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

Total Questions: 100

91. Read the following passage and answer the question:

Most sports were never designed for women. They were designed to fit the physical abilities of men. Ancient Greece introduced formal sport, with the first Olympic Games in 776 BC, which included sports such as human and chariot races, wrestling, jumping, disc and javelin throwing, and more.

Sport is designed to support a system of pure meritocracy- i.e., whoever is stronger, faster, and more skilled will be the winner. But related to the first problem, in most sports, if women play against men, they lose (women's soccer team against men's soccer team).

From a pure meritocracy angle, women thus do not deserve the same pay. Building on the first two problems, in most sports, there is less of a market for the women's side of the game (e.g., women's soccer or women's tennis).

To get gender-equal pay to work, pure meritocracy needs to be revoked and arguments need to come from a sociological/ideological point of view. Furthermore, women should celebrate the female competition as their version of the sport that is similar yet also different to the men's.

How were most sports originally designed?

Correct Answer: 2. To fit the physical abilities of men
Solution:Most sports were originally created to suit men's physical capabilities, not women's. They were structured around male strength, endurance, and competitive ideals.

92. What role did Ancient Greece play in the development of formal sports?

Correct Answer: 3. They introduced the first Olympic Games, featuring sports like wrestling and chariot races.
Solution:Ancient Greece played a foundational role by introducing formal sports through the first Olympic Games in 776 BC, which featured individual competitions like wrestling, running, and chariot races - all designed for men.

93. In a pure meritocracy, what determines the winner in sports?

Correct Answer: 2. Who is stronger, faster, and more skilled
Solution:In a pure meritocracy, victory in sports is determined by physical strength, speed, and skill, emphasizing measurable performance rather than social factors.

94. How could gender equal pay in sports be achieved, according to the passage?

Correct Answer: 2. By promoting women's sports to the same level as men's sports.
Solution:According to the passage, achieving genderequal pay requires shifting away from a strict merit-based (physical) system and instead making arguments from a sociological and ideological standpoint, recognizing women's sports as distinct and valuable.

95. What type of arguments are suggested for advocating gender equality in sports?

Correct Answer: 2. Sociological and Ideological arguments.
Solution:The passage clearly states that gender equality in sports pay should be supported by sociological and ideological arguments, not just economic or legal reasoning.

96. Read the following passage and answer the question:

Feminism is heterogeneous and internally differentiated across contexts. This recognition makes it impossible to articulate a simple 'feminist' position on any issue, and alerts us to what Walter Mignolo has termed 'diversality'- the recognition of diversity as a universal condition (2000).

Analyses that begin with the assumption of a unified and homogenous category of 'woman' may well be productively opened up to other identities by the intersectionality framework;

but analyses that begin with the understanding that identity is provisional and conjunctural, would find, I have argued, that the intersectionality framework freezes notions of pre-existing individual, woman and other identities.

Attention to diversality teaches us that universal frameworks generally flow from the North to the South, that the direction of this flow this is not simply coincidental and that close attention to specificities of time and place would reveal the inadequacy of universal paradigms.

We cannot have a simple feminist position on any issue as:

Correct Answer: 4. Diversity is a universal condition.
Solution:The passage emphasizes that feminism is heterogeneous and context-dependent, making it impossible to have one simple feminist position. This complexity arises because diversity is a universal condition ("diversality").

97. How does the passage approach the understanding of identity?

Correct Answer: 2. Provisional and conjunctural
Solution:The passage describes identity as "provisional and conjunctural," meaning that identities are fluid, changing, and dependent on specific contexts rather than being fixed or uniform.

98. Universal framework generally flowing from North to the South are critiqued because:

Correct Answer: 1. Theories must be located.
Solution:The critique of universal frameworks flowing from North to South highlights that theories must be situated within specific contexts of time and place - not simply imposed globally.

99. What does Mignolo alert us to?

Correct Answer: 3. Diversality
Solution:Walter Mignolo alerts us to the concept of "diversality," which recognizes diversity as a universal condition - rejecting singular or universal feminist frameworks.

100. Why is Intersectionality framework problematic?

Correct Answer: 1. Law and its inability to recognize multiple identities.
Solution:The passage argues that the intersectionality framework can be problematic because it tends to freeze or fix pre-existing identities (like 'woman') instead of treating them as dynamic and context-specific.