UGC NET/JRF EXAM, January-2025 WOMEN’S STUDIES

A. Initiated by Ministry of Education and Central Board of Secondary Education: The CBSE Udaan Scheme was launched by the Ministry of Education (formerly MHRD) in collaboration with CBSE to support the academic advancement of girl students in India.

C. Aims to help female students of economically vulnerable families in India to obtain degrees from renowned engineering colleges: The program focuses on preparing meritorious girl students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds for engineering entrance exams like JEE, through online resources, mentoring, and study material.

D. Is for female students studying in Class XI and they must be enrolled in the Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics stream: The eligibility includes girl students in Class XI, studying PCM, enrolled in Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, Government schools, and whose family income is less than6 lakh per annum.

B. Aimed at Arts and Commerce Colleges - INCORRECT: The scheme is not focused on Arts or Commerce education. It is specifically meant to encourage girls in STEM and support entry into engineering colleges.

A. All SC/ST girls who pass class VIII: Under the National Scheme of Incentives to Girls for Secondary Education (NSIGSE), launched in May 2008, SC/ST girls passing Class VIII and enrolling in Class IX are eligible.

B. Girls from Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV): Girls from KGBV, irrespective of their caste (SC/ST), are also covered under the scheme, provided they enroll in Class IX in a government, aided, or local body school.

D. Married girls, those in private or central schools are excluded: The scheme excludes married girls, and those in private unaided, Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVS), Navodaya Vidyalayas (NVS), or CBSE-affiliated private schools, focusing instead on economically and socially disadvantaged sections.

C. Girls should be below 18 years - INCORRECT in this context: Although age is a factor, the condition is not a primary eligibility criterion, and the main focus is caste category, school type, and class enrollment.

The Vishaka Guidelines were formulated by the Supreme Court of India in 1997 in the landmark case Vishaka vs. State of Rajasthan, in response to the gangrape of a social worker.

These guidelines laid the framework for preventing sexual harassment at the workplace, in the absence of specific legislation at the time.

It served as a legally binding directive until the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act was passed in 2013.

Emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been found to replicate and even amplify existing societal biases, including gender discrimination.

Al systems trained on biased historical data may produce outputs that reflect or intensify stereotypes, such as associating leadership with males or underrepresenting women in tech roles.

Studies (e.g., MIT Media Lab) have shown that facial recognition software has much higher error rates for women and people of colour, particularly Black women (up to 34% error rate), compared to White men (less than 1%).

Chronological order of publication of the books:

D. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman - 1792: Written by Mary Wollstonecraft, this foundational feminist text argued for women's education and equality, making it one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy.

A. Pride and Prejudice - 1813: Authored by Jane Austen, this novel portrayed the complexities of gender, class, and marriage in early 19th-century England and subtly critiqued the limitations imposed on women.

B. The Second Sex - 1949: Written by Simone de Beauvoir, this philosophical treatise explored the construction of femininity and introduced the famous phrase, "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman".

С. The Feminine Mystique - 1963: Betty Friedan's groundbreaking book sparked the second-wave feminist movement in the U.S. by exposing "the problem that has no name", i.e., the dissatisfaction of housewives confined to domestic roles.

As per the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), while recommending compensation, considers factors such as:

A. Mental trauma suffered by the complainant due to the harassment.
B. Emotional distress caused, including humiliation and damage to dignity.

The Act does not mandate consideration of the complainant's educational qualifications or the respondent's family income, as these are not directly related to the severity of the harm caused.

Other valid considerations may include loss in career opportunity, medical expenses, and the duration of harassment.

Wyoming was the first U.S. territory to grant women the right to vote in 1869.

It earned the nickname "The Equality State" for this progressive step.

This decision was part of an effort to attract more settlers and was also influenced by women's advocacy for legal and social rights.

When Wyoming became a state in 1890, it retained women's suffrage, making it a pioneer in the American women's rights movement.

#HeForShe is a global solidarity campaign launched by UN Women in 2014, aimed at engaging men and boys to act against gender inequality.

It was initiated to break traditional gender roles and invite all genders to work as allies in achieving gender equality.

The campaign gained massive recognition with the speech of Emma Watson at the United Nations, where she urged global participation.

It emphasizes the idea that gender equality is not just a women's issue but a human rights issue.

The Bodhgaya Movement in Bihar involved landless Dalit women and men, who mobilized under Mukti Andolan in the late 1970s and 1980s.

A major component of this struggle was women's demand for legal ownership of lund.

Traditionally, land was registered in the names of male family members. This movement questioned patriarchal property ownership and called for direct land titles in women's names.

It combined class struggle with gender justice, setting a precedent for feminist land rights movements in India.

In her renowned essay A Room of One's Own (1929), Virginia Woolf does indeed mention lack of access to education and financial independence, but her central argument highlights the hostility, ridicule, and societal prejudice faced by women who tried to express themselves through writing.

Woolf illustrates this with the fictional character Judith Shakespeare, the imagined sister of William Shakespeare. Despite being equally talented, Judith is denied education, laughed at for writing, abused, and ultimately driven to suicide - symbolizing society's active resistance to female authorship.

Key quote from A Room of One's Own: "It is fatal for anyone who writes to think of their sex. It is fatal to be a man or a woman pure and simple; one must be woman-manly or man-womanly." This indicates the pressure and bias women faced in literary expression.

Therefore, while limited access to resources is part of the broader issue, **the significant challenge Woolf focused on was the societal hostility and prejudice against women's intellectual and literary pursuits.