UGC NET/JRF EXAM, September-2024 WOMEN’S STUDIES

• Gender is a social and cultural construct, not merely a biological trait. It refers to the roles, behaviours, expectations, and identities assigned to individuals based on socio-cultural factors.

• These factors vary across time, place, religion, and community.

• Gender thus includes not only men and women but also non-binary, transgender, and other identities, depending on how a society recognizes and defines them.

• Unlike sex, which is biologically determined, gender is fluid and influenced by cultural norms, traditions, education, and media.

• Chandra Talpade Mohanty, a postcolonial and transnational feminist theorist, wrote the influential essay "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses" in 1984.

• In this work, she critiques Western feminist discourse for horogenizing and essentializing Third World women, ignoring differences of race, class, culture, and history.

• Her essay called for solidarity across global feminist movements through intersectional and contextual understanding rather than imposition of Western perspectives.

• This work is foundational in postcolonial feminist theory and continues to be widely cited in gender studies curricula globally.

• Strategic life choices are decisions that significantly impact a woman's future, autonomy, and empowerment.

• Examples include choices related to education, marriage, employment, and political participation.

• These choices differ from day-to-day or practical choices as they influence control over resources, decision-making power, and long-term wellbeing.

• The concept is central to frameworks of empowerment, such as those used by Naila Kabeer, who emphasizes the ability to make strategic life choices in contexts where this ability was previously denied.

• Post-structuralist feminism focuses on how language, media, and discourse shape and reproduce gender norms and patriarchal ideologies.

• It draws heavily from Michel Foucault's theories of power and discourse, emphasizing that meanings are not fixed but constructed through texts and symbols.

• Feminist theorists such as Judith Butler critique how media and cultural institutions perpetuate gender binaries and normalize heteronormativity.

• This approach challenges essentialist views of womanhood and deconstructs how patriarchy is sustained through everyday communication and representation.

• The Eighth Five-Year Plan (1992–1997) marked a paradigm shift from women's development to women's empowerment.

• It emphasized self-reliance, decision-making power, participation in governance, and access to resources for women.

• The Plan integrated gender concerns across sectors like health, education, employment, and credit.

• A landmark initiative of this period was the Mahila Samakhya Programme, focusing on women's collective empowerment and social mobilization.

• The shift was influenced by global developments such as the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action and the rising influence of grassroots feminist movements in India.

Article 15(3) of the Indian Constitution empowers the State to make special provisions for women and children, even if such provisions appear to violate the general prohibition against discrimination on grounds of sex under Article 15(1).

It serves as a protective clause that allows affirmative action, such as reservations in education, employment, or political representation, in order to uplift historically disadvantaged groups like women.

This article has been the basis for numerous government schemes and legal provisions targeting women's advancement.

Combating dowry effectively requires not only legal prohibition but also strong institutional support, which includes:

• Legal aid cells and helplines for dowry victims
• Shelter homes for women facing violence
• Awareness programs and community mobilization
• Enforcement of Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961

Strengthening these mechanisms ensures victim protection, proper reporting, and punishment of offenders, contributing to deterrence and social reform.

The other options like ignoring traditions or promoting dowry are counterproductive and legally unacceptable.

The key steps in data analysis in qualitative and quantitative research include:

A. Coding: Assigning labels or codes to raw data to identify themes or categories.

B. Classification: Grouping data based on similarities or patterns for easier interpretation.

D. Documentation: Recording findings systematically to ensure clarity, transparency, and reproducibility.

(C) Designing the research is a pre-analysis phase and belongs to the research planning stage, not data analysis.

Hence, A, B, and D are accurate steps within the data analysis process.

In contemporary Western industrial societies, there has been a significant shift in the traditional domestic division of labour due to:

• Rising female labour force participation
• Increased gender sensitivity and feminist movements
• Changing family structures and egalitarian values

These cultural changes have led to more shared responsibilities in childcare, cooking, and household chores between men and women.

Although the shift is not complete, social norms and policies (like paternity leave and flexible work) support the trend toward greater equality in domestic duties.

The Women Component Plan (WCP) was introduced in the 8th Five-Year Plan (1992- 1997) as a strategy to ensure that not less than 30% of the benefits from development programs flow directly to women.

It was designed to address gender disparities in access to resources, particularly in sectors like education, health, employment, and rural development.

Ministries and departments were instructed to earmark specific budget allocations for women's development.

WCP marked a shift from welfare-oriented to development and empowerment-based approaches.