The mummy juggle - Practice Exam

C1 Advanced · Multiple Choice Reading · Advanced Expert Student's Resource Book, Pearson Education

You are going to read an article about women in top management positions. For questions 1–6, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text.

Sheryl Sandberg became the first female board member at Facebook, having previously worked for both Google and the US Treasury Department. I remember speaking to her on Skype one Wednesday afternoon as she sat in her glass office, wearing a pink and black sports jacket. She'd had a busy day at work and in a few minutes, she explained with a broad grin she'd be leaving for a baseball match with her son. 'I've got cupcakes and pizza – he'll love it!' she said, looking every inch the baseball-mum with tousled hair, make-up-free face and sporty top. 'How does she do it?' I wondered momentarily, with a sense of awed envy, and then mentally scolded myself in shame. As someone doing the 'mummy juggle' myself, I hate being asked that question. Indeed, when I'd first met Sheryl two years earlier at a media dinner I was hosting, we'd laughed about this. Everyone knows that being a working mum is challenging: the reason we were chatting on Skype, not meeting up, was because our schedules were so packed. But millions of other women – and men – are juggling today, except the men are rarely grilled on how they combine the joys of parenthood with ambition or handle the inevitable flashes of guilt or inadequacy. In any case, it seemed rather redundant to ask Sandberg how she 'does it'. The previous month she'd published her first book, Lean In, which describes in breathless detail how she made family and career work – and appeals for more mums to do the same. Although western women have entered the workforce and education in record numbers in recent decades, this achievement hasn't filtered through to the top corporate jobs, of which only 14 percent are held by women in the USA. Depressingly, that low statistic has remained flat for a decade. And at six percent, the figure is lower still in the UK. What's more, if there is stagnation, it seems few people are talking about it. Some women see it as a result of male prejudice or institutional impediments. But Sandberg thinks that women's minds are at fault. Most notably, she believes they sabotage themselves by 'leaning back' in their careers, both prior to having children and on their return to work after maternity leave. By this she means failing to make their voices heard and refusing to make men take on an equal share of domestic tasks. So she wants more women to 'lean in' at work, pushing for success, even as they attend baseball matches with their children. This message infuriated some people who point out that Sandberg is wealthy enough to afford domestic staff and powerful enough in her office to set the rules. For other women, the battle looks tougher. Indeed, Anne-Marie Slaughter, the professor at Princeton who chose to leave a job at the state department in 2011 when she found the 'juggle' too tough, has criticised Sandberg for not paying enough attention to institutional problems. Sandberg herself is at pains to play down any slanging match. Lean In topped the bestseller list and she's committed to promoting her message not just to women but to men as well, including those who sit in the (largely female-free) senior corporate echelons. And in response to anyone who thinks there's a danger of US corporations simply jumping aboard the latest public relations trend – after all, almost every corporate leader today claims to like equality – Sandberg insists there are bigger reasons why CEOs are open to her message. Companies shouldn't be changing as a favour to women, but rather because getting more women engaged makes sense because it's good for a company's competitiveness. There is, she feels, a second, less obvious, factor, too. There are a lot of senior men out there with daughters. In particular, high-flying fathers are now realising that if they want their own daughters to fly, it's not enough simply to put them into a good college or entry job. Women are outstripping men in education, but this isn't reflected at the top. It's time it was.

embarrassed because she said something inappropriate to Sandberg.

annoyed with her own reaction to what Sandberg told her.

resentful of how well-organised Sandberg appeared to be.

disappointed not to have had Sandberg's full attention.

During their Skype conversation, the writer remembers feeling

to be expected to combine childcare with a career.

to feel torn between the demands of work and family life.

to be asked how they balance work and family commitments.

to feel concerned if their work means that they see little of their children.

In the first paragraph, the writer says that men are less likely than women

It contains rather predictable arguments.

It encourages other women to emulate her.

It was written in a relatively short space of time.

It seeks to explain why there are so few women in top jobs.

What do we learn about Sandberg's book in the second paragraph?

are to blame for their own lack of career advancement.

are unfortunate victims of entrenched male attitudes.

need to reach top positions before having children.

should negotiate better maternity leave conditions.

For Sandberg, women who tend to 'lean back' in their careers

her privileged position is regarded as untypical.

she has made quite a lot of money writing about them.

she is fortunate to work for a particularly enlightened employer.

it is felt that she doesn't put them into practice with her own staff.

In the fourth paragraph, we learn that Sandberg's ideas have come in for criticism because

there are now better educational opportunities available to women.

women from certain families stand more chance of getting the best jobs.

public opinion is leading to a change of attitudes amongst corporate bosses.

there are sound economic arguments for having more women in top positions.

In the final paragraph, the writer agrees with Sandberg's point that

The mummy juggle

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