Work in groups of three. Student A, read the article below. Student B, read the article on p. 214. Student C read the article on p. 216. Make notes on the most important ideas and find out what the highlighted expressions mean. c Women and work What could be reasons for working in atypical forms of employment? Why might these reasons apply to women more than to men? What other gender differences exist in the world of work? In small groups, talk about wages, career prospects, professional areas, etc. Compare your findings with other groups. Reading 9 a b Media task. Have you heard of forms of employment like ‘zero hour’ contracts, teleworking, job sharing, outsourcing, shift or short work, unpaid internships? What do you know about furlough schemes that helped to protect jobs during the Covid pandemic? Research one of these concepts on the internet and present your findings in class. You should: ■■ describe the form of employment you have researched ■■ compare advantages and disadvantages of this form of employment for employer and employee ■■ evaluate its (lack of) attractiveness to you Speaking 8 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. 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 concentrated 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. Finding child care is entirely up to the parents. It may seem surprising that American women are not put off by all this. They actually produce more children than most Europeans: more than two per woman. The OECD average is only 1.7, well below the replacement rate of 2.1, and in most big European countries the figure is lower. The only European countries whose birth rates come close to America’s are France, the Nordics and Britain, and except for Britain they all have excellent child-care facilities. In France the écoles maternelles play a big part in allowing women to go out to work, and the Nordic countries are famous for their affordable day-care centres with well-qualified staff. In Finland local authorities must guarantee a place for every child under three. Parents on low incomes get it free; the better-off pay up to €250 ($340) a month. The centres are open from 7–8 am to 5–6 pm and provide breakfast and lunch. School hours for older kids are similarly workfriendly, about the same as an adult working day, with a free lunch. Language skills Extras Explore 6 Work, work, work 77 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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