INPUT
Listening
1. You will hear a report about a new chief executive of PepsiCo. Before listening, discuss in groups the following issues:
- Is it easy for a woman to be a leader in business?
- Are drinks produced by PepsiCo popular among people of different ages and cultures? Are they healthy?
2. Read the beginning part of the report. Guess what kind of information will follow – about Indra Nooyi or about PepsiCo? Listen to check whether you guessed correctly.
INDRA NOOYI TO LEAD PEPSICO
PepsiCo this week named Indra Nooyi to become its chief executive officer on October first. The food and drink company is the world’s second-largest soft drink maker, behind Coca-Cola. Ms. Nooyi will join just ten other women as CEOs among the five hundred largest companies in the United States…
3. True or false?
1) Indra Nooyi is fifty-two years old. 2) She will work together with Steve Reinemund. 3) Steve Reinemund has led PepsiCo since 2001. 4) Ms. Nooyi gave a graduation speech in Columbia last year. 5) PepsiCo’s products are popular in Ms. Nooyi’s home country.
4. Choose the right variant from a, b or c to complete each sentence 1–5 in accordance with the text that you have heard.
1. Indra Nooyi was named to become: a) PepsiCo chief financial officer on 1 October, 2006. b) Chief executive officer of the world’s second-largest soft drink company on 1 October, 2006. c) Chief executive officer of Coca-Cola on 1 October, 2006.
2. Ms. Nooyi is: a) the tenth woman as CEO among the five hundred largest companies in the US. b) the eleventh woman as CEO among the five hundred largest companies in the US. c) the tenth woman as FEO among the five hundred largest companies in the US.
3. Ms. Nooyi’s appointment hasn’t been affected by her speech at the ColumbiaBusinessSchool in New York: a) because she didn’t mention different parts of the world in it. b) although she insulted the US. c) because PepsiCo offered an apology for her to the people who felt offended.
4. The first test for Indra Nooyi at her new post will be: a) to expand PepsiCo’s foreign market. b) to settle down the dispute in India about the quality of the company’s drinks. c) to unite PepsiCo and Coca-Cola in one company.
5. Indians: a) like PepsiCo’s soft drinks because they are healthy. b) like PepsiCo’s and Coca-Cola’s soft drinks because they are approved by international health organizations. c) dislike PepsiCo’s soft drinks because of their high level of pesticides.
5. Match the information in A with the corresponding information in B in accordance with the text.
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A |
B |
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1. Ms. Nooyi was born 2. Ms. Nooyi first came to the US 3. Ms. Nooyi got her business degree from university 4. Ms. Nooyi started to work with PepsiCo 5. Ms. Nooyi became CFO of PepsiCo |
a. in 2006 b. 12 years ago c. in 1978 d. in India e. in 2001 f. in Calcutta |
Reading
1. Read the following texts and get ready for a round table discussion of gender roles in business. Take notes while reading if needed.
TRADITIONAL SEX ROLES ARE CHANGING
All cultures promote different behaviors for boys and girls. Children generally learn these values between three and ten years of age, and they are reinforced throughout the life cycle by teachers, parents, authority figures, and the media. Traditional roles are harmful to both men and women. For instance, the expectation that men should be aggressive and unemotional stifles[1] their sensitivity and creativity. And the assumption[2] that women are emotional and weak hinders[3] them in reaching their full potential. Although men and women will always be different, their roles can and should be more equal.
The women’s movement and more recently the men’s movement are questioning the traditional roles of men and women, and encouraging people to view their roles and choices more broadly.
Over the past few decades, women have been entering nontraditional careers, making choices from a wider range of lifestyles, and participating in society at political and professional levels undreamed of fifty years ago.
For the past fifteen years, the growing involvement of women in business has been having an increasingly significant impact on the U.S. economy. Revenues[4] from enterprises founded by women are estimated to be more than $100 billion a year. These enterprises pay about $37 billion in federal taxes and $13 billion in state and local taxes. Women’s participation in the work force is so extensive that only 7 percent of all households fit the traditional American stereotype of a working father and a stay-at-home mother with young children.
It has been twenty-five years since the National Organization for Women (NOW) was formed to fight sex discrimination and the changes in Americans’ lifestyle and attitudes since then have been profound. Society’s attitude toward females has changed so much that young women today have trouble identifying with the feminist causes their mothers embrace[5]. To them, the word feminist carries an anti-male connotation with which it is hard to identify. The women’s movement is harder to recognize these days because it has gone mainstream – it is in the Girl Scouts, corporate board rooms, and even the Junior League (an organization traditionally reserved for nonworking wives of successful husbands).
Unfortunately, as women’s horizons expand, many are abandoning[6] “traditional women’s jobs” such as nursing because these jobs offer little status and low pay. Lack of status and pay has led to reticence[7] about being labeled “just a nurse” or “just a teacher”. Some states and local communities have recognized this problem and have taken steps to add dignity to these essential professions by raising salary scales.
Even with the progress in reducing sexism, discrimination based on sex is still a universal problem. The Ford Foundation authorized a major study aimed at advancing women’s roles and opportunities around the world. In a paper entitled “Women in the World”, it states the following.
Sex discrimination is a universal problem. It exists in varying forms and degrees, but everywhere girls’ and women’s basic rights, opportunities, and development are circumscribed, and societies are deprived of skills. Sex discrimination is a costly constraint on productivity. It pervades all institutions with strong reinforcement from culture and custom. Whenever and however it exists, it is unjust. Women’s significance asworkers and producers has been consistently denied and obscured.
Despite the persistence of the problem, some definite steps are being taken to redefine the role of women in working society.
MEN’S MOVEMENT
Men are beginning to examine the traditional roles they have assumed. They are asking if the “strong, unemotional, in-control” image supported by society and projected in the media is realistic. Men are beginning to share responsibilities for child rearing and household duties, to desire equal relationships with both men and women, and to question whether success defined as the drive to the top is really the most important factor in life.
John Horn is an example of a man who has stepped outside the confines of the traditional male role. He received an M.B.A., has taught economics and marketing at the university level, and has worked as a consultant. When not managing the children’s clothing store he owns or spending time with his wife and son, Horn plays the piano in a classical trio and occasionally accompanies a soprano[8] who sings operettas at benefits. He is less interested in a high-powered job, he says, than in living “the kind of life I want to lead”. In his book “The Hazards of Being Male”, Herb Goldberg points out that men who accept the rigid[9] “male” role are put in several no-win binds[10]. In the career-ladder bind the necessity to keep advancing in his career often means that a man gives up doing what attracted him into the job in the first place. An engineer promoted to management does little design work or research, but rather manages others who do it. If his management material yet stays at a lower level in order to keep doing what he likes, he risks being seen as somewhat “odd” or “peculiar”. In the emotional bind, if he expresses his feelings more freely on the job, he may be viewed as “erratic[11]”.
If, on the other hand, he holds everything in, he is likely to suffer some type of stress-related illness such as ulcers. Either way he loses.
As more men come to understand some of the destructive aspects of the traditional male role, they begin to look for options. The man who is tired of being in control, of not expressing his emotions freely, and of feeling he must constantly strive for achievement can now more readily change that image. He can learn to be assertive[12] instead of domineering, to show affection more openly, to ask for help from others, and to define the kind of life he wants to lead. Many men are asking themselves if their choices involving career and personal relationships reflect what they would like to do or what they are expected to do. They are learning the personal benefits of being emotionally involved with the raising of their children.
Most women respect and appreciate the rights of women to work outside their traditional setting. Men may not have comparable understanding or support from their male colleagues, who may be threatened by change. When Ken Mason, president of The Quaker Oats Co., resigned from his position to pursue[13] private research on the social responsibility of business, many of his friends and colleagues criticized his decision as “abandoning the real world”.
Changes in traditional sex roles at work and home are certainly occurring. One magazine editor observed, “What is happening to all women, men, and children in this country is unprecedented, revolutionary. Old stereotypes are being shattered[14]”. Although the rate of change is accelerating, however, sexism continues to be a major issue in most organizations. An editorial summed it up this way: “Progress in achieving sex equality has been slower than proponents[15] had hoped, and discriminatory practices and wage differentials still exist”.
THE ATTITUDES OF OTHERS
As women acknowledge and understand how their own conditioned attitudes are holding them back, they can take these necessary steps to change their attitudes. It may not be that simple when it comes to changing the attitudes of the men they will be working with. There are some myths that many men, and some women, still hang on to as they struggle to accept working with women.
Many people still believe women work to earn extra pocket money. There are too many working women who are single, widowed, divorced, or separated and must work to provide for themselves and their families for this myth to last much longer. In addition, women who are married contribute, on average, from one-fourth to one-half of the family income. Many women earn more than their husbands.
Another myth is that women deserve to earn less than men because they don’t stay in the job market as long. In the past twenty years, there has been a marked shift in women’s work patterns. Previously, most women worked for only a few years, then dropped out after marrying, and reentered the market after divorce, at widowhood, or when the children had grown. Today, the average working woman is in the labor force for twenty-eight years, compared with thirty-eight for men. Fifty-nine percent of mothers with school-age children work.
Many people believe women do not have the education necessary to get ahead. In fact, a growing number of women have been earning degrees in previously all-male fields.
Some men still believe that the unemployment rate has worsened because of the influx of women into the labor force. For this to be true, the large number of women who are now in the labor force would have to have taken jobs traditionally held by men. In fact, the vast majority of women take clerical jobs, which men for the most part do not perform. In reality, current unemployment rates among men are caused by reductions in blue-collar jobs, especially in manufacturing and construction. If all the women now holding jobs were to leave the work force to make room for all the unemployed men, many jobs would still remain vacant.
Another common misperception is that women are more vulnerable to drastic swings of mood than men and are physically less able to endure the daily pressure of top management positions. As a result, many people believe women should not be hired or promoted to positions in which they can affect the growth and profitability of the company. Research does not support these beliefs, however. In our culture, women are encouraged to express their emotions of fear, anxiety, disappointment, grief, or pain, whereas such emotional expressions are considered a sign of weakness in men. In reality, men and women may express their emotions differently, but they are equally emotional.
When women are promoted into a new department, chair a new committee, or change jobs, they sometimes feel as if they have been plunged into the “dark ages” because of the prejudice they face. The weariness women feel as a result of constantly encountering negative stereotypes is called “feminist fatigue” by popular author Ellen Goodman.
[1] to stop something from happening or developing
[2] something that you think is true although you have no proof
[3] to make it difficult for someone to do something or for something to develop
[4] money that a business or organization receives over a period of time, especially from selling goods or services
[5] to include something as part of a subject, discussion etc
[6] to stop doing something because there are too many problems and it is impossible to continue
[7] unwillingness to talk about what you feel or what you know
[8] a type of voice that can produce very high notes
[9] very strict and difficult to change
[10] an annoying or difficult situation
[11] which seem to have no pattern or plan
[12] behaving in a confident way so that people notice you
[13] to continue doing an activity or trying to achieve something over a long period of time
[15] someone who supports something or persuades people to do something