Career and Gender Discrimination in Bahrain | Case Study

Career and Gender Discrimination in Bahrain | Case Study Ellen Moore (A) Living and working in Bahrain Case summary The case describes the working life and career decision of Ellen Moore, an American expatriate in Bahrain in the 1980s. Ellen is an outstanding and capable person both in terms of academic and professional background. Right after graduation with an MBA degree, she followed her husband to work as a financial specialist in Bahrain. Bahrain is a country situated in the Persian Gulf and its modernization and economy are strongly associated with the oil industry. Expatriates have been playing an important role in bringing expertise and dynamics to its under-developed areas. Ellen came to Bahrain to work as manager because of her vast work experience, she really like the opportunity to be a teacher and work with other people, although some working style, professional capability, religion were different from her home country, she believed that the ability to handle different situation would be an important international experience for her. After two years hard working, Ellen was offered with two senior management options of career promotion, one in accounts control and another in customer service. She wanted to choose the accounts control position but was faced with an explicit discriminatory practice by her manager for being a woman. He said that because the position she chose would involve visiting Saudi Arabia and negotiating with men, as a female she would not be able to fulfill this position. So there are four possible solutions that Allen could choose: 1. Take the customer position that she does not like 2. Fight back 3. Remain her current position 4. Leave the company. 1. The Case core issues a) Gender discrimination in the Bahraini society reflected in the organisational culture After two years of successful work, Ellen was offered two new positions in different areas. After carefully evaluate the two positions, she decided to take the Accounts Control position. When meeting with the General Manager, she was told that the offer had been reconsidered and this position was not available for her anymore. The reasons were: As a woman, she would be subject to discriminatory practices in Saudi Arabia and would experience difficulty travelling alone there as it is one of the job requirements She would also have difficulty in obtaining entry visas Customers would not accept to negotiate with a woman In case of hostile outbreak, she could be in danger. b) International migration of qualified workforce In 1975 offshore banking began in Bahrain. Since the country did not have experts to develop this industry, expatriates from around the world, particularly from Western Europe and North America, were invited to conduct business in Bahrain; Expatriates who lived under residence permits gained on the basis of recruitment for a specialist position that could not be filled by a qualified and available Bahraini citizen; Bahrain became a multicultural country. Expatriates would interact not only with Arabic nationals, but also with managers from others parts of the world, and with workers from developing countries; No formal training, especially in the difference among management practices, was provided in order to better adapt expatriates to new country/culture. c) Managing in a different culture Several aspects of the Middle Eastern culture had tremendous impact on the way of doing business, especially for the western firms which located in Bahrain: What Western managers considered to be proof of an argument or factual evidence could be flatly denied by a Bahraini: if something was not believed, it did not exist. It seemed that the concept of time differed between Middle Eastern and Western cultures. Schedules and deadlines, while sacred to Western managers, commanded little respect from Bahraini employees. Islamic religion: praying five times a day and Ramadan working hours. There is no separation of church, state and judiciary. Attitude towards women: all women could work outside the home, with hours restricted both by convention and by the labour laws. They could only work only after got their husbands, fathers, or brothers permission, and could not take potential employment away from men. Work outside the home was additional to duties performed inside the home. Most women who worked held secretarial or clerk positions; very few worked in management. The truth to a Bahraini employee was subject to an Arab interpretation, which was formed over hundreds of years of cultural evolution. 2. Possible solutions that Ellen faced a) Take the Customer Services position: †¢ Strength: By accepting the Customer Service position, she is taking her career to a new level. With new challenges to face, more responsibilities to meet and huge number of employees to manage which she has proven herself to have the skills and qualifications in this new role. It could be an option to take her career further and even could be a role model for women in this country that want to be in management position. †¢ Weakness: By accepting this position, she is sending the message that she is accepting the discrimination that she experienced. She would be compromising her values, which is probably painful for her as an educated American woman, because her true personality has been violated. b) Fight Back: †¢ Strength: Fighting back can help Ellen remain her true personality. By seeking help from Senior Vice-president, Ellen may persuade the SVP to stand by her side, get the position that she dreamed of. Another way to do it is to try her chances in the Bahraini Labor Tribunals, if she wins the case in the tribunal, it will help her change the women unequal rights in the company or even to be a role model for women in the Bahraini society. †¢ Weakness: Stepping over the general manager and reaching the Senior Vice-President to solve the issue might affect her relationship with the general manager who trusted her and nominated her for senior management position. This may result in serious conflicts with the organization management and risk Ellens job. c) Stay in her current position: †¢ Strength: The option of keeping the current position could be a safe choice for Ellen to maintain good relationship with her manager, keep her own values; and also not give in to the general managers prejudices. Meanwhile, she could start considering other career options. †¢ Weakness: Gender discrimination in public life and workplace is a noticeable issue in Bahrain (Asian Center for Human Rights 2007), thus the opportunity for promotion could be reduced in the future if Allen refused this promotion. Also, according to Metcalfe (2007), in Arab nations where women are expected to resign from their jobs when they are married; the training and professional academic qualifications are prioritized for men. Additionally, by not accepting the goodwill from the general manager, Ellen could be risking her relationship with him. d) Leave the company: †¢ Strength: According to Hofstede cultural dimensions (1993), Ellen is a person with high Uncertainty Avoidance (UA) who aspires for professionalism and punctuality. Bahrain Society, on the other hand, has a low UA featured in greater tolerance in timing. The big differences in Uncertainty Avoidance and Power Distance traits between Ellens and Bahrain society might hinder Ellens ability to develop her career in the country. Moreover, the reasons for Ellen to prefer the Account Control position are to gain international experience, better pay and challenging opportunities and these can be found in other job positions. †¢ Weakness: In Bahrain, it is required to obtain a permission letter from current employer in order to seek or move to work for another employer. If the relationship between the employee and the employer is not in good terms, then there is a high possibility that the current employer will refuse to release the employee. If Ellen cannot find another job and leaves the country, her husband might also need to leave his current job and find an alternative solution for both of them. 3. Proposed solution We recommend that Ellen remain in her current position until other work opportunities arise for her. According to Hofstede (1993), Ellen possess low Power Distance (PD) trait that influences her desire for reaching the equality for both men and women in work and life. Staying in the same position and not accepting the Customer Service position will work better for her by keeping her values and refusing to accept the gender discrimination. Moreover, this option allows Ellen to express her strong interest in sharpening her financial expertise while possibly retaining good relationship with the supervisor. As Ellen came to Bahrain with the aim to train Bahrainis to take over her job this option would still facilitate her aspiration. Thus, staying in the company can give her more time to think and search for other alternatives and career prospects. According to Al-Lamky (2007), unequal policies, structures and programs in the organization that may obstruct womens employment and career growth, he mentioned that the best way to solve gender issues should involved policy and structure change in the organization. By remaining in her current position, Ellen could lobby some policy evaluation in the organization, continue advocate equal gender rights for women, some examples that she may like to lobby: implementing programs to increase sensitivity towards women; through work recognition and promotion to make top women visible in the organization; creating an organizational culture that is open and sensitive to differing styles in the workplace (San Dico Kleiner, 1999). Child care could also be an interesting program to be developed as it would be an auxiliary in helping women to perform the cultural responsibilities attributed to them (Al-Lamky 2007). With the power that she already had in the company and the help of her current fem ale employees, there is a great chance that she could win in this lobby battle. 4. Emic-concept and its influence in the decision making Aiming to investigate elements of the Bahrain culture that are relevant to the management field, we considered the Emic Concept in this case study is the gender discrimination. Throughout the case, the gender discrimination was highly observed in the workplace, Bahrain had difficulties accepting and acknowledging the contributions of women to management. In Ellens story, she suffered discrimination for being a woman in many situations. One of them that we have mentioned above was the career decision that Ellen had to choose, her general manager told her that the offer had been reconsidered because she was a woman and as such, would face difficulties executing the job. Such difficulties included women face discriminatory practices in Saudi Arabia and customers refusing to negotiate with her. Although she had the ability and qualification for the customer service position, she refused it because it was based on gender rather than competence. Another situation of gender discrimination in the workplace was in managing male employees. In the case, an employee named Fahad, would always refuse to listen to whatever Ellen had presented to him and he always disregarded Ellens ideas. However, with her continue effort she managed to resolve the problem and was able to perform with Fahad many successful projects. Because this case happened in 1980s, in your mind the gender discrimination situation would be better in this country in nowadays; however, if we looking at some statistics in recent years, you will realize that your judgment is too hasty. In 2006, women in Bahrain held only 9% of senior civil service posts although they constituted 11% of the private sector workforce and 42% of the government workforce (Asian Centre for Human Rights, 2007). It demonstrates that gender bias is still strong in the workplace, and women receive significantly low remuneration than their male counterparts, one of the reasons is the Arab societies are reluctant to abandon their traditional viewpoint of women, they thought that their primarily role should be in house and rise children (Mostafa 2005). However, things are not set in stone forever, some Arabic nations have seen considerable changes for women situation nowadays, According to Mostafa (2005), research on attitudes towards women roles â€Å"showed over the last two decades or so a universal trend of increasing liberalism and acceptance of more egalitarian role definitions, especially among women†. Women can be also found in positions such as ministerial and parliamentary positions, running businesses and siting as presidents in national universities, with increasingly figures in the work force and rising to managerial positions (Omair 2008). Given the facts learned from the case and recent researches just presented, the emic concept has influenced the process of decision making as the group understood that decision choosing to continue working in her current job would reflect less discriminatory practices. She would accept a position as customer service which was offered based on gender and, also, Ellen Moore would not be compromising her job and legal rights to remain Bahrain. 5. References Omair, K. (2008). Women in management in the Arab context. Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues. Vol. 1 No. 2. pp. 107-123. Al-Lamky, A. (2007) Feminizing leadership in Arab societies: the perspectives of Omani female leaders. Women in Management Review. Volume: 22. Issue:1 Asian Centre for Human Rights. (2007). Bahrain: Stakeholders Report, India. Hofsted, G. (1993). Cultural constraints in management theories. Academy of Management Executive. 7(1), 81-94. Metcalfe, B. D. (2007). Gender and human resource management in the Middle East. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 18:1,54 -74, p.12,13 Mostafa , M. (2005). Attitudes towards women managers in the United Arab Emirates, Journal of Managerial Psychology. Vol. 20 No. 6, pp. 522-540. Sandico, C. and Kleiner, B. H. (1999). New development concerning gender discrimination in the work place. Equal Opportunities International. Volume 18 Number 2/3/4 .

Four season goes to paris Essay

This case demonstrates how Four Seasons effectively creates, cultivates, and sustains its organizational culture throughout every place the company expands its business to. In 1999, Four Seasons took over the Hotel George V in France and reopened it as the Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris (F. S. George V) leading the company to cope with cultural difference issues. Research showed that a strong organizational culture correlates with the firm’s high performance (Sorensen, 124). Therefore, it is vital for managers, whose work deals with international aspects, to realize the importance of corporate culture and know how to help their companies maintain the culture. In this paper, I will discuss about organizational culture of Four Seasons, French culture related to the hospitality industry, possible conflicts and resolution between Four Seasons and France employee regarding organizational culture. Four Seasons’ culture centered on providing customers with an exceptional service and giving its human resources high value. In terms of service, the company blended uniform service standards with local ingredients resulting in a customized hotel that goes hand in hand with its host country. To elaborate, the company ensured that every employee adopts the service standards and put them into practice. This is because sharing the same standard helps bond the employees to one another. Consequently, these bonds lead to creating corporate culture. The company put emphasize on its valuable human resources by introducing â€Å"The Golden Rule,† highlighting dignity and respect throughout the organization (Hallowell, Bowen, and Knoop, 4). The company created a strong culture through selection and socialization procedure (Sorensen, 125). First, the company recruited people based on their attitude fit to the organizational culture. For example, all potential job candidates at the F. S. George V were interviewed four times. Four Seasons was convinced that an employee with the right attitude could adapt to its culture. Second, the firm strengthened its culture through rules implementation and auditing performance helping to increase cultural persistence. Consequently, persistence contributed to maintaining the company’s culture. Third, the firm sustained its belief through association with symbols (Sorensen, 126). For example, when his uniform gets dirty, an employee is supplied with a uniform to change. This symbolizes and reminds the employee of dignity according to â€Å"The Golden Rule. † Differences between French culture and Four Seasons’ culture can create potential conflicts when both cultures collide. On one hand, French culture is indirect and subjective. French people are non confrontational. Face saving and dignity are vital in employee evaluation. French people are proud of their nationality. They are emotional and take honor into account when providing services. The working style of French people is polychronic (Hallowell, Bowen, and Knoop, 7). They regard personal relationship more important than fixed appointments. On the other hand, Four Seasons’ North American culture is more direct and objective. An employee feels comfortable to talk openly to his manager. In turn, the manager can give the employee sincere feedback on his performance. It is vital to follow business schedule strictly. This section talks about cultural conflicts and resolutions. Cultural differences between Four Seasons and France employee can bring about conflicts when the two collaborate. Especially, when the company has to embrace employees from the Hotel Gorge V. This means the hotel has to deal with an existing culture that is different from its own. The company’s confrontational style in managing people can be ineffective and considered insulting in France. French employee with monochronic culture may not know that attend meeting late is unacceptable for Americans with polychronic culture (Hallowell, Bowen, and Knoop, 7). Also, French people are emotional which is good in providing exceptional service to impress guests. However, being too emotional can result in inconsistency of service. For example, a concierge may treat one guest better than the other according to his own preference. This disrupts harmony in organizational culture in that the service standards require employees to treat every guest equally. To solve cultural difference issues, the company gradually replaced the existing culture with a new one aiming at employees who were willing to change and adopt the company culture. When the majority of employees embraced corporate culture, which prioritizes service standards, the company could resolve service inconsistency issue. The firm also hired Le Calvez, a truly French man as a F. S George V general manager. His experience in dealing with union in New York facilitated him in reducing gap between its employees and the union. Then, the hotel assigned the task force to the F. S. Gorge V to make sure that the opening will run smoothly. This task force helped building Four Season’s culture. Also, it symbolized the company’s unity worldwide. Realizing that French employees are indirect and avoid confronting with their boss, Four Seasons used direct line to encourage them to speak up and voice their concerns comfortably. In conclusion, this paper presents Four Seasons’ culture, National culture of France, main conflicts when the two cultures collide, and the approaches Four Seasons took to resolve such conflicts. The company created and cultivated its corporate culture through communication, implementation, and symbolization.

Discuss one or more theories of Moral Understanding and evaluate its conclusions Essay

The term morality, according to Shaffer (1993) means â€Å"a set of principles or ideals that help the individual to distinguish right from wrong and to act on this distinction. Morality is important to society, as it would not function effectively unless there is some agreement of what is right and wrong. There are many underlying processes and environmental factors, which limit or promote social, cognitive and moral development in children. In modern society, television could be considered to be one of the major influences on a child’s moral development. There are three approaches to moral development; the cognitive approach, the psychodynamic approach and the social learning theory. The Cognitive-Developmental approach of Piaget and Kohlberg studies how children become more able to reason morally and make moral judgements, whereas the Freud’s psychodynamic approach is more concerned with the development of the conscience and moral feelings such as guilt and anxiety. The social learning theory of Bandura and Mischel investigates the development of moral behaviour and how role models in the family, society and the media, influence it. The theory I am going to discuss is Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Approach. His theory of moral development is concerned with how the child’s moral knowledge and understanding change with age. Piaget saw morality as any system of rules, which governs interaction between people. The methods of investigation he used to develop his theories were, he looked at the way children imposed rules in their games. He used games to study the development of children’s moral development as he thought that by studying rules in the context of a game, he could study the child’s spontaneous though directly. He also, assessed changes in the child’s moral judgements by telling hypothetical stories about children who lied, stole or broke something. When using hypothetical stories, Piaget was generally more interested in the reasons why the children give the answers they did and not particularly the answers. Piaget identifies stages of moral development just as he identified stages with cognitive development. His theories of the way children think and their moral reasoning goes through a series of stages, as they are adapting to the world, these are also known as the processes of accommodation and assimilation. He believed that as children’s reasoning about the world changes when they grow older and gain more experience, so does their reasoning about morality. Their ability to think about the world in more complex ways is what causes them to move on from one stage to the next. This is known as cognitive development. Piaget stated that infants don’t understand much about morality until they are about three or four years of age. Their development divides into two main stages after infancy. His stages of moral development are: Pre Moral Stage (up to three or four years) Children don’t understand about rules, and so they don’t make moral judgements Stage of Heteronomous Morality (aged three – six years) Children at this stage think rules are absolute and unchangeable, and the goodness and badness of an action is judged largely on the basis of its consequences rather than by taking intent into account. Stage of Autonomous Morality (from around six or seven) Children at this stage now see rules as more changeable and intentions are taken into account. Children also start to believe that it is possible to break rules and get away with it, whereas earlier they tended to think they will always be found out and possibly punished. Researchers from Europe and America have tested some of Piaget’s theories and have concluded that distinct stages of development do seem to exist however, other research found that children do not see all rules as being equally important as Piaget thought they did. Heteronomous Morality, also known as moral realism, means when the child is subject to another’s laws or rules. Children think that rules must be obeyed no matter what the circumstances. A child at this stage will think that rules are only made by authority figures, such as, parents and teachers. Two other features that are displayed in moral reasoning at this stage are, first they expect bad behaviour to be punished in some way, they believe that the punishment should be expiatory – the wrongdoer must make amends for the crime by paying with some kind of suffering. They have the view that the amount of punishment should match the badness of the behaviour. Secondly, if the bad behaviour goes undetected then the child believes in immanent justice – where any misfortune occurring after the bad behaviour can be seen as a punishment. For example, if a child tells a lie and gets away with it, then later trips and falls, the younger child could consider this as a punishment. In general, they believe punishment should be fair and that wrongdoing will always be punished in some way. Autonomous Morality, which means when the child is subject to one’s own laws and rules. It involves moral relativism whereby the child comes to realise that rules evolve from social relationships. Due to the child ‘decentring’ and their developed ability to think more flexibly about moral issues, they have began to realise it is important to take other people’s opinions into account. At this stage a child will have developed the understanding that sometimes rules of morality can be broken in certain reasonable circumstances. They believe in reciprocal punishment, whereby the punishment should fit the crime. For example, if a child takes another child’s sweets, the first child should be deprived of their sweets or should make it up to the victim in some other way. This is known as the principle of reciprocity. Children will also have learnt at this stage that wrongdoers often avoid punishment, diminishing any belief in immanent justice. They see punishment as a method of making the offender understand the nature of the crime and that punishment is also a deterrent. The move from heteronomous morality to autonomous morality is influenced by two factors. Children around the age of seven begin to move on from the pre operational stage of an illogical and an egocentric way of thinking to more logical and flexible way of thinking, in the operational stage. Their growing awareness that other people have different views allows them to develop more mature moral reasoning. However, moral development lags at least one to two years behind cognitive development because the whole process depends on the cognitive changes occurring first. Kohlberg expanded Piaget’s theory to form a theory that also explained the development of moral reasoning. While Piaget described a two-stage process of moral development, Kohlberg’s theory outlined six stages within three different levels. Kohlberg extended Piaget’s theory, proposing that moral development is a continual process that occurs throughout the lifespan. A study by Colby et al (1983) criticised Piaget’s assumption that children of ten and eleven years old had reached an adult level of moral reasoning. Piaget was always focusing on what an average child was capable of achieving so he neglected the idea of great variations between the individual child’s ways of thinking. In general, Piaget’s cognitive theory has been criticised for the methods of investigation not being as precise as they could have been. Methods he used were seen as complicated, leading critics to think he under estimated younger children’s capabilities of what they could and could not do. This was because later research went on to conclude that children could actually take other motives into consideration, when they understood what motives were involved. Despite criticism, Piaget’s work is still regarded as a revolutionary step forward in the way we understand how children think. It has led to a much more realistic ways of understanding children’s moral development. Many attempts to test Piaget’s theories from researchers around the world have resulted in acceptance that some of his views and methods do appear to exist.

The Many Feminist Themes in Black Swan

To call Darren Aronofskys Black Swan a chick flick might be a misnomer, but  the film  confronts nearly every significant issue facing girls and women today in a way that few mainstream films dare. The storys simplicity (an up-and-coming ballet dancer earns the coveted main role of White Swan/Black Swan in a production of Swan Lake) belies whats really going on: an internal/external struggle that touches on the duality of womens lives and asks what were willing to sacrifice to achieve success. Plot Summary Nina Sayres (Natalie Portman) is a 20-something ballerina in a famous New York City company. She displays tremendous skill but almost none of the fiery passion that could elevate her from the corps de ballet to a featured dancer role. As the audience soon learns, she is controlled to a disturbing degree. Despite the glamor of her profession, she does little more than shuttle back and forth between home and work. Home is an apartment shared with her mother Erica (Barbara Hershey). The warren-like environment, with its dark halls and various closed doors, suggests repression, hidden secrets, and sealed-off emotions. Her bedroom is little-girl pink and chock full of stuffed animals. This speaks to her arrested development better than any narrative could, and her wardrobe of white, cream, pink, and other pale shades emphasizes her passive, unassuming personality. An opportunity to break out of the pack and become a principal dancer arises when the company decides to perform Swan Lake. The leading role of the White Swan/Black Swan is a part Nina — like every other ballet dancer before her — has dreamed of performing all her life. Although its clear she has the skill and grace to play the innocent, virginal, and pure White Swan, its doubtful she can embody the dark deception and commanding sexuality of the Black Swan — or so the companys demanding artistic director Thomas (Vincent Cassel) believes until a heretofore unforeseen act on the part of Nina abruptly changes his mind. When newcomer Lily (Mila Kunis) barges into the dance studio and interrupts Ninas audition for Thomas at a crucial point, a triangle is established between the three that involves lust, passion, competition, manipulation, seduction, and possibly murder. Adding to the drama, Thomas turns the introduction of Nina as the new principal dancer into an opportunity to kick Beth (Winona Ryder), the companys aging star, out the door by announcing her retirement. Characters and Relationships Its a perfect setup for director Aronofsky to weave various themes into the film, including the nature of female friendship and competition, the mother/daughter relationship, sexual harassment, lesbian relationships, the transition from girlhood to womanhood, the pursuit of perfection, aging and women, and female self-hatred. Each relationship Nina is engaged in — with her mother, with Lily, with Thomas, and with Beth — mines these themes at several levels and twists the perspectives so completely its not clear whats real and whats imagined. In Erica, we see a mother who appears supportive but later reveals her animosity toward her daughter. Erica alternately cheers on Nina and attempts to sabotage her. She lives vicariously through Nina while resenting her achievements. She pushes Nina forward, even as she continually infantilizes her now-adult child. In Lily, we see a friendship thats both liberating and destructive and an attraction that may be purely platonic or steeped in sexual overtones. Is Nina attracted to Lily because she admires the other dancers wild child lifestyle and passion over perfection? Or is she afraid that Lily will supplant Nina in the company as Nina has supplanted Beth? Does Nina want to be Lily? Or does Lily represent what Nina would be like if she embraced both light and dark aspects of herself? In Thomas, we see various facets: the positive mentor who believes Nina can outshine even Beth in the role, the ruthless artistic director bent on breaking Nina and molding her into what he wants, the sexual predator who harasses and seduces women to dominate and emotionally control them, and the manipulative boss who sees what his subordinates are up to — yet turns a blind eye. In Beth, we see Ninas fascination with the companys fading female star played out against the backdrop of societys disdain for aging females. Eager to emulate Beth and feel what its like to be in her shoes, Nina steals her lipstick, an act which foreshadows Nina stealing her role and her power. Ninas guilt over assuming the mantle of female power in the company and her constant feelings of inadequacy build until they erupt in an unnerving hospital scene that is rife with self-loathing and self-hatred. But is  it Beths actions or Ninas deep-seated feelings we witness on screen? Good Girl/Bad Girl Themes in Black Swan Underlying these themes is the idea of perfection at any cost and the good girl/bad girl tug-of-war. Its a seesaw of wills that knocks Nina off-balance mentally, if not physically. The audience sees Nina physically mutilate herself, a cinematic echo of the real-world issue of cutting. This is a self-destructive behavior many females turn to in order to release feelings of pain, fear, and emptiness. The simple donning of a black camisole — the apotheosis of the transition from innocent to worldly — initiates Nina into a world where drinking, drugging, and hooking up with either sex is no big deal. And when Nina literally has to fight herself to play the Black Swan with conviction and passion, we see how great a sacrifice one woman is willing to make to achieve perfection. Black Swan or White Swan? The films trailer makes no bones about the fact that Nina goes mad as she immerses herself in the role of a lifetime. Its a dark Gothic tale of suppression, betrayal, desire, guilt, and achievement. But at some level, it also addresses how women fear their own power and abilities, believing that if they fully exercise both, they risk obliterating and destroying those around them — including themselves. Can women still be good and kind and be successful, or must women always morph into those despised and hated Black Swans when they fiercely go after what they want? And can women live — or live with themselves — after that pinnacle is achieved?