UPSC Mains 2021 GS2 Q17 — Women Empowerment
"Though women in post-Independent India have excelled in various fields, the social attitude towards women and feminist movement has been patriarchal." Apart from women education and women empowerment schemes, what interventions can help change this milieu? (Answer in 250 words)
Question Decoded — examiner's intent
- Directive verbs
- Apart fromwhat interventions can help change
- Scope keywords
- post-Independent Indiaexcelled in various fieldssocial attitudefeminist movementpatriarchalwomen education and women empowerment schemes
- Implicit sub-parts
- Validation of the paradox: Evidence of women excelling vs. persistent patriarchal attitudes.
- Analysis of why the Indian feminist movement itself is often labeled or perceived as patriarchal (e.g., elitism or exclusion of intersectional identities).
- Innovative non-educational and non-scheme-based interventions (behavioral, structural, and institutional).
- Mechanisms to shift the 'milieu' from superficial empowerment to deep-rooted social change.
- Common pitfalls
- Wasting words listing standard government schemes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao which the prompt explicitly asks to go 'apart from'.
- Failing to address the specific claim about the 'feminist movement' being patriarchal, focusing only on 'social attitude'.
- Providing a generic 'essay' on women's problems instead of focusing on the 'milieu' or structural change interventions.
- Neglecting the role of men and boys in the solution-seeking part of the answer.
- Dimensions required
- SociologicalBehavioral Economics (Nudge)Judicial/Legal StructuralismIntersectional FeminismMedia and Cultural Representation
- Marks allocation hint
Allocate 3-4 marks to validating the premise with brief examples of the excellence-patriarchy paradox. Devote 2 marks to explaining the patriarchal constraints within social movements. Dedicate the lion's share (9-10 marks) to 'interventions' like gender-neutral socialization, workplace structural shifts, and narrative changes, ensuring these go beyond basic schooling and subsidies.
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