1. Read and translate the text.
BRITAIN IN CLOSE–UP
A SOCIAL PROFILE
Gender
Many women would argue that there is a different half of the nation which gets less than its share of power, freedom and wealth: the female sex. In spite of the considerable change in social attitudes since 1945, and particularly since the feminist revolution which began in the 1960s, women are still significantly disadvantaged. It is true that women have entered employment in increasing numbers. In 1971 52 per cent of women between the ages of twenty-five and forty-four were economically active, a figure which rose to 70 per cent by 1989, and is set to rise to 75 per cent or more in the 1990s. Nevertheless, their position relative to men in employment has improved only slightly.
The reasons are complex, but largely to do with the fact that men continue to control the positions of power and of wealth and are slow to share these with women. In spite of having a female monarch, and having had a female Prime Minister for over a decade, the difficulties begin at the top. During the whole of the 1980s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher only ever had one other female Cabinet minister, and she lasted for less than a year.
Following the 1987 election forty-one women were elected as MPs, more than ever before, but holding only 6.2 per cent of seats in the Commons.
If one looks at the senior positions of power in the country virtually none are held by women. At the beginning of 1990, of the ten judges who form the highest court of appeal none was a woman, and there was only one (out of 27) at the next senior level.
Discrimination ranges well beyond government. No woman has ever been appointed as a police Chief Constable. Fewer than 3 per cent of university professors are women, While 25 per cent of qualifying doctors are women, only 2 per cent of surgeons are women. Hardly any women have become trade union leaders.
It is difficult to think of many successful women in business or industry.'
Women are also paid less than men. On average women earn between two thirds and three quarters of men's pay. Although the Equal Opportunities Act, requiring equal pay and conditions for women, came into effect in 1975, little has changed since then. Among police officers under the rank of sergeant, for example, women earn only 93 per cent of men's hourly rate. In nursing, women earn on average 87 per cent of men's wages.
Another reason is that married women rather than their husbands suffer the career penalties of producing and raising children. A small but growing number of employers ensure that mothers can resume their careers without any damage to their career prospects after having a baby.
For those women who do work, there is an added penalty. Although on average they work shorter hours than men (in 1988, 39.7 compared with 44.5), there has been no substantial adjustment of the domestic burden. Women still do almost all the housework, except for household repairs.
The problems begin early with the assumptions made both by parents and by schools. Although girls tend to perform better at school, they are often encouraged to specialise in humanities subjects, for example modern languages, rather than the sciences.
Undoubtedly perceptions are changing, but they are doing so mainly as a result of economic pressures, which are likely to encourage more women to work in the 1990s, with the possibility that they may win a fairer slice of the power and wealth that should come with work. In the 1980s the Conservative government encouraged young mothers to stay at home with their children, but this was largely ignored. By 1985 more than a quarter of mothers with children aged three or under were at work, and almost half of those with children aged four or five. The shortfall in manpower will push public opinion towards giving women greater freedom to work.
2. Make a summary of the given text.
3.
Put 15 questions of different types to the text if it is possible.
4. Discuss the contents of the text.
5. Make up a dialogue on the basis of the text.
6. Retell the text in detail.