Gender Religion Caste: 10th Pol Science

Question: How is the work divided according to sexual division of labour?
or
How sexual division of labour is seen most of the countries?

Answer:

1. Sexual division of labour in most families women do all work inside the home such as cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, tailoring, looking after children etc. and men do all the work outside the home.
2. In village, women fetch water, collect fuel and work in fields. In urban areas, poor women work as domestic helpers in middle class homes, while middle class women work in offices. In fact the majority of women do some short of paid work in addition to domestic labour. But their work is not valued and does not get recognition.

Question: Why women’s role in public life especially in politics is minimum?

Answer:

1. Earlier only men were allowed to participate in public affairs, vote and contest for public officer.
2. Gradually the gender issue was raised in politics.
3. Women in different parts of the world organised agitated for equal rights.
4. There were agitations in different countries for the extension of voting rights to women.
5. These agitations demanded enhancing the political and legal status of women and improving their educational and career opportunities.

Question: What is feminist movements?

Answer: More radial women’s movements aimed at equality in personal and family life as will. These movements are called feminist movements.

Question: Give example of countries where women’s participation in public life is very high.

Answer: In some parts of the world for example in Scandinavian countries such as Sweden, Norway and Finland, the participation of women in public life is very high.

Question: Write the different ways in which women are discriminated?

Answer: The literacy rate among women is only 54% compared with 76% among men.

1. A smaller proportion of girl students go for higher studies.
2. They drop out because parents prefer to spend their resources for their boys.
3. No wonder the proportion of women among the highly paid and valued jobs in still very small. On an average an Indian women works one hour than an average man every day.
4. In many parts of India parents prefer to have sons and find ways to have the girl child aborted before she is born. Such sex-selective abortion led to a decline in child sex-ratio.

Question: What are the various forms of caste in politics?

Answer: Caste is the sole basis of social community. It can take various forms in politics.

1. Selection of Candidates in Politics: When parties choose candidates in elections, they keep in mind the caste composition of the electorate and nominate candidates from different castes so as to muster necessary support to win elections. When governments are formed, political parties usually take care that representatives of different castes and tribes find a place in it.
2. Political Parties as the Representatives of Caste : Political parties and candidates in elections make appeals to caste sentiments to muster support. Some political parties are known to favor some castes and are seen as their representatives, e.g., BSP in India.
3. Caste influences Universal Adult Franchise : Universal adult franchise and the principle of one- person one-vote compelled political leaders to gear up to the task of mobilizing and securing political support. It also brought new consciousness among the people of castes that were hitherto treated as inferior and low.
4. Various caste groups are required to enter into a coalition with other castes or communities and thus enter into a dialogue and negotiation.
5. New kinds of caste groups have come up in the political arena like “backward” and “forward caste groups”.
6. Thus, the focus on caste in politics can sometimes give an impression that elections are all about caste and nothing etc.

But, in spite of these forms of caste in politics, people’s assessment of the performance of the government and the popularity rating of the leaders matter and are often decisive in elections.

Question:  Why do we say that elections in India are all about cast?

Answer:

1. No parliamentary constituency in the country has a clear majority of one single caste. So every candidate  and and party needs to win the confidence of more than one cast or community to win elections.
2. No party wins the votes of all the voters or a caste or a community. When people say that a caste is a voting bank of one party, it usually means that a large proportion of the voters from that caste vote for the party.
3. Many political parties may put up candidates from the same caste. Some voters have more than one candidate from their caste while many voters have no candidate from their caste.
4. The ruling party and the sitting MP or MLA frequently  lose elections in our country. That could not have happened if all castes and communities were frozen in their political preference.
5. People within the same caste or community have different interests depending on their economic condition. Rich and poor or men and women from the same caste often vote very differently.

Question: How far is it correct to say that it is not politics that gets caste ridden, but it is the caste that gets politicized? Explain.

Answer: It is correct to say that it is not politics that gets caste ridden, but it is the caste that gets politicized. Caste can take various forms in politics.

1. Each caste group tries to become bigger by incorporating within it neighboring castes or sub-castes which were earlier excluded from it.
2. Various caste groups are required to enter a coalition with other castes or communities and thus enter a dialogue and negotiation.
3. New kinds of caste groups have came up in the political arena like ‘backward’ and ‘forward’ caste groups.
   Caste plays different kinds of roles in politics. In some cases, politics gives many disadvantaged communities the opportunity to demand their share of power.
4. Politics has helped people from OBC and Dalit castes to gain better access to decision-making. But sometimes exclusive attention to caste can produce negative results like tensions, conflicts and violence in our society.

Question: How does the Constitution of India ensure secularism?
Or
Mention constitutional provisions that make India a secular state.
Or
What is a secular state? How does the Constitution of India ensure that India remains a secular state?

Answer: A state that has no official religion and grants equal status to all religions is called Secular State.

1. The Constitution provides to all individuals and communities freedom to profess, practice and propagate any religion, or not to follow any.
2. The Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.
3. At the same time, the Constitution allows the state to intervene in the matters of religion in order to ensure equality within religious communities. For example, it bans untouchability.