The children were found to be suffering from multiple injuries and since then the government got involved in order to take some concrete measures to prevent child abuse in the country. By 1966 all the states passed legislation to safeguard the rights of the children and to offer support to “battered children”. Due to this there was an avalanche of reports highlighting child abuse from every corner of the country. Initially only the physicians were the main source of such reports because they were the ones dealing with battered young patients but after eventually more and more people started coming forward and now the prominent sources include teachers, nurses, counselors, and the general public.

In 1998, according to data from the Administration on Children and Families, there were some 2,806,000 referrals of child abuse or neglect and these complaints were made to the local agencies. After investigation, it was found that out of that number, 903,000 cases were confirmed and these children were confirmed victims of maltreatment. This translates into a rate of 12.9 per 1,000 children in the United States. The biggest form of maltreatment was found to be neglect as 53.5 percent of the total confirmed cases were victims of this. Physical abuse was the second most common form of maltreatment of children with 22.7 percent cases while sexual abuse claimed 11.5 percent cases.

When the neglect and abuse took serious forms, it can result in the death of the child too. In 1998 some 1,100 died of neglect, which is a rate of 1.6 deaths per 100,000 children.

In almost three quarters of cases of abuse, the perpetrators were found t be parents.

The sources of these cases and reports were various people though professionals were found to be the most common source. 53.1 percent of all reports came from professionals “including medical and mental health professionals, teachers, child care providers, social service providers, and law enforcement officials.” The rest of the cases were reported by family members or others community members.

Usually after the referral, the child protective agency would investigate to find out if abuse actually took place and if it did then help is provided to the child. In most cases simple treatment and services are sufficient but in some cases the abuse may be referred to juvenile or family courts in order to permanently resolve the problem. In extreme cases of abuse, the cases are taken to criminal courts too. Out of the 903,000 children who suffered abuse in the year 1998, most (409,000) received services in some form while 144,000 children had to be placed in foster care.

Perpetrator is the person who maltreats a child while he or she is in a care-taking relationship. It was found that in the reported cases, most perpetrators were women as they were involved in 61.3 percent of the incidents of abuse. It was also found that most female perpetrators were younger than male perpetrators falling under the age of 30. 41.5 percent of the female perpetrators were below 30 while 31.2 of the males were in the same category. In majority of cases the perpetrators were found to be parents. In 87.3 percent of all the cases, the perpetrator of a parent and out of that it was mostly the female parent. For physical abuse, most perpetrators were women; while for sexual abuse, it was the male parent who was found guilty.

Conclusion
The cases of chills abuse are common in our country, though the rate of abuse cam down in 1999 compared to what it was the previous year; the decline is not very significant. Though in 1974, Congress enacted the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (P.L. 93-247), which determines the framework for current federal efforts in the prevention of child abuse, the reports still pour in from all corners of the country. It is important for the family and community members to prevent child abuse when they notice it taking place, because while federal agencies would want to help, there are several cases, which go unnoticed because of community’s apathy.

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This term paper project is about how Hinduism responds to medical ethics; it will consist of issues about euthanasia, abortion, suicide and animal research. It will have many facts with some opinions and hopefully won’t be bias.

Euthanasia is ending a person’s life deliberately, but for compassionate reasons. Euthanasia is illegal in Britain, but the Voluntary Euthanasia Society campaigns for the law to be changed to allow it within a strictly controlled legal framework. This is the situation in the Netherlands, where euthanasia remains illegal, but provided certain procedures are carefully followed, a doctor who administers euthanasia will not be prosecuted in the courts.

But even in the Netherlands it is not as simple as some think, here are the guidelines:

• There must be persistent, informed and voluntary requests by a patient who is aware of all the alternative treatments.
• There must be relentless suffering.
• There must be an independent medical appraisal by at least one other doctor supporting the decision.
• After death, the doctor must complete an exhaustive questionnaire and inform the coroner, who will visit to view the body and to verify the facts. The Ministry of Justice decides on the basis of this report whether or not to prosecute the doctor.

Hinduism believes that euthanasia is wrong and should be totally abolished. A must perform their dharma (their duty) in order to achieve freedom for the soul. Since the quality of life in one lifetime depends very much on the actions of a previous life, suffering is seen as the consequence of wrong actions. If the soul has acquired bad karma through doing wrong actions in a previous existence, then the person will suffer in the present. If euthanasia is performed, the pain has come t-o a quicker end. Then the person will carry on suffering in his next life.

People who are care for the suffering people should help them feel more comfortable, but not help them to die. Euthanasia would be seen as a great sin, since this is interfering with dharma of the sufferer. Death is another stage in the cycle of life, and people are to be cared for and respected until that stage. Some Hindus may say that euthanasia in some cases would be acceptable if it fits comfortably with the principle of Ahimsa (respect for life). To do this, the motive for euthanasia would have to be totally selfless and bring about some spiritual belief.

Understanding the nature of God and the eternity of the soul are the keys to wisdom and giving up the world is just one step further than to become a sannyasin, or holy man. Who gives up all his family and possessions and goes and lives alone. This way of bringing death more quickly is not seen as wrong, but is often admired as a sign of holiness. It is not the same as euthanasia because it does not involve anyone apart from the person who wishes to die. No one else is asked to help with the death or to make any decisions about it.

We cannot discuss abortion without knowing, when life actually begins? When a lady becomes pregnant till four weeks time, the sperm and egg join together to form an embryo, this is called conception. At four weeks the embryo’s heart begins to beat, at five weeks the legs and arms begin to form. At six weeks, bones begin to form and the embryo gradually increases in size. At nine weeks the baby begins to look more human and is now called a fetus (or foetus). At week twelve all organs of the body are formed. After week fourteen, the baby forms eyelashes and eyebrows. Now the baby can survive outside its mother with medical support. After a while the baby is ready to be born naturally.

People argue that the baby is only human when it becomes a foetus, but Hinduism believes that since the day the sperm meets the egg, the baby has a soul. Having a soul basically means that you have come alive. Having an abortion no matter how early or late in the birth cycle is a great sin, it’s a murder. To take a life deliberately will have an effect on their dharma and karma of the people involved.

Hindus have respect for life because cycle of birth, death and rebirth, it is possible to be born as an animal, a tree or even a flower. All creation is made by God and is part of God. This influences the way they view the sanctity of life. To destroy life is in direct conflict with the principle of ahimsa (not causing harm to any living thing) and is also an attack on God’s creation.

Unfortunately abortion in India and Britain is legal, if it is carried out in government clinics. In the past many Hindus have supported abortion, mainly due to crime-rape. Also in many circumstances under aged pregnancy and critical conditions lead to abortion.

Although Hinduism is strictly against abortion, if the mother’s life is at risk, then abortion is acceptable. In Hinduism, there is no single central authority. There are a wide range of sacred texts that offer guidance, but ultimately the decision a Hindu makes will depend very much on their circumstances and the advice they are given by family, friends or the pundit (Hindu priest). It will also depend on their belief about the importance of their dharma (religious duty) and rebirth.

Suicide is deliberately ending your own life. Sometimes it is called ‘self-murder’. In the past in many countries suicide was treated as a crime and if someone tried but failed to commit suicide then they would be severely punished. Today, most people recognise that if someone wants to commit suicide, this is often because they are very depressed or suffering from another kind of mental illness. Religious teaching about suicide often dates to times when people understood a lot less about mental illness than they do today.

Suicide accounts for less than one percent of total deaths in Britain every year. Suicide rates among young people went up by thirty percent between 1985 and 1996. Men, on average are three times as likely to commit suicide as women. The suicide rate amongst alcoholics is eighty times greater than for the rest of the population. Up to 1961, it was a criminal offence to commit suicide or attempt to do so. In 1961, the Suicide Act was passed, but it still remains a criminal act, punishable by up to fourteen-years imprisonment, to aid or advise suicide. Attempted suicides are probably running at about 200,000 a year. Everyday through out the world at least 1,100 people commit suicide- one every eighty seconds.

There are many reasons why people commit suicide. Here are some of them. Bereavement, when there has been a death of a loved one. Insecurity, when someone has been stemming from childhood. Loneliness, when someone does not have anyone close to talk to. When someone loses faith in the future. When someone has been threatened about a nuclear war (in 1985 a man killed himself and his family after seeing Threads, a film about nuclear war). When someone loses his or her self-confidence. When someone has deep depression caused by mental illness. An attempted suicide can be a cry for help. When someone is suffering from old age or a disease (terminal illness or a long drawn out illness). When someone is worrying about money or is having problems with drink and drugs. When someone has pressure from work or even at school. When someone is having family problems (e.g. Divorce or affairs). When someone does not want to be defeated (e.g. in 73 CE, 960 Jews committed suicide at Masada, rather than surrender to the Romans). When someone wants to sacrifice him or herself.

Suicide is not acceptable in Hinduism, when it involves when it involves people taking their own lives because of hopelessness and depression. However, when people take their lives as self-sacrifice or because they cannot bear to be parted from someone who has just died, this is accepted and even approved of by Hindus. Suttee, sometimes spelt sati is an example of this kind of suicide; it is the name given to a custom in which Hindu widows used to throw themselves onto the flames of their husbands’ funeral pyres as a way of showing their faithfulness and devotion. It was believed that this death would earn the women great karma and so bring about good fortune in the next life. The custom was made illegal in 1829 because of its cruelty and because sometimes women were forced into suicide by their relatives, who made it clear that they did not want to have responsibility of looking after a widow.

For a long time, animals were used in all kinds of experiments: for cosmetics, for cleaning products, for food additives and in many other ways. This still goes on, although people are made more aware of it today from people who support animal rights and some make an effort to avoid buying products that have used animal testing. There are strict government guidelines about how the animals should be treated and how different companies should share the results of their experiments so that the number of animals used can be reduced.

Testing on animals is an important part of medical research. Many of the drugs people use today have been tested on animals. Also many medical and surgical procedures, such as the use of artificial feeding tubes and heart surgery, have been tested on animals before they have been used to save human life.

Most medical scientists argue that, unless these tests had taken place, we would not have the safe and essential medicines that we now rely on. We can now diagnose and treat illnesses that once killed thousands of people. Animal experiments were used in the discovery of vitamins, in the understanding of how embryos develop, in the development of anaesthetics and in the understanding of how diabetes can be treated. Tests on animals have helped to produce a vaccine polio, drugs for the treatment of asthma and new ways of helping very premature babies to survive. These are just a few examples. Today, experiments using animals continue, in the hope of discovering ways of curing cancers and finding treatments to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

Some people believe, however, that it is wrong to use animals in this way. Many of the tests are painful for the animals. Some people argue that an animal has just as much of a right to life as humans do and that we should not treat them in this way.

Unlike many other religious believers, Hindus do not often believe that people are much more important than other kinds of animals. Hindu beliefs include respect for all living things and a recognition of how all the different elements of nature work together to form a whole. Some animals are frequently used in Hindu images of the deities, as an aid to worship. For example, the bull is often associated with the god Siva, the tiger with the goddess Durga, the money with the god Hanuman and the elephant with the god Ganesha. The cow is especially important in Hinduism, as a sacred animal. Animals are treated with great care and respect and many Hindus will not eat meat or meat products because of their respect for animals.

The Hindu principle of ahimsa involves doing no harm to other living creatures. Hurting or destroying animal life leads to bad karma and the person who has done the damage can expect that, in the future, something similar will happen to them.

For all of these reasons, Hindus are opposed to any kind of cruelty to animals. Using animals unnecessarily in experiments is completely against Hindu teaching. However, some Hindus do accept that there are times when experiments on animals are essential for human health and therefore some might agree that when absolutely necessary, animals could be used in medical research. In India, medical research involving animals does take place, but not on the same scale as on the West. Many people are without even the most basic health care and the question of testing medicine and other procedures on animals does not arise except in the largest cities. People cannot afford to buy any medicines of any kind, whether they have been tested on animals or not.

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When Rinieri vows to get revenge on Elena, the first thing he does is become very patient and waits for the right time. He leaves it up to Fate to determine the circumstances under which he can get back at Elena. In other words, his Yin personality leads him to let things happen naturally. Many days after Elena purposely leaves him out in the cold all night, his love for her quickly turns to hatred. “He made a full recovery, and feigned to be more than ever in love with his widow, while he nursed his hatred” (Waldman 509). Rinieri pretends to still be in love with Elena by suppressing his anger in front of her and her maid. He remains patient for about six or seven months, and during that time he continues to strategize the many different ways he can get his revenge. Then, when the day finally comes for him to put his plan into action, he is ready.

On the other hand, the wife in “Bisclavret” can best be described as having a Yang personality, because she makes things happen and does not wait. When her husband, Bisclavret, confesses to her that he is a werewolf, she is overwhelmed with emotions. Suddenly, “over and over she considered how she might get rid of him”(Hanning and Ferrante 94). She wanted to do something as fast as possible in order to get rid of him. The lais leads the reader to believe that she gets her revenge on her husband the very next time he leaves for the woods. She did not take a sufficient amount of time to consider all aspects of her plan and make it flawless.

Another method that allowed Rinieri to achieve the perfect revenge was his determination to make Elena understand her punishment. He says to her, “what you’re now suffering will be my lesson to teach you what it is to spurn men who have any feelings…” (Waldman 515). He lectures to her for a long period of time and expresses how he feels about her cruelty towards him and how he could have loved her better than the younger man she had. He also explained to Elena the reasons why an evil woman like herself deserves to be on the tower. His objective is to force her to understand the pain he felt when she placed him in a similar situation.

On the contrary, the wife in “Bisclavret” made a mistake by not forcing her husband to understand her revenge. After her husband’s confession, she felt betrayed, hurt, and scared but never got the opportunity to express those feelings to her husband. Her strategy should have included more detail. For example, she could have trapped Bisclavret in a cage, and then enlightened him the same way Rinieri enlightened Elena. Bisclavret was never informed as to why his wife took his clothes, so all he lived with was the fact that his wife betrayed him.

The final lesson that Rinieri could teach the wife in “Bisclavret” would be to make sure that the person whom you seek to revenge learns from their punishment. When Rinieri makes Elena suffer in the scorching sun, on the tower, she begins to reflect on all of the wrong that she has done. She begs for her life on several occasions, but Rinieri does not give in to her. Elena readily says that she will give up her faithless young man altogether, and make Rinieri her only lover and master (Waldman 516). Rinieri, hearing her pleas, still made her suffer longer. When he finally allowed her to come down from the tower, she was forever changed. She refused to ever think of her lover and never played on a man’s affections again.

Unfortunately, the wife in “Bisclavret” did not teach her husband a lesson. She thought that her plan had removed Bisclavret from her life forever, but she was wrong. He did not learn any lesson. She should have kept him confined somewhere until he learned not to disrupt another woman’s life. Instead, a year later, Bisclavret saw her and tore her nose off of her face. Then, the king subjected her to torture so that she would reveal where she put Bisclavret’s clothes. To make matters worse, later on in her life, she had some nose-less children.

Obviously, Rinieri could teach the wife in “Bisclavret” several ways to develop a successful revenge strategy. Rinieri had patience and waited for an opportunity to arise, and the wife immediately took her plan into action. Rinieri made Elena understand why he was getting revenge on her, but the wife did not attempt to make her husband understand.

Finally, Rinieri made sure Elena learned a lesson from her punishment, but the wife’s husband learned no lesson at all. If the wife in “Bisclavret” could have followed Rinieri’s guidelines when she wanted to seek revenge on her husband, her later misfortune would not have occurred. When a person wishes to get revenge on another, they have to develop a precise plan so that what goes around will not come back around to them again.

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Baptism is an initiation rite, this means it is a ceremony by which a person is made a member of something. When you are baptised you become a Christian. Baptism is a sign of new life and it is said that if you are baptised you are born again. Baptism is the washing away of sins and a sharing in the life with God. All Christians who do baptise agree that there are two important features in every baptism which are, What god does is important and what human beings do is important. These are the symbols of baptism: Water: This is a powerful, natural symbol of life and death. It gives life to the desert but water can also have a bad side like when the sea is rough and many people have drown. Oil: Two kinds of oil are used before the baptism and is a sign of strengthening for the life long struggle of temptation, sin and evil. The fragrant perfume is a symbol of beauty and dignity of a child of god. White garment: In the early church when you get baptised you wore a white robe as a sign of the fact that he was clothed with Christ when he was baptised. The garment would usually be provided by the mother of the child. The messiahs clothing was white and this is why the garment is white. Candle: Jesus said that he is the light of the world so the candle is an important part in the baptism. The candle flickering is a sign of life. Words and gestures: The words “I baptise you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen – are the important words of baptism. The most important gesture in baptism is the sign of the cross. The cross represents the saving power of the crucifixion of Jesus.

Believers baptism is for people that are old enough to understand what they are doing. There is no minimum age for the believers baptism. People that get baptized by their own choice must choose themselves if they want to be Christians. When they make that choice they must commit themselves to Jesus as a savior and they must really love and serve him. Total immersion represents the believer identifying himself.

There are a lot of Christians that get baptized and there are some that do not get baptized. The Christians that do get baptized are: The catholic church, the Presbyterian church, the Methodist church, the Anglican church and the Baptists church. The Christians that do not get are: The salvation army and the Quakers. Christian churches believe that baptism is very important. Baptism is practized in most churches such as the catholic church, the Presbyterian church, the Methodist church and the Anglican church. Christians believe baptism to be very important because if they baptized all their sins will be forgiven and they will be accepted into the kingdom of God. There is a connection between baptism and resurrection because when you are baptized you are starting a new life and when you are arising you are also starting a new life. Baptism was important to Jesus because this was what he believed in and he wanted to join the kingdom of God when he died.

God has a lot of things to do with baptism. The three main things that God does are: forgives sins of the person being baptized, God receives them into his family as children and the last one is that he gives people a new spiritual life when baptized which continues with God after death for followers of Jesus. Human beings also have an important role to play during baptism. Those who are baptized must repent and accept Jesus as their savior and lord. When a child is baptized and the parents/God parents make the promises and statements on behalf of the child.

Christians understand the origins and purpose of baptism in different ways. There is a general understanding that the act of baptising forgives all sins and is a sign of joining other Christians in their new life as followers of Jesus Christ. Baptism is a physical act of which is a sign of new birth. Water is the important symbol used and the words of baptism expresses what is happening to the new member, however methods of joining the Christian church are different for various groups of Christians.

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There are four basic elements that are used in studying a discipline. They are conception, material field, methodologies, and subject-matter claims. Conceptions create images for structure and dynamics underlying observable phenomena. A discipline’s material field is the common-sense principality of objects and events that the discipline studies. Methodologies establish images of safe procedure and a clear conclusion by which a material field may be understood. Methodologies prescribe specific methods for collecting data that are used to evaluate a discipline’s conception. Subject matter claims are highly selective pictures of its material field that are made from inferences drawn out of individual methodological rules for the purpose of evaluating particular conceptions.

Eleanor Smith Bowen’s book, Return to Laughter takes a fictional approach to her study of the Tiv culture. She is an Anthropologist who examines the “rules of right behavior” as functions in the Tiv culture of West Africa. The material field of Bowen’s anthropological study is observing the Tiv people’s pattern of behavior in their everyday life. Some limitations to anthropology are that descriptions of the rules are reached with biased emotions, and you can’t do controlled experiments because it is real life. When anthropologists are participating with members of the culture, their own views and opinions become obstacles that get in the way of being objective. The conceptions (or culture) are learned through the rules of right behavior. An example of a rule of right behavior in the Tiv culture was laughing at disabled people. That behavior was extremely appalling to Bowen yet, it is a behavior that was acceptable in the Tiv culture. This is an example of how thick culture really does cut. Bowen learned the patterns of the Tiv people by using the methodology of participant observation. In order to thoroughly understand the culture and its people, Bowen had to assume the role of every possible member in society. She was her own best instrumental tool. In being assigned different names by the tribe, she was able to see what is expected from people of different social positions. As well as how the Tiv people interact with and treat individuals from different social positions. In making inferences from her experiences, Bowen arrived to her subject matter claims that the Tiv cultures focal point was witchcraft. The other was that older is more powerful and that power was cast in the male kindred line. It was a way of explaining the unexplained to the Tiv. It gave the Tiv a sense of hope and control, which showed they seriously, believed that’s the way it is; things happen for a reason. Bowen, in her study, was practicing normal science. She did not seem to be very innovative in her methods.

Peter Berger examines sociology and social structure in his book Invitation to Sociology. Sociologists study the functions of a population that function by specialization, and categorize members into groups that accomplish tasks in society. The material field is the study of a large population of people. This structure of society is thought to be an instrument of human adaptive behavior. The things that make up this structure must be different. Throughout history, structure endures a cycle of repetition. Roles are designed to establish social structure. The role provides a pattern to which the individual acts in a particular situation. Sociology’s conceptions is composed of a collection of like beings of the same kind, whose members live in a high state of interdependency, and who appear to be bent on enduring over time. Members of society find it necessary to seek the behaviors of others in order to satisfy their own wants and needs. They are not able to satisfy these needs on there own as individuals. In order for interdependency to work, it is important for members not to be carbon copies of each other. The limitations of sociology is that interdependency appears to relinquish freedom of choice. However, if freedom of choice were to be utilized by everyone the social system would break down. The methodologies used to study populations are survey research and experiments. This type of methodology can be difficult because it is impossible for every person within the population to be surveyed. Therefore, it is hard to be certain that it is an accurate demographic representation of the large society. The information collected from the surveys and experiments are formulated as the final outcome for the subject matter claims.

Anthropological and sociological sciences share similarities regarding material field and conceptions. The material field is objects and events that the discipline studies. An example of material field in anthropology was the small group of Tiv people that Bowen observed. The material field for sociology is a study of a large population. Conceptions in the study of anthropology consist of culture, which is the set of rules of right behavior that is shared by the people under study. These rules are shared and transmitted over generations. In sociology conceptions include a population in a high state of interdependency, which is built on trust. These studies involve examining people functioning in social systems, with an emphasis on external differentiation.

Anthropology and sociology have differences in the forms of methodologies.

Methodologies are specific methods for gathering data that can be used to evaluate conceptions of a discipline. Anthropology’s method of study is participant observation. The anthropologist observes a culture by participating as a member. Sociology utilizes survey research as a preferred methodology. This type of research includes questionnaires that are administered to carefully selected samples in the society under research.

The social sciences consist of different disciplines in which each studies certain aspects of the human adaptive behavior. Each discipline is geared to look at the pattern and diversity of humans in different ways, by asking different questions and using different material fields and methods. The conceptions, material field, methodologies and subject matter claims help to formulate scientific information as well as ideologies of human adaptive behavior. As has been shown, anthropology and sociology contain similarities as well as differences in their practices.

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The industrial Revolution was largely illustrated through technological strides which was seen through developments in electricity and the application of the internal-combustion engines to daily lives. The power of electricity was exploited to upgrade technology and social and home life. In 1831 an English scientist, Michael Faraday, drawing from the works of Ampere and other scientists, figured out that magnetism could produce electricity. This concept and principle is still in use today via the dynamo, a device that transformed mechanical energy into electrical energy. Thomas Edison, an American inventor, formulated an electric bulb that glowed for lengthy amounts of time before burning out. Realizing the importance of a steady flow of electric current to their destinations, Edison worked out a central powerhouse and transmission system. People also discovered means to tap waterfalls and rivers to run gigantic dynamos, whose hydroelectric power was transmitted through wires. The internal-combustion engine was designed to drive individual vehicles by combusting the fuel inside a closed cylinder. Gottlieb Daimler, Karl Benz, and Louis Renault were some of the pioneers of this area. The engine was the key to the successful production of Henry Ford’s automobiles. Beginning from the Montgolfier brothers in the 1700s, people used lighter-than-air balloons to hover above the ground. In 1903 the Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright of the US, successfully flew a heavier-than-air airplane because of their study of aerodynamics and the utilization of the internal-combustions engine to propel the aircraft. The strides in both the electric industry and the internal-combustion showed how science and technology could be combined to generate great inventions.

Discoveries in electricity gave away to progress in communications as seen by the invention of the telephone and the telegraph. Alexander Graham Bell, an American, transmitted the human voice over a long distance through an electric circuit. He patented his telephone in 1876. An Italian inventor, Guglielmo Marconi, by studying the discoveries of James Clerk Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz, devised instruments for sending and receiving radio waves. From its creation in 1896 and afterwards, this wireless telegraph sent messages through space without wires and they became indispensable for ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communications. The telephone and telegraph helped narrow down the communication gap and linked areas, previously unknown and impassable, to the modern world. This increase in communications also gave a major boost to the spirit of nationalism as people of the same religion, ethnicity, or creed could easily communicate with their peers around the rest of the world, and could distribute the nationalistic ideas of western philosophers around a particular area. Such a major development in communications was only due to the advancements in technology that took place because of the industrial revolution.

Many significant innovations in physical science were made as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Probably the architect of modern physics and the modern atomic theory, John Dalton, an English chemist and schoolteacher, devised a method for “weighing” atoms. From Dalton’s discoveries, Dmitri Mendeylev, organized all known elements into the Periodic Table thus providing a practical taxonomy of the elements. Other discoveries such as the result of motion of a body’s atomic particles ascertained the atomic theory as a part of physics. In 1895 a German physicist, Wilhelm K. Roentgen, discovered X rays that became an imperative diagnostic tool in medicine, and their subsistence raised new questions about the physical world. Some people could not accept the crude theories about the structure and nature of the atoms so they experimented further into its characteristics. Such a person, J.J. Thompson, discovered the electron, an electrically charged component of the atom. Even another critical discovery was made when Pierre and Marie Curie determined that the atoms of elements such as uranium perpetually disintegrate and released energy on their own. This process is known as radioactivity. Combining Thomson’s concept of electrons and the Curies’ discovery of radioactivity, Ernest Rutherford of Great Britain bombarded atoms of radioactive elements with heavy particles. He discovered smaller particles, which he identified as protons.

Although some concepts of the atom were incorrect, the discoveries made by Dalton, Mendeylev, Thompson, the Curies,’ and Rutherford opened the door to modern physics and new inventions such as the atomic bomb and nuclear power.

Two of the greatest icons of 20th century physics were undoubtedly Max Planck and Albert Einstein. In 1900 the German physicist Max Planck demonstrated that energy could be released only in different “packages” which he entitled quanta, therefore disapproving the traditional belief that energy was incessant and that it could be divided into any number of smaller units. Planck’s quantum theory created the foundation for a completely new move towards the study of matter and energy. In 1905 an amazingly young but industrious German scientist, Albert Einstein, composed four papers that transfigured physics. In his first paper, Einstein scrutinized some of the basic concepts of mechanics and wrote an argument to prove the existence of atoms. In his second paper, Einstein modified Planck’s quantum theory to portray the nature of light. While Planck deemed that light was a continuous wavelike marvel, Einstein mathematically showed that light can also be composed of tiny particles of energy. In his third paper, Einstein expounded his special theory of relativity and finalized that no particles of matter can move faster than the speed of light and motion can be measured only relative to some particular observer. So, there was no point to speak about absolute motion, space, or time. His ultimate and briefest paper was his celebrated formula E=mcІ. The formula affirmed that a tiny amount of mass could be changed into a colossal amount of energy. Einstein’s ideas came into conflict with Newtonian laws which dictated that the universe is expressed in three dimensions but Einstein asserted that there was also a fourth dimension to the universe. The discoveries of Max Planck and Albert Einstein led toward later more advanced scientific discoveries.

Improvements in the biological sciences were no less dynamic than the development and advancement of its physical counterparts. It was known that cells existed in every living creature but they were not accepted as the unit of living matter until 1858. A German scientist Rudolf Virchow rectified the cell theory and further declared that cells were susceptible to outside force or diseases. He also concluded that a new cell is fabricated from an older cell and that only living matter constructed new living matter. By the late 1800s, the cell was commonly recognized as the basic unit of living matter. Regrettably, the cell was also the most prone to diseases but fortunately noteworthy breakthroughs in medicine went hand in hand with science and assisted in extending human life. This was reassuring because epidemics eliminated more people than did wars, droughts, or natural disasters put together. Edward Jenner may have been a person who believed that prevention was the best cure. Like a good scientist, he observed that milkmaids contaminated with cowpox never got smallpox even during an epidemic. In 1796 he developed a vaccine from the liquid in cowpox scabs and injected it into the skin of a young boy. The boy never contracted smallpox, even if he was vulnerable to it. Louis Pasteur, a French chemist, showed that bacteria could reproduce and travel from place to place. Some of them were beneficial while others, referred to as germs, initiated diseases. In the 1860s Louis Pasteur discovered and fabricated a way to eliminate all germs in milk by heating it. This process was called pasteurization in his honor. Throughout the 1870s Pasteur developed a vaccine to prevent anthrax by injecting weakened germs into a person, thus sharpening up the immune system and preventing anthrax from developing in that person. The immune system builds up antibodies to fight the vector that causes the disease. Before the 1840s surgery was primitive, crude, painful, and frequently lethal. During the 1840s, the discovery of painkillers such as chloroform and antiseptics to reduce bacterial infection revolutionized surgery by making long surgeries feasible and lessening the fatality rate. Other medicinal refinements include the isolation of the TB bacteria by Robert Koch in 1882. The discoveries of Pasteur, Lister, and Koch opened up a way to an international fight against disease that eradicated diseases such as malaria and yellow fever from the western world and controlled them in some areas. Scientists also determined multitudinous medicines such as aspirin, insulin, penicillin, and sulfonamides. These new inventions and discoveries combined with public awareness for sanitation helped eradicate most bacterial diseases in the western world and would later succeed in eradicating smallpox and controlling common diseases such as whooping cough, beriberi, polio, measles etc. in most vicinities of the planet.

Despite the widespread acceptance of the cell theory, creationism was the only acceptable solution to the development and creation of life on earth. Some scientists like Jean Baptiste Lamarck believed in evolution as the mechanism to change in life and proposed that living beings changed their form in response to the environment. In 1859 the English naturalist Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. His main topic was that in any given generation some creatures would subsist while others will succumb. The survivors would be the ones that were the most adapted to the current environment. This idea was either known as “survival of the fittest” or natural selection because nature “selected” who would live and who would die. The survivors would then produce offspring and the offspring would produce more offspring. Darwin’s theory enthused scientists to garner evidence that would either prove or disprove their problem. Darwin’s theory stirred up controversies among religious groups and many people who did not believe that apes and human beings were related. In spite of Darwin’s spectacular discoveries, it could not be ascertained why the offspring were not identical to their parents. Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk, founded genetics, or the study of the passing of traits between plants and animals and their descendants. By experimenting with pea plants, Mendel verified that inborn characteristics were inherited through genes and alleles. It could be said that the theory of evolution and the quantum theory were the most distinguished theories in the world and displayed how one development could lead to another.

Between the dawn of the industrial Revolution during the 1700s to 1850, the population of Europe skyrocketed. A reason why the population grew so rapidly was because of enhancements in diet and food storage. In the 1900s biologists established the significance of vitamins and minerals, and diseases stemming from vitamin deficiencies, such as rickets, were eradicated from the westernized world. Pasteurization and refrigeration were crucial in preserving and transporting food. As a result of these improvements, the population exploded and it became quite clear that Europe was too small a continent and was getting overcrowded. Large numbers of people emigrated to new lands such as North and South America, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The ranks of the emigrants included the economically insecure Irish and Italians, and the oppressed Jews, Armenians, and Slavs. The mass movement of people spurred urbanization as immigrants flocked to the cities. Nevertheless, urbanization created problems such as deterioration in sanitation, and a steep rise in crime rates. To alleviate the sanitary hazards, public sewers were set up and homes were supplied with running water. Laws compelling the installing of better heating systems and better assembling of buildings were passed. Roads were paved and street lights were set up. The city governments also equipped and organized a police force to patrol streets and defend the rules. As cities became more congested, suburbs, or residential districts on the outskirts of the cities appeared and people moved into them. The surge in population during the Industrial revolution demanded more and more leisure and culture activities to quench the thirst of the amusement-hungry citizens. People participated and joined soccer, rugby, or American football clubs, or simply watched these games for entertainment. People who were culture or art oriented were contented when the city government built concert halls, museums, and libraries. Knowing that even the most vigorous of workers had to relax, the city government built public parks and amusement parks. The industrial revolution resulted in a transition from rural areas to cities causing many problems but some, like the necessity of amusement, were tackled due to the improvements in science and technology made possible by the very same industrial revolution.

Though the industrial Revolution was marked by extraordinary discoveries and accomplishments in physical and biological sciences, it also initiated a renewed and more profound interest in the social sciences. Political science, or the study of politics was a favorite subject among the social sciences, and writers tried to study law and government through the scientific manner advocated by physicists and biologists. Economics also became a hot social science topic. The way historians interpreted history was forever changed by the Industrial revolution as nationalist historians identified the triumphs and glories of their native countries. There was shift in more concentration towards the study of ordinary people and how they lived at the expense of the study of wars and great leaders. Darwinist historians attempted to judge historical events in terms of evolution. Scientists became more and more fascinated with anthropology or the study of the development of early humanlike creatures and how they looked, how long they lived, and other characteristics. Progress in the field of sociology- the study of human interactions in society- developed into an important facet of the industrial and post-industrial era. Between 1877 and 1896, Herbert Spencer applied Darwin’s, the languid, the inconsiderate, the delinquent- contribute nothing. If the inferior people, so conception of “natural selection” and stated that civilization consisted of two types- the superior people who contribute to the evolution of society and the inferior people- the poor he said, were allowed to wither away, the world would eventually be the exclusive domain of the superior people. This theory came to be acknowledged as social Darwinism. Another social science, psychology, or the study of the human mind flourished under the industrial revolution. There was no disagreement that Ivan Pavlov and Sigmund Freud were the architects and greatest symbols of modern psychology. By applying Darwin’s theory of evolution and the use of animals, Ivan Pavlov, a Russian biologist, made certain that all actions, even mental activity, comprise a series of connected conditioned reflexes. Sigmund Freud, an Austrian physician, introduced the science of psychoanalysis, that is, investigation of the unconscious mind, and by it brought relief and hopes to millions of disturbed minds. Social sciences were vital elements in the aftermath of the industrial revolution as we starting discovering who we really are and how we had made a difference.

Many factors such as social and economic transformations, combined with technological advancements spurred the demands for education. Industrialists required literate workers as well as more engineers, scientists, and technicians. Nationalists considered that schools would encourage patriotic feelings and the military needed educated soldiers, engineers, and technicians. Many governments in Europe and the United States established new systems of education which included primary and secondary education, kindergartens, state universities, and vocational and technical training. Still, the bulk of the working-class children studied as long as the law commanded and then they drifted back to work to earn money. Middle class children, conversely, attended secondary school and often went to college. There had been a lot of controversy surrounding women education but many countries disregarded them and granted elementary education to all girls. However, many countries offered dissimilar courses to girls in secondary school therefore bestowing diminutive or no education that could prepare them for the intricacies and privations of college. This kind of mass education had equally massive consequences. People became better informed about contemporary issues and increasingly read magazines, newspapers, and books. This conducted the path towards the expansion of newspapers, both in importance and popularity. Some of the principal reasons why education, and indirectly the industrial revolution, transformed the world was because it diminished ignorance to an extent and enabled us to perform leaps in science, technology, arts etc. that people once would have never believed.

The industrial revolution had an extensive weight on many different subjects including the literature, music, and art. These three mirrored the essence of the times. The early 1800s was truly a romantic age, an age when writers authored works that portrayed life as it used to be, or they thought what it should be, rather than what it actually was. Romantic authors lionized the past, notably the Middle Ages with its material atmosphere of gallant knights, castles, and damsels in distress. Another favorite romantic topic was nationalism which was steadily growing in the 1800s. Romantic musicians and composers eulogized human bravery and feats and that people should articulate their feelings fervently. They disowned the choppy and overly extravagant tunes of baroque composers like Bach. Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Frederic Chopin, Peter Tchaikovsky, Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner, Gustave Mahler, and Claude Debussy were renowned romantic composers. Romanticism even encroached, if not revolutionized, painting and architecture. France was the nucleus of romantic painters and sculptors. Romantic painters illustrated scenes of the past viscous with action and drama, and a love for nature. Romantic elements in architecture advocated the renaissance of the Gothic style. Romanticism was a convoluted orientation that emphasized the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental.

Distinct to its materialist counterpart, realism stressed the immaculate depiction of nature or of contemporary life. Important realist authors include Gustave Flaubert, Mary Ann Evans, Leo Tolstoy, and Henrik Ibsen. In the United Sates, realism was shown as regionalism or the portrayal of everyday life in a gigantic country. Regionalist works consist of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. By the dusk of the 19th century naturalism carried realism to the hideous and unsightly facets of everyday life. Well-knows naturalist authors include Emile Zola and Charles Dickens, both of them depicted the grueling and destitute lives of the poor. Realist painters endeavored to recount vibrant impressions of people and places as they might seem in a brief glance. The recitation of these vivid impressions in a painting is known as impressionism. Claude Monet and Pierre-August Renoir were some of the foremost impressionist painters. Unlike romanticism which concentrated on heavy materialism, realism focused on all the overlooked aspects of everyday life and society and manifested some of the ugly sides of the Industrial revolution.

Romanticism and realism have had their “golden ages” in the arts and they were quickly replaced in support of experimentation. Painting styles became more individual-oriented and the emphasis was placed on shape, color, and feelings. These brave painters and sculptors who defied tradition and social contemptuousness were Paul Cйzanne, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edouard Manet, and Auguste Rodin. The growing appeal towards abstract forms marked the viscous materialism of romanticism and paved the way towards new forms of art that would manifest themselves in the 1900s.

The industrial revolution was truly one of the two most critical transformations to have taken place in human history rivaled only by the commencement of agriculture 10,000 years ago. Every aspect of human life including the arts, literature, and music was altered by the course of the industrial revolution. This dynamic epoch saw sweeping advancements in technology, communication, all the sciences, medicine etc. in little more than a hundred years! Even the slightest imagination of such a period of time would have been incredible, romantic, unimaginable, preposterous, or even blasphemous two hundred years ago. However, it happened and definitely left a lasting imprint on the whole of the human race. Many of us think that the industrial revolution was an age of wonder and it shifted us to the digital age but a sizeable portion would not disagree less and spout out a powerful harangue about how the industrial revolution brought out class divisions, unequal sharing of wealth, globalization, poverty, and capitalism. Whatever the opinion may be, every advancement, modification, or invention from the steam engine in 1769 to the cloning of the first sheep in the 1980s was directly or indirectly a consequence of the industrial revolution.

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Because of this expanding knowledge demand, today’s education landscape is characterized by rising enrollments, changing demographics, and greater demand for anytime/anywhere learning. An intriguing example of this need is seen in the idea of e-learning, which is considered the fastest growing sector in educational approach. Therefore, it is very important to assess the quality of education offered through e-learning. We decided to do so through an examination of the quality and the possibilities for of Blackboard.com, one of the leading providers of e-education.

As the Internet grows, Blackboard’s roots in e-Education strengthen. What began as a collaborative effort among a team of students and faculty at Cornell University, has grown into a user base of two thousand clients (over five million individuals) in more than seventy countries worldwide, including colleges and universities, corporations and associations, as well as leading commercial education providers. In order to closely examine the quality of this site, we decided to look at its major advantages and disadvantages by following evaluation principles from the text, as well as an inside view from the student-learner’s perspective, since two of our group members took an educational course through Blackboard.

ADVANTAGES
Blackboard facilitates educational process in many institutions around the country. The website has many advantages which we divided into five following categories:

1. Convenience
2. Consistency
3. Customization
4. Privacy
5. Long-Term Cost Effectiveness

Convenience
There are two kinds of convenience that Blackboard offers:

• Time flexibility: Education is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
• Place flexibility: Education is available any place that has a computer and Internet access, i.e. learning is not a constraint to a particular geographic location.

This idea of anytime/anywhere education is of crucial importance to working individuals, students with physical/mobility disabilities, and mothers on maternity leave. They do not have to leave their house or take off from work, or spend time and money commuting in order to receive an education.

Consistency
Blackboard offers consistent quality of education from group to group over time, unlike courses relying on several different instructors for different groups, even within the same class. This has been an issue throughout the existence of organized education, because different schools, depending either on economic or social status were receiving different education. With e-learning, the idea of inequality or discrimination is brought to a minimum. In addition, material is consistent over the length of the course, and not susceptible to disruptions due to unexpected trainer turnover or illness.

Customization
Blackboard offers customization and interoperability that focus on individualized needs of students. This is achieved through following approaches:

• Customized Features: Blackboard offers a number of user-centric features that provide the sense of a learner-focused approach. This is achieved through the following tools:

- Personal calendar, address book, user directory and to-do list.
- Customized academic Web resources to fit individual needs and preferences.
- Selected announcements of future events collected according to individual needs and preferences.

• Self-Paced: Most of the courses offered by Blackboard are self-paced, catering to different learning speeds. This way, students who absorb material faster will not be bored and de-motivated by listening to the concepts they already know and understand. On the other hand, students who need more time to internalize these same concepts will have an opportunity to take that time, without feeling rushed or pressured.
• Immediate feedback: Any assignments, exercises, quizzes, or tests offered through Blackboard provide immediate feedback to the student. Over time, this feedback is customized through various techniques, pointing out the mistake pattern that a particular student tends to make. In addition, it provides the list of suggestions on how to overcome this weakness, whether it is regarding material content, or test taking abilities. From this perspective, Blackboard offers pedagogical flexibility that is not achieved in a traditional learning environment.
• Retention: Because of all these customized features that cater to unique learning needs, retention of material offered through Blackboard is at least as good as with other methods, and is often superior.

Privacy
The anonymity of Blackboard and e-education in general, offers an element of privacy that was previously unknown. There are individuals who actually prefer to interact with teachers and fellow students online. In the traditional classroom setting, a few students may dominate the discussion, while shy individuals may find it very difficult to participate because of their quiet nature. By contrast, both extrovert and introvert students can easily speak up online. The element of instructor/peer pressure is diminished, allowing students to express their opinions more comfortably. In addition, e-students tend to reflect more before participating, and therefore their comments and viewpoints often contain more logic and coherence than those expressed in classrooms. Also, a variety of forums within one discussion might be created, each with a distinct set of properties and approaches that allow for various pedagogical insights and routes to managing interaction. A number of colleges and universities, such as the University of Wisconsin, Madison, recognize and often prefer this method of discussion, characterizing it as “more effective and fact oriented, with low tolerance for discrimination”.

Long-Term Cost Effectiveness
The long-term asset that Blackboard’s educational program delivers is highly advantageous to schools who would like to offer e-learning opportunities to their students or companies who would like to do the same for their employees. Although the system’s disadvantage of start-up costs exists and will be considered in the next section, the infinitely lasting value given the institution is extremely advantageous. Schools do not need to worry about lack of room to accommodate enough students leading to costly expansions or building projects. Students are also benefited long-term by avoiding transportation, or lodging costs over a lifetime of education.

DISADVANTAGES
Although Blackboard facilitates the educational process in many institutions around the country, it has certain disadvantages akin to the Computer-Based Training companies. We divided them into five following categories:

1. Technical Problems
2. Lack of Interpersonal Skills
3. Short-Term Costs
4. Control
5. Inadequacies

Technical Problems
Although computer-based learning is the fastest growing educational approach, at the same time it’s the youngest. Because it is so new, Blackboard and other similar sites encounter problems associated with e-learning on a daily basis, most of them being technical in nature. Although it is certain these difficulties encountered from time to time will be worked out in the future leading to an incomparable learning experience, they now pose certain problems. Both students and teachers have difficulties logging in, posting messages, uploading assignments, and giving and taking tests. Some of the specific examples are described bellow:

• Blackboard.com operates very poorly on Netscape for Macintosh. This becomes quite a problem with Colleges and Universities, since over fifty five percent of them operate on Netscape for Macintosh because of slightly lower installation costs compared to other providers. Unless Blackboard comes up with a solution fast, this market segment is unreachable, and therefore lost.
• Resizing the quiz window using AOL connection often causes all entered information to be lost. This obviously causes the user dissatisfaction, especially during the test or training crunch time.
• Although theoretically Blackboard.com should work with almost any type of connection or PC, the practicality of situation is quite different. In order for a clip, test, or exercise to run smoothly, it needs a high-speed modem, as well as PC with a fast processing power. Therefore, many students end up using the University server, however in this case, the student obviously needs to be at the school which defeats the sole purpose of Blackboard.

Lack of Interpersonal Skills
Even though we now live in a knowledge-driven society, it is still one made up of people and knowing how to interact and operate in such society is still an irreplaceable part of any education. The following disadvantages may be offset by the traditional learning environment of a classroom but pose a threat to CBT programs:

• less effective or even inadequate in teaching interpersonal or soft skills
• less opportunities to get involved in student academic life
• peer learning not predominant nor teachers learning from their students

Short-Term Costs
Because the market and technology for e-learning is relatively new and is presently in high demand, the short-term costs prove to be a disadvantage for using Blackboard and similar sites.

• Start-up costs for equipment are very high.
• Equipment and information systems take a longer amount of time to develop than a traditional course.
• Instructors need to be trained for the initial use.
• System implemented cannot be modified easily and is therefore, more costly to change.

Control
The issue of controlling the learning environment to uphold honest academic conduct is seemingly difficult if not impossible in an e-learning setting. The following disadvantages are related to control:

• Attendance is not verifiable, thus it is easier for irresponsible student to skip the class.
• Identity of test-taker is not verifiably the same as the student who is enrolled.
• No control over when resources such as textbooks are used, if they’re being used when they are not supposed to be used, or whether resources are appropriate and honest for the students use.

Inadequacies
Even though e-learning is an excellent tool for training and understanding of certain skills, some subjects or abilities simply cannot be taught effectively through use of CBT. The following are those inadequacies (excluding interpersonal skills which were already discussed):

• For teaching physical or psychomotor skills.
• For times when an instructor is essential, i.e. for the benefit of role-play exercises and networking.
• For actively learning a foreign language through oral instruction.

As we have already mentioned, education is necessary in order to get ahead, and more importantly to stay ahead through a life-long, educational endeavor. Education can thus be viewed as a strategic set of maneuvers, whose learning approaches are not always black and white as we can clearly see from the above analysis. Each individual is unique, and therefore, they have different learning needs and goals. Blackboard.com and e-education in general caters to this need for both customized and individualized learning. However, that is not to say that the need for a more traditional approach, such as the classroom approach is diminishing. Certainly this is because for some students and for some contexts, the traditional classroom approach is irreplaceable. Perhaps the most accurate answer is that the most effective education will take place through an intelligent blend of learning approaches that are matched to the individualized needs and learning styles of the student.

INTERNET TRAINING SOURCES AND HUMAN RESOURCES:
The training and lifelong development of human talent, besides being an individual goal for many students and employees, is also a major aspect of Human Resources that is being newly redesigned with the advent of e-learning. E-learning is one of the future human resources competencies that will be critical to HR professionals because of current and future trends predicted for this field. Oddly enough, these trends coincide with several of the advantages of e-learning previously discussed. The positive qualities of internet training sources and the future of HR in four different categories are compared below:

• Workplace Flexibility: The fact that “employees will have more and more choices about work arrangements, allowing them to meet their individual needs” is no surprise in our society where convenience is of the utmost importance. E-learning via programs such as Blackboard parallel this flexibility in both place and time flexibility discussed under the advantage of convenience.
• Global Business: The prediction of “technology, especially the Internet [enabling] more businesses to enter the global marketplace” is no doubt already in full swing today. Technology thus brings all businesses to an even playing field so to speak, breaking down barriers and enforcing total objectivity in the marketplace. This is similar to Blackboard’s commitment to consistency where statuses are invalid and inconsequential to a global learning environment that emphasizes equality.
• Work and Society: A renaissance to the importance of family will supposedly be achieved because “families will return to the center of society.” This also compliments Blackboard’s flexibilities in time and place, again included in convenience advantages because mothers who chose to have a family life, can still pursue their learning goals without leaving their house or taking off work to do so.
• Workforce Development: The opinion that “training will be delivered “just in time,” wherever people need it, using a variety of technology” cuts to the very core of e-learning and what Blackboard is founded upon. The self-paced nature and personal customization of Blackboard indicates the training is just in time for each particular student, learning as they need to know the subject either for themselves or their employers.

So regardless of what the life-long learning objectives, societal trends can change how one pursues them, be it through the traditional classroom setting, e-learning such that Blackboard offers, or a combination of the two. It should be expected then, that the work environment through the Human Resources function of the organization and all others would also be effected and adopt some of these trends for a more efficiently and effectively run operation.

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A fashion designer has to go through many, sometimes stressful and long stages before the clothing is made. “The designers often begin by researching the desired design characteristics, such as size, shape, weight, color, materials used, cost, ease of use, fit and safety.”(Designers 1) Sometimes there can be a great difference between what is considered stylish and what the people actually buy. In order to research the fashion designer would often flip through fashion magazines, sometimes even at home, when sipping coffee, and would attend many fashion shows. By attending fashion shows he or she will know what kinds or fashions are made by other designers. After the designer has completed the research process, the next step would be predicting what the trend will be in about six months to a year. This needs to be known because usually designers work on their collections six months to a year in advance. For example, in the fall of 2002 the designer would work on the spring/summer 2003 collection and in the winter and spring of 2003 he or she would work on the fall 2003 collection. After predicting the next trend however, the designer then makes original sketches and if he or she works for a company shows the sketches to the owners to make sure that they suit the company’s style and image. “After the design is approved, it is made out of muslin. Darts and seams are put into the muslin garment as it is molded on a model or a dressmaker’s dummy.”(Dress Design 4) At this time, it could be decided that some designs are not possible to recreate in real life and that the garments from these designs should not be created. Additionally, this is the time for the designer to make any necessary changes before the samples can be made out of the fabric that they were intended to be made out of. When the sample garments are finally made, they are put in a fashion show that is attended by possible retail buyers or individual clients. If the designer works for a department store though, the garments can be reproduced to sell right away. Also, the samples can be photographed and put in a catalog and be made only with order. All of it depends on where and by whom the designer is employed.

Having a career in fashion design also, requires many certain qualities and skills. Being creative, sensitive to beauty, confident, driven, hard-working, passionate and cooperative is required in this field. Without these qualities one cannot be a successful fashion designer. To be successful a person must posses a lot of creativity and style. The designer must not be afraid to go beyond what is expected and to know how to make color and balance work together. Confidence and drive are equally necessary because usually it takes fashion designers years to get noticed and to get established. In this industry “ competition is stiff and success is always hard won.”(Career as a Fashion Designer 3) The ideas of the designers are often rejected which makes it really important for them to believe in themselves and be determined to succeed. Being passionate about their job and being a hard worker are two other very important traits. Fashion designers must love their job and be willing to stay up all night finishing their projects because often they will have to do just that. “Given the hardships, designers have to be crazy about what they do. How else would they be able to survive the grueling hours, low entry-level pay, and lack of guarantees?”(Han 2) Being cooperative is also necessary, as the designers get to work with many different people and must be able to be team – players. In addition, fashion designers must have the following skills: active learning skills, operations analysis skills, active listening skills, critical thinking skills and systems evaluation skills. Without these skills, it would be very difficult for one to survive in the fashion industry.

To become a fashion designer it is good if one starts to explore this profession early in life to determine whether it is right for him or her. Taking art classes at school and an enrolment in a design program would be great for one who considers a career in the fashion field. The person who wants to become a designer should study drawing, sketching, designing, fabric and textile sciences. He or she should also complete a two to four year designing program later on and get a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts with a major in fashion design.

After completing the education process the designer can start working. Although there are not too many jobs in this field, the demand keeps growing each year.

“During 1997, there were approximately 23,867 fashion designers employed in New York. We estimate that in 2007 there will be 28, 936 designers employed in New York. This represents an increase of 507 new positions each year (2.12%). Additionally, 3,886 jobs per year (16.28%) will become available due to employee turnover.”(Fashion Designers 4)

Because he or she would be just starting work in this field, the salary of a fashion designer would not be too high also. An average starting salary would be between 13,500 and 20,000 dollars. At the median level the salary would be between 20,000 to 50,000 dollars and between 60,000 and 75,000 dollars if a designer is exceptionally skilled or has a lot of experience. Sometimes however, depending on where the designer works, there might not even be a salary because the designer could be paid by assignment. That happens to many designers who have their own businesses. Others, who work for big companies such as Gap and Express get a regular, stable salary. Aside from money, when just starting out in the fashion industry it would be wise for one to work with an established designer to get a taste of what this profession is like. The starting designer could learn a lot from the established one and get experience at the same time.

What would working as a fashion designer be like? Depending on where the designer works the working conditions for a fashion can change from person to person. If one works at a big company, he or she most likely enjoys regular working hours. The designer also has to work long hours sometimes to meet special deadlines and work with many other people. ‘”I may work 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. a few weeks to a few months each season,” says an insider.’(Han 2) When in such a situation, the designer must have the created designs approved his bosses. Sometimes, the designers must be required to travel to different locations. If the designer is self-employed, he or she has to do everything for the business. Self-employed designers usually do not work with a lot of people, mostly their family or some other helpers. These designers work extra long hours while they establish their businesses and often enjoy an irregular and small salary. The top-of-the industry designers who have a lot of individual clients, on the other hand, receive a lot of money. They get to work with many famous people, including singers and actors and travel to alluring destinations all over the globe.

In the end, being a fashion designer is a serious commitment that has its own positive and negative sides. Fashion design can: be very competitive and stressful, require many personal characteristics, different skills and hard work. However, it can also take one to alluring destinations all over the world, bring fame and establish wealth. One of the other positives of fashion design can be no need of a long education. In the end, one must decide, based on values and knowledge, whether he or she has what it takes to be a fashion designer.

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These key items would be computers and the Internet. Although you don’t realize it all of the time, they are the sole things that keep you going. What makes it so when you turn the key in the ignition of your car it starts? That would be a computer. What controls when the traffic lights change? That would also be a computer. When you go on your computer at work what do you use? You use the Internet. Everyone uses them; it’s just that you use them so much you don’t think of it as often. Other items that play smaller roles are items such as satellite TV and cable TV.

The world has changed since these machines have come along. It’s almost scary to stop and think how much we rely on them on our day-to-day routine. So you must realize that with this advanced technology there are pros and cons. Just sometimes the cons are hard to find.

Development of the Computer and Internet
The computer is an invention that has shaped and molded a generation of people from all over the world into one big community. The Internet has helped bridge giant gaps in communication and business alike. Both of these wonderful creations are now what the things you use everyday, use to keep them going. This fact can be seen as both a positive and a negative to how technology plays a part in everyone’s life. No matter how you choose to look at the computer and the Internet, they are both very important pieces of both our history and our future.

The first electronic digital computers were created to assume the position of giant calculators to figure out calculations needed in building weapons for World War II. A man named John P. Eckert built the first of these machines in 1942. His machine was called the ENIAC or the Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator. ENIAC used 18,000 vacuum tubes, used about 1,800 square feet of floor space, and consumed around 180,000 watts of electrical power. This was a very hard to work with and not very user friendly but it worked with the programs it was built to work with.

Close to 30 years later the first actual use of an Internet type network was used. Originally in 1969 the Internet was developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency under a program titled the Resource Sharing Computer Networks. It was created so that military sites could maintain communication around the world in the event of a nuclear attack. Then when the cold war ended the Internet was kept around for basically the same reason, it was used as a long distance communications tool. Much like a phone would be before its time. The Internet stayed a pretty private thing until in 1989 a man by the name of Tim Berners-Lee helped to create the World Wide Web. His idea took “hyper-text” and extended its abilities not only within documents but also from different computer sites. His creation was released as the first ever web server. In 1992 there were over 1,000,000 hosts for the Internet. In the web’s third year it had a growth rate of 341,634%.

That was just the beginning of what has come to be a new way of looking at things. Computers and the Internet now connect almost the entire world. And to think that this was how it all began.

Internet Classrooms
In recent years there has been a lot of controversy over whether or not to use the Internet as a classroom for learning. The debate is very fueled and both sides have their own good points.

As with everything in life there are pros and cons. We’ll start off with the pros. They are as follows; students get enjoyment from using computers to learn, without knowing the students will soon no longer consider a school subject so boring, most of all since sending messages play a very important part in working on the net students will learn valuable social skills. With that last point in mind, the Internet can be viewed as a tool for socialization.

Now we shall look over the cons on the subject. First of all there is fear from teachers of many things like job loss, new technology, and vulnerability. The next is the desire to hold onto traditional teaching methods where the teacher is the central emphasis for the class. The last main con to Internet learning is that the teacher can never really be sure as to whether or not the person taking the test or answering questions is really the person registered for the class. These are all very important points.

Along with pros and cons there are also advantages and disadvantages in the arguments over Internet learning. One of the first advantages that come to mind is the accessibility of the Internet. You don’t need to be a whiz kid to search the net. Programs are getting more and more user friendly every day. That being said it wouldn’t be very hard to learn to use the Internet as you would a schoolbook, and if you have trouble there are millions of people online who would be willing to help you. One of the teacher’s advantages would of course be the wide spectrum of authentic material available on the net. Also with such a wide range of information it helps for everyone to find something he or she likes. Students will also gain the important skill of separating the relevant material from the false information.

The disadvantages are there also, its not a one sided argument. There is very much a lack of organization on the net. There is no coherent structure. There is in fact so much information on the net that at some times it can become overwhelming. Finding some topics on the net can also be a task in itself. At the same time some topics will have you buried neck deep in information making it important and almost a necessity to be able to weed through and find the important information. Since it is easy to put up your own website now-a-days many people with very little information on subjects take up space and make clutter when trying to find certain needed info. The speed of the Internet can be a weighty factor in learning anything over the web. With the numbers of users rising every day the Internet is becoming more and more congested. This would make limited lesson times a problem due to the lag time for messages to be relayed. Downloading files and graphics to be used can become a tedious job and to try and squeeze it into a lesson would be a hard task. From a teachers standpoint the vast array of information on the Internet is a turnoff. Much of the info is not relevant, desirable, or even appropriate for students’ studies. There have been debates over controversial information found on the Internet such as racist propaganda and pornography, and the major argument was that you could find it in everyday life also if you just looked around. But you wouldn’t find this info in a classroom or a university. Many teachers also say that yes, the Internet should be used for teaching purposes, but it should be integrated with the school curriculum and brought into the classroom. The last very big problem with the Internet is the ability for students to plagiarize. With modern software and the ease of cut and paste the temptation for students to copy entire works is very much there.

The argument over Internet learning will probably go on for another year or so. Both sides have very good points and will keep arguing them until they reach an agreement. There are many people who think we should move along with the times and start using the Internet to its full ability. But there are enough who want to stay traditional and keep kids in the real classroom to keep the computer generation from taking over. There are already colleges over the Internet, who knows what’s next. Maybe the next generation will never have to leave their house to learn; maybe they will roll over turn on their laptop and be at school. If only it was that easy now.

Impact of the New Media on China’s Press
The Internet can be anything you want it to be, there are basically no rules or boundaries to be found when dealing with the Internet. Some see the Internet as a means to make money, some see it as a way to connect, the people of China however see it as their only freedom of speech. They see it as a place to discuss politics and see how life is in other countries. In the last few years China’s use and availability of the Internet has dramatically increased as it has in most other countries. This makes a new problem for China’s govt. to watch over and try and control.

With the increasing popularity of Satellite and Cable TV a new media has risen up in China’s communist territory. The official government controlled news stations are quickly becoming outnumbered by commercial and overseas news. The Internet is becoming where everyone goes to find anything.

For however long anyone can remember propaganda authorities controlled all China’s “media”. Their “media” consisted of a couple newspapers, some magazines, and a few broadcasting stations, all run by the government. Today in China it is very different that what it used to be. There are over 2,000 newspapers, 900 TV stations, and over 90 million cable TV users. Along with those there are over 240, 000 websites. More than 26 million Chinese Internet users spend at least one hour a day on the net. Nearly 63% use the net for their news, about 24% of adult users and 40% of young users visit overseas websites. Overseas news outlets do not need to be approved by the Communist Party’s propaganda departments.

In the past the government found it easy to manipulate what people watched by limiting them to only one news channel. Besides news the program was used to put across the political parties propaganda campaigns and political mobilizations. But now the program is losing viewers rapidly due to the other entertainment available. When there was only one single source of information the people had no way of knowing whether the stories were true. Until the new forms of media came to the people, the propaganda authorities effectively controlled the flow of information. Now with the Internet the public no longer relies on the official information to make their own decisions and opinions. Instead when something happens, they research it to see if it was real and what all the facts were.

Until recently the flow of radio broadcasts was stopped by jamming the waves. And it was illegal to own a TV antenna. Anyone who wanted a fax machine had to register it with the Telecommunications Department. Today you still have to register your fax machine but not your computer or Internet. The radio broadcasts are controlled by a frequency licensing system. But any one who wants can start their own webcast and listen to them on the net.

With the emergence of these new forms of media in China, it has brought a new life to the people. A clear life where they can see what is really going on and not have to rely on the propaganda machine that runs their country. They now have ways of getting their voices heard and not just in their community, or there country for that matter, they can get it heard all over the world. This just shows how much importance the Internet has and what capabilities it has.

Terrorists Use the Net Too
The same advantages that the Internet is so famed for bringing to the general public is also being used by those we fear the most. Yes that’s right, terrorists use the net too. They use the Internet to encrypt their plans and even sometimes-full maps. The iDefense director of intelligence for special projects Ben Venzke stated “the internet and e-mail provide the perfect vehicles for these groups to communicate with each other, to spread their message, to raise money, and to launch cyber attacks.” A recent report from U.S. officials shows that terrorists’ use of the net is widespread. Government and Private security firms are doing all they can to keep up with them, but as technology advances the struggle gets harder and harder. Both the government and private parties agree that the web is widely used by such terrorist groups as Hezbollah and Hamas. These organizations use the net for propaganda and to exchange information. Matthew Devost has said that the groups working on the net could not only attack the Internet economy but also power, transportation and other systems that rely on information on the web.

Terrorists are getting creative with how they use the web. Pretty much wherever you can send an e-mail with audio or graphics is fair territory for terrorists. Also something called Steganography, which is putting encrypted messages in electronic files, is becoming widely used. A government report showed that they have been hiding pictures and maps of targets in sports chat rooms, on pornographic bulletins, and on web sites. And even though government officials are aware of the Internet activity there is nothing they can do. First we live in a country with free speech and they are just practicing their right. The other reason officials cant do anything is that it is impossible to track where a website was started and who posted what, where and when.

So until we find ways to track Internet use the terrorists have the upper hand in this fight. Darn us and our right to free speech.

Internet Businesses
The newer trends on the web are Internet businesses. They are cheap to run, easy to maintain, and it doesn’t take a genius to start one up. Businesses like Amazon.com and Cdnow.com don’t have a single real storefront but they make more than a lot of the normal department stores. One of the reasons people go online instead of the stores is to get away from the crowds. There aren’t people pushing and shoving to get in line in your own home (hopefully). A lot of the online stores have better prices than those you would find at a real Mall Type store. Some of these online shops don’t last very long at all, but the lucky ones are still staying strong.

Along with companies who only have virtual storefronts, many of the big companies have there own online shop. Many of these stores offer in-store pick up like Circuit City and Best Buy. Online you can also compare features of multiple products to figure out which one is better for you. The online stores are just a great convenience for those who either don’t like to go out shopping or those who just cant.

Internet Shopping also gets crazy around holiday time, especially Christmas. Many stores offer big deals like free shipping and guaranteed delivery by Christmas morning.

The company execs are cashing in on the virtual world. They have jumped on the bandwagon with the youth of the nation and found a new way to market their much-needed products. I speak for everyone when I say thank you to the Big Wigs.

Conclusion
In the end you see what a great role new media has brought to the world. It has brought a voice to the people who could not speak. It has brought new ideas into the classrooms of the future. It has brought more money to the corporate money mercenaries. But it has also helped terrorists. You know you just can’t win them all.

Thirty years from now I know that people will look back and see that things changed for the better, that our new forms of technology brought us all closer, and that nerds who thought computers would solve problems and not make them were right. Hopefully the Internet will merge all barriers and break down walls that are starting to decay.

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BAUW – THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT DURING THE PERIOD OF THE NATIONAL REVIVAL
The noble, enlightening wind of the modern times has ruffled the lines of our gentle sex as well, leaving there glorious monuments in honor of education. The women’s associations which are among the best and most precious fruits of the modern times and which initially were not considered to have as much stamina as they recently showed, are the clearest testimony of how mightily our people has been shaken by the hand of the spirit of the present era.

The women’s movement in Bulgaria dates back to the late 1850-ies, the period of the Bulgarian National Revival. Within less than a decade a myriad of women’s organizations were founded in just about every large town of the country. Bearing names like Milosurdie (Charity), Dobrodetel (Virtue), Razvitie (Progress) and Zhenski glas (Female Voice), they were part of the rich tapestry of a newly emerging national and social consciousness (Mouharska 23). The initial quote practically illustrates the unique synthesis of two pivotal discourses, which channeled the social energy of the epoch – the national and the educational. The two are so closely knit together, that reading through the documents of the time, one can hardly separate them. In a unique way the women’s movement was born out of this mixture in a non-antagonizing way. It suffices to remember that during the late 19-th century, prior to the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, Balkan societies were extremely patriarchal – probably a defense mechanism against assimilation (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences 128). It is within the constraints of national patriarchy, and the already loosening political ties of the Empire that women started to build a new identity, inscribing its discourse within the larger discourse of nation, enlightenment, education and progress. And while the larger, embedding nationalist discourse exhibits all the traits of social and political discontent and contestation, it also offers various new identities and incentives for collective action (Mouharska 55).

The women’s movement is a practical outcome of this new constellation of possibilities. Stepping out of the traditional roles of mothers and wives, women opted for education and emancipation. This development, however, was not overridden with gender conflict. Women came on the social scene precisely at the time when Bulgarian society was learning new social roles and competences. This also explains why for a long time the Bulgarian women’s movement did not evolve an oppositional gender discourse (Bulgarian Group for Gender Research 59). The driving force behind the numerous organizations of civil society both before and after the National Liberation, was the desire to catch up with the progressive spirit of the time and become reintegrated within Europe (Koumanov 283). And among the “European values” which Bulgarian society embraced wholeheartedly, were education and social participation for women.

After the Liberation
Bulgaria regained its national independence following the Russo-Turkish war in 1878. Politically, it was organized as a parliamentary monarchy with one of the most progressive democratic constitutions in Europe at the time, the Turnovo Constitution 1878-1879 (Hristov 210). In the period from the Liberation until World War II there was a rapid differentiation of the political and ideological field. The numerous political parties were loosely grouped around the conservative and liberal democratic concepts. It is in this period that a new dimension evolved within the discourse and practices of some women’s groups. For the first time claims were formulated against inequality in higher education, professional and electoral rights. World War I was the point of departure for a stream in the women’s movement which closely converged with socialist claims and ideology. The war acted as a catalyst for the radical wing among women’s groups (Mouharska 209). Pressed by poverty and the bleak realities of everyday life, women initiated a number of demonstrations and protest marches, some of which ended in violence, e.g. “the women’s revolts” in the tons of Svishtov, Sliven, Pazardzhik, Dupnitsa, Veliko Turnovo. Political parties did not lag behind the realities of civil society – practically all big parties had women’s wings (Bulgarian Group for Gender Research 66). This fact is hard to evaluate without special research. It is not quite obvious whether the political field was taking advantage of the energy generated by movement groups, and ultimately sapping its energy, or genuinely trying to add a gender dimension to political problems.

Origins of the BAUW
The Bulgarian Association of University Women (BAUW) was founded on May 29, 1924 in Sofia, as a cultural and educational organization, member of the International Federation of University Women. To be more precise, BAUW was co-founder of the IFUW along with the British and Swiss associations (“Archive of The Bulgarian Association of University Women”). Thus, it was inscribed within an international context right from its very beginnings. This fact was important for two reasons. Firstly, because all national member organizations shared similar aims and adopted identical statutes, and secondly, because the hierarchical structure and method of functioning ensured its sustainable development over a long period of time.

Here are some of the aims BAUW puts forward as the rationale for its existence:
a) to unite Bulgarian university women on the grounds of their common interests and encourage them in their scientific and social activities;
b) to give full intellectual and moral support to its members and – provided there is a financial possibility for that – assist them materially to work in the sphere of science and the arts;
c) to collect and distribute information of interest for its members;
d) to make a survey on the position of Bulgarian university women, by collecting and processing statistical data which refer to them;
e) to promote the professional equality among men and women;
f) to take special care of female students (“Archive of The Bulgarian Association of University Women”).
The inspiration underlying this list rests on two realities – the existence of professional women with university education, and the realization of their unequal status in comparison to their male counterparts.

Even though the latter statement is not straightforward, but rather left to be inferred, it was given special attention by the government, as represented by the Secret Police (“Archive of The Bulgarian Association of University Women”).

The list of founding members of the BAUW contains professional teachers, architects, doctors, accountants, artists, etc. It is testimony to the continuity with the heritage of the long pre-liberation period, when the national spirit required that daughters, as well as sons, should get the best in terms of education, usually in Europe. Ideologically, BAUW steered close to the liberal socialist ideals of the time. Membership required a university education, but did not exclude allegiance with a political doctrine, or party. The data available show that the most active members of the BAUW were also social democrats, or communists. Some were closely related to notable social figures of the time. Thus, by virtue of this shared allegiance, the gender discourse of the period was couched within social democratic terminology and practices (Bulgarian Group for Gender Research 214).

As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, the activities of the BAUW were monitored by the Secret Police as a potential menace to the state. The occasion, as can be seen in the excerpts below, was the Open Letter to the Prime Minister, advocating equality for women, initiated by D-r Vera Zlatareva, member of the Board of Officers of BAUW, who also endorsed the support of the Workers’ and Communist parties.

To: Secretary of the Intelligence Unit
From: Agent No. 95

A women’s constitutional commission has been formed, which aims at fighting for the restoration of the Constitution and granting full rights to the women. The constitutional commission is headed by d-r Vera Zlatareva. The commission launched this open letter and through the Workers’ party distributed it among the regional secretaries of the party, and the latter, on their part – among the masses to be signed and after the signatures were collected, to be returned to the women’s constitutional commission which sent it to the Prime Minister. The letter was published and distributed in 5000 copies. Since the Workers’ party also took part, Vera Zlatareva took the responsibility, and agreed to say everywhere that it is on her initiative that the above letter is distributed among the women. …

D-r Vera Dimitrova Zlatareva was elected delegate of the international women’s conference, convened by the communists on 13-14-15. V. 1938 in Marseille, but she was not allowed to travel to France on these dates. /See doc. No. 709 and 710 of the Board of Directors of the Police and respective attachments/. …

I bring to your attention, Sir, that from the evidence gathered, I was able to establish that D-r Vera Dimitrova Zlatareva in almost all her public discourses has been very skillfully propagating the ideology of the communist party and for this reason she is admired by the popular masses (!). Her lectures are always highly attended. Vera Zlatareva was also very active in the abstinence movement in Bulgaria. After she married Dr. Mihail Genovski – a well-known and very active member of the “Pladne” political circle, she fully succumbed to his influence … (“Archive of The Secret Police”).

These documents provide the complementary point of view – that of the formal political system that BAUW is trying to shake from outside. Coming from the pen of a ‘secret agent’, they are an impressive assessment of BAUW’s leadership potential, mobilizing resources and style of work. The specific imbrications of emancipating discourses and protest practices are typical for the period – the late 40-ies (Mouharska 313). Within the Bulgarian context, women’s organizations were resourceful, yet reformatory, rather than revolutionary and disruptive.

The texts also give a glimpse of BAUW’s opponent – the state and its repressive organ, the Secret Police. It is obvious that the instigators of the open letter mission were regarded as a serious challenge, yet the actual subject the author envisages is ambiguous. He is impressed with Vera Zlatareva’s dual identity – she is a female political activist of communist inflection, campaigning for women’s rights. Yet what we perceive as her feminist essence is constantly downplayed by him. Which aspect of her activity and identity is he prone to criminalize? Is it her allegiance with the communists on this particular instance, or is it the gender equality issue? This remains unclear, and it cannot be otherwise, as it is built in as a structural component within the way the women’s movement inscribed itself within the political system prior to the communist regime. Gender social activism was taken seriously enough to deserve ‘unfair play’ (e.g. obstructing their international contacts, stopping them from traveling), yet it was consistently de-emphasized by negating the essence and focusing on the collaterals (Mouharska 322). The campaign for gender equality is completely overshadowed by Zlatareva’s connection to Communist party activists. This is all summarized in the secret agents last words: “All the meetings which d-r Genovski organizes at his home on 17, Klementina st., are attended by his wife Vera Zlatareva, who is a blind tool of her husband” (“Archive of The Secret Police”).

WOMEN’S ORGANIZATIONS WITHIN THE COMMUNIST POLITICAL SYSTEM
The end of World War II brought dramatic changes to countries in Central and South-East Europe. As tradition had it, until recently there was a ‘sacred’ date for each of them, celebrated as the day of the ‘People’s revolution’, the date of the tumultuous transition to a social order long aspired for. This myth, however, came into circulation relatively later – after 1947, when social space was once and for all monopolized by a single political subject – the Communist Party.

For four years Bulgaria had a left-coalition government of the Fatherland Front, dominated by the representatives of the Bulgarian Workers’ Party (communists). Although the dominant political discourse reflected the left-wing ideologies of the partners, the political and social scene was still rife with bustling activity. Opposition parties, though aware of the new geopolitical realities, were forcefully opposing what they saw as the infiltration of an alien (Soviet) social and political discourse and practices (Koumanov 341).

Since the liberal democratic social model presupposes a division of social space into ‘the political’ proper and the space of civil society, it is this ‘niche’ that one should look into when trying to outline the history of women’s organizations.

The facts speak for themselves:
Immediately after September 1944, the following women’s organizations were functioning – Maichina Grizha (Mothercare) in Gabrovo and Plovdiv, Bulgarski dom (Bulgarian Home), Vdovitsa (Widow), The Union of Families with Many Children, the Union of Women in Agriculture, the Bulgarian Association of University Women, and the Bulgarian Women’s Union (Bulgarian Group for Gender Research 250). The names of these organizations attest to the various tasks they had set themselves and to the social commitments Bulgarian women were willing to take.

Following September 1944 and the formation of the Fatherland Front government, women’s commissions were formed as part of its national and local level structures (Bulgarian Group for Gender Research 271). They initiated the establishing of the Bulgarian National Women’s Union (BNWU), claiming to be the hair to the Bulgarian Women’s Union pre-1944. It is worth mentioning that an attempt was made to ‘renew’ the existing women’s organizations by “replacing their leadership with the activists of the BNWU” which proved unsuccessful. Hence, a different strategy was employed – the Bulgarian National Women’s Union incorporated, or swallowed up all previously existing autonomous women’s organizations. Its first congress was held in June, 1945 (“Archive of The Fatherland Front”). Thus, the multiplicity of organizations was replaced for a single overarching unit.

The Bulgarian National Women’s Union enjoyed a six-year life. On November 27, 1950 the national conference of the BNWU made a decision to cease its independent existence and join the Fatherland Front. Within the latter’s structures the Committee of Democratic Women was established, which took up ‘work among the women’ as it was customary to say by that time (“Archive of the Committee of Democratic Bulgarian Women”). The fate of women’s organizations was shared by practically all SMO’s existing prior to 1944. Over a period of 2-7 years members of the ruling coalition employed the strategies of gradual ‘hostile takeover’, merger and original discourse displacement, until finally a ‘homogeneous’ product was achieved, part and parcel of the state machine and fully manipulated by it. Its activities were limited to issuing (and manipulating) reports on the status of Bulgarian women, and serving as the system’s mouthpiece in glorifying the long-achieved gender equality under communism, and anathemizing the BNWU’s counterparts in the capitalist world. Membership, even though encouraged (but not made mandatory), was limited (Bulgarian Group for Gender Research 280).

Here is the way in which the new, reformed BNWU assessed the history of the women’s movement prior to the communist revolution:

The BNWU is the birth child of September 9, 1944. By that time there existed a union of the Bulgarian women, but it united bourgeois women. The doors of this union were closed for women from the people.

Its activities amounted to organizing tea parties and small charity to fill the ample free time of bourgeois women.

The victory of the mass anti-fascist revolt of 9.9.1944 brought liberation for working Bulgarian women, too. This freedom, however, was not given to them as a gift. They fought for it. Women were most active in the heroic struggle of our people against the Tsarist, police and fascist domination. In concentration camps and prisons, in partisan squads, as helpers and couriers there were numerous women who manfully and with dignity stood up the trials and fought along with the men. There were numerous victims among the women, too. The names of Yana Laskova, Vela Piskova, Yordanka Chankova, L. Dimitrova and hundreds of known and unknown heroines will remain a bright page in the heroic history of our people and will shed light on the Bulgarian woman’s road to her ascent.

The people’s government estimated the sizable contributions of women in the struggle for freedom and one of the first laws passed granted full political rights to women. Woman was recognized as equal to man in all spheres of human activity. Thousands of women, who by that time had lived in the narrow circle of family and kitchen interests felt liberated for social and political life (“Archive of the Bulgarian National Women’s Union”).

Once again, the gender aspect is pushed aside, this time completely digested within the discourse of a triumphant official language, glorifying itself. In its denial of resistant identities and discourses, the communist system ultimately produced a strain of language completely devoid of any sense. Now that we have access to archives, however, it appears that the documents and decisions which really made a difference nearly always came within the genre of The X-files. Here I mean documents, reports and analyses produced within the system itself, and not within resistance circles. Thus, in the late 60-ies, the Committee of Bulgarian Women, generally perceived as completely useless, produced a secret report based on a comprehensive study of women at work. The study claimed that urban women spent an average of 15 minutes daily on their children, while women in agriculture spent 8 minutes only. Further on, the authors argued that the economy would benefit from fully-paid maternity leave until children reached school age (“Archive of the Political Bureau of the Bulgarian Communist Party”). Without denying the significance of women’s access to the professional field, the report practically blames the state and the political system for placing a dangerous double burden on women. At the time, however, it was completely clear that the economic system could not cope with its own tensions and achieve the promises so amply lavished 30 years before.

WOMEN OR GENDER: THE BAUW AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE COMMUNIST SYSTEM
In 1989 Bulgaria opened itself to the multiplicity of late modern discourses, so strictly avoided by that time. One of the first dramatic clashes occurred with feminist discursive and non-discursive practices. Open as post-communist society was to new ways of conceptualizing the world, gender discourses were among the first to come across certain resistance. What is more, the resistance seems to have occurred at the discoursal, and not at the conceptual level. Resentment was largely due to the fact that as a resistant discourse feminism is constructed in opposition to mainstream Western discourse, which in turn, post-communism was seeking to embrace. Thus, paradoxically, despite the wide recognition and resentment to the ‘double burden’ of the communist ‘superwoman’, feminist discourse was not felt to possess the liberating potential it has for Western women (Mouharska 378). And even more paradoxically, in trying to explain their reaction, Bulgarian women resorted to official emancipatory discourse of the communist period – women in this part of the world have already ‘achieved’ what feminism strives for, though they are not sure if it was worth it.

Thus, the issues raised were both ‘old’ and ‘new’. Old ad nauseam because of the prolific and generous treatment of the topic in official communist discourse before 1989. New because the familiar problems were inflected in a different way – in the beginning this novelty was only felt intuitively. To me the ambiguity of the clash lies in the opposition women vs. gender. The former belongs to the ‘things already past’ and the latter to a reality which is yet to come. Significantly, the term ‘gender’ has not found a meaningful translation yet.

The BAUW is given a new lease of life
In 1992 a group of Bulgarian university lecturers were approached by members of the British Federation of University Women with the suggestion to renew a connection of long standing between that organization and its Bulgarian counterpart, which existed until 1950. Thus, it turned out that the archives of the original BAUW could be retrieved from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where they were kept after it was forced to close down in 1950. This was followed by a legal request to re-establish the organization, which was accomplished by early 1993 (Dakova 2).

The BAUW in search of identity
Nowadays the BAUW’s chief problem is that of identity. The Statutes require that membership is granted to all women with university degree (“Archive of The Bulgarian Association of University Women”). Unlike other organizations, where shared identity is the chief motive for participation, the BAUW has to negotiate its own right of existence among a wide array of present-day female identities – conservative (the old communist type of activist who claims to have achieved gender equality long ago), radical (eager to scandalize academia), those whose chief interest is in feminist theory, and those who would like to focus on social issues. None of these groups has gained the upper hand for the time being, largely because for nine long years there was a difficult lesson to learn – how to survive in a social climate which is neither hostile, nor supportive (Dakova 4). The greatest challenge for all SMO’s initially was to learn the language and realities of NGO’s at the turn of the 20th century. Thus, the choice over liberal or radical philosophy was supplemented with the management-speak of organization building, budgeting, fund-raising, etc. The BAUW’s agenda is largely dictated by foreign funding organizations, and its collective identity is thus slowly coming to terms with the outcomes of the women’s movement in the West. To use another fashionable term, borrowed from EC-speak, a ‘harmonization’ is occurring between the agenda of similar organizations through the distribution of funds (Dakova 8).

If there is a hope for BAUW to find a focused collective identity and mobilize its efforts, it comes from the writings of some Bulgarian female journalists. Here is a text, produced two months ago in response to Parliament discussions on gender equality at work:

From now on, discussions on the topic of gender discrimination should be banned. Do Bulgarian women have to listen to flat-breasted foreign lecturers, who are paid to tell us that their husbands’ favorite pastime is oppressing them, given that Bulgarian women have never had a problem like this? Just a few days ago, a cured alcoholic thanked her doctors over the Bulgarian National radio, saying: “When I got drunk, I’d beat my husband.” What is more, Bulgarian women have monopolized all professions, normally considered a male domain – teaching, medicine, journalism. I suggest the following – we should ask the manager of the National Historical Museum to acquire and exhibit a few males as an extinguished species so that we can show them to foreign feminist lecturers when they come to tell us how despotic men are (Kamenova 2002).

As the preceding pages demonstrated, the discourse, identity and even existence of women’s movements in Bulgaria are largely dictated by the political realities of the day. Since 1989, they have also been affected by the burden of previous social and political experiences. Since neither the official feminist discourse, nor the mechanism of gender movement emergence typical for the West have found application in the country, it could be expected that as women’s movements there develop, opportunities for new, region-specific, research and theories will occur. What is left for students of feminism is to wait and see.

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