Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs: Gender, Race, and P

Gender, Race, and Power in Colonial Virginia In Colonial Virginia in 1661, Rebecca Nobles was sentenced to ten lashes for bearing an illegitimate child. Had she been an indentured servant she would also have been ordered to serve her master an additional two years to repay his losses incurred during her pregnancy. After 1662, had she been an enslaved African woman she would not have been prosecuted, because in that year the Colonial government declared children born to slave women the property of their mother's master. A child born to a slave brought increased wealth, whereas the child of an indentured servant brought increased financial responsibility. This evolving legislation in Colonial Virginia reflected elite planter interests in controlling women's sexuality for economic gain. Race is also defined and manipulated to reinforce the authority and economic power of elite white men who enacted colonial legislation. As historian Kathleen M. Brown demonstrates in her book Good Wives, Nasty Wenches and Anxious Patriarchs, the concepts of gender and race intersect as colonial Virginians consolidated power and defined their society. Indeed, gender and race were integral to that goal. In particular, planter manipulations of social categories had a profound effect on the economic and political climate in Colonial Virginia. First, I want to establish that English settlers did not bring a concrete ideology of race to their new colony. As Brown explains, while English traders had contact with other peoples in Ireland and on the West African coast, the everyday English concept of race was very much abstract in the early seventeenth century. That is not to say that the English did not justify their domination of other peo... ...usion that race is deployed "in the construction of power relations."* Indeed a "metalanguage" of race, to use Higginbotham's term, was employed by colonial powers to define black women as separate from English women, and that process is deconstructed in Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, Anxious Patriarchs. However, Brown's analysis rests mainly on the shifting English concepts of gender and race imposed on colonial society by the white elite, becoming at times a metalanguage of colonial gender. Nonetheless, Brown's analysis of overlapping social constructions is instructive for understanding the ways gender and race can be manipulated to buttress dominant hierarchies. Works Cited: *Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. "African American Women's History and the Metalanguage of Race" in Feminism and History, ed. Joan Wallach Scott (NY: Oxford University Press, 1996), 201.

Air Act

AIR ACT 1981 With the increasing industrialization and the tendency of the majority of industries to congregate in area which are already heavily industrialized, the problem of air pollution has begun to be felt in the country. The problem is more acute in those heavily industrialised areas which are also densely populated. Short-term studies conducted by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur, have confirmed that the cities of Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, etc. re facing the impact of air pollution on a steadily increasing level. 2. The presence in air, beyond certain limits, of various pollutants discharged through industrial emission and from certain human activities connected with traffic, heating, use of domestic fuel, refuse, incinerations, etc, has a detrimental effect on the health of the people as also on animal life, vegetation and property. 3.In the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in June, 1972 in which India parti cipated, decisions were taken to take appropriate steps for the preservation of the natural resources of the earth which, among other things, include the preservation of the quality of air and control of air pollution. The government has decided to implement these decisions of the said Conference in so far as they relate to the preservation of the quality of air and control of air pollution. 4. It is felt that there should be an integrated approach for tackling the environmental problems relating to pollution.It is, therefore, proposed that the Central Board for the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution constituted under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, will also perform the functions of the Central Board for the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution and of a State Board for the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in the Union Territories. It is also proposed that the State Boards constituted under that Act, separate State Boards for the Preservat ion and Control of Air Pollution are proposed to be constituted. The Air Act is implemented by the Central and State Governments and the Central and State Boards. Air Act AIR ACT 1981 With the increasing industrialization and the tendency of the majority of industries to congregate in area which are already heavily industrialized, the problem of air pollution has begun to be felt in the country. The problem is more acute in those heavily industrialised areas which are also densely populated. Short-term studies conducted by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur, have confirmed that the cities of Calcutta, Bombay, Delhi, etc. re facing the impact of air pollution on a steadily increasing level. 2. The presence in air, beyond certain limits, of various pollutants discharged through industrial emission and from certain human activities connected with traffic, heating, use of domestic fuel, refuse, incinerations, etc, has a detrimental effect on the health of the people as also on animal life, vegetation and property. 3.In the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in June, 1972 in which India parti cipated, decisions were taken to take appropriate steps for the preservation of the natural resources of the earth which, among other things, include the preservation of the quality of air and control of air pollution. The government has decided to implement these decisions of the said Conference in so far as they relate to the preservation of the quality of air and control of air pollution. 4. It is felt that there should be an integrated approach for tackling the environmental problems relating to pollution.It is, therefore, proposed that the Central Board for the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution constituted under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, will also perform the functions of the Central Board for the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution and of a State Board for the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution in the Union Territories. It is also proposed that the State Boards constituted under that Act, separate State Boards for the Preservat ion and Control of Air Pollution are proposed to be constituted. The Air Act is implemented by the Central and State Governments and the Central and State Boards.

Domestic Violence Is A Violation Of Human Rights - 1609 Words

Domestic violence or family violence is defined as the behaviour that occurs in a familial relationship that is violent, threatening, controlling, or causes a victim to live in fear. (The Commonwealth Family Law Act 1975 provides a similar definition). As well as being a complex social problem domestic violence is a crime. Victims are most often women, and whilst men can also fall victim, they are most often the perpetrators. Ultimately domestic violence is a violation of human rights, denying victims the right to live free from fear of violence. Describe the workings of the justice system relevant to your chosen issue and how they have acted to assist/impede the achievement of justice The NSW legal system responds to domestic violence in two ways - it aims to prevent any future violence by issuing Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders (ADVO’s), and it also responds to crimes already committed. The legal process for determining ADVO’s takes place in the local court. If the perpetrator is charged with a more serious offence, the case will be taken to the district or Supreme court. If found guilty they will either be sentenced to imprisonment or released back into their community under supervision. The NSW criminal justice system also responds to domestic violence by enforcing laws that aim to stop the abusive behaviour. The judicial system is also involved with government agencies and other contributors, each which have different roles in ensuring the progress of a caseShow MoreRelatedWomens Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean1362 Words   |  6 Pagespervasive and widespread human rights violations women face in the region, with little chance of justice. The most pernicious types of womens human rights abuses in the Americas occur in the areas of womens reproductive and sexual health and rights, discrimination and violence against women in the workplace, and violence against women in the home. 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