Read the following sentences about verbs followed by a...

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?

1. It’s well known that female representation on boards in FTSE 100 companies is woefully low.
2. The picture is sadly no different in universities, which have been set a target of 40% female
3. representation on boards by 2020 in England. In Scotland last month, all public boards, including
4. universities, were asked to comprise 50% women by 2020. Yet ____ present women make up
5. just 36% of boards and chair just 19% of them across the UK. To have any chance ____ meeting
6. these targets, universities will have to really step up progress over the next year.
7. Diversifying boards matters because a range of perspectives, expertise and experiences
8. strengthen their effectiveness, combating unconscious bias and “groupthink”. It also helps inspire
9. a future generation from diverse backgrounds to get involved. As universities widen participation
10. to students from different socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities and geographical regions, it’s
11. important that governing bodies mirror their diversity.
12. Despite goodwill in higher education, and a recognition of the need for change, recruitment
13. practices mean that the usual suspects from a narrow demographic are too often appointed ____
14. boards. A recent internal survey conducted by the Leadership Foundation found that more than
15. 50% of board vacancies are not publicly advertised, relying on the networks of board members
16. to identify suitable candidates.
17. Although this can be an effective way of securing strong candidates who would have
18. otherwise not considered a university board appointment, this isn’t democratic. It narrows the
19. pool of candidates to those in the board’s immediate network and risks marginalising those
20. beyond.
21. Potential candidates who have not built networks in higher education lack the necessary
22. visibility and are less likely to be made aware of opportunities. Couple this _____ the tendency
23. to hire people like themselves – only 19% of those chairing boards are female – and the result is
24. a hiring norm which perpetuates rather than tackles inequality.
25. Higher education needs to start making tangible changes to achieve board diversity. As board
26. recruitment processes can last months, to meet the government target universities need to take
27. action now, or female representation will fall short by 2020.
28. What steps can they take?

(Fonte: https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2018/mar/28/universities-government-targets-female-representation-boards - adaptação)