Gender as a Social Construct Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).

The assertion describes a real classroom practice: a teacher deliberately chooses stories and news clippings showing men and women in non-traditional roles, such as women engineers or men as carers.

The reason states why she does it. Gender stereotypes are learned partly from the examples children see, so presenting other models counters those stereotypes and helps reduce gender bias. Because R gives the purpose behind A, it is the correct explanation, which rules out the option saying it is not.

Answer: C

This understanding is called gender consistency.

In Kohlberg's account of gender development, children first acquire gender identity (labelling themselves as a boy or a girl), then gender stability (understanding that gender stays the same over time), and finally gender consistency or constancy, the understanding that gender does not change even if a person adopts the behaviour, dress or hairstyle of the other gender.

Gender stereotypes are beliefs about how each gender behaves, not an understanding of one's own gender.

Answer: B

Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).

The assertion describes a well-documented pattern: from an early age, children in most cultures show gender-typed toy preferences, girls choosing dolls and boys vehicles.

The reason is gender schema theory: children build mental frameworks of what their culture considers appropriate for boys and girls, and use them to guide their own behaviour, including their choice of toys. That process explains the preferences in the assertion, so the reason explains it.

Answer: B

Rosy's statement reflects a gender stereotype.

A stereotype is a fixed, generalised belief about all members of a group. Rosy assumes that all women are patient and gentle and so suit nursing, and that women as a group cannot handle technical things, which is a stereotype about gender roles.

Gender constancy is a child's understanding that one's own gender stays the same over time. Gender typing is the process by which children acquire the behaviour considered appropriate for their gender. Gender discrimination is unequal treatment in action, such as refusing a woman a job, while Rosy only expresses a belief.

Answer: D

The reason is the devaluation of household work.

Housework, cooking, cleaning and care of children and the elderly is essential and time-consuming, but because it is done within the home and brings no wage, society does not count it as 'real' work. This devaluation is why homemakers go unrecognised and unpaid, as the textbooks on gender point out.

Household work does not take less time; it often takes longer hours than an office job. The patriarchal set-up of society is the wider background, but the specific reason the question points to is the low value placed on household work itself, not an overvaluation of office work.

Answer: A

(A) is true, but (R) is false.

The Assertion describes a sound classroom practice: inviting a woman maths professor and a male nurse shows students people in careers often stereotyped by gender, and challenges the idea that some jobs belong to one sex.

The Reason is false. Gender differences in roles, interests and expectations are largely learned through socialization by family, school, media and peers; they are not innate. Indeed, the teacher's practice makes sense only because gender roles are learned and can therefore be changed. Options calling the Reason true, or the Assertion false, are wrong.

Answer: A

The answer is gender roles; throughout childhood and into adulthood.

Gender roles are the expectations a society holds about how males and females should behave, dress, work and feel. Children begin learning them very early from family, school, media and peers, and the learning continues and is revised through adolescence and adult life.

Gender constancy is a child's understanding that one's sex stays the same, which develops in early childhood, not adolescence. Gender stereotypes and gender bias are related but different ideas, and the time limits 'only during middle childhood' and 'mainly during early childhood' are too narrow.

Answer: B

The answer is Both (A) and (R) are false.

The assertion asks the teacher to assign sports to boys and art decoration to girls. That reinforces gender stereotypes and limits every child's opportunities; a teacher should offer all activities to all children according to interest.

The reason is also false. Gender roles are learned mainly through socialisation: from family, peers, media and school, through observation, imitation and reinforcement. Biological sex differences do not determine which activities children prefer or are good at. With both statements false, the remaining options cannot apply.

Answer: C

The best response is to let Rishabh play with the doll and tell the other children that they can also choose any toy of their choice.

A teacher who wants children to grow up with flexible gender roles has to show that toys and activities are not reserved for one gender. Supporting Rishabh's choice openly, and telling the whole group that everyone may play with anything, protects him from ridicule and challenges the stereotype his peers have expressed.

Telling him dolls are for girls, or that he should change toys because friends will not approve, teaches exactly the stereotype the teacher wants to remove. Quietly swapping the doll for a car does the same thing silently, and leaves the peers' mockery unanswered.

Answer: B

The belief signifies a stereotype.

A stereotype is a fixed, oversimplified idea about a whole group of people that is applied to every member of it. Believing that science needs a technical mind and that girls and women cannot handle technical things is a gender stereotype: it judges individuals by their gender instead of their actual abilities, and it can discourage girls from taking up science.

Ignorance is simply a lack of knowledge, and illiteracy is the inability to read and write; neither names a fixed belief about a group. Casteism is discrimination on the basis of caste, not gender.