Women Paid Less

Vocabulary

Video

Transcript

Women who work full-time still earn 15% less than men.

But that’s not because they are paid less for the same jobs . . . it’s because they’re in different jobs.

Women are in less senior jobs: in Britain, France and Germany, eighty to ninety percent (80% — 90%) of executive jobs are held by men.

Women also tend to choose different occupations. In America, over eighty percent (over 80%) of teachers, nurses, secretaries and health workers are female — and these jobs tend to be lower paid.

Primary-school teachers in the West earn nearly twenty percent (20%) less than the average graduate job . . . Nurses earn less than police officers . . . cleaners less than caretakers.

Women are as ambitious as men. They earn the majority of university degrees. In America, they now ask for promotions as often as men.

But it’s the price women pay for motherhood that holds them back. In Britain, seventy percent (70%) of mothers reduced their working hours or switched to a less demanding job, compared to eleven percent (11%) of fathers. In Australia, it’s sixty-six (66%) of mothers and nineteen percent (19%) of fathers, while in France, fifty-five percent (55%) of mothers scaled back compared to thirteen percent (13%) of fathers.

When an American woman goes back to work, her salary is, on average, lower than it would have been if she hadn’t had a child.

The race for gender equality is far from over.

As more children choose non-traditional careers and men do more child care, fewer working women will be held back.

Questions

1. In Western countries, women earn less than men primarily due to gender discrimination. True or false?

2. Are upper managers and CEOs about half male and half female?

3. Women tend to work in the same occupations as men. Is this correct or incorrect? What jobs do women dominate? Do these jobs pay more, less or the same amount as typical male occupations?

4. Are women under represented, over-represented or equally-represented as university students?

5. What is the second main factor as to why women are “not as successful” in their careers as men?

6. How could you compare Britain and Australia in terms of gender equality?

7. Is the report optimistic or pessimistic about gender equality in the workplace?

A. Is there a lot of discussion about gender equality in your country?

B. Are women completely equal, mostly equal, in-the-middle, partially equal, somewhat discriminated against or heavily discriminated against?

C. How do girls perform in school? How would you describe university enrollments?

D. Do men and women tend to be concentrated in certain industries and professions?

E. What may happen in the future?

F. What should governments and society do?