a woman's worth

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND THEIR HAPPINESS

Happiness is a balance between expactations and achievements. This balance is affected by many external factors like bias, other people, physical impossibilities and luck. People can accept internal factors easily but external factors always seem unfair.

Happiness is hard to measure because of it is related with emotions and it is very subjective, but there are general views about its levels. For example women’s happiness is directly related to family life, job satisfaction, economical standarts and reputation in public and I am going to explain relation between rights of women and their happiness levels.

Family Life:

Women always take care to their children and husbands in every tradition. Although it is more common in conservative societies, maternal instinct is an essential hormon of every woman and women want to have a happy and peaceful family life.

Some cultures make women less important in family life, domestic violence and plural marriage are typical examples of this. These types of actions are common in underdeveloped countries, islamist rooted countries and tribal societies. For example, in Iraq women have to accept everything that husbands want and their actions are shaped according to husbands’ decisions. It is same in female children, their educational lives are limited by their fathers so their education level in Iraq is very low. On the other side, in Ireland women’s importance in family life is the same compared to men and this equality makes women more happy. They have equal conditions for both sides and there is no restriction on women. As we can see in the research of World Database of Happiness, happiness index mean of women who live in Ireland is 7.93 and Iraq is 2.54. The base of this analysis is this question: “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole now?” and 10 is most satisfied, 1 is dissatisfied.

Job Satisfaction:

We live in an industrialized world and it is totally normal that women wants to work outside of the house. Some conservatives cultures claim that women’s duty is taking care babies and husbands, cleaning house and cooking. They think women should not be interested in different things because their attention must be on their family. In Turkey it is a very common issue that couples discuss. Men who live in big cities and are well educated are also support these ideas. They want the attention from their wives and they cannot realize that working is a normal for every woman. There is a song lyric about this situation, which is I can make a baby and also make career. In our country women resist this problem and often they are successful but some countries it is hard to resist so women have already accept their conditions. It is very harmful for women’s happiness because their desire to work isblocked their husbands and their cultures. They want to participate in production but they cannot be efficient, their efforts are stable in house and they cannot be social in society. They watch TV, take care of the home and meet limited number of people ,who are neighbours and relatives, so it creates a huge discontentment.

Economic Standards:

There is a huge gap in some countries’ economy in which women cannot be active in business life. Grey economy or unrecorded economy represents these type of people’s contributions to GDP. These countries’ grey economy portions are very high when we compare to developed countries because women are hidden workers in this system, they have no salaries, they have no any social insurance and they do not pay any taxes. On the other side they have no regular income, they connot earn money and they can only use money that their husband’s give them. It creates a high dependency and desperation feeling in women. Money is the most important financial issue for being independent and millions of woman cannot use money by themselves. They must always answer for their husbands about their expenses. For example, many of them cannot divorce their husbands and they have to endure an unhappy marriage and hard conditions. Is it really possible to be happy in this situation? I do not think so, and these women’s lifes are really untenable.

Reputation in Public:

Being respectful satisfies everyone’s ego. Beauty, social and economic standards, success, job qualifications and behavior create our reputations in society. Generally, women are known as weak and emotional so in a competition environment, men try to give chances to them and sometimes they joke about them. It is very frustating situation for women, because they are categorized in low ability level in every aspect, eventhough they have the same abilities with men. Another bad reputation is about women’s responsibilities under all with circumstances. Women seem as responsible especially in family problems and this is announced to everyone. It is very hard to succumb for women and it obviously makes them unhappy.

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http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/hap_nat/nat_fp.php

http://journals.lww.com/jonmd/Abstract/1974/06000/Social_Network_Correlates_of_Avowed_Happiness.6.aspx

democracy, is it a new detergent?

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UNRESTRICTED USE AND AVAILABLE ACCESS OF THE INTERNET AND LEVEL OF DEMOCRACY

The internet is the most important media to reach all people in the world. People use the internet not only to do their jobs but also have fun by surfing entertaining websites. They check e-mails, read news, watch videos, search for every kind of information, download music and films, share photographs, write blogs, create profiles in social websites, look at ad s , play games, chat with people and do many other things every day.

Some countries try to control usage of the internet by rules and restrictions. These restrictions are mostly about sexuality and piracy. For example, in Turkey Youtube, Last fm, Megaupload, Diziizle and these kind of websites are not available to access. I think the governments’ aims are based on political reasons and stategies. Although some restrictions are for the benefit of children, most of them make people unhappy because it is an useless of prohibition. There is a quote about this situation; stolen fruit is the sweetest so people create many paths to access forbidden areas. VNP and Proxy services provide people access all forbidden websites. There are also websites that are only being used for this purpose.

Alternative ways are always better

For example, K-tunnel usage started in 2008, and it grew concurrently closing Youtube. Its hits have been decreasing since 2009 because people find it easier to reach unaccessable websites. Changing DNS codes is the most common way to Access these sites. There are many of program files, people can obtain them in internet and they can easily set and use.
However many people are not very experienced about the internet so they cannot use these solutions and cannot access these sites, thus youtube hits are not totally zeroi now but they are decreased very much. Same people use alternative ways to access Youtube English according to Google Trends. It means half of the people who use Youtube by alternative routes are highly educated.

When we see this alignment, we cannot see the three biggest cities in the list. It indicates that these people do not spend lots of time on the internet. They use mostly when they need, but other people use Youtube as a routine and this is a socioeconomic effect of internet usage in Turkey.

According to statistics, the Internet started in 1991 in Turkey. For many years its usage was limited in small numbers of people bacuse many people had no computer and internet connection in their houses. Internet cafes arosed many years after 1991 and computer prices decreased in 2002, usage of internet increases in Turkey. People are using it very insensibly,the government claims that most of these prohibitions are based on these reasons. I think it is not compeletely true, but even if it were true, they can find alternative solutions for preventing harmful usage.

Democracy is a good excuse

Democracy is the most popular issue at election speeches. Every political party claims to support democratic standards in the whole country. It is a very sensitive topic for people because there have been democracy discussions since 1923 and there is no agreement between politicians and public. Politicians always argue in terms of European Union Standards to get votes.

According to Lewis, “Successive governments of Turkey wisely did not attempt to introduce full democracy all at once, but instead went through successive phases of limited democracy, laying the foundation for further development, and, at the same time, encouraging the rise of civil society. This process may be seen in many different aspects of life in the country, as, for example, in the newspaper press, which is certainly free, and which one hopes in the course of time will also become responsible, and in trade unions, about which one might make the same observation. Of interest in this connection is the decision made by the then prime minister of Turkey, Süleyman Demirel, to restore to the trade unions assets that had previously been placed under a sequestration order. This was not because he regarded the trade unions as political supporters of his--indeed, they were quite the reverse--but because of the realization that the existence of such powerful and entrenched interests is a safeguard for democratic institutions, which other interests might otherwise seek to curtail, suspend, or destroy.” (Lewis, 1994)

We can say that governments forbid to entry some websites for political reasons but these regulations are common in low developed countries as we can see in their democratic levels. People find alternative ways to access forbidden websites and they creates many different advertisement areas. Government restrictions are not very efficient to forbid harmful content because people ,who want to reach them, can easily use these alternative ways and regulations are always charming in these situations.

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Bibliography:

Google Trends. (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2010, from
http://trends.google.com

Lewis. (1994, March, from Middle East Quarterly:
http://www.meforum.org/216/why-turkey-is-the-only-muslim-democracy

Economist. (2008). Democracy Index 2008. Retrieved March 17, 2010, from The Economist:
http://a330.g.akamai.net

CULTURE IS EVERYTHING!

First, I want to compare Germany and Turkey, because I'll go to Germany next semester for Erasmus Program and I think it is better to learn some social and cultural informations.

According to Hofstede's dimensions, Germany and Turkey become different at Power Distance Index and Long Term Orientation.

Power Distance Index represents inequality but inequality is defined from below. I think this ratio must be higher because in Turkey people are generally don't complain and they accept their life standarts. There is a quote about this situation "If who will not accept less, will not reach more."

HE SAYS NORWAY IS REAL WAY

When we compare with Norway, results are compeletely different.

Turkey is much more collectivist than Norway, it is good for us and this dimension is base of our culture. On the other hand Masculinity seems not very good.

UAI
People in uncertainty avoiding countries are also more emotional, and motivated by inner nervous energy.

don't change horses in midstream

We went to Şile last year for a seminar. It is very popular place especially in summer, because people who live in İstanbul prefer this place in weekends. Although we have been there in winter, it is compeletely beatiful and charming.
Actually sea can be the only reason that I like a place but Şile is historical and there are lots of local places.



It Does not matter, shopping is enough

First we went to light house, it is the third oldest light house in the world and then we were shopping many in local boutiques.



Sea is everything!

The reason that I like Şile so much, there is sea. Enormous see, awesome sea, deep blue sea. If I had lived in İstanbul, I would go Şile too often. Unfortunately, there is no place like Şile or sea near by Ankara. When I am really bored, I can just go out and walk.

zep

size matters
Originally uploaded by nardell

if we can decide where we should go for erasmus, we will really enjoy.

we'll go to spain, ride a bike (you teach me how to ride a bike), swim, take many many photos, eat different things, listen new bands, meet new people.
zep, please everything will be ok.

ice

ice
Originally uploaded by Tom Sykes !

global warming is a fact, i saw it :)



I have turtles for 8 years and they need warm water because of their biological characteristics. In the past, I paid attention this until the April, but now at the beginning of March it becomes warmer and they are happier than before.

Actually everyone knows that deodorants, fridges, air conditioners, and many of electronic machines affect global warming but no one takes care.


We are in February and just one time there is snow all this winter. When I was at elementary school, we weared 2 socks in order to avoid cold. This week my boats and coat is very unnecessary to me, I haven't even wear gloves too much.

Ancient people are always right

We have an adage suitable for this situation. "Mart kapıdan baktırır, kazma kürek yaktırır." It means Mart is too cold so if there is no kindling, you can stoke yor oars. (Some people translate this, "cast ne'er a clout till may is out" or "march comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" )

I'll Give You All I Can...

I'll Give You All I Can...
Originally uploaded by Brandon Christopher Warren

Actually Valentine's Day is the less aspirational topic to write for me, it is not about my relationship, I just care few special days like birthdays and anniversaries.



Is it really a tradition?

On the other hand Valentine's Day is very very important for millions of people. They have prepared many days before the Valentine's Day, they create romantic surprises for having a perfect Valentine's Day with person who they in love. It is a tradition all over the world and tradition is very expensive mostly.
People are willing to pay lots of money and I think media and advertisements have a big role on this. The most innocent way of celebrating Valentine's Day is sending a card or flowers. Actually in 1800's, Esther Howland sent the first card and Valentine's Day became a trend in these years. Before 1800's, it was about Saint Valentine death. It is very dramatic, because she helped people who wants to marry, although it was forbidden.



Valentine's Day is for everyone, isn't it?

Valentine's Day is celebrated same ways mostly, but in Muslim Countries -like Arabia, Persia- it seems as a Christian tradition and usually people do not celebrate.

I think all these trends, gifts, traditions and stereotyped behaviours should not be important, celebrating freely is the best!