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"Men are finished." That was the proposition in a debate at New York University (NYU). Hardly. A World Bank report finds that, although particular groups of ill-educated young men are doing badly, and although women's lives have improved a lot in the past 20 years, sexual inequality at work is remarkably stubborn. Globally, women earn 10-30% less than men. They are also concentrated in "women's" jobs. Annoyingly, economic growth does not seem to narrow the gap.

This is surprising. You might expect that as countries get richer, jobs requiring brute strength would become less important. Rich countries also have larger public sectors, where the wage gap is smaller. Yet overall, the gap is no smaller in rich countries such as Britain than in poor ones such as the Philippines.

More striking, there is little sign that women are moving into traditionally male occupations. A hefty 11% of men work in construction; only 1% of women do.

Women cluster in retail and public administration, including education and health. This is true regardless of national income. Looking at Mexico and Sweden, the bank found that men and women tended to separate themselves into the same sorts of occupation in the two countries.

What explains all this? The World Bank suggests three reasons. First, discrimination. Some men think women are less capable, and some laws treat the sexes differently. Women also have fewer assets that can be turned into capital. This makes it harder for them to start businesses. In Japan, the bank found, food-processing firms prefer to sign export contracts with men, since they fear women will find it harder to meet the terms of the contract.

Next, women are sometimes less qualified than men. Though advances in female education are widespread, they are not universal. Among older workers, men tend to have spent longer studying. Also, male workers tend to have been employed for longer than women, giving them more work experience.

But the main reason that women cluster in low-paid fields, the bank argues, is that they do not control their own time. In rich Austria and Italy, women do at least three times as much housework and child care as men. In poorer Cambodia, they do 50% more. Everywhere, this constrains women's job choices.

Women are more likely than men to take part-time or informal work. This is sometimes a voluntary choice. But sometimes they are pushed by employers' attitudes or sexist laws, such as those requiring a woman to get her husband's permission to work. "Progress has been tremendous where lifting a single barrier is sufficient [for example, in education] ," concludes the bank. But where multiple barriers exist, progress has been extremely slow. Manhattanites do not see this, however. The motion at NYU was carried.

16. According to Paragraph 1, which of the following is true?

[A] The NYU debate was about whether men was losing priority in workplace.

[B] Sexual inequality is about to disappear due to the economic growth.

[C] On average women can earn as much as ill-educated men.

[D] The economic development has changed women's career choices.

17. We can learn from Paragraphs 2 to 4 that______.

[A] jobs requiring less strength are more important in rich countries

[B] the wage gap is larger in rich countries than in poor ones

[C] women are confined to jobs that tend to offer less money

[D] men and women tend to gather in different sorts of jobs

18. Discrimination against women is embodied in the fact that______.

[A] women are considered less talented than men in daily life

[B] social divisions of labor are made clear in some laws

[C] women own fewer properties which can be used for investment

[D] women have difficulty in meeting the terms of contracts

19. According to Paragraphs 6 and 7, women______.

[A] are less educated and have less work experience

[B] are provided with fewer job opportunities

[C] cannot decide on their own destiny

[D] are better at doing housework than working

20. It is implied in the last paragraph that______.

[A] women are more devoted to their families compared with men

[B] women are more willing to take part-time jobs than men

[C] many factors prevent the realization of sexual equality at work

[D] NYU has taken actions to promote sexual equality