Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks from 41 to 45.

In developing countries, recent trends suggest that in years to come women will (41) _____ a large percentage of the workforce. There are a number of possible reasons for this.

Due to the recession in the developed world, companies are reluctant to take on full-time workers, who would expect health care, a pension scheme and redundancy payments when dismissed. Instead, many (42) _____ prefer to hire people at an hourly rate. These employees tend to be women. A lot of women cannot commit themselves to a forty-hour week as they have children to take care of. This is particularly true for single parent families, where the woman has to look after the children herself. There might also be the perception that a woman is only (43) _____ to supplement her husband's income and so full-time work is not as important.

It might also be true to say that increasing sexual equality has meant that more women are reaching management positions. This in turn might mean that the number of women also increases in lower positions, as women can be (44) _____ to employ other women. If this is the case, this trend will be expected to continue.

It seems likely that the number of working women will continue to increase over the next few years as companies continue to seek a workforce that can be easily dismissed and is more flexible in their working hours. (45) _____ this might be a good thing in terms of sexual equality, it is a major setback in terms of worker rights.

A. As B. However C. Although D. Meanwhile