Beginning Perl Tutorial on Foreach Loop

Beginning Perl Tutorial on Foreach Loop The foreach loop is a control structure thats tailor-made to process Perl lists and hashes. Just like the for loop, foreach steps through each element of an array using an iterator. How to Step Through an Array in Perl With Foreach Rather than using a scaler as an iterator,  foreach uses the array itself. For example: You see that this gives the same output as printing the array myNames in its entirety: If all you want is to dump out the contents of the list, you could just print  it. In that case, use the foreach loop to make the output a bit more readable. Youll see that this code creates cleaner output by printing a new line after each item in the list. A Cleaner Foreach Loop The previous example used $_ to print each element of the list. Using this default implied scalar ($_) makes for shorter code and less typing, but it isnt always the best solution. If youre aiming for a highly readable code or if your  foreach  loop is complex, you might be better off assigning a  scalar  as your iterator. There are only two differences: the scalar $name between the  foreach  and the list and the replacement of the default scalar with it inside the loop. The output is exactly the same, but the code is slightly cleaner. Keep in mind: A  foreach  loop is a Perl control structure.It is used to step through each  element of an array.

Poverty and Racism essays

Poverty and Racism essays McCullers addresses poverty and racism of the 1930s South and also of the social and economic crisis that encompassed it during that time. The setting took place in a Southern town whose main economy came from cotton and saw mills and the time was during the Great Depression. Coming out in the 1940s, this novel reflected on the intolerance, poverty and isolation of the South. The characters all addressed at least one aspect of the societys cultural system. During this time blacks, Jews, women and poverty stricken people were looked down upon and often times were thought of as inferior by the society they belonged to. These people also put roles upon themselves as seen with Harry Minowitz, a Jewish boy. He had sex with Mick and soon after felt bad and decided to leave town because of the role that he put on himself as a Jewish person. He though what they did was wrong and he couldnt live with the shame of it, so he left the town and pretty much adopted an out of sight out of mind perception (thats what I think happened anyway). The novel addresses gender roles as seen relating to Mick Kelly. As the story starts, she refuses to be pampered like her sisters do to themselves and she refuses to be lady-like. She dressed like a boy and wore shorts and shirts most of the time. At the end of the novel though she conforms to society and goes along with it and wears a dress. The novel also addresses race and economic injustices. Dr. Copeland feels that all African Americans should unite and reform the way things are in the society and how it acts toward them. Jake Blount, an idealistic workingman and social reformer, brings in aspects of Marxism and wanted to change things for the betterment of the working class. Jake Blount, Dr. Copeland and Mick Kelly all propagate toward Mr. Singer. For Jake, he serves as an audience who would listen to his tirades on socialism and economics. Dr. Copeland tries to help his people...

The Customer-Service Agent Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Customer-Service Agent - Essay Example Bill Ryan who acts as a customer-service representative or agent in an online marketplace that is owned by the renowned eBay Inc., an internet auction company, it can be stated that the day diary does not include sufficient information. The day diary only depicted limited job responsibilities of a customer-service agent i.e. Mr. Ryan within the online marketplace settings. Moreover, the day diary did not provide a detailed understanding about the core functions as well as the essential qualifications of a customer-service agent. According to the article which deals with Mr. Ryan, the information of the work as well as the activities which he performed acting as a customer-service agent in an online marketplace is quite useful. This article would largely support the different customer-service agents working in dissimilar organizations to get an inclusive along with a systematic job description particularly of a customer-service agent. In relation to the usefulness of the information which is mentioned in the article, it can be stated that the article broadly emphasized upon valuing the demands of the customers by a considerable extent. Moreover, the article also revealed the information that it is quite necessary to settle the arising disputes of the customers for the motive of accomplishing significant returns. In addition, the article also affirmed the valuable information that a customer-service agent should remain calm and composed when the buyers or the customers are upset due to their any kind of dissa tisfaction relating with the products. There lies the requirement of certain extra information as the day diary does not encompass sufficient information about the detailed functions or responsibilities of a customer-service agent. Moreover, the day diary does not describe the qualifications of a customer-service agent in order to execute their various assigned job tasks. In this regard, the other core

This house believes that.International Business will have to manage Essay

This house believes that.International Business will have to manage significant shifts in global power over the next few decad - Essay Example These developed nations hold the key to production while the emerging economies provide mainly the labor and infrastructure necessary for the investment. Technological upgradation has been a key to economic growth and the developed nations have proven this. Technology aims to create objects which are vital for human living. With new developments in research and owing to globalization, these economies like China and India have also realized the importance of technological development (Johnson & Turner, 2009, pp. 1-3). On the grounds of progress in technology it can be inferred that US reigns supreme though India and China have been investing constant efforts towards the same with China a few steps ahead. Technology is usually purchased and sold in the form of capital products incorporating machines and other systems of production. Information regarding technical and commercial aspects is subject to property related rights. In fact there are six elements connected to technology. These are â€Å"geography, culture, economy, people, business, and government† (Li-Hua, 2004, p.28). China has one of the most composite legislative and political systems and this creates hindrances for businesses. The government takes a clear role in issuing licenses and in spite of the loose ends in legislation China is encouraging towards foreign investments. Government has also issued the intellectual property rights in order to protect the â€Å"copycat reputation† of the nation. The business houses need to safeguard against â€Å"confidentiality, corruption and conflict of interest† (Ripard, 2010). India despite her colonial history has higher level of acceptance towards foreign investments. India’s regulations have been loosened and the economy opened when the country faced sudden crisis in balance of payments (Kochanek, 1974, pp. 118-119). Recently both America and India have shown their doubts regarding the products of the telecommunications sector fro m China. Experts suspect that, â€Å"India’s move to obstruct the orders from the Chinese telecommunications has kicked off a sequence of events that resulted in billions of dollars of lost revenue for global telecom market vendors and significant project delays for India’s telecom service providers† (Petrou, 2010). Chinese equipments involve a risk of security, according to Indian buyers and this might risk important information which might lead a firm to ethical problems. Even United States have raised security related issues and the senators from US requested the Obama administration to go through a submission of quotation from Huawei Technologies in China. The crucial causal factors behind the success of Chinese vendors are cheap labor, â€Å"a home-field advantage in China’s hot telecom market† and â€Å"access to an almost unlimited line of credit through government banks†. These facilities are likely to persist. (Petrou, 2010) China, especially Beijing has future plans for forming an environment which facilitates â€Å"homegrown next-generation mobile technology and electric cars†. When assistance was provided to the Chinese local producers in the form of energy resources and technologies at subsidies Beijing received the accusation of breaking free trade principles. This led to filing of a case in the WTO by Washington. China is working fast to create self reliance in the field of

Accounting for Individual Differences in the Workplace

Accounting for Individual Differences in the Workplace Introduction In today’s society, there is little doubt that individual differences are certainly important in the workplace as one of critical predictors of training outcome, individual productivity or stress at work. For the reason it affects us most in every way to name a few, we perceive and respond information, our abilities and skills such as logic, creativity and critics, etc., it is necessary for an organisation to understand, value and enjoy the benefits it would bring. This essay would write about the definition of individual differences to begin with; analysis individual differences in demographics, intelligence, and personality; some commonly mistaken assumption in measuring them and recommendation for improving it in selecting and managing people. The aim of the paper in the end is to provide some suggestions for managers to mitigate any false assumptions’ impacts in person differences’ assessment. What are individual differences? Studying individual differences is concerned with variations between one person to another, in other words, it is defined by Ashleigh and Mansi (2012:68) as â€Å"those parts of â€Å"us† which differentiate â€Å"us† from others†. Investigating individual differences is a continuing concern within organisations enables us to, in the view of predicting people’s behaviours, making team formation easier, in turn, managing the team more effectively while there is a common goal and value among team members. The facts remain that each individual is likely to have a regular pattern of behaviour towards similar situation. While there are other key differences between individuals, such as creativity, values, emotions, the scope of this essay will be focused on 3 key points in demographics, intelligence and personality and the way to measure them in a setting of organisational behaviour. Individual differences in demographics According to a definition provided by Ashleigh and Mansi (2012:80), it refers to â€Å"differences within a population group-such as race, age, income, disabilities, educational level, experience, marital status and gender†. For work psychologists, it is important to take those factors into consideration in order to know the group of people involved in research, and their impact on finding results if any in the way to design data application in reality. For example, in the research carried out by Tsui and O’Reilly (1989), some demographic factors, namely age, sex, race, education level, job tenure were used to investigate their impacts on the relationship of supervisors and subordinates. This study outlined that a negative relation between differences and work effectiveness had been reported, not mention to increased role ambiguity for subordinates. Hence, reducing dissimilarity from those factors mentioned above in job allocation and team formation is likely to improve work effectiveness. Moreover, criteria in demographics like age or experience can be employed as supporting factors in the generation-specific HR strategies. For example, young employees are looking for an attractive and supportive environment in which offers learning goal orientation, in exchange, they will display job commitment; while, this environment, on the balance of it, should retain a wealth of valuable knowledge and skills from the older ones (D’Amato and Herzfeldt, 2012). Thus, proper and suitable HR strategies should be given differently to each group. Additionally, while younger employees are, in a way, more creative, fast action, quick response to changes, especially with modern technology, risk-loving, but do lack of professional experiences coming with prices, as against with a bit conservative, slower in response to new changes, but a more professional way of working, rational decision-maker for the older ages. Therefore, it is undoubtedly true that when HR managers fit the job w ith a person or design training strategies for staff, demographic differences should be given a serious consideration to provide suitable programs. Individual differences in intelligence To explain the definition of â€Å"intelligence†, let just put it versus â€Å"ability†. While Wiseman (1967:290) declared that ability â€Å"is defined operationally by the performance of an individual in a specific situation†, for Cooper (1999:6), in general, â€Å"are any behaviours that can sensibly be evaluated† by either monitoring behaviour or asking others to give evaluation such as typing, reading a map, cooking, etc. On the other hand, as for intelligence Binet and Simon (1905) agreed that it has shown the ability to judge, understand and reason easily, while Vernon (1956) added â€Å"the more general qualities of thinking, level of concept developing, reasoning and grasping relations†. By comparison, the term ability has a broader meaning than that of intelligence which means â€Å"mental ability†. There is also a room opening for ongoing debate whether it is fixed or not, or nature-nurture debate. In the study of Dickens and Flynn (2006), increasing amount of nutrition, test familiarity, educational games, TV show complexity, etc. have been attributable to intelligence improvement. However, Lynn Vanhanen (2006) found that such IQ discrepancies found in across ethnicities, races, and nationalities are proposing â€Å"a difference in innate brain capacity†. Furthermore, Marks (2010) analysed the association between IQ and situational factor like literacy skills across time, nationality, and race.In addition, regarding to the nature-nurture debate, there are those who believed that only environmental factor is absolutely qualified enough to account for individual differences in intelligence Karmin (1977), however, nearly 20 years later, Mackintosh (1995) declared that heritability should be taken into consideration as well. In more details to what extent, Cooper (1999) ar gued that, with constant conditions, intelligence is influenced by genetic component to the extent of 50 60%. These results are consistent with other studies (Plomin et al. 2001; Neisser, 1996) and suggesting that genetic factor may account for more in IQ differences than environmental factors. Therefore, if we are fortunate enough to be born by clever parents and have appropriate educational training, it is possible that our IQ score can be shifted. That leads to another question, i.e How to measure intelligence?. In order to measure it, cognitive ability test which is a part of psychometric test has long been used to reflect individual’s intelligence quotient (IQ) (William Stern, 1912) is calculated as follows: a mental age divided by chronological age, and then multiplied it by 100. One of the most popular and widely used tests of intelligence is Wechsler Scales of Intelligence first introduced by David Wechsler in 1955. A great deal of research and literature has been taken place in the relationship of intelligence and work performance. This combination of findings provides some support for the conceptual premise that general intelligence is certainly a good predictor in assessment of job performance and training proficiency (Sakett et all., 2008; Furnham, 2005; Drasgow, 2003). Nevertheless, it is undoubtedly true while other conditions should stay the same, otherwise, this criteria is absolutely not the only variable that influences performance, but job knowledge and motivation, do also rate a mention here (Kamin, 1995). One of the advantages associated with psychometric test is that it provides a comparison ability in scores which based on the same standard within a group of people. Secondly, this kind of test offers a prediction of performance in a various settings. For example, to assess one’s ability in the recruitment process, situational judgement tests would be given, e.g asking reaction of salesman towards customer’s complaint. Particularly, in the context of the organisation, a great number of organisations have found these tests are effective enough, both in the sense of cost and means for employee selection in recruitment and after-training seasion. On the other hand, there exists some special skills which can not be assessed quickly and accurately through psychometric tests, such as hand and eye coordination (Cooper, 1999). In fact, some previous study found that about half to two-thirds of large companies apply psychometric testing in senior managers’ assessment in Europe (Cook, 2004; Furnham, 2004; Salgado, 1997), and 72% of UK organisations employed ability tests in selecting and assessing process (CIPD, 2007). Individual differences in personality There is a degree of lacking consensus around the terminology of personality. For Furnham (1997:161), the term refers to â€Å"enduring traits or characteristics that account for consistent patterns of responses†, later on, Pervin added (2004:6) more details in the sense of feeling, thinking and behaving. Although there have been some other ways to elaborate its definition, they all shared the common feature is that making every human beings unique in their interaction with the environment. The key theories of personality can be listed as follows: psychodynamic, behaviourist, humanistic, biological, trait and type and social-cognitive. However, due to limited scope, this essay will focus on behaviourist (Pavlov, Watson, Thorndike and Skinner, 1849-1990) and trait and type (Allport, Cattell and Eysenck, 1916-1998). Regarding behaviourist theory, they put emphasis on psychological investigation in observable, measurable behaviour regarded as the merely appropriate method. They stated that through reinforcement either punishment or reward, all behaviours can be modified. The environment can, however, initiate our initial response; but on the account of reinforcement experiences, our behaviours are possibly shaped, thus creating learnt associations which, in turn, direct our future behaviours provided in the same settings. As for the type and trait theory, their approach’s similarity lies in the fact that both of them consider grouping people into personality characteristics. While the type theory places people into discrete groups, as against with seeing personality feature as a continuum for trait theory. For example, a person would be considered either introvert or extrovert in a view of the type theory. By contrast, the trait theory (Allport, Cattell and Eysenck) would find anyone can be anywhere in the between of introvert and extrovert included those towards the extremes (Matthewman, et all., 2009) and that amount and type of trait would be constant. Later on, Costa and McGrae (1992) discovered the essence of traits had been found in 5 factors which were developed into â€Å"Ocean theory† mentioning about 5 traits, namely Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. It is regarded as a widely acknowledged template in explaining the human personality†™s structure (Arnold, 2010). Although Ashleign and Mansi (2012) agreed that â€Å"trait theory is considered the most useful of personality theories for organisational psychologists† so far for its pattern of behaviour detection and classification, its limitations can not be overlooked. In particular, this approach not only offers frameworks in major pattern of behaviours, in which personality assessment can be constructed and employed (Bayne, 1994). However, the fact remains that human behaviours are affected by lots of situational factors (Bandura, 1999), thus individuals are highly unlikely to behave in the same way all the time (Armstrong, 2003). That is the reason why this approach will probably have a limited prediction in value to typical behaviours (Pervin, 1994). Moreover, it fails to explain how these 5 factors develop and the way of their influence on human behaviours which is the centre of work psychology’s interest. Therefore, Makin (1996) claimed that their level of anticipation is no t quite high. One question that needs to be asked, however, is whether reading Big Five traits may make people jump into conclusion too quickly that Neuroticism is something least favourable among all. The answer is it should be dependent on the situation and job’s characteristics. There are actually some jobs requiring a high N scale. For example, Spencer Lord, a HR specialist, says highly neurotic people are often strong in roles that require attention to detail, e.g positions in finance or compliance. Due to their natural caution for avoiding worry about consequences, they can also be very effective in assessing risk (2013). By contrast, being too extroverted may be associated with try to be dominant, attention seeking which are possibly not a good thing in teamwork. In addition, Robertson (2001) claimed that the strongest predictor of job performance is Conscientiousness. However, it failed to consider in a situation demanding being creative and innovate which high C scale usually lacks of. Futhermore, not mention of the fact that, especially in such a rapidly changing world, being adaptive and flexible is certainly necessary (Maltby, et all., 2013:414). Personal characteristics’ measurement probably remains significantly important in the occupational assessment process in organisations. In fact, there have been some popular ways, such as personality questionnaires which is another part of psychometric tests, interviewing and behavioural observation. Firstly, a personality questionnaire contains a lot of standardised statements which need to be responded by candidates. Those statements are filtered from a large database to the target group based on essential characteristics that an organisation needs to know (Matthewman at all., 2009). Their scores would be compared with that of specific group which is â€Å"norms† tables. Therefore, this kind of measurement is also called as â€Å"normative personality measurement†. For example, 16PF5 was developed from the Cattell model of personality, as for NEO-5 was based on the OCEAN model (Costa and McCrae, 1985), or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is also a commonly used one. The fact remains that 56% of UK companies using personality tests at some point of their assessment procedure (CIPD, 2007). On the other hand, despite the great benefits that it offers if being applied in the right way, personality tests can not be trusted as the only source of assessment in people selection. Firstly, candidates may give fake answers in the way they think that would score them up in employers’ eyes. However, this problem can be mitigated by three ways, namely through direction as â€Å"be honest, no right and wrong answer†, social desirability (Crowne and Marlowe, 1964) and answers whose choices are forced. Secondly, the interview has long regarded as the most commonly used forms of people selection (Keenan, 1995). Although it was brought into criticism for being subject to bias and unreliability, some recent researches show that a structured interview with well trained interviewers is highly likely to improve its validity (Dipboye, 2005; Posthuma et al., 2002). Therefore, it is essential to ensure that those questions in the interview should be a job analysis related and consistent. Moreover, as for the interviewer, he should keep set of assessing criteria constant among interviewees in general, and in their responses in particular (Arnord et al., 2010), e.g: rating each answer with multiple rating scale, taking special notes, asking multiple interviewers if possible. Conclusion â€Å"In most situations it is best to use a combination of several personnel selection techniques to ensure fairness and accuracy†.

Hard Times and Wuthering Heights Essay -- Comparative, Dickens, Brontë

The nineteenth century saw rapid development and reform across the whole of the country; with the Industrial Revolution transforming life in Britain. For working class women life was an endless struggle of passivity and labour; as soon as they were old enough they worked on farms, in factories or as servants to the middle classes (Lambert, 2009). For women in general, life was oppressive; constantly overshadowed by the male gender who were considered dominant leaders. In a Victorian household, the male was head of the family; his wife and children respected him and obeyed him without question. This critical analysis of two nineteenth century novels - Hard Times by Charles Dickens and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontà «, will discuss the representation of the two female protagonists in the context of the Victorian period and question whether they do indeed portray an endless struggle for survival and independence. When considering representation, the ways in which the authors choose to portray their characters can have a great impact on their accessibility. A firm character basis is the foundation for any believable novel. It is arguable that for an allegorical novel - in which Hard Times takes its structure, Dickens uses an unusually complex character basis. The characters in Hard Times combine both the simplistic characteristics of a character developed for allegorical purposes, as well as the concise qualities of ‘real’ people (McLucas, 1995). These characters are portrayed to think and feel like we as readers do and react to their situations in the same way that most of us would. Such attributes are what give the characters life and allow us to relate to their decisions. In Hard Times Charles Dickens portrays Louisa Gradgrind... ...rd Times and Brontà « in Wuthering Heights represent their protagonists as struggling to overcome oppression in order to survive as independent females. The struggles faced by the females provide similarities as well as contrasts to their literary counterparts. On one hand you have Louisa, corrupted by her father and never allowed to imagine or be free; and on the other hand you have Catherine, corrupted by her own aspirations and social constraints. Although Catherine does - for a short period of time, achieve some independence, she is destined to retain her traditional role of passive and dependent female; thus inevitably losing in her struggles. In contrast, Louisa faces similar struggles in the fight for the survival of her inquisitive mind; but she ultimately wins her battle against her ‘fact-loving’ father and in doing so, establishes herself as an individual. Hard Times and Wuthering Heights Essay -- Comparative, Dickens, Brontà « The nineteenth century saw rapid development and reform across the whole of the country; with the Industrial Revolution transforming life in Britain. For working class women life was an endless struggle of passivity and labour; as soon as they were old enough they worked on farms, in factories or as servants to the middle classes (Lambert, 2009). For women in general, life was oppressive; constantly overshadowed by the male gender who were considered dominant leaders. In a Victorian household, the male was head of the family; his wife and children respected him and obeyed him without question. This critical analysis of two nineteenth century novels - Hard Times by Charles Dickens and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontà «, will discuss the representation of the two female protagonists in the context of the Victorian period and question whether they do indeed portray an endless struggle for survival and independence. When considering representation, the ways in which the authors choose to portray their characters can have a great impact on their accessibility. A firm character basis is the foundation for any believable novel. It is arguable that for an allegorical novel - in which Hard Times takes its structure, Dickens uses an unusually complex character basis. The characters in Hard Times combine both the simplistic characteristics of a character developed for allegorical purposes, as well as the concise qualities of ‘real’ people (McLucas, 1995). These characters are portrayed to think and feel like we as readers do and react to their situations in the same way that most of us would. Such attributes are what give the characters life and allow us to relate to their decisions. In Hard Times Charles Dickens portrays Louisa Gradgrind... ...rd Times and Brontà « in Wuthering Heights represent their protagonists as struggling to overcome oppression in order to survive as independent females. The struggles faced by the females provide similarities as well as contrasts to their literary counterparts. On one hand you have Louisa, corrupted by her father and never allowed to imagine or be free; and on the other hand you have Catherine, corrupted by her own aspirations and social constraints. Although Catherine does - for a short period of time, achieve some independence, she is destined to retain her traditional role of passive and dependent female; thus inevitably losing in her struggles. In contrast, Louisa faces similar struggles in the fight for the survival of her inquisitive mind; but she ultimately wins her battle against her ‘fact-loving’ father and in doing so, establishes herself as an individual.

An investigation and analysis of the role of women in contemporary Islam in the context of a multicultural society

When a person thinks of a Muslim woman immediately the image that forms in your mind is one of veils, tent like garb and the word ‘oppression' and ‘suppression' comes to mind. This image of being suppressed and oppressed, being without any rights or social standing is a Western stereotypical view of Muslim women. To understand and appreciate the true essence of Islam it is important to carefully investigate the roles of both Muslim women and men in Islam and the religious authority for these. It is most important to consider what a Muslim woman's rights and obligations are, and how they are lived out in daily life. Alongside this it is relevant to find out how a Muslim woman may be influenced by her family's culture and the traditions and cultures of other peoples in this society. In a multicultural society such as Britain there are many people of different religious backgrounds. Britain today can be seen as a multicultural society or even a secular society, which is not governed by religious laws and certainly not by Shari'ah. Muslims living in Britain today come into day-to-day contact with many ideas, beliefs and practices which are not part of Islam. Analysing how Muslim women can stay true to their Islamic faith in such a society is an integral part of this essay. In Islam family life from many famous scholars is referred to as being the ‘corner-stone of society' as it brings new generations into the world, therefore the parents have very important duties to play. They also have vital duties and obligations towards one-another. The duties of a husband and the wife towards each other are clearly stated in Islam (Qur'an 4:34). This makes the fulfillment of the purpose of marriage easy and removes confusion. The husband's duties include providing food; clothing; accommodation as well as general welfare needs for his wife; she does not have to provide any of these herself from her own property or her earnings, unless she wishes and is able to help her husband. The husband also provides household help for his wife, or helps her himself, as well as giving help to her in training the children. He also must try to satisfy the sexual needs of his wife and treats her with kindness and honour as Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said : â€Å"The best of you is the one who is best to his family, and I am best to my family† Hadith : Al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah) The wife, for her part is required to obey her husband as leader of the family so long as he does not try to make her disobey Allah. She must look after the home and children, bringing them up as good and righteous people – Allah will ask her about this duty (Hadith Al-Bukhari and Muslim). In her husband's absence she must ensure that no one not approved by her husband is allowed into the home, and also try to satisfy her husband's sexual needs. You can see that the duties of the husband are the rights of the wife, whilst the duties of the wife are the rights of the husband. Allah says: â€Å"†¦ the rights of the wives (with regards to their husbands) are equal to the rights of the husband with regard to them†. (Qur'an 2:228) The Qur'an states: â€Å"They (women) are your garments. And you (men) are their garments†. The words from the Holy Qur'an state precisely how men and women relate to one another – like a body and its garments. Without garments the body is meaningless and vice versa, this symbolizes the complimentary roles a husband and wife play and that they must got together, apart they would have little reason to exist. People in multi-cultural society may have noticed how a large number of Muslim women dress differently from one another, some from head to toe, others in more westernized but unrevealing clothing. This is mainly due to cultural impacts, for e. g. covering a woman's body does not necessarily require her to wear a ‘jilbab' (long dark coat-like dress), Islamically she is required to dress modestly in public. Places like Afghanistan's cultural impacts mean women are forced in the way they are dressed, as they have no choice. â€Å"Say to believing men†¦ nd believing women, that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty.. â€Å"(24:30-31) Living in a multicultural society poses many difficulties for Muslim parents or Muslim's in general. This is because within the sphere of their homes the environment is Islamic and very sheltered. However outside the home Muslim's come into contact with different ideas which can act as obstacles for them. This is because Britain allows what most Islamic societies would not allow for women for example involvement in pornography, modesty of dress, Muslim women do not walk around scantily dressed for example in a bikini. Abortion is not allowed except in exceptional circumstances in Islam whereas it is a common place in Britain. Also divorce is considered one of the worst acts in Islam but like abortion it is a commonplace as well as free mixing between the sexes. This shows that such things are taking place in Britain and that they oppose Islamic teachings. For a Muslim living in a multicultural society some of the issues that arise are usually the differences between secular law versus religious law (shari'ah). The fact that Muslim values are different to secular values and a Muslim lifestyle following such values makes more demands. These issues can cause problems for Muslims, especially the 2nd or third generation who seem to be becoming more and more secular. These youth can be seen to have adopted secular values in their pursuit of status, placing great value in cars, money and other material possessions more than religious values or practice. These remind parents of their native countries, so they arrange marriages for their children to people inn the native countries. What the parents don't realise is these ‘native countries' have become more secular too and that people there have become more westernized. The benefits for Muslims in a multicultural society like Britain is the access to education, there is a greater chance of Muslims obtaining education in this country compared to their ‘slim to none' chances back in their native countries. There is an opportunity to be involved in public life occupation wise. As the government in Britain is not ruled by a specific religion, people are allowed to practice their religion openly, whereas in Turkey a woman is not permitted to wear a headscarf to college, school, or university. Also in communist countries people did not have the right to proclaim what they believed in. Many Muslims in Great Britain are often asked whether they are British or Muslim first. There is a difference of opinion to this answer between the older and younger generations. The younger people tend to say they are British and Muslim whereas the older generation hesitate and reply they are Muslim first. What we should ask ourselves is how come it is only the Muslims this question is posed to? Why not the Christians or the Jews? These kinds of questions are asked for example during the Gulf War or since the incident on September 11th. The Muslims are expected to be on the defensive, as if there is going to be a conflict with being a Muslim and British at the same time. This is the way of thinking for the majority of Non-Muslim British people; it shows their lack of understanding of Islam and their deeply rooted misconceptions concerning the religion. This is also a result of lack of integration between people. The Muslim women that wear veils, head scarves and long flowing clothing are often seen as ‘oppressed' or ‘suppressed' by the majority of Non-Muslims in British society. They see these women as being ‘dominated' by men. In reality the majority of these women wearing veils or such articles of clothing do so voluntarily, the main aim is protection and not oppression. â€Å"Prophet, enjoin in your wives, your daughters and the wives of true believers to draw their veils close around them. That is more proper, so that they may be recognized (as virtuous women) and not molested. Allah is Forgiving and Merciful†. (33:59) It is mistaken to believe that Islam encourages the oppression of women. On the contrary, Islam elevates women in an all-round manner. Islam regards women and men as equals; they both have the same religious duties and get equal rewards. Allah says: â€Å"I will not allow the good deeds of any of you, male or female, to be lost. You (male and female) come from one-another†¦ † (Qur'an 3:195; 4:124) Islam stopped the female infanticide (81:8; 6:151) and promises the reward of paradise to parents who look after their daughters. Muslim women like men are encouraged to acquire education from the cradle to the grave. A Muslim woman retains her legal identity after marriage and can keep her family name. She may seek and obtain divorce if she needs it. She is free to move around in society (with her husbands consent), provided she is modestly dressed and straightforward to avoid molestation by evil men. (Qur'an 33:22-59) As a mother, the greatest respect is paid to her on account of her sacrifices on behalf of her children. (Qur'an 31:13; 46:15) â€Å"Paradise lies at the feet of the mothers†. In Great Britain Islam is a minority religion; it is not the way of life for the majority in this multicultural society. Britain is arguably not religious; therefore it can be seen as a secular society. Its laws do not reflect any particular religions beliefs, however in the past Christianity played a major role in the appointed laws. The society is still influenced by religious values, there are laws protecting what most religions consider sacred or valuable, an example of this is the value religions hold for life. There are laws introduced for the sole purpose of preventing death or injury like how a driver and passengers in a car must wear seat belts. The laws in Britain also evolve around individual religions, for example the law in Britain for people riding a motorcycle is that it is compulsory to wear a crash helmet. In the 1980's the Sikh community complained that it was impossible to do so if they were wearing turbans, the government then made a clause in the law for Sikhs who wore turbans, that when riding a motorbike it wasn't compulsory for them to wear a crash helmet. There are also many problems for Muslims who live in small individual communities that do not integrate with one another. This division often causes misunderstandings between them which results in conflict mostly between the youth of the communities. An incident of this occurred not very long ago in Oldham, between the Pakistani community and the white community. Oldham is one of the most segregated cities in Britain. The white and Pakistani communities have many riots, this is mainly due to lack of integration. To correct this situation faith leaders of the communities should hold regular meetings to discuss and promote interfaith relationships. This encourages less hostile attitudes between the people like in Leister. The majority of Asians came from Africa where they were used to British people, when they came to Britain they could relate to the people more easily than the Asians from Oldham. Another major barrier between people is language and dress. If people cannot communicate with one another it is impossible for interfaith relationships. It is also quite common for people from different racial backgrounds to stereotype Muslims by the way the women dress. As they find it foreign they cannot form a relationship with them, this results in people perceiving Muslims with hostility. In conclusion to this essay I believe there should be more interfaith relationships and language barriers should be broken down, this way people from different cultural and racial backgrounds can relate to one-another and not stereotype or generalize. There should be more integration especially in schools, also there shouldn't be segregated communities, people from different nationalities should live together. There already is an increase in women choosing there marriage partners, and women having children later on in life so they can actively partake in more career based roles. Due to the education in this country it is estimated that after a couple of generations language barriers would be broken down, that more Westernized dress would be adapted to in a way that seems Islamic and women would take up more prominent roles in the Islamic and in wider communities. This could be an advantage as well as a disadvantage, there could be spokeswomen who is highly educated in the fields of politics and other high profile careers, this way they could be interviewed by the media and as a result the general Non-Muslim public would be more aware of Islamic teachings and see it in a more acceptable and not so negative light. This is the possible future for Muslim women in this multicultural society. However, my personal opinion as a Muslim living in British society would be that it is important to remember that though these women may become more prominent in secular society as Islam's â€Å"leading women†, they would be placed under a negative light from fellow Muslims. These women in partaking such active roles would be leaving their idealistic obligatory role as according to Islam, also to get to this ‘possible future' would mean many rules would have to be broken, twisted or forgotten completely. According to Islam a woman's true worth would be greatly acknowledged if her duty at home first is complete.