12_Chee+Guan+Yuan+Lubin

Assignment 3 1. I agree with the statement that in the 21st century, gender inequality is still prevalent in the world especially in the workforce. Certain fields have a higher concentration of one gender or the other. Engineering, technical and scientific based careers often have a higher concentration of men as well as leadership positions in most fields. But female concentrated careers tend to be education and clenical work. An example is countries in Asia. Take Japan for example, although if both men and women have the same standards in education, men tend to be the majority that compels Japan's workforce and the women to stay at home to be the homemaker or caregiver. This fact is socially constructed. Men are encouraged to pursure education and a career in these highly technical and scientific fields, which women are often not. Statistics have shown in the U.S and Japan that majority of women in the workforce are unmarried thus do not have children. Thus this shows that there are a few women who are married and are working. Thus this shows that women tend to be the caregivers of the family and let the husband be the ones who provide for the family.

2.Promotion discrimination is yet another issue besetting women in the workforce. Statistics have shown that in 50 companies, only 10% of the 100% of the women in the workforce have high level positions, whereas the majority only have positions up to the level of a secretary. Thus, this shows that the majority of women who chose to work experience a cap in how far they can ascend in a company or are more likely to be hired into a dead end position such as a secretary. Men experience the opposite. Due to the taste or preference for other men because they share similar characteristics, men who are of top level positions are more likely to hire or promote other men, thus discriminating against women. America has noticed this problem earlier than chinese societies and are encouraging women who are not married to focus more on female concentrated careers. Statistics have shown that places in China and Japan, 80% of women only have jobs up to a secetary. Thus only the minority are able to have high level positions in business fields. Thus majority of the world of women who are working face promotion discrimination in men concentrated jobs.

3.Cultural stereotypes are engrained in both men and women and as such, these stereotypes are a possible explanation for gender inequality and the resulting gendered wage disparity. Women have traditionally been viewed as being caring and nurturing. Thus, they are designated to occupations which require such skills. While these skills are culturally valued, men have traditionally and culturally been viewed as the breadwinner of the family. Women's right to be elected as president or become ministers also seem to be non-existent in various countries such as India and in China where gender inequality is prevalent as women in India are not entitled to run for Presidency thus showing that gender inequality is still prevalent in the world.

19/30

E-Learning: Is it a good idea to use avatars to replace humans as teachers in school? I do not agree that it is a good idea to use avatars to replace humans as teachers in school. Firstly, if one decides to replace an avatar, it would cost at most a whopping $8,500 to import the avatars from the manufacturer. Furthermore, an avatar can only teach the students what it has programmed inside of it. When a student have difficulties in understanding or doing their work, an avatar could not help it and just continue teaching. This is very inconvenient to the student and the school as it is very expensive. Compared to a teacher, he or she could interact with the students while they learn and even help them when in need. They can laugh and join in the fun with the students while learning which makes learning even more interesting compared to just listening to an avatar to talk and good teachers require less money to hire compared to an avatar. Thus I disagree that it is a good idea to use avatars to replace humans as teachers in school.