Read the article about equal pay for men and women in the

USA. For questions 1–8, decide if the statements are true (T)
or false (F). 0 is the example.

0 The wage gap is celebrated each year on Equal Pay Day.

1 The Equal Pay Act was signed by former President Barack Obama.
2 On average, American woman earn 80% of what men earn for doing the same
job.
3 Women’s job opportunities improved considerably after the Second World
War.
4 There are now more women than men in US medical schools.
5 In the 1960s, unequal pay was routine and deliberate.
6 According to the author, the $26 million paid to women was a ‘depressing’
amount.
7 If current trends continue, the wage gap will soon be 0%.
8 The 2009 Fair Pay Act is named after a female employee who was awarded a
large amount of money by the US courts.
Equal work for equal pay?
It is a very simple question: should a woman be paid less than a man for doing the same
job? For most people the answer will be a self-evident ‘no’. And yet the ‘wage gap’ persists,
worse in some countries than in others, but still present even in economies which would
consider themselves amongst the most advanced of the developed world. This shameful fact
is highlighted each year on Equal Pay Day – a day that all women, and most men, believe
should no longer be necessary.
More than 50 years after John F Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, it is worth taking a look
at the history of the equal pay movement in the US, where women today still only earn 80
cents for every dollar that men earn for doing the same job. Before the 1960s it was assumed
that there were jobs appropriate for men and jobs appropriate for women, and there was very
little overlap. Women could be secretaries, nurses, cleaners, or teachers, and men did
everything else. Even the Second World War, when many women worked in factories doing
‘men’s jobs’, did little to change this. Men just took their old jobs back when the war ended.
In 1970 only 10% of students in medical school were women, and only 4% in law school –
figures that are shocking today, when 51% of the students in med school are women, and
48% in law school.
In the early 1960s, job advertisements in newspapers and magazines were routinely divided
by gender, and the higher level jobs usually specified ‘male’. Sometimes the same jobs were
advertised with different pay scales for men and women. Lower for the latter, of course,
with women in the ten years to 1960 earning around 60% of men’s wages for exactly the
same full-time jobs.
The Equal Pay Act, signed on June 10 1963, made it illegal to pay women lower rates for
the same job simply because they were women. It sounds so simple, and one wonders why
things did not change overnight, and why discrepancies in pay still remain today.
There were some early victories. Between 1964 and 1971, US women were paid $26 million
in wages they were owed (worth more than it is today, but still not a great deal). But the
overall picture remains depressing. The wage gap has narrowed, but it is still there. Things
look better for younger women; those under the age of 25 earn 94% of men’s salaries. But
even this may be misleading. Many commentators believe that the gap starts to widen again
as women progress in their careers.
There is still legislation to try to close the gap once and for all. In 2009, President Obama
signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which allows victims of pay discrimination (almost
always women) to more easily make an official complaint against their employer. Lilly
Ledbetter worked as a manager at Goodyear, the tyre manufacturer, and she said that for
many years she had earned less than her male counterparts. She was proved right in court,
but received no compensation.
There is no doubt that women have made great progress in the field of employment over the
last 50 years, and there are now almost no careers that are closed to them. But in the very
simple matter of pay, inequality remains, and unbelievably, it seems likely that it will take
some time yet to eliminate it completely.
Part 2
Read the article about the cost of Indian weddings. For gaps
1–8 choose the correct word from the box below. There are
three extra words you don’t need to use. Gap 0 is the
example.

a known
b discounts
c average
d total
e proportion
f details
g vast
h mind
i fortune
j pictures
k popularity
l personal
The Instagram Indian wedding
The 0 c cost of a wedding in India continues to rise by 20–25% per year. It is now over 20 lakhs.
This represents a huge sum for most families – equivalent to one fifth of the 1 ___ amount earned in a
lifetime. Quite why people feel driven to spend so much can be hard to comprehend. But with most
weddings lasting three days, together with the importance of bringing two families together, it’s easy to
see how the money soon adds up.
And weddings today have some new pressures to consider. Now that pictures of ‘the big event’ are so
accessible online, the look of each part of the wedding takes on a new significance. Just how special is
your wedding compared to the thousands of others? I believe the 2 ___ of Instagram is responsible for
two noticeable trends. Weddings are either going bigger and even more expensive, or taking a more
intimate, home-made approach.
Consider photographs. Have you ever noticed how everyone’s wedding photos look the same? Many
couples are rejecting traditional Hindu photographs and opting for more unusual wedding and pre-
wedding photos. Indeed, this trend is being taken to new extremes thanks to Instagram. Some couples
are spending 3 ___ sums on international locations and professional photographers. But on the other
hand, with two or three capable friends to act as photographers, you may well end up with more 4___ ,
memorable photos than a professional would take.
Once people embrace this do-it-yourself style of wedding, the possibilities are endless. Of course, you
can send everyone beautifully designed invitations. But another option is to make a wedding website.
It’s free and you can update it with 5 ___ like maps and accommodation instructions as you go. Why
not ask friends to DJ for you at the reception? Or ask your bridesmaids to create a Bollywood-style
dance number for you.
Next, let’s think about the venue. This can make up a significant 6___ of the cost of a wedding. If
you’re prepared to marry midweek, you could save perhaps 25% of this cost at a stroke. Autumn or
winter weddings should also work out cheaper than spring or summer ones, with venues sometimes
offering significant 7 ___ , especially in January.
Finally, there’s no need to spend a 8 ___ on clothes you’ll never wear again. Although a fairy-tale,
designer lehenga is a dream for many women, several celebrities have recently embraced vintage
wedding dresses. Wearing an outfit from your own family, or using heritage fabrics, is a great story –
and very Insta-friendly.