Women in Britain are without doubt better of today than they used to be. At the beginning

of the nineteenth century, women seem to have had almost no rights at all. They could not vote, or even sign contracts. Their marriages were arranged by their parents, and once they were married they could not own property. Most of the time they were kept at home, and even when they were allowed to work, they were never given responsible jobs. It is strange to think that, as far as we know, most women were happy with this situation. Today the position is quite different. Women can now vote, and choose their own husbands. In 1970 a law was passed to give them an equal share of property in the case of divorce, and in the same year the Equal Pay Act gave them the right to equal pay with men for work of equal value. Yet despite these changes, there is no doubt that there are still great differences in status between men and women. Many employers maybe even the majority seem to ignore the Equal Pay Act, and the average working woman is likely to earn only about half what a man earns for the same job. Most women who do work still do unskilled jobs. While only a small proportion of the countrys workers possibly one third are in fact women. This small percentage is partly because of the a shortage of nurseries. If there were sufficient nurseries, up to twice as many women might well go out to work. There is also great inequality in education. Only a quarter of all university students are women. And at present boys schools are undoubtedly much better than girls schools.

Women have the right to equal pay because______.

A．a law was passed

B．the Equal Pay Act was issued

C．they can vote

D．they do the same jobs as men