1. Agree or disagree with the following.

1. Women usually get good education before they take up a job.

2. When a woman starts a job, she tends to make long-term career commitment.

3. Women prefer to delegate part of her duties because they are not confident enough.

4. Bosses are usually happy about her performance, and rate her supervising abilities very high.

5. The style of women's management is very flexible.

6. Men are prepared for their management jobs since childhood.

7. The emphasis men and women place on their first job is different.

8. The transition point to a higher level of management is easy and natural for a woman.

9. Women are prepared to learn to achieve higher positions.

10. Men's and women's perceptions of the problems facing them are similar.

11. There are more risks for a woman at higher levels of management.

2. Answer the questions.

1. Do you agree with all key points in the article? What points seem dubious? Why?

2. Why do you think men's and women's altitudes to jobs are different?

3. What do you think of the woman's experience in the Bell System company? Do you find it typical? Why (not)?

4. What is your attitude to female managers?

5. Do you think the attitudes to women in management are changing in the modern world? Give your reasons and examples.

6. Is it easy for a woman to become a manager in Russia?

7. If not, why do you think it is difficult for a woman to get to the top?

8. Do you know any woman who has had a very successful career?

3. Write a brief summary of the text.

III. Read the text «She's the Boss».

Business was invented by men and to a certain extend it is still «a boy's game». Less than 20% of the managers in most European companies are women, with fewer still in senior positions.

Yet in Britain one in three new businesses are started up by women and according to John Naisbitt and Patricia Aberdeen, authors of 'Megatrends 2000', since 1980 the number of self-employed women has increased twice as fast as the number of self-employed men.

The Glass Ceiling Syndrome

Is it just a case of women whose career progress has been blocked by their male colleagues — the so-called 'glass ceiling syndrome' — being forced to set up their own businesses? Or do women share specific management qualities which somehow serve them better in self-employment? As many as 40% of start-ups fail within their first two years, but the failure rate of those run by women is substantially lower than that. It's hardly surprising, therefore, that though male bosses tend to be reluctant to promote women, male bank managers seem only too happy to finance their businesses.

The Roddick Phenomenon

Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop empire, is the perfect example of the female entrepreneur with her company growing from zero to £470 million in its first fifteen years. Perhaps the secret of her success was caution. Rather than push ahead with the purchasing of new shops, Roddick got herself into franchising — the cheapest way to expand a business whilst keeping overheads down.

Caution, forward planning and tight budgeting seem to be more female characteristics than male. They are also the blueprint for success when launching a new company.