The Reading / Listening - Baldness - Level 2

A UK court has said calling a man "bald" is sexist. The court said using the word could break equality laws. This is because the word bald is directly related to gender. Most people who are bald are men, so it is wrong to use the word against men. This sex discrimination case came after a worker took his company to court. The boss angrily called the worker bald. The boss fired the worker. The worker won a case of unfair dismissal in the court. The judge said the word bald was harmful. He said using it was sexual harassment.

The court had to decide if 'bald' was an insult, or whether it was harassment. The boss' company said the word bald was not sexual harassment because women can be bald. They said: "In order to be related to sex, it would have to apply to that sex to the exclusion of the other sex." A court judge disagreed with the boss' company. She said that commenting on a man's baldness is the same as a man making comments about parts of a woman's body. The top judge said the word bald was related to sex because more men than women are bald.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Baldness - Level 0 Baldness - Level 1   or  Baldness - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/bald-hair-men-man-ruling-high-court-latest-tony-finn/
  • https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/30968722/calling-man-bald-sexual-harassment-judge-rules/
  • https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/high-court-rules-calling-man-33866756


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. calling a man "bald"
  2. using the word could break
  3. the word bald is directly related
  4. Most people who are bald
  5. it is wrong to use the word
  6. This sex discrimination
  7. The worker won a case of unfair
  8. He said using it was sexual
  1. to gender
  2. against men
  3. case
  4. harassment
  5. is sexist
  6. dismissal
  7. equality laws
  8. are men

Paragraph 2

  1. The court had to decide if 'bald'
  2. whether it was
  3. the word bald was
  4. In order to be related
  5. commenting on a man's
  6. making comments about parts
  7. the word bald was
  8. more men than women
  1. are bald
  2. not sexual harassment
  3. of a woman's body
  4. harassment
  5. related to sex
  6. to sex
  7. baldness
  8. was an insult

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

A UK court has said calling a man (1) ___________________. The court said using the word could (2) ___________________. This is because the word bald is directly related to gender. Most people who are bald are men, so it is (3) ___________________ the word against men. This sex discrimination case came after a worker took his (4) ___________________. The boss angrily called the worker bald. The boss (5) ___________________. The worker won a case of unfair dismissal in the court. The judge said the word (6) ___________________. He said using it was sexual harassment.

The court had to decide if 'bald' (7) ___________________, or whether it was harassment. The boss' company said the word bald (8) ___________________ harassment because women can be bald. They said: "In order to be (9) ___________________, it would have to apply to that sex to the exclusion of the other sex." A court judge (10) ___________________ boss' company. She said that commenting on a man's baldness is the same as a man making (11) ___________________ of a woman's body. The top judge said the word bald was related to sex because (12) ___________________ women are bald.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

AUKcourthassaidcallingaman"bald"issexist.Thecourtsaidusingthew
ordcouldbreakequalitylaws.Thisisbecausethewordbaldisdirectlyrela
tedtogender.Mostpeoplewhoarebaldaremen,soitiswrongtousethew
ordagainstmen.Thissexdiscriminationcasecameafteraworkertookhi
scompanytocourt.Thebossangrilycalledtheworkerbald.Thebossfired
theworker.Theworkerwonacaseofunfairdismissalinthecourt.Thejud
gesaidthewordbaldwasharmful.Hesaidusingitwassexualharassment
.Thecourthadtodecideif'bald'wasaninsult,orwhetheritwasharassme
nt.Theboss'companysaidthewordbaldwasnotsexualharassmentbec
ausewomencanbebald.Theysaid:"Inordertoberelatedtosex,itwould
havetoapplytothatsextotheexclusionoftheothersex."Acourtjudgedis
agreedwiththeboss'company.Shesaidthatcommentingonaman'sbal
dnessisthesameasamanmakingcommentsaboutpartsofawoman'sb
ody.Thetopjudgesaidthewordbaldwasrelatedtosexbecausemoreme
nthanwomenarebald.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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