Instruction: Answer questions 31 to 40 based on the following text.
Universities have too few women at the top. How can they redress the balance?
- It’s well known that female representation on boards in FTSE 100 companies is woefully low.
- The picture is sadly no different in universities, which have been set a target of 40% female
- representation on boards by 2020 in England. In Scotland last month, all public boards, including
- universities, were asked to comprise 50% women by 2020. Yet ____ present women make up
- just 36% of boards and chair just 19% of them across the UK. To have any chance ____ meeting
- these targets, universities will have to really step up progress over the next year.
- Diversifying boards matters because a range of perspectives, expertise and experiences
- strengthen their effectiveness, combating unconscious bias and “groupthink”. It also helps inspire
- a future generation from diverse backgrounds to get involved. As universities widen participation
- to students from different socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities and geographical regions, it’s
- important that governing bodies mirror their diversity.
- Despite goodwill in higher education, and a recognition of the need for change, recruitment
- practices mean that the usual suspects from a narrow demographic are too often appointed ____
- boards. A recent internal survey conducted by the Leadership Foundation found that more than
- 50% of board vacancies are not publicly advertised, relying on the networks of board members
- to identify suitable candidates.
- Although this can be an effective way of securing strong candidates who would have
- otherwise not considered a university board appointment, this isn’t democratic. It narrows the
- pool of candidates to those in the board’s immediate network and risks marginalising those
- beyond.
- Potential candidates who have not built networks in higher education lack the necessary
- visibility and are less likely to be made aware of opportunities. Couple this _____ the tendency
- to hire people like themselves – only 19% of those chairing boards are female – and the result is
- a hiring norm which perpetuates rather than tackles inequality.
- Higher education needs to start making tangible changes to achieve board diversity. As board
- recruitment processes can last months, to meet the government target universities need to take
- action now, or female representation will fall short by 2020.
- What steps can they take?
(Fonte: https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2018/mar/28/universities-government-targets-female-representation-boards - adaptação)