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Every NCERT book that matters for UPSC — open a book, then a chapter. Learn each chapter's concepts, then how UPSC tests them — with diagrams, flowcharts and the past questions to attempt.
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← Social and Political Life – II — all chaptersWomen Change the World
Start here: why this chapter matters
In simple wordsClose your eyes and picture a pilot. Now a nurse. Most people ‘see’ a man and a woman without being told. Those quick pictures decide who gets encouraged, who gets laughed at, and who gives up. This chapter asks where such pictures come from, how a few women a century and more ago broke them by learning to read, and how women together have since changed laws and lives.
This is Chapter 5 of NCERT's Class 7 Social and Political Life – II (2024–25 reprint) and the second and last chapter of Unit Three, ‘Gender’, after gess304 (‘Growing up as Boys and Girls’). The chapter fills book pp. 48–61; the same 16-page PDF also carries the Unit Four opener and Teacher's Note on Media (pp. 62–63), which belong to the next chapter (PDF page n = book page n − 47). Its parts: an opener; Who does what work? (a drawing activity and Rosie Ma'am's table); Fewer opportunities and rigid expectations, with the Laxmi Lakra box and the Xavier storyboard; Learning for change — Ramabai, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain and Rashsundari Devi; Schooling and education today — Census literacy, a drop-out table and a bar-diagram activity; Women's movement — a photo-essay on campaigning, raising awareness, protesting and showing solidarity; four exercises and a four-term glossary. We use six concept sections — the chapter is short. The book's numbers are recomputed with asserts and dated figures flagged. Laws, cases and data beyond the book are marked Beyond NCERT (†) with year and source. Debates — why jobs stay ‘male’ or ‘female’, how the women's movement has been criticised, how laws are used — are attributed positions side by side, with no verdict.
- How this chapter relates to UPSC, honestly: GS1 (Indian society — role of women, women's organisations, social empowerment) and GS2 (gender justice, vulnerable sections) draw directly on its themes: the women's movement, men's place in it, patriarchal attitudes, and the laws campaigns produced. The book names laws only in a line each; years, sections and cases come from Beyond NCERT notes and the senior books.
- Senior chapters: lesy208 (Social Movements — the women's movement); lesy105 (Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion — the women's question and caste); jess403 (Gender, Religion and Caste — feminist movements, women in politics, literacy); keps103 (Equality — feminism) and keps202 (Rights in the Constitution); kesy104 (Culture and Socialisation).
- Before and next: gess304 (housework, the double burden); gess301 (On Equality); Class 8 hess207 (Women, Caste and Reform — Ramabai, Rokeya and Rashsundari in the nineteenth-century setting) and hess303 (Parliament and the Making of Laws — how the Domestic Violence Act came about). The next chapter, ‘Understanding Media’, opens Unit Four.
- UPSC from this chapter: four Mains questions — GS1 2013 (should men be encouraged to join women's organisations?), GS2 2021 (patriarchal attitudes towards women and the feminist movement — what interventions?), GS2 2023 (constitutional perspectives of gender justice, with provisions and case law) and Essay 2023 (girls weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands). No Prelims question tests what this chapter teaches. List at the end.
| Word | What it means here |
|---|---|
| Stereotype | Believing that people of a group (by religion, wealth, language — or sex) are bound to have fixed traits or can do only certain work; it stops us seeing people as individuals (glossary) |
| Discrimination | Not treating people equally or with respect — acting on prejudice, treating someone differently (glossary) |
| Violation | Forcefully breaking a law or rule, or openly showing disrespect (glossary) |
| Sexual harassment | Physical or verbal behaviour of a sexual nature against a woman's wishes (glossary) |
| Census | The count of the whole population, held every ten years, with details of age, schooling, work and more |
| Literate | In the Census, a person who can read and write with understanding; the book's simple test — can at least write one's name |
| Drop-out rate | The share of children enrolled in a year who leave school without completing the stage |
| Dowry death | The murder or suicide of a young bride linked to her husband's family's demands for more dowry |
| Domestic violence | Physical, mental (and, under the 2005 Act †, sexual, verbal, emotional and economic) abuse of a woman within the home |
| Women's movement | The struggle, individual and collective, of women (and supporting men) for equality — in law, education, health and against violence |
| Solidarity | Standing with other people and their causes — showing support |
Reading the chapter opener (page 48)
- Illustration (colour): a girl drawn in bold red brush-strokes, hair in two bunches, smiling as she holds the Earth — a satellite photograph of the globe — in both hands. A QR code links to the e-book.
- Opening text: the last chapter showed that housework is not recognised as work; this one looks at work outside the home, at how some jobs are seen as more suitable for men, at women's struggles for equality, at education as a way to new opportunities, and at the women's movement.
- The point: the title in one image — the world in a girl's hands.
At a glance — the six ideas to carry away
- Who does what work? Rosie Ma'am's 30 pupils drew farmers 30–0 as men and nurses 0–30 as women — yet 83.6% of working women were in agriculture (NSS, 2004–05).
- Rigid expectations: women seen as ‘patient, gentle’ nurses, not ‘technical’ scientists → less support for girls; boys like Xavier pushed from History to Maths. Laxmi Lakra: first woman engine driver, Northern Railways.
- Learning for change: Rashsundari Devi taught herself to read in secret (Amar Jiban); Pandita Ramabai's Mission at Khedgaon (1898); Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain's Sultana's Dream (1905) and girls' school.
- Literacy (Census): 1961 — men about 40%, women 15%; 2011 — 82% and 65%. The gap narrowed (25 → 17 points) but ‘has not gone away’.
- Drop-out (2014–15): highest at secondary (17.06%); SC and ST girls leave more than ‘All girls’; reasons — no school nearby, no transport, poverty, discrimination.
- Women's movement: campaigning (domestic-violence law; dowry laws; 1997 guidelines on sexual harassment), raising awareness, protesting, showing solidarity (8 March).
1. Who does what work? Pictures in our heads
In simple wordsAsk a class to draw ‘a doctor’ and ‘a nurse’ without saying more. Count the moustaches and the plaits. Nobody told the children what to draw, yet most drawings will agree. The pictures are not in the instructions; they are in our heads — and that is what this activity is designed to show.
The book asks you to draw six workers — a farmer, a factory worker, a nurse, a scientist, a pilot, a teacher — then count your class's male and female images for each and compare. Rosie Ma'am did the same with her 30 children: teacher 5 men / 25 women; farmer 30 / 0; factory worker 25 / 5; nurse 0 / 30; scientist 25 / 5; pilot 27 / 3. A margin note under a photograph of two women harvesting maize adds that 83.6 per cent of working women in India are engaged in agricultural work — planting, weeding, harvesting, threshing — yet when we think of a farmer we only think of a man (source: NSS 61st Round, 2004–05). Our recomputation: 112 male and 68 female drawings out of 180 (62% and 38%); women outnumber men only as teachers and nurses.
⤵ The drawing activity, step by step (pp. 49–50)
Drawa farmer, factory worker, nurse, scientist, pilot and teacher — no instructions on who
Countmale and female images for each occupation in your class
Comparewith Rosie Ma'am's class of 30
Check realitymost working women are farmers — but no one drew a woman farmer
What it revealsstereotypes about which jobs suit men and which suit women
What it hideswomen's real work, especially in the fields
Reading the drawing boxes, the table and margin questions (page 49)
- Six empty boxes labelled a farmer, a factory worker, a nurse, a scientist, a pilot, a teacher; a blank table — category, male image, female image.
- Margin questions: are there more images of men than women? in which jobs? have all nurses been drawn as women, and why? are there fewer female farmers, and why? (outlines in the in-text section).
- The point: the activity turns an invisible habit of mind into numbers you can count.
Reading the farm photograph, its note and Rosie Ma'am's table (page 50)
- Photograph (colour): two smiling women, one in a red dupatta, one in yellow, kneeling among tall maize plants and peeling back the husks of cobs.
- Note: 83.6 per cent of working women are in agriculture — planting, weeding, harvesting, threshing — yet ‘a farmer’ calls up a man (NSS 61st Round, 2004–05).
- Table: Rosie Ma'am's results (above). Margin question: how does your class compare?
- The point: the picture and the number contradict the stereotype in the table beside them.
| Why do some jobs stay ‘men's’ and others ‘women's’? — who says what (Beyond NCERT except the first row) | Position |
|---|---|
| NCERT (pp. 51–52) | stereotypes — women ‘patient and gentle’, science ‘technical’ — mean girls get less support and are steered to marriage; boys are pushed toward well-paid jobs |
| Claudia Goldin (Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, 2023) | long-run data show women's work and pay shaped by social expectations, family timing and jobs that reward long, inflexible hours |
| Catherine Hakim, preference theory (2000) | differences partly reflect women's own varied preferences between home-centred, work-centred and ‘adaptive’ lives |
| Many feminist economists and sociologists | preferences are themselves shaped by norms; discrimination in hiring, pay and safety keeps segregation in place |
Beyond NCERT — later data on women's work (source and year)
- The book's 83.6% comes from the NSS 61st Round (2004–05) — dated. Today's official source is the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) of the Ministry of Statistics: the female labour force participation rate (age 15+, usual status) was 23.3% in 2017–18 and 41.7% in 2023–24; agriculture remains the largest employer of women workers.
- Economists differ on how to read the rise (more self-employment and unpaid help in family enterprises, or wider opportunity) — cite the survey and the debate, not a verdict.
- The Time Use Survey evidence on unpaid work is on gess304.
NCERT details to read carefully — the activity
- Each row of Rosie Ma'am's table adds to 30 (one drawing per child per job) — check: 5 + 25, 30 + 0, 25 + 5, 0 + 30, 25 + 5, 27 + 3.
- The text then says the class drew women as nurses and men as ‘army officers’ — army officer is not one of the six occupations. Safe line: ‘men as farmers, factory workers, scientists and pilots’.
- 83.6% is the share of working women who are in agriculture, not the share of farmers who are women.
- The figure is from 2004–05 — dated; quote PLFS for current data †.
2. Fewer opportunities and rigid expectations — for girls and boys
In simple wordsA coach who believes ‘girls can't bowl fast’ never hands a girl the new ball; she never practises, never improves, and the coach says ‘see?’. A father who believes ‘arts has no future’ pushes his son into maths; the boy is miserable and mediocre. A belief can make itself come true — for both.
Many children in Rosie Ma'am's class drew women as nurses because they feel that, outside the home too, women are good at only certain jobs. Many people believe women make better nurses because they are more patient and gentle — a belief linked to women's roles in the family — and that science needs a technical mind which girls lack. Because so many believe these stereotypes, many girls do not get the same support as boys to study and train as doctors and engineers; in most families, once girls finish school, they are encouraged to see marriage as their main aim. A box, ‘Breaking stereotypes’, tells of Laxmi Lakra, 27, from a poor tribal family in Jharkhand, the first woman engine driver for Northern Railways: her parents, not literate, struggled to educate their children; she studied in a government school while doing housework and odd jobs, earned a diploma in electronics and passed the railway board exam at her first attempt; she says she does whatever she is told is ‘not for girls’ — choosing electronics, riding motorcycles at the polytechnic, becoming an engine driver. The book then turns to boys: Xavier, happy with his Class X results in History and Languages, is told by his parents that History ‘has no scope’ and that he should take Maths and computers for a good job. All children face pressures — demands from adults, unfair teasing by friends; boys are pressured to aim for a well-paid job and are teased and bullied if they do not behave like other boys; the Class VI book showed boys being encouraged not to cry.
Reading the ‘Breaking stereotypes’ box (page 51)
- Box (green), with a photograph: a young woman in a white shirt leaning out of a locomotive cab door beside the dials of the engine, railway tracks stretching behind. Text summarised above; credited as adapted from Driving Her Train by Neeta Lal, Women's Feature Service.
- The point: one person's choices, backed by family effort and public schooling, can break a job stereotype.
Reading the Xavier storyboard and margin questions (page 52)
- Three panels (green-tinted drawings): at the dinner table, Xavier's mother reads his report card — only 65% in Maths, low in Physics; Xavier says he wants History; his father, bald and bearded, insists History has ‘no scope’ — ‘you have to get a good job’; his mother: take Maths and study computers ‘side by side’ — the job market is good.
- Margin questions: if you were Xavier, what would you choose and why? what other pressures do boys face? (outlines in the in-text section).
- The point: the gender question includes boys — the pressure to earn and conform is their version of rigid expectations.
Beyond NCERT — engine drivers and the Essay paper
- Indian Railways' first woman loco pilot is generally named as Surekha Yadav (Central Railway, 1988); Laxmi Lakra was the first for Northern Railway — the book's claim is about one zone.
- The Essay paper (2023) set: ‘Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands — two equally harmful disciplines.’ This section supplies both halves: the nurse–scientist stereotype and the Xavier story.
NCERT details to read carefully — expectations
- The book does not say women make worse nurses or scientists; it reports a belief and shows its effect on support.
- Laxmi Lakra is ‘first woman engine driver for Northern Railways’, not for all Indian Railways.
- Xavier's story is about parental demands on a boy — the book's point is that ‘all children face pressures’, not that parents are wrong to worry about jobs.
- Pressure on boys has two forms in the text: demands from adults and teasing and bullying by peers.
3. Learning for change: Rashsundari Devi, Pandita Ramabai and Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
In simple wordsImagine being told that if you open a book, something terrible will happen to your family — and believing it, and opening it anyway, one stolen page at a time, at night. For many women in the nineteenth century, just learning the alphabet was that kind of act. Once they could read and write, they could also question, imagine and teach others.
Today it is hard to imagine school as ‘out of bounds’ for some children, but in the past reading and writing were known to only a few; most children learnt their families' work. For girls it was worse: communities that taught sons to read did not let daughters learn the alphabet; even in crafts, women's work was seen as only supportive — in pottery women collected and prepared the earth, but since they did not turn the wheel they were not seen as potters. In the nineteenth century new ideas about education spread and schools became more common, but there was much opposition to educating girls; many women and men opened girls' schools and women struggled to learn. Pandita Ramabai (1858–1922) never went to school but learnt from her parents; she was called ‘Pandita’ because she could read and write Sanskrit, which women were then not allowed; in 1898 she set up a Mission at Khedgaon near Pune, where widows and poor women learnt to read and to be independent, with skills from carpentry to running a printing press; the Mission is still active. Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880–1932), from a rich landowning family, could read Urdu but was stopped from learning Bangla and English (English was thought to expose girls to unsuitable ideas); with her elder brother's and sister's help she learnt both and became a writer; in 1905, at 25, she wrote Sultana's Dream, in which Sultana visits Ladyland, where women study, work and invent — controlling rain, flying air-cars — and men are kept in seclusion, their weapons defeated by women's brain-power; in 1910 she started a school for girls in Kolkata, still running. Rashsundari Devi (1800–1890), a housewife in a rich landlord's family in Bengal, lived when it was believed that a woman who learnt to read would bring bad luck and become a widow; she taught herself in secret after marriage and, at 60, wrote Amar Jiban in Bangla — the first known autobiography by an Indian woman. Her account (summarised): working from dawn to past midnight at fourteen, she longed to read a religious manuscript; she dreamt of reading the Chaitanya Bhagabat; she hid a page of it, and one of the letter-sheets her eldest son was practising, and over a long time matched letters and words until she could read. She also wrote of days with no time even to sit and eat.
⤵ How Rashsundari Devi taught herself to read (pp. 54–55, summarised)
Longingworking dawn to midnight at fourteen, she wished to read a religious manuscript
A dreamshe dreamt she was reading the Chaitanya Bhagabat
A stolen pageshe hid one page of her husband's copy, and one of her son's alphabet sheets
Matchingletters on the page with letters she remembered; words with words she heard
Readingover a long time she could read the Chaitanya Bhagabat
WritingAmar Jiban — women's daily lives on record
Reading the Ramabai photographs and caption (page 53)
- Photograph 1 (black and white, old): a long workshop with a corrugated roof, women in saris at machines and tables — the printing press at the Mission.
- Photograph 2: Ramabai in a white sari, seated, her young daughter in a dark dress standing against her. Caption: summarised above — Pandita title, Khedgaon Mission (1898), carpentry and printing, the Mission still active.
- The point: education as independence — skills ‘not usually taught to girls even today’.
Reading the Rokeya box and the margin note (page 54)
- Box (green), ‘Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain and her dreams about Ladyland’: text summarised above; a black-and-white cut-out portrait of Rokeya in a sari, and a small orange book cover, Sultana's Dream, with line drawings of a flying machine.
- Margin note: learning to read led some women to question their situation; they wrote stories, letters and autobiographies on their experiences of inequality, and imagined new ways of living for both men and women.
- The point: literacy let women imagine — and then build — something different.
Reading Rashsundari Devi's account (pages 54–55)
- A long first-person quotation from Amar Jiban in the book; we summarise it in the flow above rather than reproduce it.
- The point: one woman's secret, painstaking self-education, and the record she left of women's everyday lives.
Beyond NCERT — dates and works, as on hess207 (check the latest)
- Ramabai: the title ‘Pandita’ came from scholars in Calcutta (1878); she wrote The High-Caste Hindu Woman (1887), founded the Arya Mahila Samaj (1882) and the Sharada Sadan for widows (Bombay 1889, then Poona); the Khedgaon (Kedgaon) mission is the Mukti Mission.
- Rokeya: the Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School opened at Bhagalpur in 1909 and moved to Calcutta in 1911 — the book's ‘1910, Kolkata’ simplifies. Sultana's Dream (1905) is often called an early feminist utopia.
- Rashsundari: Amar Jiban is usually dated 1876 — the first full autobiography by a woman in Bengali; sources give her birth around 1809–10, so the book's ‘1800’ and ‘at the age of 60’ are approximate.
NCERT details to read carefully — the three lives
- Ramabai never went to school — her parents taught her; she founded a Mission at Khedgaon near Pune (1898), not a school in Bengal.
- Rokeya could read Urdu; she was stopped from learning Bangla and English. Sultana's Dream (1905) was written in English.
- Rashsundari was not stopped by a rule of law but by a belief (that a reading wife would be widowed); she learnt in secret, after marriage.
- School dates: book ‘1910, Kolkata’; other sources Bhagalpur 1909, Calcutta 1911 † — safe line: ‘Rokeya started a school for Muslim girls, later in Calcutta’.
4. Schooling and education today: literacy and who leaves school
In simple wordsA bus that leaves on time but never stops in your village is ‘open to all’ only on paper. Schools are like that for many girls: the right exists, the school may be far, the fees and uniforms cost money, and the teacher may make some children feel unwelcome. The numbers below show who gets left behind.
Today boys and girls attend school in large numbers, but differences remain. India's Census, held every ten years, counts the whole population and records age, schooling, work and more; from it we measure literacy and the ratio of men and women. In the 1961 Census, about 40 per cent of boys and men (aged 7 and above, the book says) were literate — could at least write their names — against 15 per cent of girls and women; by 2011 these were 82 and 65 per cent. Both rose, but the male figure is still higher: ‘the gap has not gone away’. A table gives the average annual drop-out rate in school education (2014–15) by level and group (All, SC, ST; boys, girls, total): SC and ST girls leave school at a higher rate than ‘All girls’ — Dalit and Adivasi girls are less likely to remain in school. The book adds that, according to the 2011 census, Muslim girls are less likely than SC and ST girls to complete primary school, staying around three years against about four for girls of other communities. Reasons children from Dalit, Adivasi and Muslim communities leave: in many rural and poor areas there may be no proper school or regular teachers; if the school is far and there is no bus or van, parents may not send girls; many families are too poor to educate all their children and boys may get preference; and many children leave because of discrimination by teachers and classmates.
⤵ Why a girl may leave school — the book's reasons (pp. 56–57)
Accessno proper school or regular teacher in many rural and poor areas
Distanceschool far from home, no bus or van — parents unwilling to send girls
Costfamilies too poor to educate all children; boys may get preference
Discriminationunfair treatment by teachers and classmates
Who is hit hardestDalit (SC), Adivasi (ST) and Muslim girls
The book's verdictequal schooling for all communities and classes remains a challenge
Reading the school photograph, its caption and the SDG 4 poster (page 55)
- Photograph (colour): schoolgirls in white uniforms sitting on mats in a long verandah, one in front reading a notebook intently. Caption: unlike Rashsundari and Rokeya, large numbers of girls attend school today, yet many leave because of poverty, inadequate facilities and discrimination; equal schooling for all communities, classes and particularly girls remains a challenge.
- Poster: ‘GOAL 04 — Quality Education: ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’, with children and a teacher at a table; credit www.in.undp.org.
Reading the drop-out table, the bar diagram and the Beti Bachao logo (pages 56–57)
- Table: ‘Average Annual Drop-out Rate in School Education (2014–15)’ in per cent, three levels by All, SC and ST, each with boys, girls and total (figures in the diagram). Source: Educational Statistics at a Glance, MHRD, 2018. Margin questions: the upper-primary drop-out rate; the level with the highest rate; why Adivasi children's rate is highest (outlines in the in-text section).
- Bar diagram (yellow bars on green): two bars done for you — All boys 4.36%, ST boys 7.02%; the activity asks you to add the rest (done in our diagram).
- Logo: a smiling girl with plaits reading a green book inside a red ring lettered ‘Beti Bachao’ and ‘Beti Padhao’ in Hindi; caption: find out about the campaign ‘launched in 2014’.
Beyond NCERT — schooling law, schemes and data (check the latest)
- Right to education: Article 21A (86th Amendment, 2002) and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, for ages 6–14.
- Beti Bachao Beti Padhao was launched on 22 January 2015 at Panipat (Haryana), jointly by the Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health and Family Welfare, and Education, first in districts with a low child sex ratio — the book's ‘2014’ is likely wrong for the launch.
- Muslims and education: the Sachar Committee report (2006) documented educational gaps of Muslims; cite it, not ‘the 2011 census’, for community-wise schooling.
- Census: the census due in 2021 was postponed; the next is scheduled with reference date 1 March 2027. Drop-out data are now published through UDISE+.
NCERT details to read carefully — the data
- Upper primary drop-out (All, total) is 4.03% — lower than primary (4.13%); the highest is secondary (17.06%).
- At upper primary, girls (4.60%) leave more than boys (3.49%); at primary and secondary, boys leave slightly more — read the table, not the stereotype.
- The 1961 Census literacy rates relate to people aged five and above; 7+ is the base for recent censuses † — the book uses 7+ for both.
- The ‘Muslim girls … around three years’ statement is given as ‘the 2011 census’, but the Census does not publish years of schooling that way; quote it as NCERT's statement.
- The drop-out table is for 2014–15 — dated.
5. The women's movement: campaigns that changed laws
In simple wordsOne student complaining that the girls' toilet has no lock gets a shrug. Fifty students who collect signatures, talk to the newspaper and go to the principal together get a lock — and a rule that every toilet must have one. That is the difference between a complaint and a movement.
Women and girls now have the right to study; in other spheres — legal reform, violence, health — things have also improved. These changes did not happen automatically: women, individually and collectively, struggled for them. This struggle is the Women's Movement — individual women and women's organisations from across the country, and many men who support it; its diversity, passion and efforts make it vibrant, and it has used different strategies to spread awareness, fight discrimination and seek justice. Campaigning against discrimination and violence has led to new laws: a law ‘made in 2006’ gives women who face physical and mental violence at home — domestic violence — legal protection; efforts by the movement led the Supreme Court to frame guidelines in 1997 protecting women against sexual harassment at the workplace and in educational institutions. In the 1980s, women's groups across the country spoke out against ‘dowry deaths’ — young brides murdered by husbands or in-laws greedy for more dowry — and against the failure to bring these cases to justice, by coming onto the streets, approaching the courts and sharing information; it became a public issue and the dowry laws were changed to punish families who seek dowry.
⤵ How the dowry campaign became law (p. 58, with † steps)
Deathsyoung brides killed by husbands or in-laws demanding more dowry (1980s)
Failurecases not brought to justice
Actionwomen's groups on the streets, in the courts, sharing information
Public issuenewspapers and society take it up
Law changeddowry laws amended to punish families who seek dowry (book)
† The detailcruelty (498A, 1983); dowry death (304B, 1986); now in the BNS, 2023
⤵ From one woman's case to a national law: sexual harassment at work (Beyond NCERT †, except 1997)
1992Bhanwari Devi, a worker in Rajasthan's Women's Development Programme, is gang-raped after trying to stop a child marriage
Petitionwomen's groups file a public interest petition in the Supreme Court (Vishaka and others v State of Rajasthan)
1997the Court lays down guidelines on sexual harassment at the workplace (book: ‘guidelines in 1997’)
2013the POSH Act turns the guidelines into law — internal and local committees
2015UGC regulations extend protection to students and staff in higher education
Reading the campaigning photographs (page 58)
- Photograph 1 (black and white): a woman in a dupatta handing out leaflets on a city street, a procession with placards behind her.
- Photograph 2: hand-made placards lying on the grass after a protest, in Hindi and English; one reads ‘WOMEN ARE NOT FOR BURNING’.
- Photograph 3: an elderly woman sitting on the steps of the Supreme Court, surrounded by files and a framed photograph. Caption: Satyarani, an active member of the women's movement, with the files gathered during a long legal battle for justice for her daughter, murdered for dowry.
- The point: leaflets, placards and a mother's years in the courts — campaigning is patient, public and personal.
Beyond NCERT — the laws and cases, bare facts (check the latest)
- Dowry: the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 (amended 1984 and 1986); cruelty by a husband or his relatives — IPC 498A (1983); dowry death — IPC 304B (1986). Since 1 July 2024 the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 has replaced the IPC (dowry death s. 80; cruelty ss. 85–86).
- Mathura case: after the Supreme Court acquitted policemen accused of raping a young tribal girl in custody (Tukaram v State of Maharashtra), four law teachers — Upendra Baxi, Lotika Sarkar, Raghunath Kelkar and Vasudha Dhagamwar — wrote an open letter (1979); campaigns followed and 1983 amendments created the offence of custodial rape and shifted the burden of proof on consent in such cases.
- Domestic violence: the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, in force from 26 October 2006 — a civil law with protection, residence and monetary-relief orders and Protection Officers (see hess303).
- After 2012: the Justice J.S. Verma Committee (report, 2013) led to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013.
- Institutions: the Towards Equality report (1974) of the Committee on the Status of Women in India; the National Commission for Women (set up 1992 under the 1990 Act).
- Satyarani: Satyarani Chadha of Delhi, who later co-founded the support organisation Shakti Shalini.
| Debates about the movement and its laws — who says what (Beyond NCERT except the first row) | Position |
|---|---|
| NCERT (pp. 57–60) | a diverse, vibrant movement of women and supporting men; its campaigns produced laws and court guidelines |
| Dalit feminist scholars — Gopal Guru, ‘Dalit Women Talk Differently’ (1995); Sharmila Rege (1998) | the mainstream movement often spoke from upper-caste, urban experience; caste and gender must be read together |
| Autonomous women's groups of the 1970s–80s | women-led organisations, independent of parties, best keep women's issues central |
| Mass organisations linked to parties and unions; many men allies | wider membership, including men, spreads the movement and changes male attitudes (cf. GS1 2013) |
| Supreme Court, Arnesh Kumar v State of Bihar (2014) | no automatic arrest under the dowry-cruelty provision; police must justify arrests by a checklist |
| Many women's organisations | the law remains necessary; claims of widespread misuse should not weaken protection for women facing cruelty |
NCERT details to read carefully — laws and dates
- ‘A law was made in 2006’: the Act is of 2005 and came into force in 2006 †. Safe line: ‘the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005’.
- The 1997 guidelines (Vishaka) were about the workplace; ‘educational institutions’ came through later rules — e.g. the UGC regulations of 2015 †. The POSH Act (2013) gave the guidelines statutory form.
- The guidelines were made by the Supreme Court — judge-made rules filling a legislative gap — not by Parliament.
- Dowry laws were ‘changed’, not first made, in the 1980s: the Dowry Prohibition Act dates from 1961 †.
6. Raising awareness, protesting and showing solidarity
In simple wordsA school campaign against bullying might put on a short play in assembly, march with posters to the principal's office when something serious happens, and wear the same colour on one day to show support for those who were bullied. Three different tools — explain, object, stand together. The women's movement uses all three.
Raising awareness: an important part of the movement's work is spreading awareness of women's rights through street plays, songs and public meetings. Protesting: the movement raises its voice when violations against women take place, or when a law or policy acts against their interests; public rallies and demonstrations are a very powerful way to draw attention to injustice. Showing solidarity: the movement also stands with other women and causes — every year on 14 August thousands gather at Wagah, on the India–Pakistan border, holding candles and a cultural programme for solidarity between the two peoples; on 8 March, International Women's Day, women all over the world come together to celebrate and renew their struggles.
| Strategy (book) | What it looks like | The book's photograph |
|---|---|---|
| Campaigning | sustained efforts against discrimination and violence, through streets, courts and information | leaflets; placards (‘Women are not for burning’); Satyarani at the Supreme Court |
| Raising awareness | street plays, songs, public meetings | a woman explaining a picture chart; a performer before a crowd |
| Protesting | rallies, demonstrations when rights are violated or a law hurts women | women marching with raised fists and placards |
| Showing solidarity | standing with other women and causes | candles at Wagah (14 August); 8 March gathering; a sea of raised hands |
Reading the photo-essay: awareness and protest (page 59)
- Raising awareness: a woman in a sari pointing with a stick to a painted chart — a house, a hospital with a red cross, a veiled woman — explaining it; and a performer in a striped shirt, mid-movement, before a crowd of men, women and children, with a drum on the ground.
- Protesting: a large black-and-white photograph of women marching, one with fist raised and a stick, mouths open in slogans; placards behind in English and Urdu, one reading ‘BLACK BILL’.
- The point: awareness explains, protest objects — both are public and peaceful.
Reading the photo-essay: solidarity (page 60)
- Candles: hands holding up lit candles at night. Caption: solidarity between the people of India and Pakistan — every 14 August thousands gather at Wagah and hold a cultural programme.
- 8 March: a crowd of women sitting and standing behind a large banner. Caption: on International Women's Day women everywhere celebrate and renew their struggles.
- Full-width photograph: hundreds of women, many with covered heads, raising their open palms.
- The point: solidarity crosses borders and causes.
Beyond NCERT — dates behind the photo-essay
- International Women's Day: the United Nations first marked 8 March in 1975, International Women's Year.
- Street theatre was a common tool of Indian women's groups from the late 1970s (anti-dowry plays among them).
- Protest rests on Article 19(1)(a) and (b) — free speech and peaceful assembly, subject to reasonable restrictions.
NCERT details to read carefully — strategies
- The book lists four strategies with headings: Campaigning, Raising Awareness, Protesting, Showing Solidarity. Exercise 4 asks for two — name them and give the book's example for each.
- The movement includes men who support it — the book says so explicitly.
- The Wagah vigil is about India–Pakistan people-to-people solidarity, an example of the movement standing with ‘other causes’.
Reading the last two pages of the PDF: Unit Four opener and Teacher's Note on Media (pages 62–63)
- Unit opener (orange with vertical white stripes, ‘UNIT FOUR’): a black-and-white drawing of five young people round a table with papers, pencils and steaming mugs, in discussion — a newsroom or editorial meeting.
- Teacher's Note on Media: media and advertising are everywhere in young people's lives; the unit links media to technology and to big business, shows how media ‘set the agenda’, uses two made-up news reports to show there is seldom one version of a story, and links all this to democracy.
- These pages introduce the next chapter, ‘Understanding Media’, and are covered there.
In-text questions and activities — answer outlines
Every margin question and activity, in page order.
(p. 49) Are there more images of men than women?
Usually yes — in Rosie Ma'am's class, 112 of 180 drawings (62%) were men. Count your own class and give the totals.
(p. 49) In what kinds of jobs were there more images of men than women?
Farmer, factory worker, scientist and pilot — jobs seen as outdoor, physical, technical or high-status (Rosie Ma'am: 30, 25, 25 and 27 of 30).
(p. 49) Have all the nurses been drawn as females? Why?
Probably all or nearly all (Rosie Ma'am: 30 of 30). The stereotype says women are patient and gentle and that caring is ‘women's work’, an extension of their role in the family — though many nurses are men.
(p. 49) Are there fewer images of female farmers? If so, why?
Yes — Rosie Ma'am's class drew none. ‘Farmer’ calls up the man who owns or manages the land; women's planting, weeding, harvesting and threshing is seen as ‘help’, not farming — although 83.6% of working women were in agriculture (NSS 2004–05).
(p. 50) How does your class exercise compare with Rosie Ma'am's class exercise?
Put your totals beside hers row by row; note where yours are more balanced (perhaps teacher or scientist) and where the same stereotype appears (farmer, nurse, pilot). Discuss what made the difference.
(p. 52) If you were Xavier, what subject would you choose and why?
A reasoned personal answer: e.g. History, because it is his strength and interest and offers careers (teaching, civil services, law, journalism, archives); or a compromise after talking with his parents. The book's point: choices should follow aptitude, not pressure about what boys ‘should’ earn.
(p. 52) In your experience, what are some of the other pressures that boys experience?
Not to cry or show fear; to be good at sports; to be tough and fight back; to be the future earner; to avoid ‘girls'’ hobbies like dance or cooking; teasing and bullying if they are different.
(p. 56) What percentage of children leave school at the upper primary level?
4.03% on average (All, total) in 2014–15 — boys 3.49%, girls 4.60%; for SC children 5.51% and ST children 8.59%.
(p. 56) At which level of education do you see the highest percentage of children leaving?
Secondary (Classes 9–10): 17.06% overall, 19.36% for SC and 24.68% for ST children.
(p. 56) Why do you think that the percentage of Adivasi girls and boys leaving school is higher than that of any other group?
Schools far away in forest and hill areas, with no transport; irregular teachers; teaching in a language that is not the child's home language; poverty and the need for children's work; discrimination by teachers and classmates; seasonal migration of families.
(p. 57) From the given table, convert the figures of primary class children who leave school into a bar diagram. Two percentages have already been converted for you in the bar diagram on the left.
Draw six bars on a 0–10% scale: All boys 4.36, All girls 3.88, SC boys 4.71, SC girls 4.20, ST boys 7.02, ST girls 6.84 (done in section 4). Label each bar and the axis; note that ST bars are tallest.
(p. 57) Find out about the 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' campaign launched in 2014.
Find: its aims (preventing gender-biased sex selection, ensuring girls' survival and protection, and their education); the three ministries that run it (Women and Child Development; Health and Family Welfare; Education); its start in districts with a low child sex ratio; launch date — † 22 January 2015 at Panipat. Describe its features; leave evaluation to official reports.
Exercises (page 61) — answer outlines
Four exercises and a four-term glossary. Try first, then open.
1. How do you think stereotypes, about what women can or cannot do, affect women's right to equality?
Equality means equal opportunity. Stereotypes — women are ‘gentle’ nurses, not ‘technical’ scientists — mean girls get less support to study science, train as doctors or engineers, or take ‘men's’ jobs; families stress marriage; employers may not hire them. So a right that exists on paper is denied in practice. Laxmi Lakra had to fight the ‘not for girls’ message at every step. † Article 15 forbids discrimination on grounds of sex; Article 16 guarantees equal opportunity in public employment.
2. List one reason why learning the alphabet was so important to women like Rashsundari Devi, Ramabai and Rokeya.
It gave them independence and a voice: Rashsundari could read religious texts and record women's lives in Amar Jiban; Ramabai used learning to make widows self-reliant at her Mission; Rokeya wrote Sultana's Dream and opened a school so other girls could learn. Literacy let them question inequality and imagine change.
3. 'Poor girls drop out of school because they are not interested in getting an education.' Re-read the last paragraph on page 62 and explain why this statement is not true.
(The paragraph is on pp. 56–57 of the current book.) Girls leave because of circumstances, not lack of interest: no proper school or regular teachers nearby; no transport to a distant school, so parents will not send girls; poverty, with boys preferred when a family can educate only some children; and discrimination by teachers and classmates. Rashsundari's secret learning shows how strong the wish to learn can be.
4. Can you describe two methods of struggle that the women's movement used to raise issues? If you had to organise a struggle against stereotypes, about what women can or cannot do, what method would you employ from the ones that you have read about? Why would you choose this particular method?
Two methods (any two): campaigning — e.g. against dowry deaths in the 1980s through streets, courts and information-sharing, which led to changes in dowry law; raising awareness — street plays, songs and public meetings; protesting — rallies and demonstrations; showing solidarity — 8 March, Wagah. My choice (with reasons): e.g. raising awareness through a street play in school and the neighbourhood, because stereotypes live in people's minds and a play changes minds without confrontation; or a campaign that collects stories like Laxmi Lakra's and shares them widely.
Reading the exercise page and glossary (page 61)
- Exercise 3 refers to ‘the last paragraph on page 62’ — in the current book, page 62 is the Unit Four opener; the paragraph meant is on pp. 56–57 (a left-over page reference from an earlier layout).
- Glossary (boxed): stereotype, discrimination, violation, sexual harassment — all in the key-terms table above. The ‘stereotype’ entry gives this chapter's own example: children made to take subjects because they are boys or girls, not by aptitude.
Keys and slips to handle with care
- No Prelims question is linked; Mains and Essay carry no key.
- Book slips with safe lines: domestic-violence law ‘2006’ (Act of 2005, in force 2006); Vishaka ‘workplace and educational institutions’ (workplace; HEIs via UGC, 2015); Beti Bachao ‘launched in 2014’ (launched 22 January 2015); Rokeya's school ‘1910, Kolkata’ (Bhagalpur 1909 → Calcutta 1911); 1961 literacy ‘7+’ (aged 5+); ‘army officers’ not in the table; exercise 3's ‘page 62’ (pp. 56–57); Muslim girls' years in school ‘2011 census’ (quote as NCERT's statement); the 83.6% (2004–05) and drop-out figures (2014–15) are dated.
⤵ Answer frame for a GS1/GS2 question on the women's movement or gender justice
Definewomen's movement — individual and collective struggle for equality; gender justice — equality in law and in fact
ConstitutionArts 14, 15(1), 15(3), 16, 21, 39(a), 39(d), 42, 51A(e); 73rd/74th Amendments; 106th Amendment (2023)
Laws and casesDowry Prohibition Act 1961; 498A/304B (now BNS); Mathura → 1983; Vishaka 1997 → POSH 2013; DV Act 2005
Achievementslaws, awareness, education gains (Census 1961 → 2011)
Debatescaste (Guru, Rege), men's role, use of laws (Arnesh Kumar) — attributed
Way forwardfrom official reports (Towards Equality, Verma Committee) — without characterising any present-day party or government
What to remember
Numbers
Chapterbook pp. 48–61 (16-page PDF also holds the Unit Four opener and Teacher's Note on Media, pp. 62–63); Unit Three, Gender
Rosie Ma'am's class (book)30 pupils; farmer 30–0 and pilot 27–3 men; nurse 0–30 and teacher 5–25 women; totals 112 men, 68 women of 180 (asserted)
Women in agriculture (book)83.6% of working women — NSS 61st Round, 2004–05 (dated)
Laxmi Lakra (book)first woman engine driver, Northern Railways; tribal family, Jharkhand; diploma in electronics
Pandita Ramabai (book)1858–1922; Mission at Khedgaon near Pune, 1898; carpentry and printing
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (book)1880–1932; Sultana's Dream 1905 (at 25, asserted); girls' school, Kolkata 1910 (book) — † Bhagalpur 1909, Calcutta 1911
Rashsundari Devi (book)1800–1890; Amar Jiban, ‘first known autobiography by an Indian woman’ — † usually dated 1876
Census literacy1961: about 40% men, 15% women; 2011: 82% and 65% — gap 25 → 17 points (asserted); † 40.40/15.35 and 82.14/65.46
Drop-out, 2014–15 (book)All total: primary 4.13, upper primary 4.03, secondary 17.06; ST highest at every level (24.68 at secondary)
Domestic violencebook ‘2006’ — † Act of 2005, in force 26 October 2006
Sexual harassmentSupreme Court guidelines 1997 (Vishaka) → † POSH Act 2013; UGC regulations 2015
Dowry †Dowry Prohibition Act 1961 (amended 1984, 1986); 498A (1983); 304B (1986); BNS 2023 in force 1 July 2024
Mathura †open letter by four law teachers, 1979 → custodial-rape amendments, 1983
Beti Bachao Beti Padhaobook ‘2014’ — † launched 22 January 2015, Panipat
Women's Day8 March; † UN first marked it in 1975
PLFS †female labour force participation (15+, usual status): 23.3% (2017–18), 41.7% (2023–24)
One-liners
- We picture some jobs as men's and others as women's without being told.
- Most working women are in agriculture, yet ‘a farmer’ calls up a man.
- Stereotypes mean girls get less support to become doctors and engineers.
- Boys face pressure too — to earn well, not to cry, to behave like other boys.
- In the past, many communities did not let daughters learn the alphabet.
- Rashsundari Devi, Pandita Ramabai and Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain used literacy to change lives.
- Literacy has risen for both sexes, but the gap between men and women remains.
- Dalit, Adivasi and Muslim girls are more likely to leave school — for reasons of access, cost and discrimination.
- The women's movement includes individual women, organisations and supportive men.
- Campaigning, raising awareness, protesting and showing solidarity are its four strategies in the book.
Traps to avoid
- The Domestic Violence Act is of 2005 (in force 2006), not 2006.
- The 1997 Vishaka guidelines were about the workplace; the POSH Act came in 2013.
- Beti Bachao Beti Padhao was launched on 22 January 2015, not 2014.
- Laxmi Lakra was the first woman engine driver for Northern Railway, not for all Indian Railways.
- Rokeya could read Urdu; she was stopped from learning Bangla and English.
- Ramabai never went to school; her parents taught her Sanskrit.
- The highest drop-out is at secondary level, and upper primary (4.03%) is lower than primary (4.13%).
- Rosie Ma'am's text mentions ‘army officers’, which are not in her table.
- Exercise 3's ‘page 62’ means the paragraph on pp. 56–57.
- The 1961 Census literacy rates are for people aged five and above, not seven.
How to strategise
Prelims — what UPSC asks
- From this chapter: no Prelims question in our bank tests what the chapter teaches. Expect statement questions on its laws and dates — Domestic Violence Act 2005, Vishaka 1997 and the POSH Act 2013, Dowry Prohibition Act 1961, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (2015) — and on women reformers (Ramabai, Rokeya).
- Elsewhere: the Domestic Violence Act's procedure (2007) and the Maternity Benefit Act (2019, on gess304); women's reservation (1997, 2024) on keps203 and jess403; Bethune School and Vidyasagar (2005, 2021) on hess207; Census literacy by State (1997, 2003, 2006) belongs with geography and current data.
Mains — where it appears and how to answer
- From this chapter: GS1 2013 (should male membership in women's organisations be encouraged?) — the book's ‘many men support the women's movement’ set beside the autonomous-groups view; GS2 2021 (patriarchal attitudes towards women and the feminist movement — interventions beyond education and schemes) — stereotypes, awareness and campaigns; GS2 2023 (constitutional perspectives of gender justice, with provisions and case law) — Vishaka, the dowry and domestic-violence laws; Essay 2023 (girls weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands) — the nurse–scientist stereotype and the Xavier story.
- Elsewhere: whether the women's movement ignored lower-strata women (GS1 2018) on jess403, lesy105 and lesy208; nineteenth-century women's questions (GS1 2017) on hess207; the National Commission for Women (GS2 2017, 2020) belongs with statutory bodies.
- Keep answers neutral: laws, sections and cases exact with years; positions on the movement (caste, men's role) and on the use of laws attributed to named scholars, organisations or courts; no characterisation of any present-day party or government.
Self-check
Tap an option. NCERT's own exercise questions come first; the rest test the figures and common confusions.
1. In Rosie Ma'am's class of 30, how many children drew a farmer as a woman?
2. Who wrote Sultana's Dream (1905), imagining a ‘Ladyland’?
3. Amar Jiban, described by NCERT as the first known autobiography by an Indian woman, was written by:
4. According to the book's table (2014–15), at which level is the school drop-out rate highest?
5. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act was enacted in:
6. The Supreme Court's 1997 guidelines on sexual harassment at the workplace were given in which case?
UPSC questions from this chapter
Open any question to attempt it in the Question bank — your attempt is saved to your progress.