Read an article about gender equality. Complete
each gap (1-10) with one suitable word from the box below. There are five
words you do not need to use.
chances
|
careful
|
events
|
fair
|
for
|
good
|
motives
|
prejudices
|
role
|
raise
|
regardless
|
responsible
|
skills
|
teach
|
through
|
Why do we need a
special day, International Women’s Day, on March 8th every year for 50% of the
world’s population? One of the (1) ______ is to fight for worldwide gender
equality.
Gender equality
means that both men and women have the same opportunities, rights and
obligations in life. This includes having the same (2) ______to receive an
education, to work, to earn the same salary for the same job and to be able to
balance work and family. Both sexes should have the right to live peacefully,
without violence or abuse, and both should be (3) ______for their families and
participate equally in society.
There are clearly
many inequalities in the world today; to combat this we need to start from the
beginning by educating our children and giving them equal opportunities (4)
______of gender. In most developed countries, the education system is designed
to treat children in exactly the same way as far as curriculum and testing are
concerned, but social (5) ______are also part of their general education and
can still be improved. This teaching has to come from both families and
educators.
In the classroom,
activities to (6) ______children’s awareness of how society creates
inequalities are important. For example, using toy catalogues and debating with
children if certain toys are more suitable for girls and boys, or noticing
which pictures show boys playing with cars and girls playing with dolls can
help them to recognise (7) ______. Text book producers should make sure jobs
are not stereotyped, e.g. a firefighter is almost always a man and a nurse is a
woman. Mixed sports should also be encouraged – not only boys playing football
and girls playing volleyball.
The government can
contribute to gender equality in the family structure (8) ______legislation
such as equal rights to paternity and maternity leave and permissions for
childcare. However, staying at home and looking after the children, or taking
time off to take a child to the doctor’s is often still looked on as a female
(9) ______. If a child is given the example at home of parents sharing
household responsibilities, then he or she will learn to behave in the same way
without question.
So,
the responsibility lies with everyone, parents, schools and governments, to
make sure that our children’s world is (10) ______for all. In the future, maybe
International Women’s Day will no longer be necessary.
1 motives
2 chances
3 responsible
4 regardless
5 skills
6 raise
7 prejudices
8 through
9 role
10 fair
