English Unlimited HTL 4/5, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD und CD-ROM

49 Work, work, work 04 LANGUAGE SKILLS EXPLORE EXTRAS Mini research project. Have you heard of other atypical or new forms of employment (e.g. ‘zero hour’ contracts, teleworking, job-sharing, outsourcing, shift or short work, unpaid internships)? Research one of them on the internet and present your findings in class. You should:   describe the form of employment you have researched.   discuss advantages and disadvantages of this form of employment compared to a traditional employment situation.   evaluate its (lack of) attractiveness to you. SPEaKIng 9 What could be reasons for working in atypical forms of employment? Why would these reasons apply to women more than men? What other gender differences exist in the world of work? In small groups, talk about wages, career prospects, areas of employment, etc. Compare your findings with other groups. a REaDIng 10 b Work in groups of three. Student A, read the article below. Student B, read the article on pp. 192–193. Student C, read the article on pp. 195–196. Make notes on the most important ideas and find out what the highlighted expressions mean. 11 Women and work Baby blues Almost all rich countries provide paid maternity leave , averaging about 20 weeks. Many also offer paid parental leave , which may be available to either parent but is generally taken by the mother, so a number of countries now have separate ‘mommy and daddy quotas’, allocating periods of leave to each parent that cannot be transferred.  All this leave may seem rather expensive for employers, but in countries like Finland and Sweden it is accepted. Children are seen as the responsibility of society as a whole. But not all employers are so philosophical. There is anecdotal evidence that small businesses in particular try to avoid hiring women who seem likely to start a family. And it is striking that in all the Nordic countries, working women are heavily concen- trated in the public sector , which finds it easier than many private firms to accommodate the comings and goings.  America is in a class of its own as the only rich country where women get no paid maternity leave at all (though two states, California and New Jersey, offer six weeks at reduced rates of pay). In practice some 60% of women in jobs that require a college education do get paid while on baby leave, but most women doing mundane work do not. Until the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, women could be sacked for being pregnant or having a child, and until the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, they had no right to take time off to give birth. Now at least they get 12 weeks, albeit unpaid, after which most return to work fairly promptly. Birth dearth Total fertility, children per woman 1950 − 1955 2005 − 2010 World United States France Finland Britain China Spain Japan Germany 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Source: UN Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv