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1
 B.G.D.G.-172
Gender Sensitization: Society and Culture
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Section – A
Answer the following in about 500 words each.
Q. 1. Describe Gender Roles briefly.
Ans. Gender roles can be conceptualized as behavioural expectations based on biological sex. Traditionally, for
men to be masculine, they are expected to display attributes such as strength, power, and competitiveness, and less
openly display emotion and affection (especially toward other men). Thus, the roles and responsibilities assigned to
them is based on the perceived differences that is why gender roles are socially constructed. Gender role obliga-
tions influence career choice and commitment to the occupational sphere. This role difference reflects in selecting
occupation. The term “Division of Labour” used in social sciences and gender and women studies to indicate roles
and responsibilities of men and women in reference to occupations. It indicates that gender roles are purely as-
signed and not based on their skills.
The traditional view of the feminine gender role prescribes that women should behave in ways that are nurturing.
One way that a woman might engage in the traditional feminine gender role would be to nurture her family by
working full-time within the horne rather than taking employment outside of the home. Men, on the other hand, are
presumed by traditional views of gender roles to be leaders. The traditional view of the masculine gender role,
therefore, suggests that men should be the heads of their households by providing financially for the family and
making important family decisions.
In broader terms, men’s roles are related to economic activities and it is accounted for in System of National
Accounts (SNA) while women’s roles are related to care and nurturing, which may not be included in the System of
National Accounts.

2
 According to Caroline Moser, Women are subjected to triple burden in most of the developing countries. They
perform three types of roles i.e Reproductive, Productive and Community Managing and Community Politics.
Reproductive Roles played by women include child bearing, child rearing, taking care of elders in the family and
domestic household work. Along with reproductive roles, women also perform productive roles by becoming
secondary income earners but their economic activities are not included in the System of National Accounts (SNA).
The economic activities performed by women include part time job, agriculture wage earners, taking care of milch
animals and doing jobs in informal sectors in urban areas. Community managing and community politics is considered
as an extension of productive work and it includes work related health care and education of the entire community.
Women also carry out productive activities such as maintaining small pieces of land/agricultural plots for farming
systems and animal husbandry but normally their work is not paid. Although in some formal and informal economic
sectors, women are being paid but they get less amount for the same work i.e. in contrast to men’s, are often
undervalued or given relatively little recognition. Every society, ethnic group, and culture has gender role expectations,
but they can be very different from group to group. They can also change in the same society over time.
For example, some cultures expect women to stay at home and do household chores, while men should go out
to work. These norms are also called gender roles, which are specific roles men and women are expected to perform
within society or even within the family. Also, in India, unskilled labour is considered “women’s work” while in
Africa it is “men’s work.”
Q. 2. Explain feminist’s perspectives on family in detail.
Ans. Feminists Perspectives: According to general study, family is a social institution based on cooperation,
harmony, common interests and equality. They have taken man as the important unit of family and ignored women’s
experiences. In order to draw attention towards the situation of women in the domestic sphere, feminist criticised
the institution of family.
Liberal Feminism
Liberal feminism argues that women and men must be differentiated not on the basis of their biological imperatives
but due to the process of sex-role socialization. The sex-role socialization taught women to become housewife
primarily, thus the women could not realise their full potential and remain dependent upon their husband. This is the
main cause of their subordinate status in front of men. Liberal feminists demand equal opportunity for women in all
spheres including equal opportunity for jobs which can be brought by legislation and social reforms. Betty Friedan,
Ann Oakly, Susan Okin Moller are among many liberal feminists who favoured the respectable position of women
in the family.
Socialist Feminism
Marxists feminists argue that women’s subordination is related to the ownership of property. Marxist feminism
explores how gender ideologies of femininity and masculinity structure production in capitalism. Socialist feminists
contest such ideas and state the ways in which even the working class male benefits from the family. Socialist
feminists argued for the social wage to bridge the divide between paid productive work and unpaid reproductive
labour. The social wage sought to give material value to reproductive labour.

3
Radical Feminism
Radical feminists give stress on sexual exploitation rather than economic exploitation. They relate women’s
oppression to their reproductive role that is performed by them within the family. According to them, women should
reject their biological reproductive role and take the help of technology to overthrow male domination. Kate
Millet, Shulamith Firestone are among the important radical feminist. According to Kate, the status of both child
and mother is chiefly dependent upon the social and economic status of the male. Firestone in her book The Dialectic
of Sex (1972) wrote that the material basis for the inequality between men and women is produced within the
biological family.
Feminist Studies of Family
Most of the feminist concentrated their work around the family institution in terms of the structure of marriage,
unequal distribution of resources between men and women and gender division of labour. Women are often
discriminated in access to health, education, food and clothing. Son’s preference within the family, domestic violence
are some other issues that often occur within the family structure.
Critique of Mainstream Research: Feminists argue that early Indian sociologists had focussed only on the
Hindu joint family in terms of classical and sanskritic usage and ignored the family structures and kinship ideals
and practices of non-Hindus including south and north-east India, lower castes, of non patrilineal communities and
others. They also did not focus on various kinship patterns in different regions and also the position of women.
Through Irawati Karve’s work only, we can get a comparative study on kinship and marriage in north and south
Indian families that threw some light on different patterns of kinship and its effects on its members especially that
of women. Thus, according to feminists, mainstream studies has failed to inform about practical challenges related
to the institution of family in India and it wrongly portrayed the family as an egalitarian and harmonious institution
benefitting all.
Familial Ideology and Women’s Subordinate Status
Women are subject to the violent behaviour in the name of family honour that subordinates women and provides
power to men in order to obtain control on women’s self and sexuality. It shows that how the honour of family
remains dependent upon the purity of female sexuality. In order to maintain this purity, family socialise its members
especially female, to control their sexuality. Girls are not allowed to get attract towards any male to remain pure.
Restrictions on mobility, maintaining purdah, early marriage of girls, etc. are certain practices adopted by
family in maintaining caste boundaries and for protecting its purity and honour. Thus, men are provided with power
rights over the females.
As mainstream scholars support patriarchal ideology and observe nothing wrong in its reproduction, feminists
argue that the process of gender socialization is based on rituals and ceremonies, the use of language, and practices
within the family. Due to the desire for the baby boy, girl child grow up with the notion of temporary and secondary
membership within the natal home. Most of the burden regarding to domestic household work is imposed on girls,
while boys generally remain free and accompany their male elders. Also division of labour kept women away from
the market oriented income generating productive work thus making women economically dependent on men.

4
Dalit Feminists Critique of Family Studies
Dalit Bahujan feminists argue that in sphere of caste inequality, it is important to understand the politics of
difference for understanding the dalit women’s subjugation. According to queer critiques, feminist questioned
gender roles, subordination of women, violence against women, unequal rights to property and decision-making
and others within family, but they neglected the role sexuality played in determining family form, and the unequal
distribution of power within. According to Rinchin, violence in the sphere of family can be seen as a serious
concern but it never threatened the validity, its relevance and existence of the family institution itself.
Section – B
Answer the following questions.
Q. 3. What is the role of media in shaping and reinforcing Masculinity and Femininity in India? Explain
Ans. Role of Media: Media is another gendering agent that has a powerful influence in constructing notions of
femininity and masculinity. The impact of media, particularly electronic media is significant on the people about
what to wear, how to talk and how to behave in the family, community and the society at large. For example, the
image of angry young man was portrayed and promoted in the film industry. The hindi movies like ‘Mard’ and ‘NH-
10’ have showcased aggression and adopting violent behaviour. These types of films highlight how a society deals
with the gendering of boys and make them construct their hegemonic masculinity.
Advertisements also play an important role inculcating gender stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. Male
aggression and power is appreciated and idealized by presenting them as a machoman, who rides a motorbike at
high speed in slush, on mountains; or jumps from high mountains and buildings, etc. to demonstrate his toughness.
There is no use of showing a disclaimer that is run before the advertisement as it is hardly noticeable and presented
in order to complete the legal formality. These portrayals are of particular concern when it comes to young boys,
who may be more influenced by the media.
Families, friends, teachers, and community leaders all play a role in helping boys define what it means to be a
man. Mainstream media representations also play a role in reinforcing ideas about what it means to be a “real” man
in our society. In most media portrayals, male characters are rewarded for self-control and the control of others,
aggression and violence, financial independence and physical desirability. A more recent study found similar patterns
in how male characters were portrayed in children’s television around the world: boys are portrayed as tough,
powerful and either as a loner or leader, while girls were most often shown as depending on boys to lead them and
being most interested in romance. These portrayals are of particular concern when it comes to young boys, who may
be more influenced by media images than girls. Boys, on the other hand, tend to incorporate media content into their
own imaginations wholesale, “taking it in, assimilating it, and then taking the story further.” According to Götz and
Lemish, “boys… dream themselves into the position of their heroes and experience a story similar to the one in the
original medium.” The portrayal and acceptance of men by the media as socially powerful and physically violent
serve to reinforce assumptions about how men and boys should act in society, how they should treat each other, as
well as how they should treat women and children.
Each season’s new ads for cooking and cleaning supplies include several that caricature men as incompetent
buffoons, who are klutzes in the kitchen and no better at taking care of children. While children’s books have made

5
a limited attempt to depict women engaged in activities outside of the home there has been little parallel effort to
show men involved in family and home life. When someone is shown taking care of a child, it is usually the mother,
not the father. This perpetuates a negative stereotype of men as uncaring and uninvolved in family life.
Women in the Media
Women are also the potential victims of media’s influence over society. The portrayal of women as sexual
figures in popular culture is also a threat to the well-being of our society. Women’s exclusion from the serious news
of the day was raised as early as the 18th century by women suffragists and women’s rights activists in Europe and
North America. The early suffrage leaders needed the attention of the news media to carry their ideas and activities
to wider publics, but male-run newspapers and magazines largely ignored the women activists. The news outlets
that did cover women frequently trivialized their goals. Women, who departed from the social norms of passivity
and deference to male authority, and the traditional roles of wife and mother, risked being characterized as
inappropriate, insane or misfits. If they demanded equality with men, the media depicted them either as curiosities
or as loud, militant and aggressive.
Objectification of Women in the Media: We all know that media often portrays women in vulnerable and
easily overpowered situations. Feminist scholars say that the objectification of women involves the act of disregarding
the personal and intellectual abilities and capabilities of a female; and reducing a woman’s worth or role in society
to that of an instrument for the sexual pleasure that she can produce in the mind of another.
Gender and Print Media: Gender is the social construction of ideas that define the roles society expects from
men and women. In other words, gender determines masculinity and femininity through the cultural codes. These
cultural codes that constitute gender are transmitted through language. Language is the greatest force in the transfer
of cultures, ideologies, and in the perception and evaluation of the world. Culture and language are two phenomena
that are constantly affected by each other and cannot be considered separately. By examining the language of a
society, it is possible to observe the traditional views of gender, their roles, power distribution, and prejudices of
society. Male dominance in language reinforces the social secondary position of women; because, the use of the
sexist language is very common through proverbs, slang, daily language and media. The way women are represented
in the print media is influenced greatly by the language used. Print media reflects social values and reveals traditional
gender stereotypes, and it is possible to see representations of gender roles in the mass media. Women are subjected
to pressure and are considered secondary in the media, as well as in language. The mass media, especially newspapers,
play important roles in teaching traditional gender roles. This study aims to show how language is used in the
newspapers as an instrument of patriarchal ideology and how it reflects gender.
Gender and Electronic Media: In India, given the enormity of illiteracy, especially among women, radio and
television exposure is considerably higher than print media exposure. The electronic media offers women
entertainment and information in a homebound environment. The tremendous popularity of television and its ability
to reach a vast audience with illiteracy being no barrier led to the idea of using television as a channel for information
on development among several governments/administrators. From the mid-seventies television began to be used to
promote development oriented messages among the Indian population. But there was no exclusive focus on women’s
problems and their development. In the absence of a comprehensive media policy in India, television content

6
emphasizing entertainment has grown to such an extent that today all television channels are oriented towards
commercialization. Though television in India began with the avowed goals of education, modernization and
development, today’s satellite channels have done more damage to the cause of women’s development by regressing
to highly negative values that impede women’s empowerment.
Gerbner and Gross (1976) argue that television is the central cultural arm of society, serving to socialize most
people into standardized roles and behaviours. They suggest that television cultivates people’s beliefs about how
the world works more through the sum total of interactions, behaviours, and values present in television content
than through finite attempts to persuade. Hum Log was the first Indian soap in 1987 which kept millions of viewers
across India glued to their T.V sets. The serial discussed issues of family planning, freedom of choice to find a life
partner or job and the role of women in society. Another popular TV soap of early years, Buniyaad had strong
women’s roles while Humraahi focused on the rights of women to equal education and employment, to choose their
own marriage partners, and to determine whether and when to have children. With the advent of soap opera producing
production houses like Balaji Telefilms, television soaps took a new form. Women were basically seen as performing
a decorative function and being marginal to national growth and development. Their primary place is seen as being
within the home and this value is reflected in the content and setting of most of the television programmes.
The plural nature of Indian culture and diverse role that woman play is neither acknowledged nor communicated.
This results in reinforcement of the stereotyped image and role specification of woman in uni-dimensional projection
of their reality. Most of the soaps shown in Indian television are sexist. Even the so called matriarch (supposedly the
206 Visualising Gender head of the home) shown in some of the TV soaps victimizing the younger daughters and
‘bahus’ (daughters in laws) of the house and teaching them how to be ‘good’.
Most of these serials wrapped in tradition of male chauvinism discourage women to aim for more than a loving
husband, happy children and a modern home. The woman is portrayed as a glamorous doll whose physical beauty
is her only asset. The sacrificing role of women in every serial is highlighted, as it poses no threat to the patriarchal
structure. Women are all the time portrayed in roles where they are seen as compromising and negotiating.
Gender stereotyping is also very much evident in television portrayal of men and women in their appointed
roles. Invariably, masculine personality attributes are emphasized and women in the world of television are presented
in role of domestic help, a wife, a mother, etc. and they are portrayed as submissive and engrossed in common
family affection and duties. As against this, men are depicted as employed, competitive. Women shown in similar
competing roles with men are far less in number and are considered to be oddities and deviations from norm, trait
wise though there is a stereotype portrayal of women being congenitally much more than men. Even when women
are presented as power holders, the patriarchal context is unmistakably present. The attributes of power and
aggressiveness is portrayed as something unnatural to a women and a challenge to the male ego. In families in
which the gender roles are largely traditional, television may tend to serve to reinforce such gender roles. In this
way television certainly plays a role in the construction of gender roles.
Gender Roles in Advertisements: In the world of advertising, men and women have consistently been portrayed
in stereotypical ways. Men are portrayed as more autonomous than women, with men portrayed in many different
occupations as compared to women being shown as housewives and mothers. Men were far more likely to advertise

7
vehicles, business products, or job websites, while women were found mostly in advertisements for domestic products.
Advertisements also project women as the torch bearers of cultural heritage as advertisers have long been enamored
with women and culture. Advertisements of a major life insurance company picture the transformation of the
sindoor of woman into the company’s logo. Most of LIC advertisements picture the women left all alone, helpless,
susceptible to exploitation if the husband does not have insurance. In the advertisements women are predominantly
employed to promote products and services. In every item they are utilized whether it requires their presence or not.
Even in masculine accessories women are presented. From these advertisements a desirable value can be discerned.
Gender Roles in Cinema: The narratives of Hindi cinema have undoubtedly been male dominated and male
centric. Themes have been explored from the male audience’s point of view. The heroine is usually secondary to the
hero. Some film-makers dared to explore subjects from the women’s perspective. Mother India (1957) a Hindi film
epic, written and directed by Mehboob Khan is a strong political statement on a woman who can do anything to
establish that justice has been done even while remaining within the framework of marriage and motherhood.
Q. 4. Discuss Gender Gaps in Labour Force Participation and Economy briefly with suitable examples.
Ans. Gender Gaps in Labour Force Participation and Economy: Discrimination against women and girls is
a pervasive and long-running phenomenon that characterises Indian society at every level. India’s progress towards
gender equality, measured by its position on rankings such as the Gender Development Index has been disappoint-
ing, despite fairly rapid rates of economic growth. In the past decade, while Indian GDP has grown by around 6%,
there has been a large decline in female labour force participation from 34% to 27%. The male-female wage gap has
been stagnant at 50% (a recent survey finds a 27% gender pay gap in white-collar jobs). India has a lower share of
women’s contribution to GDP than the global average of 37 percent, and the lowest among all regions in the world.
For India to maintain its position as a global growth leader, more concerted efforts at local and national levels
and by the private sector are needed to bring women to parity with men. While increasing representation of women
in the public spheres is important and can potentially be attained through some form of affirmative action, an
attitudinal shift is essential for women to be considered as equal within their homes and in broader society. The role
of women in the workplace cannot be viewed in isolation from their role in society.
Data from India’s National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO) surveys shows that women’s labour-force
participation is significantly lower than that of men in both urban and rural areas. As per the famous scholars
Chaudhary and Verick 2014, India’s female labour-force participation rate is just 21 per cent in urban areas and 36
per cent in rural areas compared with 76 per cent and 81 per cent, respectively, in the case of men. Moreover in the
recent time The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) released results of its Periodic Labour Force Survey
(PLFS) for the year 2018-19. The estimates show a marginal improvement in overall labour force participation
rates, more so for rural women (up from 18.2 per cent in 2017-18 to 19.7 per cent in 2018-19). Urban female labour
force participation rates also show a modest improvement over the same period – from 15.9 to 16.1 per cent. This
seems a reprieve from the intense decline in female participation in the Indian economy, more so in rural areas,
which has been the subject-matter of many debates in the recent past.

8
 The Global Gender Gap Report (2014) reveals a widespread perception that women are paid lower wages
compared with men for the same work. Only 7 per cent of tertiary educated women have jobs as senior officials
compared with 14 per cent of men. Similarly, women account for only 38 per cent of all professional technical jobs.
Women constitute just 5% of the boards of companies in India. In both rural and urban areas, about 92 per cent spent
most of their time on domestic duties. Among those who spent most of their time on domestic duties, about 60 per
cent in rural areas and 64 per cent in urban areas did so due to the reason ‘no other member to carry out the domestic
duties’.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has shot off a fresh warning to listed companies to appoint,
at least, one woman director on their Boards by the April 1 deadline failing which they would face regulatory
action. The market regulator was informed by the stock exchanges that close to one-third of the top 500 listed
companies do not have any woman on their boards. Underlying social attitudes about the role of women are,
arguably, some of the biggest barriers India’s women face. MGI (2015) found a strong link between attitudes that
limit women’s potential and actual gender equality outcomes in a given region.
Q. 5. Explain the importance of the Enumeration of work from a Gender Perspective from your own
words.
Ans. An enumeration is a complete, ordered listing of all the items in a collection. The term is commonly used
in mathematics and computer science to refer to a listing of all of the elements of a set. The precise requirements for
an enumeration (for example, whether the set must be finite, or whether the list is allowed to contain repetitions)
depend on the discipline of study and the context of a given problem. Some sets can be enumerated by means of a
natural ordering (such as 1, 2, 3, 4, ... for the set of positive integers), but in other cases it may be necessary to
impose a (perhaps arbitrary) ordering. In some contexts, such as enumerative combinatorics, the term enumeration
is used more in the sense of counting – with emphasis on determination of the number of elements that a set

9
contains, rather than the production of an explicit listing of those elements.
The term “women’s work” may indicate a role with children as defined by nature in that only women are
biologically capable of performing them: pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding. It may also refer to professions
that involve these functions: midwife and wet nurse. “Women’s work” may also refer to roles in raising children
particularly within the home: diaper changing and related hygiene, toilet training, bathing, clothing, feeding,
monitoring, and education with regard to personal care. It may also refer to professions that include these functions,
including teacher (up to the age of puberty), governess, nanny, day care worker, and au pair. “Women’s work” may
also refer to roles related to housekeeping, such as cooking, sewing, ironing and cleaning. It may also refer to
professions that include these functions, such as maid and cook. Though much of “women’s work” is indoors, some
is outdoors, such as fetching water, grocery shopping or food foraging, and gardening. At least in the European
context, and until the industrial revolution, society was primarily agrarian and women were just as involved in
working on farms as men. Related concepts include gender role, wage labour and employment, female workforce,
and women’s rights (cf. Gender roles and feminism). The term may be pejorative, because historical advertisements
have promoted the misrepresentation of women as only house maids.
Most of the time, the contribution of women’s productive activities are not recognized. It is invisible most of
the time. When the statistical enumerator approaches family members to note the contribution of work of the each
family member, they tend contact male members of the family to take note of the family member’s contribution.
The term micro power refers to having greater power in the home; which means that it is easier for men to avoid
house work and care labour. Micro power may also be a tool men use to prevent women from entering the workforce.
When women are kept in the private sphere, men remain the sole provider financially, which provides headway in
American society.
Section – C
Answer the following questions in about 100 words each.
Q. 6. Write short notes on Gender Boundaries and Gender identity.
Ans. Gender Boundaries: Gender boundaries are not physical or geographical but are ‘conceptual’. They are
subject to change. For example, a few decades back, the dressing of women and girls did not include pants or jeans,
now it has become common for them to wear jeans and pants.
Gender Identity: Gender identity is related to a person’s inner sense of being male or female. This sense is
internalised and developed since childhood. It is also marked by the voice, physique, dress, hair style, behaviour
and language use by gender.
Gender identity is not only about how one perceives one’s own gender, but also about how one presents one’s
gender to the public. Gender identity can correspond to, or differ from the sex we are assigned at birth. The language
a person uses to communicate their gender identity can evolve and shift over time, especially as someone gains
access to a broader gender vocabulary.
Q. 7. What is Representation?
Ans. Representation is the use of signs that stand in for and take the place of something else. It is through
representation that people organize the world and reality through the act of naming its elements. Signs are arranged

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in order to form semantic constructions and express relations. For many philosophers, both ancient and modern,
man is regarded as the “representational animal” or animal symbolicum, the creature whose distinct character is the
creation and the manipulation of signs – things that “stand for” or “take the place of” something else. Representa-
tion has been associated with aesthetics (art) and semiotics (signs). Mitchell says “representation is an extremely
elastic notion, which extends all the way from a stone representing a man to a novel representing the day in the life
of several dubliners”.
Representation of Women in Media and Literature
Imagination plays a significant role in representation. In literature it helps in engendering and re-engendering
women. Though the 21st-century has often been referred to as the age of women-empowerment when every crusader
against patriarchal norms is applauded, representation of female emancipation, be it in films and serials or in
literature, often assume distorted forms. The depiction of women in media and literature seems to be aimed more at
satisfying the subconscious male voyeuristic desires than at how the females have become modernised enough to
take on the world. Importantly, this is not a novel phenomenon. Since the time of The Ramayana or The Mahabharata,
women have been constantly relegated to peripheries vis-à-vis the usual male assumption of centrality, with the
powerful men looking down upon their female counterparts merely as submissive sexual objects. Women have been
consistently stereotyped as unintelligent human beings who are expected to serve in kitchens, follow the directions
of their male and female in-laws, act as caring mothers to children, and ensure, on the peril of unpopularity, that
servants did their tasks ‘correctly’. We know how the woman is represented in art and sculpture. All these
representations are gendered and need to be understood from a gender perspective.
Representation as Social Reality
Representations are based on social realities. Therefore, they are social constructs. They can only change when
the overall picture changes.
Self and Other
The binary of self and other is perhaps one of the most basic theories of human consciousness and identity,
claiming, in short, that the existence of another, a not-self, allows the possibility or recognition of a self. In other
words: I see you. I do not control your body or hear your thoughts. You are separate. You are not me. Therefore, I am
me. The self/other binary seems to be an accepted division of how the modern individual comprehends who s/he is,
by recognizing what s/he is not.
Q. 8. What is Empowerment?
Ans. Empowerment: According to Naila Kabeer, “Empowerment is defined as the expansion in people’s
ability to make strategic life choices in a context where this ability was previously denied to them”. She suggests
three dimensions of empowerment: resources (conditions); agency (process); and achievement. The process of
empowerment can be a multi-dimensional social process that helps people gain control over their own lives. The
people become able to develop self-confidence and solve their problems independently. The following case study
further elaborates the concept of empowerment.

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Case Study
The Organization ‘Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)’ was founded in 1990 by three social activists in
one of the most backward areas in the state of Rajasthan, India.
The members of the organisation are small and marginal farmers and landless labourers. The basic aim of the
organisation is to ensure the payment of government-approved wages for workers and to bring transparency and
accountability in the local administration. The meetings are conducted at community and village levels through
demonstrations and ‘jansunvai’. A jansunvai is a participatory social audit in which government officials are brought
face to face with citizens in a public gathering. This is a platform through which the village people, especially daily
wagers in government projects and applicants of antipoverty plan ask questions from the officials and verify official
government’s records. Such jansuvai often result in public exposure of the corrupt practices of officials. Also,
people raise their voice on locally relevant issues and demand transparency in administration that leads to their
empowerment. The organisation contributed significantly in the implementation of the Right to Information Act in
Rajasthan. The organisation has inspired people in other Indian states also.
Q. 9. Write in your own words about Glass Ceiling with an example.
Ans. Glass Ceiling: A glass ceiling is a metaphor used to represent an invisible barrier that prevents a given
demographic (typically applied to minorities) from rising beyond a certain level in a hierarchy. The metaphor was
first coined by feminists in reference to barriers in the careers of high-achieving women. In the US, the concept is
sometimes extended to refer to obstacles hindering the advancement of minority women, as well as minority men.
Minority women in white-majority countries often find the most difficulty in “breaking the glass ceiling” because
they lie at the intersection of two historically marginalized groups: women and people of colour. East Asian and
East Asian American news outlets have coined the term “bamboo ceiling” to refer to the obstacles that all East
Asian Americans face in advancing their careers. Similarly, a set of invisible obstacles posed against refugees’
efforts to workforce integration has been coined the “canvas ceiling”.
“A glass ceiling” represents a barrier that prohibits women from advancing toward the top of a hierarchical
corporation. Those women are prevented from receiving promotion, especially to the executive rankings, within
their corporation. In the last twenty years, the women who have become more involved and pertinent in industries
and organizations have rarely been in the executive ranks. Women in most corporations encompass below five per
cent of board of directors and corporate officer positions.
Q. 10. Describe Social Attitudes and Stereotypes concerning disability.
Ans. Social Attitudes and Stereotypes: The social status of persons with disabilities is always lower than the
normal persons as they have been portrayed as freaks, helpless victims and a lifelong burden for family and society.
In religion and mythology also, negative traits have been attributed with a form of deformity like Manthara was
portrayed with hunchback in the Ramayana and Shakuni in Mahabharata as lame. The disability is perceived as a
punishment for past misdeeds in Indian society. Such type of attitude and social constructions about the disabled by
the non-disabled leads to the marginalisation and dis-empowerment of this group. Also due to internalisation of
such negative stereotypes within the disabled people feel passive, dependent, isolation, low self-esteem, etc. Pity,
segregation, discrimination, and stigmatisation are normal towards the disabled group. The most common attitude

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is the expression of pity towards persons with disability in India. This also reflects in social policies which are
based upon charity and welfare.
Through various state policies, the persons with disabilities are distributed with assistive aids and appliances
such as braces, crutches, hearing aids, etc. There are special schools, vocational training in low-end occupations
and sheltered employment for them. But as these persons are denied access to normal school education and social
experiences, they are not confident and unable to make their presence felt in public life. As they are regarded as a
politically significant group and hence their issues and concerns have not been taken up seriously by the political
class. But after1981, the issue of disability was opened up at the national level. Now the focus is on human rights
and empowerment of marginal groups impelled the government to make some policy changes such as reservations
in educational institutions and employment. The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of
Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 was introduced in India in order to ensure equal opportunities for the
people with disabilities, which has now been replaced by the Rights of Persons with Disability (2016). It attempts
to address various themes with the ultimate goal of not only improving the quality of life of person with disability,
but also to promote and safeguard equality, self-determination, dignity and social inclusion of persons with disability.
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