Ejercicio B · Inglés PAU Madrid Extraordinaria (2ª lengua) 2020

TEXTO B

The Ladies Bridge

Waterloo Bridge in London is nicknamed ‘The Ladies Bridge’ for the women who built it. As World War II overtook Europe and men went off to battle, the women of England entered the wartime workforce. “Before long,” says the BBC, “women made up one third of the total workforce in the metal and chemical industries, as well as in ship-building and vehicle manufacture.” They also worked on English infrastructure.

But while Rosie the Riveter, the star of a campaign aimed at recruiting female workers for defence industries during World War II, became perhaps the most iconic image of American working women, those who built this bridge were largely forgotten. “Today the riverboat pilots on the Thames tell the story of Waterloo Bridge being built by women in World War II,” says the summary of The Ladies Bridge, a documentary by filmmaker Karen Livesey. Though a crew of largely women workers built the current Waterloo Bridge in the early 1940s, at the official opening of the bridge in 1945, Herbert Morrison, an English politician, thanked all the men who worked on the project: “The men who built Waterloo Bridge are fortunate men. They know that, although their names may be forgotten, their work will be a pride and use to London for many generations to come.”

The displacement of women’s role in the history of the Waterloo Bridge, says a 2006 article, wasn’t out of malice, or discrimination. Peter Mandell, the head of Peter Lind and Company, the contractor that oversaw the building of the bridge in 1940s, said “there’s no hidden agenda behind their unacknowledged achievements – the archive was simply lost when Lind temporarily suspended trading in the 1970s.” “We’re very proud of our female workforce,” he says. “We’re rebuilding this archive and want to honor them with a plaque on the bridge.”

Adapted from “This Bridge is Nicknamed the ‘Ladies Bridge’ because it was Built Largely by Women,” Smithsonian Magazine, July 15, 2013. <https://bit.ly/2JL7dS6>

QUESTIONS

B.1 (2 puntos) Are the following statements TRUE or FALSE? Copy the evidence from the text. No marks are given for only TRUE or FALSE.

a)

During World War II English women had to substitute male workers.

TRUE

FALSE

b)

An article said that the contribution of women in the construction of the bridge was not mentioned on purpose.

TRUE

FALSE

B.2 (2 puntos) In your own words and based on the ideas in the text, answer the following questions. Do not copy from the text.

a)

Why did Rosie the Riveter become a symbol in the USA?

b)

What happened at the official opening of the bridge?