Sima de los Huesos, a Key to Human Evolution

The Sima de los Huesos (Pit of Bones in Spanish and typically abbreviated as SH) is a lower Paleolithic site, one of several important sections of the Cueva Mayor-Cueva del Silo cave system of the Sierra de Atapuerca in north-central Spain. With a total of at least 28 individual hominid fossils now firmly dated to 430,000 years old, SH is the largest and oldest collection of human remains yet discovered. Site Context The bone pit at Sima de los Huesos is at the bottom of the cave, beneath an abrupt vertical shaft measuring between 2-4 meters (6.5-13 feet) in diameter, and located about .5 kilometers (~1/3 of a mile) in from the Cueva Mayor entrance. That shaft extends downward approximately 13 m (42.5 ft), ending just above the Rampa (Ramp), a 9 m (30 ft) long linear chamber inclined about 32 degrees. At the foot of that ramp is deposit called the Sima de los Huesos, a smoothly oblong chamber measuring 8x4 m (26x13 ft) with irregular ceiling heights between 1-2 m (3-6.5 ft). In the roof of the eastern side of the SH chamber is another vertical shaft, which extends upwards some 5 m (16 ft) to where it is blocked by cave collapse. Human and Animal Bones The sites archaeological deposits include a bone-bearing breccia, mixed with many large fallen blocks of limestone and mud deposits. The bones are mainly composed of at least 166 Middle Pleistocene cave bears (Ursus deningeri) and at least 28 individual humans, represented by more than 6,500 bone fragments including over 500 teeth alone. Other identified animals in the pit include extinct forms of Panthera leo (lion), Felis silvestris (wildcat), Canis lupus (grey wolf), Vulpes vulpes (red fox), and Lynx pardina splaea (Pardel lynx). Relatively few of the animal and human bones are articulated; some of the bones have tooth marks from where carnivores have chewed on them. The current interpretation of how the site came to be is that all the animals and humans fell into the pit from a higher chamber and were trapped and unable to get out. The stratigraphy and layout of the bone deposit suggest  the humans were somehow deposited in the cave before the bears and other carnivores. It is also possible—given the large amount of mud in the pit—that all the bones arrived in this low place in the cave through a series of mudflows. A third and quite controversial hypothesis is that the accumulation of human remains might be the result of mortuary practices (see the discussion of Carbonell and Mosquera below). The Humans A central question for the SH site has been and continues to be who were they? Were they Neanderthal, Denisovan, Early Modern Human, some mixture we havent yet recognized? With the fossil remains of 28 individuals who all lived and died about 430,000 years ago, the SH site has the potential to teach us a great deal about human evolution and how these three populations intersected in the past. Comparisons of nine human skulls and numerous cranial fragments representing at least 13 individuals were first reported in 1997 (Arsuaga et a.). A large variety in cranial capacity and other characteristics were detailed in the publications, but in 1997, the site was thought to be about 300,000 years old, and these scholars concluded that the Sima de los Huesos population was evolutionarily related to Neanderthals as a sister group, and could best fit into the then-refined species of Homo heidelbergensis. That theory was supported by results from a somewhat controversial method redating the site to 530,000 years ago (Bischoff and colleagues, see details below). But in 2012, paleontologist Chris Stringer argued that the 530,000-year-old dates were too old, and, based on morphological attributes, the SH fossils represented an archaic form of Neanderthal, rather than H. heidelbergensis. The latest data (Arsuago et al 2014) answers some of Stringers hesitations. Mitochondrial DNA at SH Research on the cave bear bones reported by Dabney and colleagues revealed that, astonishingly, mitochondrial DNA had been preserved at the site, much older than any other found to date anywhere. Additional investigations on the human remains from SH reported by Meyer and colleagues  redated the site to closer to 400,000 years ago. These studies also supply the surprising notion that the SH population shares some DNA with the  Denisovans, rather than the Neanderthals they look like (and, of course, we dont really know what a Denisovan looks like yet). Arsuaga and colleagues reported a study of 17 complete skulls from SH, agreeing with Stringer that, because of numerous Neanderthal-like characteristics of the crania and mandibles, the population does not fit the  H. heidelbergensis  classification. But the population is, according to the authors, significantly different from other groups such as those at Ceprano and  Arago  caves, and from other Neanderthals, and Arsuaga and colleagues now argue that a separate taxon should be considered for the SH fossils. Sima de los Huesos is now dated to 430,000 years ago, and that places it close to the age predicted for when the split in hominid species creating the Neanderthal and Denisovan lineages occurred. The SH fossils are thus central to the investigations concerning how that might have happened, and what our evolutionary history might be. Sima de los Huesos, a Purposeful Burial Mortality profiles (Bermudez de Castro and colleagues) of the SH population show a high representation of adolescents and prime-age adults  and a low percentage of adults between 20 and 40 years of age. Only one individual was under 10 at the time of death, and none were over 40-45 years old. Thats confusing, because, while 50% of the bones were gnaw-marked, they were in fairly good condition: statistically, say the scholars, there should be more children. Carbonell and Mosquera (2006) argued that Sima de los Huesos represents a purposeful burial, based partly on the recovery of a single quartzite  Acheulean handaxe  (Mode 2) and the complete lack of lithic waste or other habitation waste at all. If they are correct, and they are currently in the minority, Sima de los Huesos would be the earliest example of purposeful human burials known to date, by ~200,000 years or so. Evidence suggesting that at least one of the individuals in the pit died as a result of interpersonal violence was reported in 2015 (Sala et al. 2015). Cranium 17 has multiple impact fractures which occurred near the moment of death, and scholars believe this individual was dead at the time s/he was dropped into the shaft. Sala et al. argue that placing cadavers into the pit was indeed a social practice of the community.   Dating Sima de lost Huesos Uranium-series and Electron Spin Resonance dating of the human fossils reported in 1997 indicated a minimum age of about 200,000 and a probable age of greater than 300,000 years ago, which roughly matched the age of the mammals. In 2007, Bischoff and colleagues reported that a high-precision thermal-ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) analysis defines the minimum of deposits age as 530,000 years ago. This date led researchers to postulate that the SH hominids were at the beginning of the  Neanderthal  evolutionary lineage, rather than a contemporary, related sister group. However, in 2012, paleontologist Chris Stringer argued that, based on morphological attributes, the SH fossils represent an archaic form of Neanderthal, rather than  H. heidelbergensis, and that the 530,000-year-old date is too old. In 2014, excavators Arsuaga et al reported new dates from a suite of different dating techniques, including Uranium series (U-series) dating of speleothems, thermally transferred  optically stimulated luminescence  (TT-OSL) and post-infrared stimulated luminescence (pIR-IR) dating of sedimentary quartz and feldspar grains, electron spin resonance (ESR) dating of sedimentary quartz, combined ESR/U-series dating of fossil teeth, paleomagnetic analysis of sediments, and biostratigraphy. Dates from most of these techniques clustered around 430,000 years ago. Archaeology The first human fossils were discovered in 1976, by T. Torres, and the first excavations within this unit were conducted by the Sierra de Atapuerca Pleistocene site group under the direction of E. Aguirre. In 1990, this program was undertaken by J. L. Arsuaga, J. M. Bermudez de Castro, and E. Carbonell. Sources Arsuaga JL, Martà ­nez I, Gracia A, Carretero JM, Lorenzo C, Garcà ­a N, and Ortega AI. 1997.  Sima de los Huesos (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). The site.  Journal of Human Evolution  33(2–3):109-127. Arsuaga JL, Martà ­nez, Gracia A, and Lorenzo C. 1997a.  The Sima de los Huesos crania (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). A comparative study.  Journal of Human Evolution  33(2–3):219-281. Arsuaga JL, Martà ­nez I, Arnold LJ, Aranburu A, Gracia-Tà ©llez A, Sharp WD, Quam RM, Falguà ¨res C, Pantoja-Pà ©rez A, Bischoff JL et al. . 2014.  Neandertal roots: Cranial and chronological evidence from Sima de los Huesos.  Science  344(6190):1358-1363. doi: 10.1126/science.1253958 Bermà ºdez de Castro JM, Martinà ³n-Torres M, Lozano M, Sarmiento S, and Muelo A. 2004.  Paleodemography of the Atapuerca-Sima de los Huesos Hominin Sample: A revision and new appropaches to the paleodemongraphy of the European Middle Pleistocene population.  Journal of Anthropological Research  60(1):5-26. Bischoff JL, Fitzpatrick JA, Leà ³n L, Arsuaga JL, Falgueres C, Bahain JJ, and Bullen T. 1997.  Geology and preliminary dating of the hominid-bearing sedimentary fill of the Sima de los Huesos Chamber, Cueva Mayor of the Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain.  Journal of Human Evolution  33(2–3):129-154. Bischoff JL, Williams RW, Rosenbauer RJ, Aramburu A, Arsuaga JL, Garcà ­a N, and Cuenca-Bescà ³s G. 2007.  High-resolution U-series dates from the Sima de  Ã‚  Journal of Archaeological Science  34(5):763-770.los  Huesos hominids yields : implications for the evolution of the early Neanderthal lineage. Carbonell E, and Mosquera M. 2006.  The emergence of  a  symbolic   Comptes Rendus Palevol  5(1–2):155-160.behaviour: the  sepulchral pit of  Sima de  los  Huesos, Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain. Carretero J-M, Rodrà ­guez L, Garcà ­a-Gonzà ¡lez R, Arsuaga J-L, Gà ³mez-Olivencia A, Lorenzo C, Bonmatà ­ A, Gracia A, Martà ­nez I, and Quam R. 2012.  Stature estimation from complete long bones in the Middle Pleistocene humans from the Sima de  los  Huesos, Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain).  Journal of Human Evolution  62(2):242-255. Dabney J, Knapp M, Glocke I, Gansauge M-T, Weihmann A, Nickel B, Valdiosera C, Garcà ­a N, Pà ¤Ãƒ ¤bo S, Arsuaga J-L et al. 2013.  Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of a Middle Pleistocene cave bear reconstructed from ultrashort DNA fragments.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  110(39):15758-15763. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1314445110 Garcà ­a N, and Arsuaga JL. 2011.  The Sima de  Ã‚  Quaternary Science Reviews  30(11-12):1413-1419.los  Huesos (Burgos, northern Spain): palaeoenvironment and habitats of Homo heidelbergensis during the Middle Pleistocene. Garcà ­a N, Arsuaga JL, and Torres T. 1997.  The carnivore remains from the Sima de  Ã‚  Journal of Human Evolution  33(2–3):155-174.los  Huesos Middle Pleistocene site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain). Gracia-Tà ©llez A, Arsuaga J-L, Martà ­nez I, Martà ­n-Francà ©s L, Martinà ³n-Torres M, Bermà ºdez de Castro J-M, Bonmatà ­ A, and Lira J. 2013.  Orofacial pathology in Homo heidelbergensis: The case of Skull 5 from the Sima de los Huesos site (Atapuerca, Spain).  Quaternary International  295:83-93. Hublin J-J. 2014.  How to build a Neandertal.  Science  344(6190):1338-1339. doi: 10.1126/science.1255554 Martinà ³n-Torres M, Bermà ºdez de Castro JM, Gà ³mez-Robles A, Prado-Simà ³n L, and Arsuaga JL. 2012.  Morphological description and comparison of the dental remains from Atapuerca-Sima de los Huesos site (Spain).  Journal of Human Evolution  62(1):7-58. Meyer, Matthias. A mitochondrial genome sequence of a hominin from Sima de los Huesos. Nature volume 505, Qiaomei Fu, Ayinuer Aximu-Petri, et al., Springer Nature Publishing AG, January 16, 2014. Ortega AI, Benito-Calvo A, Pà ©rez-Gonzà ¡lez A, Martà ­n-Merino MA, Pà ©rez-Martà ­nez R, Parà ©s JM, Aramburu A, Arsuaga JL, Bermà ºdez de Castro JM, and Carbonell E. 2013.  Evolution of multilevel caves in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain) and its relation to human occupation.  Geomorphology  196:122-137. Sala N, Arsuaga JL, Pantoja-Pà ©rez A, Pablos A, Martà ­nez I, Quam RM, Gà ³mez-Olivencia A, Bermà ºdez de Castro JM, and Carbonell E. 2015.  Lethal Interpersonal Violence in the Middle Pleistocene.  PLoS ONE  10(5):e0126589. Stringer C. 2012.  The status of Homo heidelbergensis (Schoetensack 1908).  Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews  21(3):101-107.

Changing Divorce Laws Essay - 1602 Words

Changing Divorce Laws In 1995, Statistics Canada data shows that 30% of marriages split (McGovern). Since the 1960’s, marriage and divorce have been undergoing profound changes which have altered the meaning of marriage, the chances of its ending in divorce and the circumstances attached to marriage. These changes have made it easier for couples to obtain a divorce due to the changing laws and changing morals of society. The changes include three new grounds needed to prove marital breakdown, such as your spouse committing adultery, your spouse causing mental or physical cruelty or a separation of a year it was previously three years. Divorce also impacts the family as a whole, not only the children but also the two parties†¦show more content†¦Monogamy was out, ‘free love’ thrived, and divorce represented freedom. Enough people wanted divorce by the late 1960’s that the pressure was on to change the law. After long and bitter parliamentary debates, the federal Divorce Act was revised. Additional grounds for divorce included desertion, imprisonment, or separation for at least three years plus marital offences of physical and mental cruelty. The new law eliminated the need to appear in court in most cases – often the most personally humiliating experience in the older legal procedure. The law later changed again in 1985, where it eased off yet again, to allow divorces after only a year’s separation. The broad trend in Canada was to make divorce easier. It was accomplished by making it less fault-oriented where most divorce applications to the courts are no longer contested which eliminates the need for a formal court hearing where both parties testify and ask for different things. With â€Å"no fault† splits in place, the social stigma of divorce shrank. As more people divorced the stigma weakened further. The cycle continued while the divorce rate soared. 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Describe and Evaluate Biological Explanations of Depression Free Essays

Describe and evaluate biological explanations of depression There are many different explanations for depression, including biological. Links have been found between biochemical, genetics and hormonal imbalances with depressed people. In the biochemical explanation, a link has been found between neurotransmitter imbalances and depression. We will write a custom essay sample on Describe and Evaluate Biological Explanations of Depression or any similar topic only for you Order Now Serotonin is associated with pleasure and mood. Mann et al found impaired transmission of serotonin in people with depression. However Julian disagrees with this statement and says depression may be due to neuron damage rather than a neurotransmitter reduction. The problem with this approach is that it implies correlation and not causation, there may be a link but something else could be causing both depression and low serotonin. There is the chicken and egg problem – does low serotonin cause depression or does depression cause low serotonin? In other areas of psychology low serotonin has been linked with increased aggression and eating disorders, as well as anxiety. Someone that has low serotonin does not necessarily become depressed. There is also the problem where people are depressed but have normal serotonin levels. This shows that depression is not fully down to biochemical imbalances but other things as well. It is a very simplistic and reductionist model and should only be included as a vulnerability and not the whole answer to depression. Another explanation is a genetic problem. Through many family studies Gershon states there is a clear inheritable component to depression, especially in bipolar disorder. Weisseman et al supports this by saying that for if a child has a parent with depression, the risk of the child having depression is increased by three times compared to the general population. This is a strong finding but as the children share the same environment as their parents, there is a possibility that the child has learnt the behaviour through the social learning theory of imitating and observing and not through genetics. Kendler et al studied over 15000 twins in Sweden and found that if one twin has depression, there is a 38% chance that the other twin will have it too. This has strong methodology and is supported by many twin studies who have found similar results. On the other hand the twins share the same environment and so environmental influences may still be possible. The results were nowhere near 100% showing that depression is not fully down to genes, the people may have a genetic vulnerability but it takes something to trigger, perhaps. It is also unclear as to how exactly genes play a role in depression, without knowing the exact genes involved. Another way to access the significance of genes is through adoption studies. Wender found that a child is seven times more likely to have depression if the biological parents were depressed and the adoption parents were not. They found little evidence of depression being learnt. However Wender got his information about biological relatives just from hospital records and so there could be error of misdiagnosis or short-term depression only. The knowledge of whether a person has a genetic vulnerability to depression can be useful as the person is able to take preventative measures (change in lifestyle, diet to bring positivity to avoid depression), but it could be fatalistic as they understand they are more likely to become depressed – leading to depression. Diathesis-stress model says that depression can be better understood as an interaction between genes and environmental factors. Carroll found that high levels of the hormone cortisol are found in those suffering from depression and techniques known to suppress cortisol secretion have been found to be successful in depressive patients. However cortisol is released when stressed and so the high levels could be due to the high levels of stress the person has when they are depressed. As depression is twice as common in women as men, it could be due to the differences in sex hormones. Post-natal depression could be due to the high levels of oestrogen and progesterone that are released during pregnancy and then rapidly decrease once the baby is born which may account for an imbalance of hormones. Cooper disagrees with this statement as there was very little difference in the number of women suffering from depression after childhood and a control group of non-pregnant women at the same age. If imbalance of hormones was the cause then most mothers should get this type of illness but it is only a small number that get it. Menopausal depression is where oestrogen levels drop and hormone replacement therapy appears to be affective in treating many (but not all) women who suffer from this type of depression. However this could be due to the negative thoughts of getting older rather than the hormonal imbalance. Through the biological approach there are many possibilities. I think it is a mixture of biological vulnerabilities and stressful environments. How to cite Describe and Evaluate Biological Explanations of Depression, Essay examples Describe and Evaluate Biological Explanations of Depression Free Essays Describe and evaluate biological explanations of depression There are many different explanations for depression, including biological. Links have been found between biochemical, genetics and hormonal imbalances with depressed people. In the biochemical explanation, a link has been found between neurotransmitter imbalances and depression. We will write a custom essay sample on Describe and Evaluate Biological Explanations of Depression or any similar topic only for you Order Now Serotonin is associated with pleasure and mood. Mann et al found impaired transmission of serotonin in people with depression. However Julian disagrees with this statement and says depression may be due to neuron damage rather than a neurotransmitter reduction. The problem with this approach is that it implies correlation and not causation, there may be a link but something else could be causing both depression and low serotonin. There is the chicken and egg problem – does low serotonin cause depression or does depression cause low serotonin? In other areas of psychology low serotonin has been linked with increased aggression and eating disorders, as well as anxiety. Someone that has low serotonin does not necessarily become depressed. There is also the problem where people are depressed but have normal serotonin levels. This shows that depression is not fully down to biochemical imbalances but other things as well. It is a very simplistic and reductionist model and should only be included as a vulnerability and not the whole answer to depression. Another explanation is a genetic problem. Through many family studies Gershon states there is a clear inheritable component to depression, especially in bipolar disorder. Weisseman et al supports this by saying that for if a child has a parent with depression, the risk of the child having depression is increased by three times compared to the general population. This is a strong finding but as the children share the same environment as their parents, there is a possibility that the child has learnt the behaviour through the social learning theory of imitating and observing and not through genetics. Kendler et al studied over 15000 twins in Sweden and found that if one twin has depression, there is a 38% chance that the other twin will have it too. This has strong methodology and is supported by many twin studies who have found similar results. On the other hand the twins share the same environment and so environmental influences may still be possible. The results were nowhere near 100% showing that depression is not fully down to genes, the people may have a genetic vulnerability but it takes something to trigger, perhaps. It is also unclear as to how exactly genes play a role in depression, without knowing the exact genes involved. Another way to access the significance of genes is through adoption studies. Wender found that a child is seven times more likely to have depression if the biological parents were depressed and the adoption parents were not. They found little evidence of depression being learnt. However Wender got his information about biological relatives just from hospital records and so there could be error of misdiagnosis or short-term depression only. The knowledge of whether a person has a genetic vulnerability to depression can be useful as the person is able to take preventative measures (change in lifestyle, diet to bring positivity to avoid depression), but it could be fatalistic as they understand they are more likely to become depressed – leading to depression. Diathesis-stress model says that depression can be better understood as an interaction between genes and environmental factors. Carroll found that high levels of the hormone cortisol are found in those suffering from depression and techniques known to suppress cortisol secretion have been found to be successful in depressive patients. However cortisol is released when stressed and so the high levels could be due to the high levels of stress the person has when they are depressed. As depression is twice as common in women as men, it could be due to the differences in sex hormones. Post-natal depression could be due to the high levels of oestrogen and progesterone that are released during pregnancy and then rapidly decrease once the baby is born which may account for an imbalance of hormones. Cooper disagrees with this statement as there was very little difference in the number of women suffering from depression after childhood and a control group of non-pregnant women at the same age. If imbalance of hormones was the cause then most mothers should get this type of illness but it is only a small number that get it. Menopausal depression is where oestrogen levels drop and hormone replacement therapy appears to be affective in treating many (but not all) women who suffer from this type of depression. However this could be due to the negative thoughts of getting older rather than the hormonal imbalance. Through the biological approach there are many possibilities. I think it is a mixture of biological vulnerabilities and stressful environments. How to cite Describe and Evaluate Biological Explanations of Depression, Essays

Why Do Few Women Attain Top Management Positions free essay sample

Women have been striving for equal rights for themselves for a long time and they are gradually achieving the goal. As a result, when it comes to managerial area, women’s voices have been heard and responded little by little, more and more women are moving into higher posts in their working. Nevertheless, the business is still strictly run by males, only few women gets the chance to top in management positions, which, at the same time, has already intrigued great debates among all parties. This paper tries to look for the reasons why few women set foot in the top leading places and see whether women are less-qualified to handle the deal or are there any other barriers hinder them from moving forward. Introduction There have been an increasing number of women getting involved in leaderships in corporations for quite some time. Generally, people are used to be in a man-dominated business world, given that more males hold â€Å"the vast majority of top leadership positions† across the world ( Stelter cited in Weyer, 2007). We will write a custom essay sample on Why Do Few Women Attain Top Management Positions? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Yet, it seems that there is a sign for a change when we notice the fact that, according to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the proportion of females holding managerial and administrative posts in the USA have risen from 18% in 1972 to 46% in 2002 (Eagly Carli, 2003). However, despite the ascending numbers, women still remain mostly in junior or middle management positions, few of them obtain the top jobs, as shown by the Catalyst, a New York-based consulting firm, there were only 17 female CEOs within the Fortune 1000 companies, while only 13. % women are directors in board of Fortune 500 companies ( Weyer, 2007). Approximately 40% of the Fortune 501-1000 corporations composed their Boards of Directors with no woman involved in 1999 (Catalyst cited in Winn, 2004) What is holding women back from being on top? There are various reasons for this issue. This essay is going to discuss the possible justifications dealing with women’s halt in climbing up in corporations, to ex plore whether it’s stemmed from women’s biological or pyscholological nature or from the environment. By comparing the characteristics of male and female in leader position as well as looking for the obstacles women have encountered, it would be a clear picture to tell if women are qualified in the upper leader positions that companies should have open minds to accept and encourage women in top administrative places. Sex differences Are women and men distinguished notably when it comes to their qualifications engaging with leadership? Would the differences, if any, be the obstacle that keeps women from being exclusive in the hierarchy system in companies? A considerable number of research has been done on this subject as it has received enduring attention during the past thirty or so years (Alimo-Metcalfe,Bartol, Bruke and Collins cited in Weyer,p489. 2007). These researches have been summarized by Weyer (2007) in two main schools: one school of investigators claim that females execute assignments in a remarkably opposite way to males, and women are endowed with distinctive talent in managing people as well as weakness by nature; whereas the other school tends to agree that women behave no less the same as their masculine encounters in managerial area. To the former researchers, the majority of them concluded their assumptions by individual organizational practices or face-to-face arrangements with managers or other unofficial investigations. They are inclined to the opinion that females are more of subordinate supporters and are effective in exchanging ideas when compared with males. Combining their arguments with the developing theories of leadership conditional environment, stating that â€Å"the effectiveness of leader behaviors depends on contextual variables, such as the nature of the task and the characteristics of the followers†(EaglyCarli, 2003, p. 808), such gurus presume that women perform better in executive posts in â€Å"contemporary† corporate trend (Eagly, Johanneaen Van Engen, 2003, p. 569). However, there exists another voice claiming that no gender diversity is attached to male-female administration. Some academic writers criticizes the perspectives of dissimilar between men and women are based on â€Å"generalisability† of what we already â€Å"know† about gender differences, thus, people tend to do their surveys with a differences-orientation, which would intentionally influences the outcome of their â€Å"experimentation† (Colwill, 1995, pp. 20-33). Not this merely but also, Colwill pointed out that â€Å"there are no true experiments in this area†, noticing that â€Å"sex-differences research is always, of necessity, correlational,†¦,for sex differences often mask other variables in the research† (ibid,p. 1). However, she continued to compare female with male in other abilities specifically. After recognizing women owns different qualities involving in physical terms and especially in cognition, other than men, Colwill holds the view that both women and men are endorsed with some natural strengths, yet, still, nothing to show women woul d perform worse than men do in top executive fields, but, in fact, as Colwill wrote: The quality of leadership was not determined by sex; it was determined by the organizational resources and organizational support that was accorded to the manager†(ibid. To summarize, it’s convincing that those two groups of experts both make some sense and have very persuasive grounds of argument, despite they deduct totally different set of theories. It’s not an easy path to identify the differences between two genders and decide one to be superior. However, as far as we can concern, there are no evidence sufficiently provided to say that women are totally unfitted in top managerial positions though supporters of the first view might figure men are more capable in dealing with some certain sort of issues. Hence, we can now put away the thoughts that female are allocated to be held behide the upper executive jobs. Sex discriminations Then, what could possibly be the â€Å"glass ceiling† that insulates women from climbing up? As a matter of fact, more and more specialist turn to a less controversial corner, the social role stereotype, or, to put it more frankly, say gender discrimination. The metaphor â€Å"glass ceiling† illustrates that there are unseen barriers to block women from going upward (Weyer, 2007, p. 83). These barriers might refer to â€Å"corporate practices†, †behavioral and cultural causes† and â€Å"structural and cultural explanations rooted in feminist theories†(ibid. ). According to the social role theory, men and women are assigned with different roles correspondent with their genders. For instance, apparently, women are defined as a wife in their marriage, the one to take care of housework as well as cautiously nurturing bab y. This framed role actually make a great impact on career women’s way to success, as they certainly have to strike a difficult balance between the pressured up-going in business and the no less stressful family trifles. To quote from Winn, â€Å"women are not prepared for the corporate pressures that impinged on their role in the family ( the role that they were taught to play)† (2004). It was found by White(1997) that many successful women have suffered â€Å"role conflicts† and â€Å"identity diffusion† for quite some time and hence lose a lot of good promotion opportunities( Winn, 2004, p. 47). Gilchrist (2002) even regards family life and job working as a war with guilt, while Morris (2002) tops household responsibilities at the list of reasons few women manage to get in top(ibid. p. 144). Furthermore, in spite of the family occasion, there are far more troubles fetter females in competing with their polar fellows, one prominent concern is that women are actually struggling in an â€Å"old boys’ club† (Burke, 2003, p. 346). This means, in the process of getting up, women need to get approval from their male managers; they need to survive from a recruitment system which is completely built up by man superiors as well as the selection and assessment methods, they get to obey and follow male-oriented organizational policies and structures. As reasonably stated by Burke (2003), to call on a revolution in board members â€Å"is similar to asking the fox to guard the chicken house†. As a result, in the short term, prejudice, unjust assessments on account of stereotypical judgments making people ignore ndividual’s real qualifications will remain a big role that keeps women from moving up to the top. Conclusion To sum up, the barriers that hold women back from seeking top places in corporation are not because of their lack of outstanding qualities but the stubborn social role framework attached to them. It’s true that men and women might be endowed with different gifts by nature, though tha t have nothing much to say that they are excellent in managing on top. On contrary, men are not preferred to be leaders inherently; rather they take most advantage of being in a man-dominated situation. Compared with the debates in sex differences, it’s almost undeniable that a majority of qualified women are constrained by the stereotypical prejudice, which often make people underestimate their real talent in engaging in supervised posts.