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‘Men and women are, and always will be, different in the way they behave and are treated’. Do you agree with this statement?

battle of the sexes     breadwinner     child rearing      

egalitarian    equality     gender roles  glass ceiling 

 household management  

male chauvinist    male counterparts    male-dominated    

multi-tasking       power struggle        role division        ruthless    

Sex Discrimination Act       sex objects     social convention      

stereotypes       unreconstructed         versatile       weaker sex

A totally 1......................... society, in which sexual 2..................... between men and women is the norm, is still a long way off. This is certainly the case if you watch certain television programmes, where men are often portrayed as the 3......................., bringing money home to the wife, who is often depicted as the 4..................., prone to extreme emotions and temper tantrums. But is this really the case? Is it still fair to create 5.................................... such as this? After all, as more women go out to work, and more men stay at home to look after the house and children, it is becoming clear that so-called 6.................... are merging and disappearing.

Take the office workplace as an example. For years, businesses and companies were 7......................................... The directors, managers and other senior executives were always male, the secretaries and personal assistants almost always female. This was probably because men were traditionally seen as more 8........................., more able to deal with the cut-and-thrust of business. However, now women are proving that they can be just as tough, if not tougher, while simultaneously being more 9................ and caring. In fact, in many ways, women are 

much better at 10..................., which is vital in modern business where you are expected to do more than one job. And thanks to mthe 11......................., women are paid the same as men. It would appear that, in many cases, the 12.................. is a dying breed (although, unfortunately, there are still many 13.................. men in the workplace who think they can do everything and anything better than their female colleagues, and there are still cases where women climbing up through the ranks get to a point where they hit a 14......  ................... and cannot climb any higher).

At home, too, there is less evidence of 15................................ It is no longer the woman who does all the cooking, cleaning and 16............................. Such 17................... is now often shared equally. 18.............. no longer expects the woman to stay indoors all day while the man stays out until all hours.

The good news, therefore, is that women no longer need to feel they are regarded as mere 19........................, or the underdogs in a

20...................... with their 21......................... In fact, many believe that in the 22......................., it is women who have come out on top.