Gender stereotypes at work

Task 1. Read the beginning of a conversation between Jack and Sheila, a married couple. They are discussing an article Jack read about gender stereotypes.

Jack: Hey, Sheila, I just finished reading an interesting article about gender inequality in the workplace. It's by Natasha Josefowitz.

Sheila: What does she say?

Jack: Well, she talks about common situations that happen to employees who work in offices. Here are some of them:

1 The employee is going to get married.

2 The employee has a family picture on his or her desk.

3 The employee is talking with a coworker.

4 The employee is going to go on a business trip.

Then she says that coworkers react differently depending on whether the employee in the situation is a man or a woman.

Sheila: You mean that people react differently if, for example, the person getting married is a man or a woman? Tell me what the article says.

Jack: OK. Let me see what I can remember...

Task 2. Discuss the following question with a partner:

How do you think people react differently to the situations Jack mentions if the employee is a man or a woman? Why?

Task 3. Listen to what Jack remembers about the situations in the article. Take notes on your own paper. When the listening is over, compare your notes with your partner. Did you understand the same things?

& — READING&SPEAKING