Gender Issues in Education — Mastery

Q1. CTET PYQ 2018 (Paper II, Dec) asked: 'Society determines the roles of male and female.' This statement articulates

• A. gender as an inherent construct
• B. gender as a hereditary endowment
• C. gender as an intuitive construct
• D. gender as a social construct

Q2. A class 5 teacher gives four statements and asks pupils to mark them SEX or GENDER. Which set classifies them correctly? (i) The voice of boys becomes deeper during puberty. (ii) Boys should be brave and never cry. (iii) Only women can biologically give birth. (iv) Girls should help their mothers in the kitchen.

• A. (i) sex, (ii) gender, (iii) sex, (iv) gender
• B. (i) gender, (ii) sex, (iii) gender, (iv) sex
• C. All four are SEX attributes.
• D. (i) sex, (ii) sex, (iii) gender, (iv) gender

Q3. CTET PYQ 2018 (Paper I, Dec) asked: children acquire gender roles through all of the following, EXCEPT

• A. media
• B. socialization
• C. culture
• D. biology

Q4. In a Rampur household, Priya is praised when she sweeps the floor and scolded when she climbs trees; her brother Rohan is praised when he climbs trees and scolded when he sweeps the floor. This differential praise–punishment system is BEST described as

• A. a biological response to natural difference
• B. a method recommended by the unit for raising children
• C. an act of gender sensitivity by parents
• D. a reward–punishment mechanism that internalises gender stereotypes in children

Q5. 'discrimination' itself (before adding the word 'gender') is defined as

• A. the unjust exclusion or rejection of an individual on grounds of caste, religion, gender, language, etc.
• B. any difference in classroom behaviour between students
• C. the biological difference between males and females
• D. the constitutional duty of every citizen

Q6. In a family in rural Bihar, the father leaves all his agricultural land only to his sons and nothing to his daughters. Even after the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act 2005, he openly says 'land is for boys, dowry is for girls'. This is BEST classified as

• A. gender sensitivity, since the daughter receives dowry as compensation
• B. indirect gender discrimination, because no rule is named
• C. direct gender discrimination, because the daughter is denied property purely on grounds of her sex
• D. neither discrimination nor sensitivity — a private family matter

Q7. Sexism occurs in 'any social situation where a prejudicial treatment occurs which would not have occurred had they been the OPPOSITE SEX'. The strongest test of whether an act is sexism, then, is to ask

• A. Would the action have been written in the school rule book?
• B. Would the action have caused physical harm?
• C. Would the action have been illegal under the Constitution?
• D. Would the action have happened if the person was of the other sex?

Q8. The 'Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act' is a key legal measure against crime against women. The year of this Act is

• A. 1986
• B. 1995
• C. 2001
• D. 2005

Q9. Women in India do nearly TWO-THIRDS of all the manual work, but the share of paid recognition they receive is

• A. one-tenth of the income, while owning less than 1% of property
• B. two-thirds of the income
• C. exactly half of the income
• D. the same as men

Q10. Read the two statements and choose the correct option. Statement I: NCRB data shows that crimes against women — rape, dowry death, cruelty by husband, sexual harassment, kidnapping — have risen sharply over the past decades. Statement II: Since these crimes are committed by individuals, they are not a status indicator of gender at the societal level.

• A. Both statements are correct.
• B. Statement I is incorrect; Statement II is correct.
• C. Statement I is correct; Statement II is incorrect.
• D. Both statements are incorrect.

Q11. Several causes of gender discrimination are listed. Citing Human Rights Inc., the FIRST and most pervasive cause among these is

• A. religion
• B. biology
• C. modern education
• D. industrialisation

Q12. The religious-historical rules restricting female autonomy in ancient India are traced to

• A. the Charvaka school of the 6th century BCE
• B. the British education despatch of 1854 CE
• C. the Mughal-era farmans of the 17th century CE
• D. the codes attributed to Manu, around 200 BCE

Q13. In the medieval period the status of women in India declined further, and lists three social evils that became widespread in this period. The three are

• A. sati, child marriage and dowry
• B. purdah, polygamy and untouchability
• C. infanticide, slavery and bonded labour
• D. illiteracy, malnutrition and migration

Q14. A class 4 teacher's gender-fair plan has four parts. Reema, a quiet girl, has just answered a question correctly in a loud, confident voice. Which of the teacher's planned responses BEST shows the recommended teacher conduct, and why?

• A. 'Reema, that was a confident answer. Well done.' — because praising assertive answering from girls counters the bias that 'girls should be soft' and lifts their self-efficacy.
• B. 'Reema, girls should speak softly. Please lower your voice.' — to maintain classroom decorum.
• C. 'Reema, let me ask the question to Rohan now.' — to make sure boys also get a turn.
• D. 'Reema, write the answer in your notebook quietly.' — to avoid drawing attention.

Q15. CTET PYQ 2019 (Paper I, Dec) asked: an effective strategy to reduce children's gender stereotyping and gender-role conformity in a primary classroom is

• A. Discussion about gender bias
• B. Emphasizing gender-specific roles
• C. Gender-segregated play groups
• D. Gender-segregated seating arrangement

Q16. The CAUSES of gender discrimination are separate from its symptoms. Alongside religion, a second deep cause operates from the moment a child is born — through the songs sung at a girl's birth, the toys handed to her, the chores assigned to her, and the silence in which she is taught to live. This cause is

• A. biology and genetics
• B. weather and geography
• C. culture and socialisation
• D. school timetable and curriculum hours

Q17. Among the theoretical explanations for the origin of gender inequality, the MATERIALIST theory locates the root not in religion or in biology but in

• A. the spread of modern science in the 19th century
• B. the migration of nomadic tribes
• C. the size of the human brain at birth
• D. private property and the economic division of labour between men and women

Q18. Once labour was divided so that men did 'outside-the-home' work and women did 'inside-the-home' work, two consequences followed which together cemented gender discrimination. These two consequences were

• A. Men's work became publicly visible and paid, while women's work became invisible and unpaid.
• B. Men became weaker and women became stronger.
• C. Men joined religion and women joined politics.
• D. Both groups received equal recognition from society.

Q19. A primary teacher in Rampur is explaining why, even in 2026, many of her students' mothers do not own land in their own names. The teacher should point to which feature of Indian inheritance custom as the LONG-TERM cause?

• A. patrilineal inheritance, in which property passes from father to son and bypasses the daughter
• B. matrilineal inheritance, in which property passes only through the mother's line
• C. joint stock company law, in which property is held by shareholders
• D. tenancy reform laws of the 1970s, which abolished private holdings

Q20. A self-reinforcing chain runs in which early marriage of a girl leads to early pregnancy, which leads to poor maternal health, which leads to higher infant mortality and continued low status of the surviving mother. This chain is called a

• A. linear cause-and-effect with a single endpoint
• B. natural biological rhythm needing no intervention
• C. vicious cycle of gender discrimination that repeats across generations
• D. modern phenomenon limited to urban areas

Q21. Apart from religion, culture, patriarchy and division of labour, 'other' causes also keep gender discrimination alive in many Indian villages. Which of the following is NOT named among these other causes?

• A. illiteracy of parents
• B. caste-based social rules
• C. concern for 'family prestige' that restricts girls' movement
• D. the colour of a child's eyes at birth

Q22. Mrs Sharma, a class 3 teacher, has been keeping a weekly tally. She finds she calls on boys 38 times in a week and on girls 14 times, and she praises boys 22 times and girls only 6. The FIRST step she should take is

• A. ignore the tally because it is a small sample
• B. deliberately rebalance — call on girls equally often, praise their answers with the same warmth, and review the tally each week
• C. tell the boys to stop raising their hands
• D. ask girls to sit at the back so they are not seen

Q23. 'Gender EQUITY' is distinguished from 'gender EQUALITY'. Which pair correctly captures the distinction?

• A. Equity is the END-STATE; equality is the PROCESS that leads to it.
• B. Equity is the PROCESS of fair treatment that accounts for past disadvantage; equality is the OUTCOME of equal status, rights and opportunities.
• C. The two words mean exactly the same thing in the unit.
• D. Equity refers to boys' rights only; equality refers to girls' rights only.

Q24. On 'Cleanliness Day' at her primary school, a teacher routinely says: 'Girls, you wipe the desks and arrange the books. Boys, you lift the benches and carry the dustbins.' A trainee teacher calls this practice problematic. The BEST evaluation of the trainee's objection is

• A. The trainee is wrong — the teacher is matching tasks to natural strength.
• B. The trainee is wrong — children prefer their own gender's tasks.
• C. The trainee is right — by attaching 'soft' jobs to girls and 'heavy' jobs to boys the teacher is reproducing the very stereotype asks teachers to dismantle; tasks should be rotated regardless of gender.
• D. The trainee is right, but only because the boys may injure themselves.

Q25. Society EXPECTS pairs of traits from each sex. 'Bold and aggressive' is listed under the male side. This trait is BEST classified as

• A. a sex attribute, fixed by XY chromosomes
• B. a gender attribute — a social expectation that varies across cultures and time
• C. a moral virtue every boy is born with
• D. a religious commandment unique to India

Q26. The list of SEX attributes includes internal reproductive organs that nature gives only to one sex. Which pair below correctly matches the listing?

• A. uterus → females; prostate → males
• B. uterus → males; prostate → females
• C. both organs → present in both sexes
• D. Neither organ is mentioned by

Q27. In a class 4 lunch break, when a boy joins the girls' hopscotch game, his male classmates tease him with 'ladki ban gaya' ('he's become a girl'). This behaviour is BEST explained as

• A. harmless humour with no developmental impact
• B. peer reinforcement of gender stereotypes — the peer group is punishing 'off-role' behaviour, the same way parents do at home
• C. a sign that the boy has a behavioural disorder
• D. A recommended practice from to keep children disciplined

Q28. A teacher notes that the way children pick up gender — by watching, copying and being rewarded for getting it 'right' — fits one classical theorist most closely. That theorist is

• A. Piaget, on assimilation of physical objects
• B. Bandura, on observational learning through models, imitation and reinforcement
• C. Pavlov, on classical conditioning of reflexes
• D. Kohlberg, on stages of MORAL reasoning

Q29. 'Infant Mortality Rate' (IMR) is used as a key status indicator of gender. The rate measures

• A. the number of infants born per 1,000 women each year
• B. the number of infants who die before their first birthday per 1,000 live births in a year
• C. the number of women who die during childbirth per 1,000 deliveries
• D. the number of children dropping out of school per 1,000 enrolled

Q30. A striking nutritional gap: the average calorie intake of an Indian woman is around 1,400 kcal, against a required intake of about 2,200 kcal for moderate work. Read the two statements that follow. Statement I: This calorie gap is a STATUS INDICATOR of gender discrimination, because in many homes the woman eats last and least, after men and children are fed. Statement II: Because women are biologically smaller, this gap has no health consequence and is therefore not a gender issue.

• A. Both statements are correct.
• B. Statement I is correct; Statement II is incorrect.
• C. Statement I is incorrect; Statement II is correct.
• D. Both statements are incorrect.