GENDER STEREOTYPES AT WORK

Task 1. Read the beginning of a conversation between Jack and Sheila, a married couple. They are discussing an article Jack read about gender stereotypes.

Jack: Hey, Sheila, I just finished reading an interesting article about gender inequality in the workplace. It's by Natasha Josefowitz.

Sheila: What does she say?

Jack: Well, she talks about common situations that happen to employees who work in offices. Here are some of them:

1 The employee is going to get married.

2 The employee has a family picture on his or her desk.

3 The employee is talking with a coworker.

4 The employee is going to go on a business trip.

Then she says that coworkers react differently depending on whether the employee in the situation is a man or a woman.

Sheila: You mean that people react differently if, for example, the person getting married is a man or a woman? Tell me what the article says.

Jack: OK. Let me see what I can remember . . .

Task 2. Discuss the following question with a partner:

How do you think people react differently to the situations Jack mentions if the employee is a man or a woman? Why?

Task 3. Listen to what Jack remembers about the situations in the article. Take notes on your own paper. When the listening is over, compare your notes with your partner. Did you understand the same things?

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INEQUALITY AT WORK

Task 1. Study the SQR3 technique for working with texts and do the activities integrated in the explanation.

Now, we will look at the first three steps only – survey, question, and read.

1. SurveyWhen you survey a text before reading it closely, you look at titles, headings, subheadings, highlighted words, pictures, graphs, and charts. You also look quickly through the text - perhaps reading some parts, such as the introduction and conclusion, more closely.

· Survey the text "Inequality at Work." Report to the group about what you looked at and what you found out.

2. Question Before you read a text, you should think about what the text will tell you. One way to do this is to make up questions you think will be answered by the text. As you read, you should keep checking to see if your questions are being answered.

· On the basis of your survey, write down some questions that you think the text will answer. Look especially at any headings or highlighted words. One question, for example, might be "What is sexism?" Compare your questions with others in the class.

3. ReadYou should read a text as if you are looking for the answers to your questions. Of course, you may not find the answers to all your questions because the answers may not be there. Also, you may find out much more than these answers as you read. But looking for answers is a good strategy to make you read actively.

Task 2. Read the text "Inequality at Work" with your questions in mind and then translate it in the written form.

INEQUALITY AT WORK

In the past, women have been denied the right to vote, to go to school, to borrow money, and to enter certain occupations. Women have, how­ever, fought for their rights over the years and now gender equality[14] is protected by a number of laws and rulings in many countries of the world. Nevertheless, inequalities still remain. Underlying these inequal­ities is prejudice against women that is based on sexism[15].

One of the areas where women fight for equality is the workplace. Since laws were passed to prohibit sex discrimination in employment more than thirty years ago, women have made some gains in the work­place. More women are employed than ever before and their pay is higher. Still, women are far from being equal to men economically. Women typically hold lower-status, lower-paying jobs. In many traditional female occupations - such as nursing, public school teaching, and secretarial work - women work in positions that are subordi­nate to those usually held by men. Thus, nurses are subordinate to doctors, teachers to principals, and secretaries to executives.

One of the reasons that women work in a narrower range of occupations than men is their commitment to the family. Schwartz (1989) has identified two types of women in the workforce - "career-primary" and "career and family" women:

The majority of women . . . are what I call career-and-family women, women who want to pursue serious careers while participating actively in the rearing of children . . . most of them are willing to trade some career growth and compensation for freedom from the constant pres­sure to work long hours and weekends.

Many of these women, as a result, take jobs that are primarily clerical (for example, secretaries), operative (for example, machine operator), and service (for example, sales clerk). The pay is low and the opportunity for advancement is limited. The benefit, however, is that they can quit at any time, take care of their families as long as neces­sary, and then get another job when family demands decrease.

In recent years the participation of women in jobs traditionally held by males has increased. However, the number of women making their way up to higher management positions is still relatively small. A 1994 study, for example, found that women make up about 24 per­cent of officials and managers in industry. At the higher, vice-presi­dential level, women make up an even smaller proportion - less than 5 percent.

Even when women hold the same jobs as men, or have equal skills, training, and education, they tend to earn less. The state of Washing­ton has tried to solve this problem by introducing a policy of compa­rable worth. This means that women are paid the same as men for doing different but equally demanding work. For example office cleaning may be paid the same as truck driving. Some other states have followed Washington's lead with similar programs. Even so, among industrial nations, the United States has nearly the worst record in women's earnings.

Task 3.The SQR3 approach to reading also includes two strategies to use after reading: Recite and Review.

1. ReciteWhen you recite, you say aloud from memory what you have read about. You can do this while reading, stopping after each paragraph and asking yourself: Now what did I just read? Do I understand the main ideas? Did the text answer my questions?

· Choose a paragraph from the text. Re-read it and then tell a partner what your paragraph was about. Listen to your partner tell you about a different paragraph.

2. ReviewReviewing means going back over the text and thinking about how much you understand. You can put a check next to the parts you understand and a question mark next to the parts that are still unclear.

· Review the text now and put checks and question marks where appropriate. Discuss with a small group the parts you did not understand.

Task 4.Scan the text and find the nouns that occur with these verbs. Make up a sentence with each word combination.

Task 5. Among vocabulary units from the text, find the ones with opposite meanings to the expressions below:

1. to hold high-status, well-paid jobs;

2. gender equality;

3. women who don’t hold their job as being important;

4. to lend money;

5. Women earn as much as men do;

6. disregard for the family;

7. to take no part in bringing up children;

8. One can be easily promoted;

9. to allow sex discrimination at work;

10. to be employed in a diverse range of jobs;

11. Women are employed less and less in jobs typically held by men.

Task 6. Paraphrase the underlined vocabulary units in the text in the written form. Make up 5 fresh-context sentences with the word combinations you like most.

Task 7.Write a one-paragraph summary of the text. Include only the main ideas and omit very specific details or supporting evidence. Include these words in your summary:

LISTENING

6.4. GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN THE WORKPLACE AND AT HOME

Task 1. Metaphors are words that give visual pictures of ideas and make the ideas easier to understand. Read the following list of metaphors about the workplace and their definitions. Discuss any words that you don't understand with other classmates. Check a dictionary if necessary.

a) Glass ceiling:The glass ceiling is the invisible barrier that women often "hit" as they try to get promoted to higher positions within a company.

b) Glass escalator:The glass escalator is the invisible machine that seems to promote men to higher positions.

c) Sticky floor:The sticky floor is the force that seems to hold women back in less important and lower paid positions.

d) Old boys' club:This refers to the all-male groups that men form and the connections they make with each other to help themselves gain power and success.

e) Mommy Track:People often think that working women with children are not serious about their jobs. They say that these women are on the "Mommy Track." That is, they are not on the road - or "track" - that leads to higher positions.

f) Level playing field:The level playing field is like a sports field in which all the players are on the same level and have the same chance to win. Having a level playing field means that no one group has more opportunity to succeed than any other group.

Task 2. Match each of the following situations with one of the metaphors in Task 1. Write the letter of the metaphor next to the situation.

1. A woman talking to her friend about her boss: "Since my baby was born, my boss looks at me strangely every time I get sick and take a day off. I'm sure he thinks that I just want to stay home with my baby."

2. A sales manager talking to another sales manager who was just hired: "Don't worry, Sam, we'll help you with your new position. What about getting together with some of the guys after work tonight?"

3. A company director talking to a personnel manager: "We need to hire a new office assistant. Be sure to tell the people you interview that all employees are encouraged to apply when higher positions become available."

4. Two employees talking about a third employee: "He's gone from sales clerk to assistant manager to manager in eighteen months. That's a record!"

5. An excerpt from a business report: "There are about fifty female Executive Vice Presidents in the largest companies, but only two female Chief Executive Officers."

6. A woman talking to her friend: "Even though I have good skills, everywhere I go, I seem to get offered the lowest paid positions."

Task 3. Discuss the following questions in a small group.

Ø Do you think that the metaphors listed in Task 1 give an accurate picture of the problems that women face in the workplace?

Ø Can you give any examples of these metaphors from your own experience?

Task 4. Interview with Belinda: Gender discrimination in the workplace.

A. You are going to hear Belinda, a successful American entertainer and filmmaker, describe her feelings about discrimination against women in the workplace. Here are some words and expressions from the interview with Belinda printed in boldand given in the context in which you will hear them. They are followed by definitions.

The first answer is yes - that's my gut feeling: deep and immediate

There's this "old boys' club," the support networkthat men have: groups and connections

I have mixed feelings:feelings that are in conflict with each other

Sometimes I think that I'm just making excuses for myself:finding reasons not to feel bad about myself

It's coolfor everyone to be successful: OK

B. Read the following questions before you listen to Part One of the interview. Which answer do you think is probably correct?

1. The interviewer asks Belinda if she has ever been discriminated against because she is a woman. Belinda answers:

a) Yes.

b) No.

c) Yes and no.

d) Not sure.

2. The question that Belinda asks herself is:

a) Should I talk to my boss about getting promoted?

b) Am I as good as the men?

c) Would I be making more progress if I were male?

d) What would my brother do in my position?

3. Belinda's feeling about the current situation in the workplace is that

a) there has been no progress toward gender equality.

b) women should form their own support groups.

c) there is more opportunity for women today than in the past.

d) women will never have gender equality.

4. Belinda thinks that women

a) usually think about themselves more than men do.

b) help themselves and other people, too.

c) work much harder than men.

d) can't make a place for themselves in the business world.

C. Now listen to the interview. Take notes on what Belinda says. Use your notes to choose the best response for each question in B. Circle one choice for each question. Compare your answers with a partner.

Task 5. Interview with Farnsworth: Gender inequality at home and in the workplace.

A. You are going to hear Farnsworth, a social worker who helps people with emotional problems, give his views on gender discrimination at home and in the workplace. Here are some words and expressions from the interview with Farnsworth printed in boldand given in the context in which you will hear them. They are followed by definitions.

a pay disparity:difference in pay

The changes in the last twenty years have been relatively modest:not very large or

important

Ninety percent of my colleaguesare women: coworkers

both the CEO and his boss: chief executive officer - one of the most important positions in a company

Men are raised with a sense of entitlement:a feeling that they deserve the best opportunities

if they are divorced and have custody:legal responsibility for a child

Women just assume that they can do it:feel that they can do it even though they haven't done it before

I joined a playgroupwith my son: a group of mothers and/or fathers that meets so that their children can play together

He wasn't really an active parent:a parent who is physically involved in caring for his or her children

B. Listen to the interview. Write T (true) or F (false) next to each of the statements. When answering true/false questions, read all parts of each statement carefully. Some parts of a statement may be true, but if any part of it is false, then the whole statement is false. Pay special attention to statements with negatives in them. These statements are often tricky. Remember that a negative statement that is correct is true.

1. Farnsworth believes that there is real equality between men and women now.

2. Women make as much money as men do, so the "pay disparity" that used to exist doesn't exist anymore.

3. Farnsworth believes that the glass ceiling exists because at his job most of the higher paid positions are held by men.

4. Farnsworth believes that there is much more equality between the sexes at home. Men and women tend to share the housework.

5. Farnsworth wishes he had been more active in raising his children. He thinks he should have helped out more when they were babies with tasks like giving them a bottle at night and cooking.

6. Farnsworth says that when divorced men get custody of their children, they often don't feel that they can take good care of the children.

7. When his son was small, Farnsworth joined a children's playgroup. He was the only man involved in this activity.

C. Compare answers with a partner and then with the class. Correct the false statements together.

Task 6. Belinda and Farnsworth talk about the increase in the number of women who work and the increase in the number of men who want to be active parents. One result of these social changes is that new types of arrangements have to be worked out for child care.

Read the following problem situations. Discuss a possible solution to each problem with a partner, preferably someone of the opposite sex. Make notes about your solutions.

1. A divorced father has custody of three young children. When they get sick and cannot go to school, he has to use his own sick days - days that employees are allowed to take off if they are sick - so that he can stay home from work and take care of them.

Possible solution: Employers could allow employees with children a certain number of “sick child days” per year in addition to their own personal sick days.

2. A company often asks its employees to do overtime, that is work longer than the normal workday. One employee doesn't want to do overtime because she wants to spend evenings with her children.

Possible solution: __________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

3. A young father would like to spend time with his newborn baby. He requests a six-month leave of absence without pay. The company tells him that they cannot guarantee that he will get his job back after the leave.

Possible solution: __________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

4. An employee has a new baby. She needs to make more money so that she can afford child care because she and her husband both work.

Possible solution: __________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

Share your solutions with the class. Are other students' solutions similar to or different from yours and your partner's?

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Date: 2016-01-14; view: 1632