CXC English A exam: Past paper type summary writing question 7

These are the types of summary writing questions that appear on section 1, Paper 2
of the CXC English A exam

SECTION ONE

(Suggested time: 35 minutes)

You MUST answer the question in this section.

1. Read carefully the following extract and then summarize the MAJOR factors which contribute to the disadvantages encountered by women in the labour market.

Your summary must be in continuous prose, in paragraph form and it must not be more than 120 words in length. Only the first 120 words of your answer will be read and assessed.

Despite their increasing participation in the labour market, women are still disadvantaged in the mainstream of economic life. with limited access to stable and well-paid employment, their participation is often confined to 'feminine' work: to low paid, less visible jobs in the informal sector and to subsistence agriculture. globally, women earn 20 to 30 per cent less than men while women make up 70 percent of the world's more than 1 billion absolute poor.

In most regions of the world, female enrolment in secondary level, technical and vocational education programmes represents less than half of the total. When girls opt for vocational courses they tend to choose fields that are considered more 'feminine' and less technical, thus narrowing their employment prospects. Socio-cultural factors play an important role in the attitudes of employers, teachers, parents and the girls themselves.

In poor countries, access to any type of secondary or post-secondary education for disadvantaged girls is often limited by entrance requirements and the cost of courses. In the non-formal sector, there are numerous programmes provided by non-governmental organisations to enhance capacities for income generation among poor out-of-school girls. It is often difficult to assess the impact of such training on the lives of trainees due to the lack of systematic monitoring and reporting. Depending on how such programmes are designed, there could also be a danger of reinforcing existing gender roles and biases, especially where programmes do not offer training in profitable areas of work.