Text 5 best of both worlds

1. SKIMMING …Read the article and give the main idea.

Most mothers want to combine family life with their careers. Most working women with children are refusing to put their job before their families, a study has revealed.

They are choosing to have the best of both worlds by altering their working lifestyle to make it fit around their role as a mother.

The findings challenge the myth that more and more women in highflying careers continue to see their job as their top priority after giving birth.

About 60 per cent of women fall into the 'adaptive' category, making time for their families while continuing to work. Only around 20 per cent are work-centred, researchers found.

The final 20 per cent are home-centred, giving priority to their family life. They are likely to give up their job to stay at home with the children.

The research was carried out by Dr Catherine Hakim, a sociology professor at the London School of Economics. She said: 'Over the last 20 years, we have seen a completely new scenario in terms of social and economic changes. Women have genuine choices for the first time in history and they are choosing from one of three distinctive lifestyles. A minorityof women are work-centred, a minority are home-centred and the majority are in the middle.

'These women, who I call "adaptives", want the best of both worlds. They want to combine family and paid employment and never going to give priority to paid employment'.

Most women who took on part-time work after having children fell into the adaptive' category, said Dr Hakim. Others chose their job, such as teaching,on the basis that it would allow them to maintain a balance between their home and work lives.

Dr Hakim warned, however, that 'adaptive .women' were unlikely to reach the top of profession. Despite the 'massive influx' of women in higher education and management-type jobs, work-centred women were in the minority, she said. The so-called hundred-percenters' ended to be more focused than other women on competitive activities such as sport or politics and fitted their family life around their work, with many remaining childless even when married.

Home-centred women were the most 'invisible' group because of the current political focus on high-achieving, working women.

They chose to give priority to their private and family life after marriage, and were the most likely to have large families.

Dr Hakim's research was based on a survey of 3,700 people in Britain and Spain who were questioned about their lifestyle choices.

From "Daily Mail"

2. Memorize the following words

combine –поєднати

refuse - відмовлятися

reveal - свідчити

alter - змінювати

myth - міф

priority - пріоритет

adaptive – що пристосовується

work-centred – орієнтований на роботу

home-centred – орієнтований на сім’ю

give up - кидати

genuine - справжній

distinctive – відмінний

part-time work неповний робочий день

influx - приплив

invisible – непомітний

3. SCANNING…Read the article and say:

1) Which one of the following statements is not true according to the information in the article?

- Most working women with children are not refusing to put their job before their families;

- About 60 per cent of women fall into the 'adaptive' category, making time for their families while continuing to work;

- Home-centred women are likely to give up their job to stay at home with the children;

- Women have genuine choices for the first time in history and they are not choosing from one of three distinctive lifestyles;

- However, that 'adaptive women' were likely to reach the top of profession;

-Home-centred women were not the most 'invisible' group because of the current political focus on them.

2) What myth do the findings challenge in the article?

4. Discuss in groups:

1) The role of a modern woman in Ukraine

2) The role of a modern man in Ukraine

3) Presentation of the main roles of men and women in mass media. Give examples.

4) Listen to the other group’s opinions and compare them to your own.

5. Questions for analyses and reflection:

- What group of women do your relatives belong to?

- What group of women would you choose for yourself (for your wife) in future?

- What are the main roles of a man and a woman in their lives? Can we say that they are gender stereotypes?