level 4 - Women in Business - Penguin Readers.pdf

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Pearson Education Limited
Edinburgh Gate, Harlow,
Essex C M 2 0 2JE, England
and Associated Companies throughout the world.
ISBN 0 582 453275
3 5 7 9
10
8 6 4
Contents
page
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Coco Chanel
Hanae Mori
Anita Roddick
Oprah Winfrey
Madonna
V
1
17
27
37
45
54
55
Text copyright © David Evans 2001
Typeset by Pantek Arts Ltd, Maidstone, Kent
Set in 11/14pt Bembo
Printed in Spain by Mateu Cromo, S.A. Pinto (Madrid)
All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
prior written permission of the Publishers.
Business Wordlist
Activities
Published by Pearson Education Limited in association with
Penguin Books Ltd, both companies being subsidiaries of Pearson Plc
Photograph acknowledgements:
Frank Spooner: p. 2, p. 18 and p. 23; Everyday Pictures p. 9;
R e x Features: p. 26, p. 32, p. 38, p. 46 and p. 52; Kobal: p. 4 3 .
For a complete list of titles available in the Penguin Readers series please write to your local
Pearson Education office or contact: Penguin Readers Marketing Department,
Pearson Education, Edinburgh Gate, H a r l o w , Essex, C M 2 0 2 J E .
Introduction
Some people are discussing the company's financial performance or its
latest sales figures. But others are discussing campaigns to save the forests
of Brazil or ways of helping political prisoners . . .
This building is the head office of The Body Shop, a company which
was started by one woman, Anita Roddick, in 1976. In just a few years,
her company has grown from one small shop into a large international
business. During this time, she has shown people that business is not just
about making money; she believes that business can help to make the
world a better place.
For years, working women found they had little chance of
getting a top job. The bosses of big business were nearly always
men. They were often good at managing money but bad at
managing people. Most of them were good at selling traditional
products but bad at creating new ones. Many of them thought in
the same way, said the same kinds of things and wore the same
dark suits.
But in recent years, business has changed. There are now
opportunities for people to think differently and to manage
companies in new ways. At last, women have been able to test
new ideas and try new ways of working. Although many women
still have problems in the workplace, more and more are reaching
the top in their business lives.
This book tells the stories of five women from very different
backgrounds who have reached the top in very different ways.
They have all succeeded by using their special skills to create
completely new kinds of companies.
v
Chapter 1
Coco Chanel
'Fashion is not just about dresses; fashion is something in the air. Fashion
is in the sky, the street. Fashion is about ideas, the way we live, what
is happening.'
Coco Chanel
At the start of the twentieth century, the idea of women in
business seemed crazy. In those days, men held all the positions of
power and made all the decisions about money. They believed
that a woman's place was in the home, looking after her children,
cooking for her family and managing the house. If a woman
needed to work she could perhaps find a job in a shop or in a
factory, but she had no chance of working as a businesswoman or
a banker or a lawyer.
Women's fashions in the US and Europe at that time
supported this idea
of
their position in society. Fashionable
women wore long dresses that almost touched the ground. This
made it difficult for them to drive a car, ride a horse or even
walk quickly. As a result, they needed men to arrange their travel
for them. A fashionable woman was also expected to keep her
skin as white as possible to show that she didn't work outside in
the sun. This meant that women spent a lot of time indoors.
When they went out, they often wore large hats that were
decorated with flowers, leaves and fruit. These protected their
faces from the sun and made it even more difficult for them to
move around.
But many women weren't happy with their position in
society, and they didn't like the clothes they had to wear either.
One of these people was a Frenchwoman called Gabrielle 'Coco'
Chanel. When she went into business in 1910, she planned to
1
change the clothes that women wore. But over the next sixty
years she did much more than that, as she became the richest and
most successful businesswoman of the century.
•
Coco Chanel had no experience of business when she opened
her first hat shop in Paris in 1910. She was only twenty-seven
years old and she came from an ordinary family. When she left
school, she worked for a dressmaker for a short time. Later she
tried to become a singer in a nightclub, where she was given the
name 'Coco'. Coco was an attractive young woman; she always
dressed well and she was good at making friends. Although she
didn't have any money, she mixed with fashionable, successful
people and her boyfriends were often rich young army officers.
One of these was a handsome young Englishman with a big
black moustache, called Boy Capel. When Coco asked him to
lend her some money so she could open a shop, he was surprised.
He had never heard of a woman in business before, but he liked
the idea.
'A woman in business?' he said. 'That sounds fun. How much
do you want?'
Coco asked for enough money to open a shop in one of the
best streets in Paris.
'No problem,' replied Boy Capel. He was so rich that he didn't
care if he never got his money back.
Many of Coco's customers in her first shop were her rich
young women friends. They loved the simple but beautiful hats
that Coco made for them. At parties they laughed at other
women who still wore hats that were covered in fruit and
flowers. Soon they were asking Coco for clothes that were
designed in the same simple way. Coco hated the long dresses
that fashionable women wore and so she was happy to make
dresses and skirts that were much shorter and reached just below
3
Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel

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