Theme three work and study Equal at Work

In the seventies, XX century, when the Department of Employ­ment and EEC alike said the answer to women's low pay and perhaps to poverty in general - was for 5 women 'to break through the ring-fence of special women's employment', it seemed improbable this social transformation would ever be achieved.

Hedged about by our own self-images, as much as by the oppo­sition of employers, unions and husbands, it looked as if it would be impossible for us to grasp the roles of women in a society.

Women of all types have blazed trails in new areas, so that in a matter of a few years the impossible has happened. There are women piloting British airliners, women as navigating and radio officers on ships, women detective superintendents leading murder enquiries, women military officers performing strenuous training exercises а11₍ on equal terms.

The change has not been one of revolutionary speed but it has spread through a wide range of jobs. It is no longer only university graduates and the like who are breaking the boundaries of tradition. The late seventies XX с was the time when June Wilson, a cleaning lady, Alison Crompton, a night-club hostess, and Rosalba Turi,

a clothing factory presser, left their 'traditional' jobs and became crane drivers. It was the time when women resisted all their schools' pres­sure for them to become shopgirls, clerks and seamstresses, to take up electrical trades apprenticeships, to travel the roads of Europe as a rep, to become Sales Manager of the Publishing House.

Even without high-flying ambitions, work of a more masculine cast has strong advantages. At Maureen Marshall's factory in Don-caster, work had been traditionally segregated - even though, ironi­cally, all the work involved was of a 'masculine' character in a join­ery factory making 55 doors, window-frames and even housefronts. The bulk of the labour, however, was female and it was the women who supplied the joinery work which was frequently very heavy. Meanwhile the men minded cutting machines and drove fork-lift trucks at higher rates of pay.

The men were allowed day-release to become skilled apprentic­es; the women remained, in paper terms, uneducated even after 28 years in the same factory, and even when they were privately skilled in advanced cabinet-making. The men, as qualified machin­ists, had the option of moving elsewhere if better jobs presented themselves. And they progressed up the firm to become foremen and managers. The women, technically unqualified, were considered good only for the exact job they were in, however skilled they might individually be. When equal pay legislation came into force, the work done by the women, which in the pre-war past had been done by recognised qualified joiners, was downgraded by the employer to unskilled, and continued at an unequal rate to the men's. Maureen, whose foreman had encouraged her to move into the male area, was one of the few who got equal pay, and has a foot on the ladder to­wards' supervisory work, or work options elsewhere.

Another problem for women is that they consistently undervalue themselves, taking a humble viewpoint. Cristina Stuart, in fact, has learned the male technique of making her own chances. 'There really are things you have to grow out of once you're moving, that sort of feeling you have at first of just being grateful for having a place on the bench alongside the big boys, that initial wondering when you're talking to directors and managers in other companies of whether it

will come over as what you intend, or whether they'll take what you say as female chatter. You have to train yourself out of that female lack of assertiveness. At least, I don't think it is specifically female -you see it in men too - they have to make an effort when they move into management from another job, to get the style - though I think it's harder for women because it goes against a lifetime's training. And you've also got to counter that female tendency to be overhelpful, insufficiently competitive and wary.

«And it is possible. Bit by bit, when you find things work, that you are effective, that you are indubitably really there as far as work results are concerned, any feeling that you are wearing a disguise gradually melts away. Suddenly you wake up one morning and you are a manager in the whole way you react and act and think, and it is second nature. There are an awful lot of girls in jobs below their ca­pacities simply because of the way they think about themselves. In the end it all boils down to a matter of attitude».

It is evident that women can, and are, adapting themselves to male professions. But for true equality, why can there not be a fur­ther stage - unmentioned as yet -valuing women's jobs properly. Why should not a nurse or a home help be considered as valuable and paid as well as a carpenter or plumber? When this equation is solved, equality will be here.

{The Observer)

Now answer the following questions.

1. What do you understand by the phrase «the ring-fence of spe­cial women's employment»?

2. In what way is it suggested that women themselves have con­tributed to their inequality at work?

3. What does the expression «blazed trails» suggest about the achievements of the women mentioned?

4. What is unusual about the choice of crane driving as a job for

women?

5. Why do you think there was pressure from schools for girls to

take certain jobs?

6. Explain the phrase «in paper terms».

7. Why was equal pay legislation ineffective?

8. Explain in your own words what Maureen Marshall has gained, apart from equal pay.

9. What fear do women often have when addressing senior staff, according to Cristina Stuart?

10. What masculine characteristics does she suggest that women should cultivate in order to fight inequality at work?

11. What does «it» refer to? (In the end it all boils down ...)

12. Summarise in a paragraph of 50-100 words the disadvantages which women have suffered at work, as described by the author.

Schools

A. Listen to these four young people talking about the schools they go to. Note: Claire is fourteen; Stephen is nine; Terry is twelve; Robbie is twelve.

Now answer the following questions:

1. Who obviously enjoys 5. Who lives at school?

school?

2. Who is taking exams soon? 6. Who does project work?

3. Who walks to school? 7. Who is critical of their

school?

4. Who mentions sport or phy- 8. Who goes to school on Saturday?

sical activity?

Writing a Summary

Compare the first and the final drafts of the summary («The Odd Couple»). Write down your own version of the summary using the article «The Odd Couple». First draft

Charlotte and John Fedders were a rich and successful Catholic couple with five sons. The husband was an ambitious high-flyer, very concerned with his image, who landed a top job. His wife, a house­wife, possessed a sophisticated veneer yet was in fact submissive and had a low self-image. John frequently attacked her, even when she was pregnant. Charlotte didn't fight against John's violence, but was con­tent to be silent, at least until her son was attacked. While John was a

higl-spender and got the family into debt, Charlotte and the children were kept very short of money. The story illustrates the contrast be­tween a couple's private life and public image.

(111 words)

Final draft

Charlotte and John Fedders were a rich and successful Catholic couple with five sons. The husband was an ambitious high-flyer, very concerned with his image, who landed a top job. His wife, a housewife, was submissive and had a low self-image in spite of a so­phisticated veneer. She didn't fight against John's violence but was content to be silent, at least until her son was attacked. While John was a high-spender and got the family into debt, Charlotte and the children were kept very short of money. The story illustrates the con­trast between a couple's private life and public image.

(99 words)

Can you put the following items of instructions on how to write a summary in the correct order?

- Write out the correct and final version.

- Put the points in the correct order.

- Check the number of words.

- Read through the text at least twice.

- Check your amended draft for length, content and grammatical accuracy.

- Write down the information in note form.

- Shorten or extend your text.

- Write out the information as the first draft.

- Isolate the information required for the summary.

- Check if your points are the ones required by the question.

What changes in the final draft compared with the first one can you point out to?