Immutable Laws Of Marketing: Violate Them At Yo...

As such, the laws govern marketplace success or failure. Marketers and business managers can either learn these laws and work within their framework, or the laws will automatically be working against them.

Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Yo...

Successful people tend to lose their objectivity and follow their personal preferences rather than whatever the market dictates. The same thing tends to happen to marketers. They stop doing whatever it was that made them successful in the first place (like obeying the basic laws of marketing) and start trying to market all sorts of products.

Although the notion of immutability is irrelevant to protections under Title VII or the ADEA, age is "immutable" in the sense that it is a characteristic the person has not chosen and cannot change See Howard C. Eglit, Age Discrimination, 1.02, at 1-12 (2d ed. 1994). Aging also creates a "we/them" dichotomy. It is "commonand natural" for older people to exemptthemselves from the negative stereotypes and decline attributed to age and "to be oblivious to the prejudices they hold, especially perhaps prejudices against the group to which they belong." Kadas v. MCI Systemhouse Corp., 255 F.3d 359, 361-62 (7th Cir. 2001).

All people discover that caring for another inevitably includes moments of disappointment and hurt. One of the immutable laws of relationships is this: one cannot form attachments to others without opening oneself to injury. And as much as we crave pain-free love, finding such a relationship is rare. Offense, harm, hurt, and even betrayal seem frequent companions to love.

A waiver is a form of contract that transfers acceptance of the risk to the participants by requiring them to acknowledge the risks present in the activity. It also requires participants to waive their right to take legal action if an accident occurs. In Canada, these have been repeatedly successful in defending against lawsuits. Despite their effectiveness, there have been cases where waivers have failed to protect an organization, often because the waiver was poorly written or delivered incorrectly (Importance of Waivers in Recreation Programs, n.d.).

CHAPTER II. THE GENDERPERSPECTIVE 2.1 THE CONCEPT OFGENDER 2.2 GENDER ON THE INTERNATIONALAGENDA 2.3 GENDER ANDDEVELOPMENT 2.4 CONSTRAINTS IN DEVELOPMENTPOLICIES 2.5 GENDER IN AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT: FAO PLAN OF ACTION FOR WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT 2.1 THE CONCEPT OFGENDERThe gender perspective looks at the impact of gender onpeople's opportunities, social roles and interactions. Successful implementationof the policy, programme and project goals of international and nationalorganizations is directly affected by the impact of gender and, in turn,influences the process of social development. Gender is an integral component ofevery aspect of the economic, social, daily and private lives of individuals andsocieties, and of the different roles ascribed by society to men andwomen.Social scientists and development experts use two separateterms to designate biologically determined differences between men and women,which are called "sex differences", and those constructed socially, which arecalled "gender differences". Both define the differences between men and women,but they have very different connotations.Sex refers to the permanent and immutable biologicalcharacteristics common to individuals in all societies and cultures, whilegender defines traits forged throughout the history of social relations. Gender,although it originates in objective biological divergencies, goes far beyond thephysiological and biological specifics of the two sexes in terms of the roleseach is expected to play. Gender differences are social constructs, inculcatedon the basis of a specific society's particular perceptions of the physicaldifferences and the assumed tastes, tendencies and capabilities of men andwomen. Gender differences, unlike the immutable characteristics of sex, areuniversally conceded in historical and comparative social analyses to bevariants that are transformed over time and from one culture to the next, associeties change and evolve.Gender relations are accordingly defined as the specificmechanisms whereby different cultures determine the functions andresponsibilities of each sex. They also determine access to material resources,such as land, credit and training, and more ephemeral resources, such as power.The implications for everyday life are many, and include the division of labour,the responsibilities of family members inside and outside the home, educationand opportunities for professional advancement and a voice inpolicy-making. 2.2 GENDER ON THE INTERNATIONALAGENDAFor several years now, governments and development agencieshave given top priority to gender issues in development planning and policies.Gender equity, concerning resource access and allocation as well asopportunities for social and economic advancement, has been a prominent item onthe agendas of all recent international meetings, which have also investigatedthe basic link between gender equity and sustainable development, definingspecific mechanisms and objectives for international cooperation.The 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)in Rio de Janeiro (known as the "Earth Summit") explicitly included genderissues in Agenda 21, its platform statement. The World Conference on HumanRights, held in Vienna in 1993, also made significant progress in recognizingthe rights of women and girl-children as an inalienable, integral andindivisible part of universal human rights. This principle was taken up again bythe International Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in1994. Discussions focused on gender issues, stressing the empowerment of womenfor equitable development: "...the objective is to promote gender equality inall spheres of life, including family and community life, and to encourage andenable men to take responsibility for their sexual and reproductive behaviourand their social and family roles." The World Summit for Social Development,held in Copenhagen in 1995, took gender equity as the core strategy for socialand economic development and environmental protection. The 1995 Fourth WorldConference on Women, held in Beijing, reiterated the importance of these newoptions, drawing up an agenda to strengthen the status of women and adopting adeclaration and platform for action aimed at overcoming the barriers to genderequity and guaranteeing women's active participation in all spheres of life.Governments, the international community and civil society, including NGOs andthe private sector, were called upon to take strategic action in the followingcritical areas of concern:3 The persistent andincreasing burden of poverty on women; Inequalities and inadequaciesin, and unequal access to, education and training; Inequalities and inadequaciesin, and unequal access to, health care and related services; Violence againstwomen; The effects of armed or otherkinds of conflict on women, including those living under foreignoccupation; Inequality in economicstructures and policies, in all forms of productive activities and in access toresources; Inequality between men andwomen in the sharing of power and decision-making, at all levels; Insufficient mechanisms, atall levels, to promote the advancement of women; Lack of respect for, andinadequate promotion and protection of, the human rights of women; Stereotyping of women andinequality in women's access to, and participation in, all communicationsystems, especially the media; Gender inequalities in themanagement of natural resources and the safeguarding of theenvironment; Persistent discriminationagainst, and violation of the rights of, the girl-child.3 UN. 1995. Critical areas of concern.In Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4-15 September 1995,Chapter III, Item 44, p. 23, United Nations A7CONF.177/20.Governments and international organizations were urged topromote the search for, and the dissemination of, information on the mainaspects of gender issues, and to encourage the production and dissemination ofgender-specific statistics for programme planning and evaluation.Specific recommendations concerning statistics wereformulated. Strategic objective H.34 of the Platform for Action inAnnex 1 states that all statistics concerning individuals should be gathered,compiled, analysed and presented as gender-disaggregated data, mirroring theconcerns and issues of women in society. Data should, therefore:4 Ibid, p. 106, Strategic Objective H3:Generate and disseminate gender-disaggregated data and information for planningand evaluation. Measure the full contributionsof women and men to the economy; Measure unpaid work inagriculture, particularly subsistence agriculture, and other types of non-marketproduction activities included in the UN System of National Accounts; Develop methods for thequantitative measurement of unremunerated work that is outside the UN System ofNational Accounts, such as caring for dependents and preparing food, forpossible inclusion in satellite or other official accounts that may be producedseparately from the National Accounts; Develop an internationalclassification of unremunerated work activities for measurement in time-usestudies; Measure underemployment of menand women; Define concepts and methods tomeasure poverty and access to resources; Strengthen systems forgathering essential statistics and incorporate gender analysis; Develop data on morbidity andaccess to health services; Develop improved data on allforms of violence against women; Develop data collection onwomen and men with disabilities, including data on their access toresources.The Platform also formulated specific recommendationsconcerning national statistics. Governments were urged to review theirstatistics systems' coverage of gender considerations, disseminate statisticsperiodically in appropriate published forms for a wide range of users andutilize gender-specific data in the formulation of sustainable developmentpolicies and programmes. 2.3 GENDER ANDDEVELOPMENT 2.3.1 Work 2.3.2 Poverty 2.3.3 Family life 2.3.4 Health andnutrition 2.3.5 Education 2.3.6 The environment 2.3.7 The public and policy-makingspheresPlanners and policy-makers must be mindful of the majoraspects of socially ascribed gender functions and the specific needs of men andwomen. If development policies are to be sustainable, they must considerexisting gender disparities in employment, poverty, family life, health,education, the environment, public life and decision-making bodies. 2.3.1 WorkHouseholds in all societies differentiate various householdactivities and responsibilities by gender. For women, production andreproduction are two interlinked activities, and much of the work women do,although productive, is unpaid. Men have always played a minor role in domesticwork; societies tending to assume that they have paid work outside thehome.Gender disparities in access to economic resources, includingcredit, land and economic power-sharing, directly affect women's potential forachieving the kind of economic autonomy they need to provide a better quality oflife for themselves and their dependants.5 Limited access toagricultural inputs, especially for food crops, severely curtails women'spotential productivity.5 Sections A and B of the BeijingPlatform for Action recognize women's lack of access to productive resources andlimited access to economic power-sharing as being major causes of poverty. The1995 FAO Plan of Action for Women in Development identifies women's lack ofaccess to land and other agricultural inputs as one of the major obstacles toproductivity.Discrimination against women in employment is also frequentoutside the agricultural sector, and has an impact on the kinds of work, careersand career advancement that women can expect. Over the past 20 years or so,women all over the world have increased their participation in the labourmarket, but they continue to work in less prestigious jobs, are paid less andhave fewer opportunities for advancement.66 UN. 1995. The world's women 1995:trends and statistics. Sales No. E.95.XVII.2. New York.Women face a number of disadvantages in the labour market. Aswell as coping with sexist prejudices, they must reconcile the twin roles ofhomemaker and money-maker. This often affects their work status, the length andstructure of their workday and their salary level. In addition, the employmentsector offers less scope and potential for women than for men, as well as lowerpay for the same work. 2.3.2 PovertyPoverty can be defined as the combination of uncertain ornon-existent income and a lack of access to the resources needed to ensuresustainable living conditions. It often goes hand-in-hand with hunger,malnourishment, poor health, high mortality and morbidity rates, insufficienteducation and precarious and unhealthy housing.Studies have revealed an increasing feminization of poverty.Compared with men, the number of women living below the poverty line increasedbetween 1970 and 1980. By 1988, an estimated 60 percent of poor people werewomen.7 As well as sexism in the employment sector, contributingfactors included the economic restructuring imposed on many countries,government budget cuts and the adoption of neo-liberal economic models. Womenhave borne the brunt of cutbacks in civil service jobs, social services andbenefits. Their workload has increased as welfare structures have broken down,leaving them in sole charge of children and of elderly, ill and disabled peoplewho were previously looked after, at least partially, by the social servicessector. While trying to cope with the impact of the crisis of the welfare state,women are also desperately trying to juggle their meager resources. Thefeminization of poverty is much more visible among female-headed households. Ina male-headed household, both the man and the woman contribute to the family'swelfare; the man brings in income and the woman, in addition to the goods andservices she provides the family, may also seek paid work outside thehome.87 ILO. 1995. Gender, poverty andemployment: turning capabilities into entitlements. Turin, Italy.8 The indices of even limited studies show that thestatus of female heads of household with dependent children is comparable tothat of older widows living alone - both tend to be poorer than men.In rural areas, where services and job opportunities are evenfewer than in urban areas, poverty is also more acute. The situation is worsefor women, who are less likely to have access to production factors, servicesand resources such as credit, land, inheritance, education, information,extension services, technology and farm inputs, as well as a say indecision-making.Another reason for the persistence of female poverty is gendervulnerability within the home. When poor families cannot afford to send all oftheir children to school, parents favour investing in the boy-children, keepingthe girls at home to help with domestic work or some income-generatingactivity. 2.3.3 Family lifeIn all societies women are the prime carers of children, theelderly and the ill, and do most of the domestic tasks.9 Women'slives are greatly affected by reproduction, which has an incisive and directimpact on their health and on their educational, employment and earningopportunities. In societies where women marry very young and much earlier thanmen, wives defer more to husbands, and this has a substantial bearing on women'schances of finding paid work and receiving an education.9 Op. cit., footnote 6, p. 6.Growing male migration in search of work has combined withunstable conjugal arrangements to increase the number of female-headedhouseholds. There are also more widows then widowers because women tend to livelonger and men are more likely to remarry or seek alternative livingarrangements. The 1990 censuses showed that 21 percent of Latin Americanhouseholds were headed by women while, in the Caribbean, the figure was 35percent - the highest of any region worldwide.1010 Women in developing countries areestimated to do between two-thirds and three-quarters of the domestic work (op.cit., footnote 6, p. 106). A study of three cities in Mexico showed that womenspent an average of 56 hours per week on household tasks, while men spent sevenhours. The sexes also did different tasks; men mostly shopped and took thechildren to school and women did the remainder of the work in the home (Pedrero,M. 1996. "Organización familiar"; familias con futuro. Mexico,GEM.The differences between female- and male-headed householdsusually have a bearing on all aspects of family life: the size and compositionof the family and how it is run; nutrition; raising children; and availableincome.11 A single female head of household has a doubleresponsibility - she must earn a living and, at the same time, run ahome.11 Whoever bears the family name isusually listed as the head of household. Stereotypically, an adult male is oftenautomatically considered to be the head of the family even when a woman iseconomically and otherwise responsible for that family. Most female-headedhouseholds are, therefore, also one-parent households. M. Pedrero's study (op.cit., footnote 10) showed that only 1.4 percent of female heads of householdlived with a partner. 2.3.4 Health andnutritionBiologically, men and women have different health needs, butlifestyles and socially ascribed roles arising from prevailing social andcultural patterns also play a part in the health picture. Men are more likely tobe the victims of occupational diseases, accidents at work, smoking, alcohol andother forms of substance abuse. Men12 have a higher incidence ofcancer and of cardiovascular lesions and diseases (the principal cause of malemortality). Women's health risks, which are mainly linked to reproduction, makethem more vulnerable during pregnancy to anemia, malnutrition, hepatitis,malaria, diabetes and other illnesses.12 For a more detailed analysis ofcauses of mortality and morbidity, see: Murray, C.J.L. & López, A.D.1994. Global and regional cause-of-death patterns in 1990. WHO Bulletin,72 (3): 447-480.Women's life expectancy is greater than men's - women live forfive to 12 years longer than men in Europe, North America and some countries ofLatin America. There are a number of hypothetical explanations for thisphenomenon, ranging from genetics and biology to environmental and socialcauses, but no definitive consensus has yet emerged.13 Female lifeexpectancy does not conform to this pattern in some Asian countries, wherecultural norms and religious precepts restrict women's access to medical careand health services.13 Ibid, p. 65-66.Despite the generally poor provision of health services,particularly in rural areas, there has been a surge of interest in the familyplanning, maternal and child health care services offered by NGOs, which havebenefited mothers, children of both sexes and adult women in general.Custom, social constraints and lack of resources also giverise to gender disparities among children in terms of nutrition, morbidity andmortality. The two sexes do not receive equal attention and care; the tendencybeing to favour boy-children. Males are also fed more and better.The sharing of food among adult members of the family may alsobe unequal in some societies. Women often serve the family first and eatwhatever is left. They often do not get enough to eat, with grave consequencesfor their health, especially when they are pregnant or breastfeeding. Women arethe poorest of the poor, and even women heads of household are oftenundernourished, denying themselves in order to feed their children.Because food production in the rural zones of many countriesis largely carried out at home by women, their own and their familie