Women Leadership In Public Sector History Essay

Women Leadership In Public Sector History Essay In a fast paced and changing environment, the focus of attention is increasingly on the need for effective leadership not just good management, and women have recently proved that they are not only good in making food and taking care of children, but also good in leading the society and promoting a better generations. Moreover, women made dramatic gains in electoral politics, winning a number of high profile positions of national leadership and a record number of seats in parliaments around the world. However, ladies who are aspiring to leadership positions are facing particular challenges; they often face far more meticulous tests to determine their suitability for promotion and must be active in seeking selection for leadership positions. Nevertheless, in order to create your own opportunities, you should acquire the characteristics and competencies of an effective leader and integrate these into your personal leadership style not caring about your identity or gender. Furthermore, through interactive exercises and group discussions, female will gain powerful communication, negotiation and influencing skills which will help them succeed in male oriented working environments. They will learn how to achieve an assertive but not aggressive response styles and create and sustain an image of authority. They will also acquire valuable techniques to help them lead, empower and motivate their staff to excel. To give an opportunity for women to develop practical leadership skills as well as to benefit from the breadth of knowledge and experience of their peers within a range of commercial and public organizations is an obligation and a duty in the hands of the government. In fact, a large number of women around the world have set up and managed their own businesses. It was not easy for those women to succeed in business. They had to face a lot of difficulties and overcome a number of barriers to become successful in their ventures. They had to deal with discrimination and endure the doubt of society, and also put in more effort than men to prove their credibility to others. The frequent mismatch that arose against women, on the one hand is because of societal discourses and media representations which often reproduced slim and highly stereotypical accounts of womens leadership, and on the other hand, because individual womens subjective experiences of leadership challenged such representations. Many experiences have been conducted concerning womens leadership, One of them was done through the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (Student LPI) and Leadership Competency Inventory (LCI), demographic questionnaire, and focus group interviews have been asked, the researchers explored the leadership training the women had received and their perception of their leadership abilities and development needs. The findings showed that the women reported frequently demonstrated exemplary leadership practices and many possessed significant leadership experience. Participants scored highest on competencies utilizing people skills and lowest in areas reflecting competence in cognitive or strategic skills. While exposed to formal leadership education, they reported receiving their leadership education primarily through observation and experience. Data from other studies were gathered in three diverse sample conditions to examine whether male and female managers differed in styles of leadership observed by their direct reports and they examined differences in both transformational and transactional leadership styles using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. In three samples, women leaders were rated by both their female and male direct reports as displaying certain key aspects of transformational leadership (i.e. charisma, individualized consideration) more frequently than men. Although the effect sizes were generally small, the results of these studies suggest that women are no less transformational than their male counterparts, and may, in fact, be more so. The sex of the raters did not appear to make any difference in the results obtained. What studies and research have shown? According to  the new Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu report, Paths to  power: Advancing women in government, launched in advance of International Womens Day on March 8, governments have been more successful at advancing women than the  private sector. Globally, women are increasingly being elected and appointed to  positions of power within the  public sector such as heads of state, ministers and cabinet members, and legislators more so than in the  private sector. Furthermore, Talent and knowledge are the  most important resources a  nation can possess, said Greg Pellegrino, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Global Public Sector Industry Leader, and one of the  authors of the  report. Womens progress has vital implications for the  health and growth of governments, companies, and nations. Therefore, it is crucial that governments and companies work together to  harness and cultivate global female talent, to  help create positive change and ensure continued growth and success. According to Diana Radl Roger, partner at Deloitte Czech Republic and Slovakia, creating appropriate conditions for women is a  very difficult task because it demands cooperation of the whole organization. In  my opinion, companies that take care of and support a  better work-life balance, win their employees loyalty, and not only their female employees. They provide incentives for higher performance and professional growth. Indeed, the number of women in a company suggests the companys culture and  values, Progress with respect to  womens participation in the  public sector serves as a  model for the  private sector. Countries that have women in government leadership positions have an  increased number of issues affecting women on the  legislative agenda, often resulting in positive societal and economic developments. For example, after ten women won parliamentary seats in Kenya, legislation relating to  womens issues, such as combating domestic violence, was passed into law. Likewise, research has shown companies with women in leadership positions perform better and achieve more economic rewards than those without women representation. The  top 500 multinational firms, which had at least three women on their boards, saw a  16.7  percent return on equity, while average companies just saw an  11.5  percent return. Evidence suggests that as female representation in government increases, their shared interests emerge, bringing about increased attention of issues affecting women. It also paves the  way for more women to  move up the  ranks, as their predecessors break down many of the  cultural and institutional biases still in existence. As the  world grows ever more interconnected, talent is becoming increasingly mobile. With the  exception of North America, regions throughout the  world are experiencing a  brain drain, in which educated women are emigrating at alarming rates in search of advancement opportunities. For example, in Africa alone, 27.7  percent of females with tertiary education emigrate 10  percent more than men. What are the steps to be taken to preserve women rights to leadership? An organization-wide culture shift is required to  nurture an  environment that is friendly to  women and encourages their advancement. In reality, women are a  critical national resource for economic growth  .Womens progress has vital implications for the  health and growth of governments, companies, and nations. Both the  private and public sectors must continue to  nurture and advance diverse talent including high-potential women in order to  stay competitive and grow. According to Anne Weisberg who is the director of Deloitte Services LP in the  United States, and one of the  authors of the  report, While women have used individual strategies to  achieve their ambitions, accelerating the  advancement of women into positions of leadership in the  government will require new organizational strategies led by those in senior positionsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Among others steps, it will require organizations to  establish metrics and accountability measures, focus on career development for women and promote work life integration. The insertion of women in the workforce is critically important to the economy. Research has shown that if you have women in leadership in a company, it performs better. The same is true for the public sector. In fact, having women in high levels of government according to Excellency Maha Nakib, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is important, but whats more important is having women who can make a difference. The United States Case: In the United States, women are increasingly praised for having excellent skills for leadership and, in fact, women, more than men, manifest leadership styles associated with effective performance as leaders. Nevertheless, more people prefer male than female bosses, and it is more difficult for women than men to become leaders and to succeed in Male dominated leadership roles. This mix of apparent advantage and disadvantage that women leaders experience reflects the considerable progress toward gender equality that has taken place in both attitudes and behavior, coupled with the lack of complete attainment of this goal. United States, where women constitute 24% of the chief executives of organizations, 37% of all managers, and 43% of individuals in management, financial, and financial operations occupations (U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2006,). Although no one would argue that gender equality has arrived or is even near at hand, such statistics reflect massive social change in womens roles and opportunities. Advantages mixed with disadvantages: Alice H. Eagly argues in her book Psychology of Women Quarterly that research has established a mixed picture for contemporary female leadership. Women leaders on average manifest valued, effective leadership styles, even somewhat more than men do, and are often associated with successful business organizations. Attitudinal prejudice against women leaders appears to have lessened substantially, although even now there are more Americans who prefer male than female bosses. People say that they would vote for a woman for president; however, only slightly more than half of Americans indicate that the country is ready to have a female president. Because of the remaining prejudicial barriers, women face challenges as leaders that men do not face, especially in settings where female leaders are nontraditional. Such signs of advantage mixed with disadvantage and trust mixed with distrust are contradictory only on the surface. They are manifestations of gender relations that have changed dramatically yet have not arrived at equality between the sexes. Changes occurring in the 21st century: Many women have contended successfully with barriers to their leadership, as shown by the fact that women now have far more access to leadership roles than at any other period in history. The inroads of women into positions of power and authority reflect many underlying changes (Eagly Carli, 2003, in press)-above all, womens high level of paid employment (U.S. Census Bureau, 2007) and a lessening of the time demands of womens housework, accompanied by greater sharing of childcare and housework with husbands and partners (Bianchi, Robinson, Milkie, 2006; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2005). Associated with these shifts in roles is a large increase in womens education, whereby young women have become more educated than young men (U. S. National Center for Education Statistics, 2005). Because these changes in employment and education are accompanied by psychological changes in the form of increasing agency in women (e.g., Twenge, 1997, 2001) and greater career ambition (e.g., Astin, Oseguera, Sax,Korn,2002), women have achieved many more leadership positions than in the past. Women continue to encounter impediments to leadership within organizations, but many of these impediments can be removed or weakened by organizational changes designed to improve womens (and minorities) access to and success in leadership roles (e.g., Kalev, Dobbin,Kelly, 2006; Rapoport, Bailyn, Fletcher,Pruitt, 2002; Yoder, Schleicher, McDonald, 1998). On the other hand, the authors of Gender Equity or Bust! On the Road to Campus  Leadership  with Women in Higher Education argue that, Born of a patriarchal tradition, higher education continues to marginalize  women  at every turn as students, administrators, faculty, and athletic leaders. Whether the bias is conscious or unconscious,  women  are being penalized consistently for their gender (Wenniger and Conroy, 2001: 7) However, taking into consideration the deep changes taking place in womens roles and in the cultural explanation of good leadership, it is clear that women will continue their rise toward greater power and authority. The 20th-century shift toward gender equality has not ceased but is continuing (Jackson, 1998). The presence of more women in leadership positions is one of the clearest indicators of this transformation. Are women interested in political leadership? Women  would not be equally represented in student  government, much like they are not equally represented in the federal government, because they do not choose to run for office. One explanation is that  women  are not as interested in politics and  government  as men. The second explanation for not running for office could be that they do not believe they are qualified. Ultimately, these findings show that further research in which female student  government  representatives, candidates and the student body electorate are asked specifically why  women  might not be running for office or getting elected would offer more insight into this gender division of  leadership. Gender and Leadership: When it comes to gender and leadership, one thing is clear. Women can be successful in leading both private and public sector organizations. Women corporate leaders face a special set of challenges due to the male dominated nature of these things. Because women are members of the lower status minority group, for them assimilation creates problems with cultural adaption, the inability to maintain a positive sense of identity, feelings of marginalization and isolation and increased exposure to harassment and other stressors. (Korabik, 1997) What is the role of the media in all this? An analysis of media discourses on womens leadership, suggests the need for more nuanced ways of understanding women leaders identity formation that combine a range of macro and micro methodologies. It points to the importance of including an examination of both the specific organizational fields and the broader political, social and economic discourses of womens leadership, as mediating influences on the construction of womens leadership habits. It is our hoped that our study reveals the need for more complex ways of understanding women leaders identity formation and, in so doing, opens up productive spaces from which may flow subjugated knowledge of diverse womens leadership. Where is the female disadvantage? Our meta-analytic demonstration that women fare less well than men in male-dominated and masculine leadership roles identifies context-specific disadvantage (e.g., Eagly et al., 1995)-that is, in some leadership roles, women face obstacles that men do not face. If women who are in fact equal to their male counterparts are treated differently either in their access to male-dominated leader roles or in evaluations of their performance once they are in such roles, women would indeed face disadvantage as leaders. Such Disadvantage would be prejudicial, as defined by less favorable treatment of women than men, despite their objective equality (Eagly Diekman, 2005) one place to look for evidence of prejudicial disadvantage is in studies of attitudes toward female and male leaders. Especially informative are national polls that have asked representative samples of respondents for evaluations of men and women as leaders. Such polls have consistently shown favoritism toward male over female leaders. For example, for many years, pollsters have asked people what they think about personally having a job in which a woman or a man has authority over them. The specific Gallup Poll question is If you were taking a new job and had your choice of a boss, would you prefer to work for a man or woman? These data show a preference for male bosses over female bosses, although this differential in favor of men has decreased substantially through the years. What are the female advantages? Although revealing relatively small differences, findings indicate an advantage for women leaders. Women, more than men, appear to lead in styles that recommend them for leadership. In contrast, men, more than women, appear to lead in less advantageous styles by attending to subordinates failures to meet standards or by displaying behaviors that involve avoiding solving problems until they become acute and by being absent or uninvolved at critical times. What is clear from the meta-analysis is that women leaders, on average, exert leadership through behaviors considered appropriate for effective leadership under contemporary conditions. Why might women and men display somewhat different leadership styles within the limits set by their leader roles? Women are faced with accommodating the sometimes conflicting demands of their roles as women and their roles as leaders. In general, people expect and prefer that women be communal, manifesting traits such as kindness, concern for others, warmth, and gentleness and that man be agentic, manifesting traits such as confidence, aggressiveness, and self-direction (e.g., Newport, 2001; Williams and Best, 1990). Because leaders are thought to have more agentic than communal qualities (Powell, Butterfield, Parent, 2002; Schein, 2001), stereotypes about leaders generally resemble stereotypes of men more than stereotypes of women. As a result, men can seem usual or natural in most leadership roles, thereby placing women at a disadvantage (Eagly Karau, 2002; Heilman, 2001). Consequences of prejudice toward female leaders: Although prejudicial attitudes do not invariably produce discriminatory behavior, such attitudes can limit womens access to leadership roles and foster discriminatory evaluations when they occupy such positions. Social scientists have evaluated womens access to leadership roles through a large number of studies that implement regression methods. Finally, women have different opinions and views and having just one woman does not mean all are represented. We need to take more action in order to ensure that leadership women who have the style and the personality of a leader are taking their chance and are being represented. Moreover in order to ensure this right, we should provide women with education because in educating a woman, you educate a community. In the 21st century, many women are coming up in government and its really important to give them the mentorship they need to grow their careers and to motivate other women to act like them. This way, women will embrace a participative empowering consensus-building style of leadership and women will change the nature of power; power will not change the nature of women. (Bella Abzug, State of the World Forum, 1996)

Discussion of Issues Surrounding the Classification and Diagnosis of Schizophrenia

One issue related to classification and diagnosis is reliability. Reliability refers to the consistency of a measuring instrument, such as DSM (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) that is used when diagnosing schizophrenia. Reliability can be measured in terms of whether two independent assessors give similar scores (inter-rater reliability). High reliability is indicated by a high positive correlation. Inter-rater reliability has been assessed for diagnoses of schizophrenia and found to be relatively low.This was especially true for earlier versions of DSM but it was hoped that later revisions of DSM would prove more reliable. However, more recent versions have continued to produce low inter-rater reliability scores. For example, Whaley (2001) found only a small positive correlation of +0. 11 between different raters. Differences in cultural interpretations also pose a threat to the reliability of the diagnosis of schizophrenia. A research study by Copeland et al. (1971) gave a d escription of a patient showing clinical characteristics associated with schizophrenia to US and UK psychiatrists.Of the US psychiatrists, 69% diagnosed schizophrenia, whereas only 2% of the UK psychiatrists gave the same diagnosis. This suggests that the diagnostic criteria had quite a different meaning in different cultures and therefore are not reliable when used in different cultural settings. Reliability is also an issue for diagnosis. This was raised by Rosenhan (1973) who claimed that situational factors were more important in determining the ultimate diagnosis of schizophrenia, rather than any specific characteristics of the person. Rosenhan demonstrated this in his well-known study called ‘Sane in insane places’.He arranged for ‘pseudopatients’ to present themselves to psychiatric hospitals claiming to be hearing voices (a symptom of schizophrenia). All were diagnosed with schizophrenia and admitted, despite the fact they displayed no further sympt oms during their hospitalisation. Throughout their stay, none of the staff recognised that they were actually normal. The unreliability of diagnosis was further demonstrated in a follow-up study by Rosenhan. Psychiatrists at several mental hospitals were told to expect pseudopatients over a period of several months.This resulted in a 21% detection rate by the psychiatrists, even though none were actually sent. This shows that the diagnostic criteria used by psychiatrists could not reliably identify a person with schizophrenia. A second issue is validity which concerns both classification and diagnosis. For example, there is the issue of comorbidity which is related to the validity. Comorbidity refers to the extent that two (or more) conditions co-occur (such as schizophrenia and depression) and therefore the extent to which the condition is ‘real’ and distinct.One way to avoid the issue of comorbidity is to just use first-rank symptoms of schizophrenia when diagnosing ( e. g. delusions or hallucinations). However, Bentall et al. (1988) claim that many of the first-rank symptoms of schizophrenia are also found in other disorders (e. g. depression and bipolar disorder). This makes it difficult to separate schizophrenia as a distinct disorder from other disorders and suggests that schizophrenia is not a distinct condition. It may be more realistic to suggest that there is no such discrete disorder as schizophrenia but instead there is a spectrum of psychotic symptoms.Allardyce et al.  (2001) claim that symptoms used to characterise schizophrenia do not define a specific disorder because its symptoms are also found in other categories of psychosis described in DSM and therefore there should just be a psychotic spectrum. Another aspect of validity is predictive validity. Predictive validity demonstrates the validity of a diagnosis by demonstrating that it can predict scores on some criterion measure. If a disorder has high predictive validity then it should be clear how the disorder would develop and how people would respond to treatment. Research has found low predictive validity for schizophrenia.Some patients (about 20%) do recover their previous level of functioning but 40% never really recover. This much variation in the prognosis suggests that the original diagnosis lacked predictive validity. It means that diagnosis was not helpful in dealing with the course of schizophrenia. Research has shown that other factors may be more influential on the ultimate outcome of having schizophrenia. For example, it seems more to do with gender (Malmberg et al. , 1998) and psychosocial factors, such as social skills, academic achievement and family tolerance of schizophrenic behaviour (Harrison et al. , 2001).

Moliere the Misanthrope

The Misanthrope Moliere’s play The Misanthrope is a comedy that represents social satire, satirizing the conventions of the society which Moliere lived in and observed. Perhaps the character of Alceste best demonstrates the elements of comedy and tragedy that co-exist in Moliere’s play. Alceste, after all, realizes his jealous nature makes him a comic figure. In fact, humankind’s tragedy as expressed by Moliere is that it cannot admit how funny, hypocritical, and ironic most of its actions and views are.Because of this, Moliere’s play is much more comedy than tragedy. Alceste represents an â€Å"everyman† of his social milieu and culture in Moliere’s perception. He would like to be honest but knows he lives in a social system that is dishonest. Alceste chastises Philinte because of his hypocritical behavior toward strangers, who he hugs and professes great love for but then reverses his position the minute they are gone. As Alceste tells him, â€Å"Once the man’s back is turned, you cease to love him, / And speak with absolute indifference of him! By God, I say it’s base and scandalous / To falsify the heart’s affections thus; / If I caught myself behaving in such a way, / I’d hang myself for shame, without delay† (Moliere 17). While the above treatment of one’s fellow man may seem tragic, Moliere seems to be suggesting in a humorous way that all humans are often guilty of such behavior. In fact, it is Alceste’s failures to recognize his own foibles that makes him so comical and his reaction to others hypocritical. Alceste is indignant and humorless with others like Oronte, who writes a poem about his beloved Celimene.He fails to realize his jealousy makes him just as guilty of treating others poorly as does Philinte’s hypocrisy. He is a jealous lover. He is a jealous friend. And he is hard on all those around him but himself. Moliere is maintaining this lack of se lf-perception may be man’s tragedy but from it springs much of the humor and comedy in life. We see this humor when Alceste maintains he would get rid of all those who wooed Celimene were he his beloved, â€Å"Were I this lady, I would soon get rid / Of lovers who approved of all I did, / And by their slack indulgence and applause / Endorsed my follies and excused my flaws† (Moliere 68).In essence, Alceste endorses his own follies and excuses his own flaws. In conclusion, though there are definitely tragic elements that co-exist with the satire and comedy in Moliere’s The Misanthrope, overall the play is much more of a humorous and funny comedy than it is tragic. Though lack of insight and self-perception may be a tragic condition of humankind, Moliere sees much more humor and comedy stemming from it.Work Cited Moliere, Jean Baptiste. The Misanthrope and Tartuffe. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1965.

Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire - 2099 Words

â€Å"The Relationship Between Sex And Violence In Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire † And so it was I entered the broken world To trace the visionary company of love, its voice An instant in the wind (I know not whither hurled) But not for long to hold each desperate choice The Broken Tower by Hart Crane. The play starts with this quote describing a lot about the play its theme ‘the search of true love’ and as the title of the play itself says ‘desire’. Tennessee Williams was born Thomas Lanier Williams on March 26, 1914, in Columbus, Mississippi, the son of Cornelius Coffin Williams and Edwina Dakin. Williams had an elder sister, Rose, who was later committed to a mental institution, and a younger brother. In 1918 the Williams family moved to St Louis. In response to this unhappiness, and to the emotional pain of being bullied by children in the neighborhood, Williams began to read books and write his own stories; years later, in the foreword to Sweet Bird of Youth he commented that writing was an escape from a world of reality in which I felt acutely uncomfortable. It immediately became my place of retreat, my cave, my refuge. Beginning in 1929 Williams studied at the University of Missouri at Columbia, at Washington University in St. Louis, and at the University of Iowa, meanwhile making a name for himself as a writer. Although this period was a creative one, and one in which his personal life settled down (he seems to have com e to terms with hisShow MoreRelatedA Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams1109 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire† is a play written by Tennessee Williams. Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi but with a different name. He changed his name from Thomas Lanier Williams to what the readers know today as Tennessee Williams. (Forman). Williams is widely known for his plays, short stories, and poems across the world. He has won many awards for his work such as The New York Critics’ Circle Award and 2 Pulitzer awards. The play â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire he won his first Pulitzer PrizeRead MoreA Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams1442 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout Tennessee Williams’s play, â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire† one can learn a large portion about his personal life. In the play the character, Blanche has a mental illness the same as his sister Rose had in her lifetime. Blanche’s ex-husband was also homosexual and he made the point to say that he left her for a man and Williams himself was also a homosexual. Tennessee chose for the story to be based in New Orleans, which was a crumbling town at the time and Williams was living a crumbling lifeRead MoreA Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams928 Words   |  4 PagesAnalysis Paper: A Streetcar Named Desire For my analysis paper, I have chosen the full-length play by Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire. The drama containing several forms of realism was released in December of 1947 and stayed open on Broadway for two years until December of 1949. The play in set in New Orleans, Louisiana in a simi-poor area, but has a certain amount of charm that goes along with it. Williams creates a vast web of emotional conflicts thought all the characters, whichRead MoreA Streetcar Named Desire, By Tennessee Williams1629 Words   |  7 PagesA Streetcar Named Desire, written by Tennessee Williams, was first performed on December 3rd, 1947. Chronicling the actions and events that take place when two sisters are reunited, A Streetcar Named Desire is regarded as one of Tennessee William’s most successful plays. Likewise, â€Å"Blank Space†, written and performed by Taylor Swift, was first performed November 23rd, during the 2014 American Music Awards. â€Å"Blank Space† s pent 22 weeks in the top 40 charts and is featured on the best selling albumRead MoreA Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams Essay1226 Words   |  5 PagesA Streetcar Named Desire In the summer of post World War II in New Orleans, Louisiana lives hard working, hardheaded Stanley and twenty-five year old pregnant, timid Stella Kowalski in a charming two-bedroom apartment on Elysian Fields. Stella’s older sister Blanche Dubois appears in the first scene unexpectedly from Laurel, Mississippi carrying everything she owns. In Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, despite Blanche’s desire to start fresh in New Orleans, her snobbish nature, inabilityRead MoreA Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams672 Words   |  3 Pagesof the era—is Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, a tale of one woman’s destruction due to Southern society’s changing moral values. The destruction of the Old Southern society around the main character, Blanche DuBois, causes her to go insane and she cannot stand the low morals that the New South is carrying in its baggage. Because of his Southern roots, Tennessee Williams’ past is able to shine through his work. Born to a drunken shoe maker and a Southern belle, Williams was supportedRead MoreA Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams1054 Words   |  5 Pagescalled â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire†, there are numerous amounts of tragic events that not only affected the person in the event, but others around them as well. A tragedy, or tragic event, is known to bring chaos, destruction, distress, and even discomfort such as a natural disaster or a serious accident. A tragedy in a story can also highlight the downfall of the main character, or sometimes one of the more important character. In this book, â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire†, written by Tennessee Williams, heRead MoreTennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire929 Words   |  4 PagesThe â€Å"Desire’s† Breakdown Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is a web of themes, complicated scenarios, and clashes between the characters. Therefore, it might’ve been somehow difficult to find out who the protagonist of this play is if it wasn’t for Aristotle’s ideas of a good tragedy because neither of the main characters, Stanley Kowalski and Blanche Dubois, is completely good nor bad. According to Aristotle’s Poetics, a good tragedy requires the protagonist to undergo a change of statusRead MoreTennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire964 Words   |  4 PagesLike many people in the world, the characters in Tennessee William’s play, A Streetcar Named Desire, are troubled by anxiety and insecurities. Life in New Orleans during the 1940s was characterized by the incredible variety of music, lively and bright atmosphere, and diverse population, while in the midst of the ongoing World War II. Culture was rich and fruitful because the city developed into a â€Å"melting pot† of people from all over the world. Due to the wide-range in population, the people ofRead MoreA Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams1263 Words   |  6 Pagesgrowth in the suffrage movement in England and the United States, with women struggling to attain political equality. However, this was not to last however, and by the fifties men had reassumed their more dominant role in society. Tennessee Williams wrote A Streetcar Named Desire around the time this reversal was occurring in American society. In this play male dominance is clear. Women are represented as delicate, reserved, and silent, confined to a domestic world that isolated them from the harsh realities