Wal-Marts Women essays

Wal-Marts Women essays When six females filed a class action discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart in 2004, they were not just looking out for their own interests; they were in fact standing up for 1.6 million other women who worked for and were allegedly treated unfairly by Wal-Mart after December 26, 1998. The suit alleges that Wal-Mart in effect has lived under a corporate management culture that discriminates against female employees in matters of pay, promotions, training for management positions, and job assignments. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court, and the judge ruled that the women could ask for back pay and compensation for those 1.6 million women. This paper points to the facts of the case, many of which have been presented cogently and graphically by a professor from the University of California at Hayward, Richard Drogin. Using files and data from Wal-Mart, Drogin has painted a picture of institutional discrimination that cries out for a judgment in favor of the plaintiffs. For example, Drogin shows that only 33 percent of salaried managers are women, and that male hourly workers earn an average of $18,609 a year, while female hourly employees earn only $17,498. At the higher corporate levels, men make far more than women, Drogin demonstrated; a male regional VP earns an average of $419,435, while a female in the same position earns just $279,772 annually. Interestingly, only 10.3% of the regional VPs are female, which is not an indication of a lack of skills or talent on the part of women, but rather is based on institutional discrimination against women at Wal-Mart. The numbers dont lie: women hired for hourly jobs in 1996 earned 35 cents less an hour than men; by 2001, the difference grew, as women on hourly wages earned $1.16 less an hour than men. Women received 2,891 fewer promotions than men in the Support Manager position, and the list of injustice for women goes on and on. The st...

Biography of the German Explorer Carl Peters

Biography of the German Explorer Carl Peters Carl Peters was a German explorer, journalist and philosopher, instrumental in the founding of German East Africa and helped create the European Scramble for Africa. Despite being vilified for cruelty to Africans and removed from office, he was later praised by Kaiser Wilhelm II and was considered a German hero by Hitler. Date of birth: 27 September 1856, Neuhaus an der Elbe (New House on the Elbe), Hanover GermanyDate of death: 10 September 1918 Bad Harzburg, Germany An Early Life: Carl Peters was born the son of a minister on 27 September 1856. He attended the local monastery school in Ilfeld until 1876 and then attended college in Goettingen, Tà ¼bingen, and Berlin where he studied history, philosophy, and law. His college time was financed by scholarships and through early successes in journalism and writing. In 1879 he left Berlin University with a degree in history. The following year, abandoning a career in law, he left for London where he stayed with a wealthy uncle. Society for German Colonisation: During his four years in London, Carl Peters studied British history and investigated its colonial policies and philosophy. Returning to Berlin after his uncles suicide in 1884, he helped establish the Society for German Colonisation [Gesellschaft fà ¼r Deutsche Kolonisation]. Hopes For a German Colony in Africa: Towards the end of 1884 Peters traveled to East Africa to obtain treaties with local chiefs. Although unsanctioned by the German government, Peters felt confident that his endeavors would lead to a new German colony in Africa. Landing on the coast at Bagamoyo just across from Zanzibar (in what is now Tanzania) on 4 November 1884, Peters and his colleagues traveled for just six weeks persuading both Arab and African chiefs to sign away exclusive rights to land and trade routes. One typical agreement, the Treaty of Eternal Friendship, had Sultan Mangungu of Msovero, Usagara, offering his territory with all its civil and public privileges to Dr Karl Peters as the representative of the Society for German Colonisation for the exclusive and universal utilization of German colonization. German Protectorate in East Africa: Returning to Germany, Peters set about consolidating his African successes. On 17 February 1885 Peters received an imperial charter from the German government and on 27 February, after the conclusion of the Berlin West African Conference, the German Chancellor Bismarck announced the creation of a German protectorate in East Africa. The German East-African Society [Deutsch Osta-Afrikanischen Gesellschaft] was created in April and Carl Peters was declared its chairman. Initially a 18 kilometre costal strip was recognized as still belonging to Zanzibar. But in 1887 Carl Peters returned to Zanzibar to obtain the right to collect duties - the lease was ratified on 28 April 1888. Two years later the strip of land was purchased from the Sultan of Zanzibar for  £200,000. With area of almost 900 000 square kilometres, German East Africa almost doubled the land held by the German Reich. Searching for Emin Pasha: In 1889 Carl Peters returned to Germany from East Africa, giving up his position as chairman. In response to Henry Stanleys expedition to rescue Emin Pasha, a German explorer and governor of Egyptian Equatorial Sudan who was reputed to be trapped in his province by Mahdist enemies, Peters announced his intention to beat Stanley to the prize. Having raised 225,000 marks, Peters and his party depart from Berlin in February. Competition with Britain for Land: Both trips were actually attempts to claim more land (and gain access to the upper Nile) for their respective masters: Stanley working for King Leopold of Belgium (and the Congo), Peters for Germany. One year after departure, having reached the Wasoga on the Victoria Nile (between Lake Victoria and Lake Albert) he was handed a letter from Stanley: Emin Pasha had already been rescued. Peters, unaware of a treaty ceding Uganda to Britain, continued north to make a treaty with the king Mwanga. The Man With Blood on His Hands: The Heligoland Treaty (ratified on 1 July 1890) set German and British spheres of influence in East Africa, Britain to have Zanzibar and the mainland opposite and towards the north, Germany to have the mainland south of Zanzibar. (The treaty is named for an Island off the Elba estuary in Germany which was transferred from British to German control.) In addition, Germany gained Mount Kilimanjaro, part of the disputed territories - Queen Victoria wanted her grandson, the German Kaiser, to have a mountain in Africa. In 1891 Carl Peters was made the commissioner to renamed protectorate of German East Africa, based in a newly created station near Kilimanjaro. By 1895 rumors reached Germany of cruel and unusual treatment of Africans by Peters (he is known in Africa as Milkono wa Damu - the Man with Blood on his hands) and he is recalled from German East Africa to Berlin. A judicial hearing is undertaken the following year, during which Peters relocates to London. In 1897 Peters is officially condemned for his violent attacks on African natives and is dismissed from government service. The judgement is severely criticized by the German press. In London Peters set up an independent company, the Dr Carl Peters Exploration Company, which funded several trips to German East Africa and to British territory around the Zambezi River. His adventures formed the basis of his book Im Goldland des Altertums (The Eldorado of the Ancients) in which he describes the region as being the fabled lands of Ophir. In 1909 Carl Peters married Thea Herbers and, having been exonerated by the German emperor Wilhelm II and granted a state pension, he returned to Germany on the eve of the First World War. Having published a handful of books on Africa Peters retired to Bad Harzburg, where on 10 September 1918 he died. During World War II, Adolf Hitler referred to Peters as a German hero and his collected works were re-published in three volumes.

THE SAINTE CHAPELLE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

THE SAINTE CHAPELLE - Essay Example Sainte Chapelle, built by Louis IX during the 13th century on the le de la Cit in the center of Paris was a famous example of late gothic architecture. Late Gothic in France, 1240-1550, called Rayonnant and Flamboyant. Rayonnant from rayonner, to radiate or shine, used to describe window traceries. The most visually attractive aspects of the chapel, and considered the finest of their type in the world, are its stained glass (were the Passion was clearly manifested). The stonework is a delicate framework, and rose windows added to the upper chapel in the 15th century. Durham Cathedral was generally considered one of the finest works of 'Norman' cathedral in Europe. Pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and flying buttresses (hidden above the aisle vaults) are visually evident in this cathedral. Notre Dame de Paris, built under High gothic period, a period wherein second-story gallery was omitted, but triforium or a three-story elevation was retained and reestablished. The catchiest feature of Notre Dame Cathedral was its Rose Window, built by Jean de Chelles, and was designed in the Rayonnant style. The Virgin and Child were depicted in the center circle, surrounded by figures of prophets. The second circle shows 32 Old Testament kings, and 32 high priests and patriarchs were depicted in the outer circle. Sainte Chapelle's structure was 36 m (118 ft) long, 17 m (56 ft) wide, and 42.5 m (139 ft) high. Fronted by a two-story porch, the Sainte-Chapelle had definite vertical proportions of Gothic architecture, which had been perfected during the 12th century. The architectural representation was that of a building with a single nave, culminated in a chevet with seven panels. Outside, the design was concentrated on the essentials - a sober base and heavy buttresses contrasting with the soaring lightness of the upper parts. The spire made of cedar, 33 meters (108 ft) high, a masterpiece of finesse, made in the 19th century, but an exact replica of the 15th century spire dominated the slate roof. The upper chapel was magnificent in its Gothic architecture - light, color, and space blend to inspire a sense of harmony between art and religious faith. Architects, sculptors and painters obviously took the greatest care with the interior of the upper chapel, as this was the part of the building reserved for the king, his close friends and family, as well as for displaying the religious relics. Supported by slender piers, the arched ceiling seemed to float above magnificent stained glass windows. Most significant of the sculpted decorations in the upper chapel were the statues of the twelve apostles, which lean on the columns marking the bays. With their flowing dress, finely featured faces and hair in flattened curls, they impart a sense of serenity in all who contemplate them. The lower chapel was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, whose statue stands freely next to the central pier of the portal. Low arched ceilings rest on fine columns with decorative carved leaf capitals, connected by anchor braces made of wood or stone. The walls were decorated with trefoiled arcades and twelve medallions representing the Apostles. DESIGN INTENTION The progressive enlargement of the windows was not intended to shed more light into the interiors, but rather to provide an