Exercise 2. Complete the text with missing words

_______ the increased appearance of women on corporate _______ recent уears, only 1.8% of the directors

of the top 1,300 boards are women. Almost without ____________, these women have been highly "visible"

for their __________ in government, education, and ____________ circles. But there are hundreds of other

high ____________ who are not so visible. The problem for chairmen and nominating committees is twofold:

(1) identifying and selecting the best of this "unknown" but talented ____________ of candidates and (2)

defining and communicating their ____________ from women.

Women have only recently entered the _____________. The popular _____________ is that large numbers

have been ____________ to corporate boards and that they are now a significant presence on the boards of

most ___________ corporations in the United States. But that ___________ does not yet reflect reality.

It is true that the _________ of women directors in the United States has __________ dramatically, but the

__________ of female to male directors remains remarkably small: there are only 300 women directors on

only 365 of the Fortune "1,300" boards, whereas there are about 16,000 men on these boards.

This new phenomenon of the woman director is interesting; pressure to ___________ women directors,

unlike that to ___________ women in the general work ____________, does not __________ from

legislation. The 935 companies among the top 1,300 that do not have women on their boards are not subject

to ___________.

But the pressure to recruit women directors is nevertheless real and recognized. It comes primarily from

______________, from employees (in particular from women employees, especially those at high

___________), and from _______________. This pressure reflects a growing widespread concern with

equal ________________ opportunity, a tendency to broaden definitions of corporate ___________ and a

_______________ for greater accountability on the part of both director and company.

Specifications for ______________ have traditionally been loosely drawn. One thing that has been fixed,

however, is that the ________________ executive officer has always been the most desirable candidate.

The chairmen's other preference is women of high achievement _____________ the business world and

preferably―but not necessarily―from an area that would yield insight, perspective, and experience

obviously ______________ to the concerns of the corporation.

There is a wide spectrum of significant yet different _____________ that women directors have been able to

make, from their specialized corporate _______________ as well as from their valuable experience in the

______________ sector. Another valuable contribution that many women directors can make is to

_____________ the morale and the ______________ of women in their companies, not only by their

presence ___ the board as role models but by communicating actively with them and thus understanding

and addressing the special _______________ and problems women face. Moreover, on the horizon is an

enormous role that women can ______________ on boards by helping to analyze and seek _____________

to the problems of the two-career family. The _____________-looking chairman has this in mind in recruiting

new directors for his board.