino population. I decided to try food from restaurant owned and managed by people from the island of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is an island located in the Caribbean region. The entire populations of Puerto Rico are actually U.S. citizens due to the fact that Puerto Rico is a territory of the Unites States. Officially the island’s government has a commonwealth political status with the United States. When I entered the restaurant I was greeting by a very nice woman who gave a greeting in Spanish. She was in Spanish â€Å"Bienvenidos a nuestro restaurant† which means welcome to our restaurant. I was given the menu within five minutes of my entrance. When the waitress gave me the menu she also brought some vegetables, bread, and water. I told the waitress that I was very hungry, but I did not know what to order due to the fact that I had never eaten puertorican food before. I explained to her that I was visiting their establ ishment as part of a class project in which I had to evaluate the food that I ate from an international location. She told me that I was very lucky because I had picked the right place to enjoy an exotic meal. The meal that I ended up ordering is called in Spanish â€Å"Mofongo con carne frita y caldo† which can translate to fried plantain with fried pork meat and fish or chicken stew. The meal was amazing. The fried plantain was the best part of the meal. It tasted absolutely delicious. Since the plantain it’s a bit hard it has to be dripped with the stew to make it softer to eat. The fried pork meat is a tremendous compliment to the plantain. The food was great and the price was right on the money. The meal only costs me $9.95 plus taxes and tip and it included the drink. I gave the waitress a $5 tip which represents a 50% tip for her services. Now that I had visited and eaten a unique cuisine meal from the Puertorican culture it was time for me to learn more about P uerto Rico. To achieve this task I decided to interview and old friend of mine who was born in Puerto Rico. In the following three paragraphs I am going to describe the different things I learned about the Puertorican culture based on my interview. Puerto Rico is a small island in the Caribbean Sea whose dimensions are 100 miles in length by 35 miles in width. The island with a population of 4 million inhabitants is considered one of the most populated regions in the world per square miles. The United States won a war with the Spaniard in 1898 which gave them control of Puerto Rico. Ever since 1917 the people of Puerto Rico have been US citizens. Puertorican have sacrificed a lot over the years with thousands of military solders being recruited from Puerto Rico. The official language of Puerto Rico is Spanish, but English is taught since elementary school to all the children. The educational system provides school for 12 years with the bilingual teaching of English. Most young adult s after finishing high school go to college. The college participation among the youth in Puerto Rico is higher than in the United States. A college education in Puerto Rico is much cheaper than in the United States. Puerto Rico imports that majority of its consumer products from the United States. The US marine is used to import merchandise into the United States. The Unites States and Puerto Rico shared a common military. The official currency of Puerto Rico is the US dollar. The island is poor in comparison with the United States with an income per capital of approximately $17,000 which

Anthropology Assignment Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Anthropology Paper - Assignment Example Linguistics helps to explain the connection between language and culture as well as social behavior by tracing origins, deviations and similarities of language groups. Ethnology is the examination of similarities and differences of current societies and it helps to understand contemporary issues from legal and political point of views through data collection, recording, researching and testing of theories (Ferraro & Andreatta, 2009). Chapter 2 discussed the attempts by early anthropologists to describe race biologically. Describe the typological and population models. The typological model the 19th and 20th century explained the variation of human differences into racial types. The observation of traits like skin color, hair form, boy build, shape of head, shape of nose body stature and others were seen as markers of a ‘race’. Therefore particular traits would explain a group of people and hence the emergence of whites, blacks, darks and reds which was flawed (Scupin, 20 03). The flaw in this model was corrected by the Population model through anatomical and physiological traits. Thus, this model introduced population genetics which assumed that people who had close relationship in distance had similar appearance hence the explanation that their ancestors must have mated for along time hence the idea of breeding population. Describe the impact of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution on studies of divisions of humans. Darwin’s theory of evolution based its claim on variations of human beings. Origin of species suggested that in nature natural selection existed. The weak species got eliminated by the environment and other human factors to live the strong that were well suited for survival. His theory led to greater racism and conflict in class as those considered less civilized races were seen not fit to exist with the civilized world. In the result, the civilized theorized through eugenics that it was inherited from their ancestors and therefore the savages ere not fit to live. The theory impacted view from economics, religion, politics, culture as well as others that wanted to advance the cause of racism hence more division in human kind. This spread all over the world with serious repercussions (Haycraft, 1895). The scientific racialism experiment of the 18th and 19th century resulted in the concept of eugenics. Describe this term and its social consequences. Eugenics was introduced by Francis Galton a cousin of Charles Darwin. He that human beings could opt to choose only the best of their strong species through natural selection. According to him, the highest in the society comprised of the most favored and best while the lowest were poor savages (Downs & Bleibtreu. 1969).The term eugenics came to be associated with the views of those who proposed that population control should be based with the best of the society and eliminating those who were at the lowest. It led to the rise of positive and negative eugeni cs and the poor people were considered not important in the society. Social consequences took the form of social conflict between those were rich and those who were perceived poor (Zirkle, 1959). Describe Franz Boas’ influence on the theories of scientific racialism. Franz Boas’ influence on scientific racialism was that of demolishing the deductive approach used to theorize about races. He felt that it was wrong for those theories to go

Reasons for the gender pay gap

Reasons for the gender pay gap Since 1960, the feminization in the European work force is a phenomenon unquestionable. Indeed, today in France of 100 employed people, 47 are women contrary to 1962 where they were 34. In spite of this increase, sex is a significant decisive of professional position in working places (De Curraize, Y., Hugouneny, R., (2004)). This gender discrimination results through the gap of salaries between men and women. We consider in this study gender that gender gap defines oneself as a measure of the difference between the earning of men and women (Andrew Barnard (August 2008) p.18). Certainly, a number of significant review and reports have revealed that women in both full time and part time work earn less than men. Therefore, it remains professional disparities between men and women. To understand this gender discrimination, our analysis focuses on pay according sexes. Firstly, a current situation regarding women work will give basing on factors and reasons that have contributed to this situation. Secondly, a legal position will be analyzed through government initiatives set up to reduce this issue. Finally, the measures that organizations should and could take to eliminate gender pay gap will be examined. First of all, this part will focus on the current situation regarding women work and will find the factors which are contributed to this situation. Above all, it is necessary to define payment to understand our subject. Indeed, payment defines oneself as an income and all contractual terms and conditions including a basic salary and other benefits for example bonus, pension scheme, company car that could receive an employees. Today, the pay gap between men and women tend to decrease but it remains narrowed slightly. Indeed in the UK, the statistics revealed that pay gap between sexes is 12,2 per cent in 2009 while in 2008 it was 12,6 per cent. Therefore, sexes pay gap decreased however it has not removed. Moreover, according to Employee Benefits in Salary Survey (2009) the mean salary of men including rewards differs from  £16,000 above the mean salary of women. (Jones, Ben (December 2009)). Furthermore, in regard to the median earning, it is noticeable that the average pay of man in 2006 is  £11.71 contrary to women which is  £10.24. Anon (11/9/2006) Sexes pay gap shrinks. We could wonder if the women work is being valued equally to men. According to Anon (01/11/1999), the women work is 20 per cent less valuable than mens work. However, it is difficult to understand the pay gap if pay is not associated to observable factors. In fact, to analyze difference of income between men and women, we have to add the age, the region the occupation industries and sectors variables (Andrew Barnard (August 2008) p.23). According to Appendices 1, 2 and 3, it is to say that these variables have a significant impact on earnings. Firstly, if we focus on age effect on earning according to gender we can see that men progress faster than woman until 21-22 years old, then earnings increase at a similar rate until age 40 and after 46 years women earning are high than men. (See appendix 1) This tendency can be explained by the fact that women tend to return later to the working market due to their career breaks when they are pregnant. Secondly, if we choose the variable of occupational effects (See appendix 2) it is argueable that there is a difference of earnings between men and woman in managers and senior officials higher than administrative and secretarial occupations. In fact people who work within professional and technical occupations, career breaks are damaging people future earnings less who work within professional and technical occupations that means career is more flexible compared to senior officials occupations. Finally, in appendix 3 it can be seen clearly that women are submit to discrimination in m anufacturing, agriculture and fishing, energy and quarrying sectors due to their lack of skills in this sector. Only, the public sector offers roughly the equal earnings according gender. Finally, we can study the mentality of European Union members that know their feelings about the subject and know if for them it is natural that women work less than men in nowadays. (See appendix 4). The survey reveals that Europeans opinions differ from one country to another. In France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal the majority of pooled people are discordant to this statement. Contrary to Greece, Bulgaria, Lithuania which are agree to say that it is normal that women work less than men. (European Commission (2009)) the results of this survey show very well that the mentalities are difficult to change and this contributes to discriminate women working. Discrimination occurs when one persons wage is different from another otherwise identical persons for reasons of non-productivity related characteristics such as gender Andrew Barnard (August 2008). Therefore, it is questionable why women are paid less than men. Andrews Barnard thinks it results from a combination of discriminatory and economic reasons. According to De Curraize, Y., Hugouneny, R., (2004), allocation of time between productive and domestic spheres is often in favor or men. Indeed, the salary of women is often a supplementary salary whereas men are specialized in working area. Moreover, stereotypical perceptions of women still remains through a lack of flexibility due to their needs to reconcile demands of career and family, some negative effects of masculine organizational culture. As reported by the minister of employment, social cohesion and housing (2006), women are less paid than men because their working time is lower than mens men working time. Indeed women work more frequently than men in part-time, they are doing more complementary hours but less lucrative than supplementary hours. In other part, men in average jobs are paid more than women in such that their supplementary hours are also in average better pay. Moreover, the pay gap between men and women is not only due to discrimination. Indeed, Hakims (2004) argues that it is a scientific theory. Men and women have different main interests and they find their fulfillment through differ balance. Of 100 women, 20 are work centred, 20 are home centred and 60 are adaptive. And on 100 men 30 are adaptive, 60 are work centred and 10 are home centred. Furthermore, it can be add also that women have a profile career easier to damage than men. The presence of children is of course a reason to cease activity particularly in women less qualified. Concerning women who have a high level of studies, maternity has an effect of working length with a transition of part-time to conciliate work and family life. Finally, women are concentrated in less lucrative fields often they are focus on health, social, teaching jobs at the expense of scientific and engineer field therefore we can speak about of occupational segregation (De Curraize, Y., Hugouneny, R., (2004)). Finally, Goldberg (1973) thinks that the male dominance in the working area could come from their hormones. Indeed, their attraction of competition, assertiveness, and dominant are due to their testosterone. Therefore, it is obvious for them to be in high hierarchy. To conclude this part, we can consider that discriminal in pay, occupational segregation and the unequal impact womens family responsibilities are three main factors which contribute to the gender gap. In this second part, a legal position regarding women work will be given through government initiatives. The main actors who contributed most to progress in the area of gender equality according to survey of European Commission (2009) are associations representing womens interests, national equality organization, trade unions, the European Institutions (European Parliament, European Commission, European Council), National public authorities, NGOs, and Employers representatives. Firstly, we will see that some convention, laws and ratification will create to reduce gender discrimination. Firstly, on the European level, some texts have been ratified. First of all the principle of equality between men and women defined in article 119 of Roma Treaty (1957) which announces the equality of pay without discrimination based on sex. This implies a payment given for a same job being establish in the basis of the same unit of measurement and that the payment given for a job paid being the same for the same work position. On the national level, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) and United Kingdom Parliament have enforced The equal pay act in 1970 which is amended in 1983 based on prohibition of any less favorable treatment between men and women in terms of pay and conditions of employment. The term pay is interpreted in a broad sense to include, on top of wages, things like holidays, pension rights, company perks and some kinds of bonuses. Also, Sex discrimination Act dated of 1975 protects men and women from discrimination on the grounds of sex or marriage. Moreover, this Act is mainly in relation to employment, training, education, harassment, the provision of goods and services, and the disposal of premises. Other amendments have been introduced by the Sex Discrimination Act 1986, the Employment Act 1989, the Equality Act 2006, and other legislation such as rulings by the European Court of Justice. In February 2001, the EOC sets up Equal pay task force publishing a report to eliminate gender pay gap and almost try to understand it, take evidence and suggest commendation about how to close the gap through amending social economic and labour market policies to complement equal pay measures for instance flexibility, training opportunities. This report lays down 5 multi-levels to addressing the issue. The first one is raising levels of awareness and developing a common understanding of what the pay gap means, the second is reforming and modernising the equal pay legislation, then capacity building to ensure that employers and trade unions know how to implement equal pay, the fourth is enhancing transparency and developing accountability for delivering pay equality and the final one is amending social, economic and labour market policies to complement equal pay measures (Equal Pay Task Force Report (2001)). The law of 23 March 2006 has the same goal of Equal pay task force however this law leads to a sanction when there is no plan of curbing professional inequalities in com panies. (Gottely-Fayet J. (Mars 2010)) James Purnell, Minister of State for Pensions Reforms (March 2007) would allow men to share more domestic responsibilities. As reality has proved that men are already doing more within the household, but they still do less than women. This pensions reforms stands for tackle to stereotypical career paths (job suited to women for example Women and Work Commission- Five Cs), remove stereotypes embedded in organizational culture for instance women in support roles and reduce stereotypical view of men as managers (Managing diversity for equal diversity course slides). We have to notice also the Governments Ten Year Childcare Strategy (2nd December 2004) which is setting up to improve parents life. It relies on 4 principles which include the choice and the flexibility which is means that parents have a large choice about balancing work and family life, the availability concerning families with children aged up to 14 who need it, an affordable, high-quality childcare place is available in o rder to meets their expectations, the quality where a high-quality provision with a highly skilled childcare is promoted and finally the affordability where families could be able to afford flexible high-quality childcare that is appropriate to their needs according to the Government office for London (2004). And finally the Equality Act 2006 allowing to the British Government to introduce regulations outlawing discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation in goods and services in both Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the Sexual Orientation Regulations 2006) and a provision relating to the creation of a public duty to promote equality on the ground of gender. Finally, can be seen that government shows the will to remove discrimination through creative equal opportunities initiatives based on career-break schemes, work place nursery, women-only training programs, special holidays, work-sharing and part-time employment. (Firth-Cozens, J. and A. West (1990)) Government initiatives against discrimination are not enough to succeed to reach a total equality between men and woman. Indeed, other strategies within companies can be used to combat pay gap. Firstly, according to Jones, Ben (December 2009) a greater transparency is necessary in the companies, the availability of pay showing detailed job evaluations. For instance, in the public sector equal pay monitoring is a compulsory requirement. Employees have to make audits to publish gender gap in order to aware on discrimination, review existing policies within their companies and to re-examine how your staff are paid. The audit results will help to identify and address pitfalls in pay systems. It will also suggest good basis for create new policies or improving old ones. If companies are enrolled in fair pay this allow to have a positive impact on staff motivation and retention. It will also improve trust in the employer/employee relationship. EOC Equal opportunities commission (2009) pointed out. Some others measures should be taken to reduce the pay gap between men and women like impose penalties on company guilty of gender based pay discrimination, intensifying efforts to combat prejudice and generally negative accepted areas concerning women that is means challenging stereotypes; facilitate responsibility women positions through formal monitoring programs, remove barriers of inflexible working; improve access for women and men to sectors and jobs in which they are under-represented for example apply a fair recruitment and selection procedures and finally enhancing the standing of the sectors or jobs in which a majority of women are employed like combining work and family life, lifelong opportunities for women in training and work, embedding quality part-time work and improving careers advice. European Commission Survey (2009) p.67 Moreover, EOC proposes a guide to employers on equal pay between men and women under the sex discrimination ordinance. Indeed, company can enroll in Equal Pay Policy in order to have a good employment practice to maintain open communication with staff. This policy permits to ensure to employees a clear understanding on problems relating to their career within their organizations and understand principles affections their remuneration throughout their working life within their company. The Equal Pay Policy should cover the following requirement in order to combat pay gap: Some commitment are recommended like organizations commitment to support the principle of equal pay between men and women, an outline of the policies and practices undertaken by the organization to ensure pay equity, a commitment to carry out equal pay self-audits periodically and to take corrective actions if necessary, another one to provide resources to monitor equal pay practice in the organization, an account of actions taken and results obtained to validate compliance on equal pay under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance and the establishment of a mechanism to provide assistance to staff to address equal pay concerns. To sum it up Governments, organizations and institutions show their will to reduce and remove gender gap thanks to some Acts and laws such as the Equal Pay Act, Equality Act or Governments ten year child care strategy. Also, some strategies are implemented within companies like the development of a certain transparency, audits, fair recruitment, and career advice. In spite of the reduction of gender pay gap, we notice that it still remains through some statistics which show discrimination in pay, occupational segregation and unequal impact womens family responsibilities. There are good reasons to be optimistic about the future because the majority of Europeans consider that it is not normal that a women work less than men therefore the mentalities are changing however to combat women work discrimination it is questionable if the image of the women should be less stereotype in the media? Appendices Figure 1 Andrew Barnard (August 2008) Modelling the gender pay gap in the UK: 1998 to 2006 Figure 2 Andrew Barnard (August 2008) Modelling the gender pay gap in the UK: 1998 to 2006 Figure 3 Andrew Barnard (August 2008) Modelling the gender pay gap in the UK: 1998 to 2006 Figure 4 European Commission (2009), Gender equality in the EU in 2009

Flying Essay -- The Event That Changed My Life

A few summers ago, a gentleman I had only just met offered me an afternoon plane ride. He was a retired lawyer and enjoyed any excuse to pilot his small plane. My friend Paul and I had nothing scheduled that day, so figured why not. After some debate about where to fly, north, south, or east, we settled on Mendocino, about halfway up the coast to Oregon. Within minutes we were bundled into a Beechcraft Bonanza and rattling off an absurdly short runway into the open sky. It was a spectacular day even by California standards as we swooped along the pine-clad rocky coastline and buzzed hermits at a hidden Buddhist monastery. After what seemed like only a few minutes we were mingling with the tourists in Mendocino, a colorful seaside village which plays the role of "Cabot Cove, Maine" in "Murder She Wrote." Then we were back in the air, once again hugging the coastline at about 3500 feet. This time (on the basis of a coin toss) I got to sit up front with the pilot. Up to this point the adventure had been pleasant enough, touched even with a bit of magic. After all, it is nothing less than magic to pick a direction at a whim and quickly land hundreds of mil... ...n again to rave amidst my unseeing neighbors. I handed back the controls and we swooped between the towers of the Golden Gate just as the fog was rolling in, skipped across Alcatraz and Angel Island, and landed with a little hop back where we started. And now, months later, I am a changed man. I don't think I'll be signing up for flying lessons anytime soon; I have enough expensive habits as it is. But now, when I look up into the sky, I see it not as a rather extravagant ceiling, but as a conduit to other places. I see that it's easy to get from here to there. All you have to do is fly.