Gender, Religion and Caste Test - 3

Division between males and females is termed as gender division.

The result of Political expression of gender division and political mobilisation has helped to improve women’s role in public life.

Women in different parts of the world organised and agitated for equal rights.There were agitations in different countries for the extension of voting rights to women. These agitations demanded enhancing the political and legal status of women.

The Equal Wage Act, 1976 provides that equal wages should be paid to equal work. However in almost all areas of work, from sports and cinema, to factories and fields, women are paid less than men, even when both do exactly the same work.

This is reflected in a 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. It is not that men cannot do housework; they simply think that it is for women to attend to these things.

In India, the proportion of women in legislature has been very low. For example, the percentage of elected women members in Lok Sabha has crossed 10 per cent of its total strength. Their share in the state assemblies is less than 5 per cent.

Secularism means all religions are given the same respect and there is no state religion.

Our Constitution does not give a special status to any religion.

Gandhiji used to say that religion can never be separated from politics. What he meant by religion was not any particular religion like Hinduism or Islam but moral values that inform all religions. He believed that politics must be guided by ethics drawn from religion.

When state power is used to establish domination of one religious group over the rest is referred to as Communal Politics.

Caste hierarchy means a ladder-like formation in which all caste groups are placed from the highest to the lowest.