Global testing

GLOBAL TEST
Access to labour markets and to decent and productive employment is crucial in the process of creating greater equality between men and women, says the report. The study observed that the most successful region in terms of economic growth over the last decade, East Asia, is also the region with the highest employment-to-population ratio for women (65.2 per cent), low unemployment rates for both women and men and relatively small gender gaps in sectoral as well as status distribution.
Overall, the report found that policies to enhance women’s chances to participate equally in labour markets are starting to pay off, but the slow pace of change means that disparities are still significant. Most regions have still a long way to go in full economic integration of women and realizing their unused potential for economic development.
Broadening access for women to employment in an enlarged scope of industries and occupations will be important to enhancing opportunities for them in the labour market, says the report. Society’s ability to accept new economic roles for women and the economy’s ability to create decent jobs to accommodate them are the key prerequisites to improving labour market outcomes for women, as well as for economic development on the whole.
“Access to labour markets and to decent employment is crucial to achieving gender equality”, says Evy Messell, Director of the ILO’s Bureau for Gender Equality, which will host a discussion by women who have made a mark in the world of finance and eminent trade unionists on International Women’s Day, focusing on the value of investment in women’s development. “Yet women have to overcome many discriminatory obstacles when seeking jobs. Societies cannot afford to ignore the potential of female labour in reducing poverty, and need to search for innovative ways of lowering economic, social and political barriers. Providing women an equal footing in the workplace is not just right, but smart.”


SIJILMASSA HIGH SCHOOL ERRACHIDIA Mr. Bachir
GLOBAL TEST
The situation of women in Morocco is somewhere between that of women in the West and those in conservative Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia.* Here in Casablanca, everything seems fine on the surface. Clothing varies: women wear the entire range from the traditional conservative jelaba and foulard to Western suits, to skin-tight shirts and mini-skirts. The choice of dress tends to depend on both age and occupation: in general, teenagers wear casual Western clothes; professional women wear Western-style business clothing; and older, blue-collar, and unemployed women wear jelabas.
Both men and women working together almost everywhere I go: in banks, bakeries, schools, stores, and even government offices (although there are noticeably more men than women in the latter). ). I have never seen women running a stall at the souq (market) or driving a taxi; these domains seem to be reserved for men. From the conversations I've had, it sounds as though women are usually paid about the same as their male colleagues, which is more than can be said for some of their Western counterparts. My husband teaches at a private school of English for professionals, and at least half of his students are women. Thus, there doesn't seem to be any prejudice against women working and going to school, Upon further study, though, there are a number of serious problems.
In the whole of Morocco, there is an extremely high illiteracy rate, especially in the countryside, and especially among women. According to the UNDP, more than 80% of women in rural Morocco are illiterate. I don't know what this means, exactly, except that based on what I said above about women at work and school, Casablanca is not a representative sample of Morocco.
A married woman must get her husband's permission before seeking a job. Most working women, about 60%, are in textiles and light industry. Another 10% or so are femmes de ménage (housekeepers or maids). Typically, these women are uneducated, illiterate, and unmarried, and earn room, board, and extremely low wages. They usually speak Arabic and possibly a few words of French. Their duties may include cooking, cleaning, and taking care of their employer's children, and those who don't live in usually go home to do the same thing for their families (which may include illegitimate children, sickly siblings, and/or elderly parents).

1. FILL IN THE BLANKS WITH APPROPTRIATE PHRASAL VERB. (1 pt)
2. It took the firemen two hours to …………………. fire.