Question

Which of the following is most likely to be true if the author’s statements about gendered networks in the workplace are true?

• A. Mid-career women do not find it as easy to get access to senior leaders, who are usually male, as their male colleagues. They therefore find career progression or new opportunities easier to come by.
• B. Mid-career women find it easier to get access to senior leaders, who are usually male, as their male colleagues. They therefore find career progression or new opportunities easier to come by.
• C. Mid-career women do not find it as easy to get access to senior leaders, who are usually male, as their male colleagues. They therefore find career progression or new opportunities harder to come by.
• D. Mid-career women find it easier to get access to senior leaders, who are usually male, as their male colleagues. They therefore do not find career progression or new opportunities harder to come by.
• A. People are more hesitant to hire men from their mid 30s to their late 40s but may be more willing to hire women of a similar age.
• B. People are more hesitant to hire women from their mid 30s to their late 40s but may be more willing to hire men of a similar age.
• C. Women from their mid 30s to their late 40s always prioritise parenting responsibilities and so are not really interested in pursuing a career
• D. Women who have children are less committed to their careers than men.
• A. Male professors are likely to be promoted at an even rate throughout their career, while women professors would experience a lower likelihood of promotion in the mid-career stage.
• B. Since there is a wide disparity between the evaluations that male and female professors receive, the practice of relying upon such evaluations will quickly be abandoned.
• C. Male and female professors will receive promotions at a similar rate throughout the course of their career.
• D. Women professors are likely to be promoted at an even rate throughout their career, while male professors would experience a lower likelihood of promotion in the mid-career stage.
• A. Women going through menopause often quit the workforce voluntarily.
• B. Women going through menopause are more likely to be perceived negatively at the workplace and to have difficulty achieving professional success.
• C. Women going through menopause should be permitted to take a mid-career sabbatical.
• D. Women going through menopause are more likely to be perceived positively at the workplace and to achieve professional success.
• A. Several independent studies conducted in different countries have shown that women in the workplace are perceived positively and are favourably treated as they age.
• B. Several independent studies conducted in different countries have shown that women in the workplace are perceived negatively and are unfairly treated as they age.
• C. The studies mentioned in the passage have been discredited after they were published, and no reliance should be placed on them.
• D. The studies mentioned in the passage were conducted on very small sample sets and cannot be used to make general statements about the difference in perception between men and women.
• A. Women professors perceived as being ‘grandmotherly’ are regarded as being likeable and caring.
• B. Women professors perceived as being ‘grandmotherly’ are treated better by their colleagues and students.
• C. Women professors perceived as being ‘grandmotherly’ are regarded as being slow, inefficient, and outdated in their field.
• D. Women professors perceived as being ‘grandmotherly’ are regarded very highly and receive much more respect than younger women professors.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

The correct option is (C): Mid-career women do not find it as easy to get access to senior leaders, who are usually male, as their male colleagues. They therefore find career progression or new opportunities harder to come by.

Answer 2

The passage says gendered workplace networks mean men gain greater access to senior leaders, and that this becomes a further difficulty for working women. Each option makes a two-part claim, first about access to senior leaders, then about the effect on career progression, so a correct option has to get both the fact and the logic right.

1. Option A: Says women do not find it as easy to reach senior leaders, which matches the passage, but then concludes they find career progression easier as a result. Reduced access to the people who influence promotions and opportunities would not logically make progression easier; this option breaks its own internal logic.
2. Option B: Says women find it easier than men to access senior leaders. This directly contradicts the passage, which states that men gain greater access, not women. Since the starting fact is wrong, the option cannot be correct regardless of what it concludes.
3. Option C: Says women do not find it as easy as men to reach senior leaders, which matches the passage, and that this makes career progression and new opportunities harder to come by, which follows logically: less access to senior decision-makers naturally translates into fewer chances to be noticed, sponsored, or promoted. Both the fact and the logic hold together.
4. Option D: Says women find access easier than men (contradicting the passage, as in Option B), and then adds a confusing double negative, that they therefore do not find progression harder. Beyond the factual error, the phrasing itself avoids making a clear claim.

Option B and Option D both misstate who has easier access, and Option A pairs the right fact with the wrong consequence. Option C is the only option where both the stated fact and its logical consequence match the passage.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option C.

Answer 3

The correct option is (C): People are more hesitant to hire women from their mid 30s to their late 40s but may be more willing to hire men of a similar age.

Answer 4

The "motherhood penalty" is described as an assumption about parenting duties that leads people to believe women are less committed to their careers, with effects showing up in hiring, promotions, and wages. The question asks for an outcome of this penalty, so the right option should describe a consequence, specifically a hiring pattern, not just restate the underlying stereotype.

1. Option A: This reverses the direction of the bias completely, describing hesitation to hire men and willingness to hire women. The passage places the disadvantage on women in this age range, not men, so this option gets the direction backwards.
2. Option B: This describes hiring hesitation toward women in their mid 30s to late 40s alongside greater willingness to hire men of the same age. This is exactly the kind of hiring-stage consequence the passage points to: an assumption about parenting translating into a real disadvantage in being hired, which matches both the direction and the mechanism described.
3. Option C: This claims women in this age range "always" prioritise parenting and are not interested in a career. This overstates the passage, which describes a perception or assumption others hold, not a fact about what women in this age group actually want. Turning a bias into a universal truth about women's own priorities goes well beyond what is supported.
4. Option D: This states that women who have children are less committed to their careers than men, which is simply restating the stereotype itself as if it were true, rather than describing what happens as a result of the stereotype, such as a hiring pattern. It confuses the belief with its consequence.

Option A gets the direction wrong, Option C turns an assumption about women into an absolute claim about their actual priorities, and Option D restates the stereotype rather than its effect. Option B is the only option that names an actual hiring outcome in the correct direction.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option B.

Answer 5

The correct option is (A): Male professors are likely to be promoted at an even rate throughout their career, while women professors would experience a lower likelihood of promotion in the mid-career stage.

Answer 6

The passage says male professors' evaluations stayed consistent across their career, while female professors' evaluations dropped between their 30s and 40s, bottomed out around age 47, and then recovered to match men's by the early 60s. Since the question ties promotions directly to evaluations, we can map the evaluation trend straight onto expected promotion patterns for each option.

1. Option A: This says male professors would be promoted at an even rate throughout their career, matching their consistent evaluations, while female professors would see a lower likelihood of promotion specifically in the mid-career stage, matching the described dip in their evaluations around ages 30 to 47. This lines up exactly with the pattern described.
2. Option B: This predicts that the practice of using evaluations for promotion will be "quickly abandoned" because of the disparity. The passage gives no indication that the practice will be dropped; it only describes what the evaluations look like, so this is an unsupported guess about future institutional behaviour rather than a consequence of the described pattern.
3. Option C: This says male and female professors will be promoted at a similar rate throughout their careers. This directly contradicts the passage, which describes a clear mid-career dip for women that is not present for men; a similar rate throughout ignores that dip entirely.
4. Option D: This reverses the pattern, giving women the even rate and men the mid-career dip. The passage is explicit that it is male evaluations that stay steady and female evaluations that fall mid-career, so this option has the two groups swapped.

Option B introduces an unsupported prediction about the practice being abandoned, Option C flattens out a real difference the passage describes, and Option D swaps the two groups. Option A is the only option that mirrors the evaluation trend correctly for both groups.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option A.

Answer 7

The correct option is (D): Women going through menopause are more likely to be perceived positively at the workplace and to achieve professional success.

Answer 8

The passage cites a 2008 study finding that pregnant women were described in positive terms, while menopausal women were linked to negative emotions, illness, and ageing. A "most likely to disagree with" question is really asking for the option that runs opposite to what the passage supports, so the fastest check is to compare the polarity of each option against that finding.

1. Option A: Says menopausal women often quit the workforce voluntarily. The passage does not discuss women leaving jobs by choice, so this is not something the passage directly supports or contradicts; there is no strong basis in the text for the author to disagree with it specifically.
2. Option B: Says menopausal women are more likely to be perceived negatively and to struggle professionally. This matches the passage's own findings almost exactly, negative emotions and illness associated with menopause, tying into the broader discussion of career setbacks for older women. The author would agree with this, not disagree.
3. Option C: Suggests menopausal women should be permitted a mid-career sabbatical. This is a policy suggestion the passage never raises, so there is nothing in the text the author has taken a stance on here either way.
4. Option D: Claims menopausal women are perceived positively and achieve professional success. This is the direct opposite of the passage's finding that menopausal women are linked with negative emotions, illness, and ageing. Since the author's whole point rests on documenting negative perceptions and their career costs, this option contradicts the passage most sharply.

Options A and C are simply not addressed by the passage, and Option B is something the passage's evidence actually supports. Option D is the one option that directly reverses the passage's central finding about how menopausal women are perceived.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option D.

Answer 9

The correct option is (B): Several independent studies conducted in different countries have shown that women in the workplace are perceived negatively and are unfairly treated as they age.

Answer 10

The main argument rests on specific studies showing negative perceptions of women as they age at work. A strengthen question needs an option that adds independent support for that conclusion, ideally by showing the finding holds up beyond the original studies. Let's test each option.

1. Option A: This says independent studies elsewhere found women are perceived positively and treated favourably as they age. This is evidence pointing the opposite way from the author's argument, so it would weaken the case rather than strengthen it.
2. Option B: This says independent studies in other countries found the same negative perception and unfair treatment of ageing women at work. Independent replication of a finding, especially across different countries, is one of the strongest forms of support an argument can get, since it shows the pattern is not limited to the specific studies or context the author originally cited.
3. Option C: This says the original studies have been discredited. If the very evidence the argument depends on is unreliable, the argument loses its foundation; this weakens the argument rather than strengthening it.
4. Option D: This says the studies used very small samples and cannot support general claims. This attacks the reliability of the evidence on methodological grounds, which also weakens the argument rather than supporting it.

Options A, C, and D all work against the argument, either by contradicting it, discrediting the evidence, or questioning its reliability. Option B is the only option that adds new, independent evidence pointing in the same direction as the author's claim.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option B.

Answer 11

The correct option is (C): Women professors perceived as being ‘grandmotherly’ are regarded as being slow, inefficient, and outdated in their field.

Answer 12

Laura Kray's claim is that women professors may benefit from being seen as "grandmotherly" once they pass their late 40s. A weaken option needs to show that this "grandmotherly" perception is not actually a benefit, particularly in a professional sense. Let's check each option.

1. Option A: Says grandmotherly professors are seen as likeable and caring. Likeability is generally a positive trait in social and professional settings, so this supports the idea that the shift in perception helps rather than hurts, which is in line with Kray's claim rather than against it.
2. Option B: Says these professors are treated better by colleagues and students. Better treatment is a clear benefit, so this also supports Kray's argument instead of weakening it.
3. Option C: Says grandmotherly professors are seen as slow, inefficient, and outdated in their field. These are direct professional competence judgments, and they are all negative. If being seen as grandmotherly actually damages how capable and current a professor is perceived to be, then the shift Kray describes is not really a "benefit" at all in the professional sense that matters for a career, which undercuts her argument at its core.
4. Option D: Says grandmotherly professors are regarded very highly and get more respect than younger women professors. Extra respect is a benefit, so this again supports rather than weakens Kray's claim.

Options A, B, and D all describe forms of social or professional benefit, which is exactly what Kray's argument predicts. Option C is the only option that reframes "grandmotherly" as a professional liability rather than an advantage, which is what actually weakens her claim.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option C.