But the purpose of these visits isn’t a good time. It’s to cement business and personal ties, binding men together through the power of taboo and mutual self-exposure, or at least the pretense of it. It lets them judge that the others involved in a potential deal are men of the same stripe.
.. In part, the power of the experience comes from the mutual pleasure of shared transgression, the feeling of a shared secret. Like schoolboys’ playing hooky, being bad together moves a relationship along fast. As one saying that went rapidly around the Chinese Internet in 2011 put it, “It’s better to do one bad thing with your boss than a hundred good things for your boss.”
.. But vice serves as a kind of screen, weeding out the rare few who might have moral qualms about future dealings. It tells both sides that they’re playing by the same rules.
.. Businessmen who convert to evangelical Christianity and make a commitment to avoid vice or bribery describe sharp business losses as a result, as former partners turn away from them, fearful of their newfound probity.
.. His companion, heavily tattooed and with the build of a thuggish Buddha, nodded. “I wouldn’t trust a man I didn’t drink with,” he said.
.. In a society where trust of strangers is minimal, contract law is fragile, contracts themselves regarded more as guidelines than binding commitments, and the civil courts largely swayed by personal influence rather than legal right, the shared fraternity of the night out is one route to trust between partners.
.. Many institutions, especially State-owned enterprises, maintain staff whose job is effectively to be professional drinkers, sacrificing their livers for the sake of the firm.
.. As Zheng details in her book, getting overly sentimental or romantic toward women is seen as a sign of weakness and lack of masculinity. If a businessman is unfortunate enough to love his wife or girlfriend, using it as an excuse to avoid sex is a massive faux pas.
.. But in China colluding with officials is a necessity, not an anomaly. For local businesses, a connection with the government is vital to protect themselves from predatory officials exploiting the country’s haze of regulations. Regular pay-offs are as ubiquitous as income tax elsewhere.
Do Activist Investors Target Women C.E.O.s?
Academics at the University of Utah and Washington University in St. Louis conducted a study published in 2012 in which they showed a prospectus for an initial public offering to a group of 222 M.B.A. students, 45 of whom were women. One group was shown the prospectus with a male chief executive listed as leading the company. The other group was shown the same prospectus, but with a woman listed as the C.E.O.
The outcome was all too predictable. “Despite identical personal qualifications and firm financials, female founder/C.E.O.s were perceived as less capable than their male counterparts, and I.P.O.s led by female founder/C.E.O.s were considered less attractive investments,” the study found.
Researchers have also shown that executives who are women may be expected to be more likely to compromise and less likely to fight, which, for an activist seeking a role on the board, may make it a more attractive target.
Women of the Islamic State A manifesto on women by the Al-Khanssaa Brigade
Throughout, the author(s) attempt to convince their audience that it is a fundamental necessity for women to have a sedentary lifestyle. Indeed, this is her “divinely appointed right”. Each of the three sections seeks to present supporting evidence for this conception – historical, political and theological.
.. The blurring of lines between the roles of each sex has caused people to forget how to worship God properly – it is a distraction that is rending society apart. In their attempt to identify the root cause of it all, the author(s) pin the blame on the emasculation of men. Because, it is argued, “women are not presented with a true picture of man”, they have become confused and complacent, unable to fulfil their appointed responsibilities, most of which revolve around motherhood and maintenance of the household. The implication is obvious – the men of IS are deemed to be real men.
.. the central argument that the manifesto is seeking to convey, that the role of women is inherently “sedentary”, and that her responsibilities lie first and foremost in the house, except in a handful of narrowly defined circumstances. This role begins at the point of marriage which, it is declared, can be as young as nine years old.
.. Because men are serving women like themselves, men cannot distinguish themselves from them according to the two features referred to by God: “Men are in charge of women by [right of] what God has given over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth” (Quran 4:34).
.. Rather, women have this Heavenly secret in sedentariness, stillness and stability, and men its opposite, movement and flux, that which is the nature of man, created in him. If roles are mixed and positions overlap, humanity is thrown into a state of flux and instability. The base of society is shaken, its foundations crumble and its walls collapse.
More Women Than Ever in Congress, but With Less Power Than Before
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the new chairwoman of the Energy Committee, was at a reception in Hershey, Pa., last month when aides to Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the No. 2 Republican in the House, presented her with a party favor: a black windbreaker with the words “Chairman’s Table” on the back.
There was just one problem: The windbreaker was for a man, and far too big for Ms. Murkowski. Mr. McCarthy’s aides say they simply ran out of women’s jackets in Ms. Murkowski’s size, but to her the episode reflects a new reality on Capitol Hill.
“His staff was, of course, very apologetic,” said Ms. Murkowski, who gave the windbreaker to her husband and said she took no offense. “But I did think that was somewhat telling. We are not thinking about the women.”