F2F Class Notes (Lily) [R]

Write down your interview answers

Although the overall situation of women has improved in the past decades they still are discriminated against when it comes to work. They get paid less than men for the same work that they do and in some cases do not have the same opportunities as men to reach high-ranking positions. However this is starting to change.

Especially organizations, like the United Nations or UNESCO are giving women better opportunities. Many European Union countries have introduced quotas for women in high-ranking positions. But in other areas they are still second-class citizens.

In industrial countries of the developed world they have become more than equal to males. In the past four decades the proportion of women who have paid jobs has gone up from below half to 64 %. There are, however, differences from country to country. While in Scandinavian countries almost three quarters of all women have a job, the number of females on the labor force in southern and eastern Europe is only about 50%.

The role of women has changed drastically during the 20th century. In the early 1900s female workers were employed mainly in factories or worked as servants.  In the course of time they got more educated and started working as nurses, teachers, even doctors and lawyers.

Pronunciation

especially= es BE-cially

proportion= por POR-tion

percent= per SENT

changed= ch an ged (letter a sond)

employed= im ploy d

educated=E du cated (short e sound)

sport= s bor ts (not s ball ts)

less= l e ss , like nEt, pEt, lEss , (NOT LICE, no I sound)

press, price

dress, dice

nest, nice

best, bike

west, wine

Vocabulary

especially= particularly

ex: I love sports, especially football.

however= nevertheless, yet

ex: We have not yet won; however, we shall keep trying