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Six Thousand Women Missing from Boardrooms, Politics and Courts The glass ceiling is still holding back 6,0

admin2009-12-11  24
问题                 Six Thousand Women Missing from
                 Boardrooms, Politics and Courts
    The glass ceiling is still holding back 6,000 women from the top 33,000 jobs in Britain, according to new research from the Equal Opportunities Commission. Thirty years after the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act, women are "woefully under-represented" in the country’s boardrooms, politics and courts.
    Help from nannies has not enabled successful women to maintain their careers after having children, the research suggests. The EOC blames a male-dominated culture in the professions for resistance to flexible working.
    The upward trend in the proportion of women in top jobs is "painfully slow", the report says, and in some sectors there is even a decline. The proportion of women in parliament has slipped in the 12 months since the EOC’s last Sex and Power survey and is now at 19.5%—lower than in Iraq, Afghanistan and Rwanda.
    Although a woman is chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, and four senior judges are women, the proportion of women directors of top 100 FTSE companies has dipped to 10.4%, and of female judges to 9.8%.
    Jenny Watson, chair of the EOC, said: "Today’s troubling findings show just how slow the pace of change has been in powerful British institutions. They suggest it’s time not just to send out the headhunters to find some of those ’missing women’ , but to address the barriers that stand in their way. Thirty years on from the Sex Discrimination Act, women rightly expect to share power. But as our survey shows, that’s not the reality. "
    "We all pay the price when Britain’s boardrooms and elected chambers are unrepresentative. Our democracy and local communities will be stronger if women from different backgrounds are able to enjoy an equal voice. In business, no one can afford to fish in half the talent pool in today’s intensely competitive world."
    The commission identified the 33,000 most influential jobs in the private sector, polities, the legal system and the public sector in Britain.
    To achieve a representative proportion, women, it said, should fill another 6,000.
    At the current rate of improvement, it would take 20 years to achieve equality in the civil service, 40 years in the judiciary and 60 years among FTSE 100 companies. But it would take 200 years—at least another 40 elections—to achieve an equal number of MPs in parliament. By contrast, in the Scottish assembly, nearly 40% are women and 51.7% in Wales. The EOC said there was an argument for parties to use all-women shortlists, as in Wales.
    But figures for women from ethnic minorities are worse. There are only two black women MPs, four non-white top 100 FTSE directors and nine top civil servants from ethnic minority backgrounds. "If we want our communities to thrive, this has to change," concludes the report.
    It suggests that more successful women arc experiencing the same barriers to getting the jobs they want as women in lower paid jobs. As for age, the pay gap between men and women in their 20s is 3.7% , rising to 10.7% for thirty somethings—from the impact of childbirth on women’s earnings. The same is not true for men who become fathers.
    Female workers in the UK suffer one of the biggest pay gaps in Europe—17% for full-time staff and 38% for part-time—because they are more likely to be in low-paid jobs and then slip further down the career ladder after having children, the Women and Work Commission found last year.
    "Asking for flexible working still spells career death for too many women in today’s work- place," said Ms Watson. "As a consequence, women with caring responsibilities all too often have to ’trade down’ to keep working. Extending the right to ask for flexible working to everyone in the workplace would change that culture and enable more women to reach the top. "  
Parliamentary elections happen more or less every 5 years in Britain.
选项 A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案A
解析 第九段第二句话提到But it would take 200 years-at least another 40 elections—to achieve an equal number of MPs in parliament. 200年中会有40次选举，即议会选举每5年举行一次。  
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本试题收录于： B类竞赛（英语专业本科专科）题库大学生英语竞赛（NECCS）分类
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B类竞赛（英语专业本科专科）

大学生英语竞赛（NECCS）

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