CLASS 7 SOCIAL STUDIES

WOMEN CHANGE THE WORLD (CIVICS) - WORKSHEET

Q.1. Fill in the blanks provided below with the help of the clues given in the box.

Rashsundari Devi campaign 15% poverty teachers

proper schools gap prejudices stereotypes
40% challenge violation

a. For women, particularly in the past, even going to school has been a ____challenge____.
b. _____stereotypes_____ prevent us from looking at people as unique individuals.
c. Inadequate schooling facilities, discrimination and ____ poverty____ have been some major reasons
behind dropping out of girls from school, even in the present day.
d. The book titled ‘Amar Jiban’ was the autobiography of _____Rashsundari Devi_____.
e. According to the 1961 census, around ____40%____ of all males and only _____15%_____ of all
females, were found to be literate.
f. A ____campaign____ may be described as an organised course of action, that uses Media and other
means to draw public support and generate awareness on a certain issue.
g. Surveys and studies prove that although the proportion of both males and females have increased in
terms of literacy, the _____gap____ between the two continues to exist.
h. Discrimination tends to happen when people or organisations act on their _____prejudices_____.
i. In many parts of the country, especially in rural and poor areas, there aren’t even ____proper
schools_____ or _____teachers_____ who teach on a regular basis.
j. When someone forcefully breaks the law or a rule or openly shows disrespect, we can say that he or
she has committed a _____violation_____ .

Q.2. Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.

Tired of their domestic abuse and their unemployed husbands spending all their money on locally made
alcohol (arrak), the women from the small village of Dubagunta in Andhra Pradesh began a movement that
forced the state and several private agencies to bring complete prohibition against country liquor in 1990. The
culmination of the dialogues between the parties involved, were the anti-arrack protests - a call for a total ban
on manufacture, sale and consumption of country-made arrak. The women started with destroying
ingredients used to concoct arrak at home and raided local sellers and distributors to destroy their licenses. At
its height, the movement, led by strong women leaders like Vardheneni Rosamma, managed to mobilize over
10,000 people from 300 villages and even gained political traction from many political parties. Despite
opposition from local bureaucracy, criminals, even law enforcement agencies, the women managed to
convince the government to bring about a total prohibition of liquor in the state.

a. What do you think, the women raised their voice against?

(i) lack of employment opportunities for themselves
 (ii) lack of employment opportunities for their husbands
(iii) the manufacturing, sale and consumption of alcohol
(iv) domestic abuse by their husbands
b. What did the women do, as part of the movement?
(i) they destroyed the primary ingredients used during production
(ii) they raided local sellers and distributors and destroyed their licenses
(iii) they generated awareness among locals and garnered support from political parties
(iv) All of these
c. Who, among the following, opposed the women during their struggle to achieve the aim?
(i) Political parties (ii) Local bureaucracy
(iii) people from around 300 villages (iv) The Government
d. Consider the latter part of the last sentence again : “ … the women managed to convince the
government to bring about a total prohibition of liquor in the state.”
When women, individually and collectively, struggle to bring about changes, it is referred to as the
‘Women’s movement’.
There have been and continue to be various women’s movements in India as well as other countries.
Recall the name of one such movement for the ‘right to vote’ that was led by the women of the
United States and Britain.
(i) Universal Adult Franchise movement (ii) Voting movement
(iii) Suffrage movement (iv) None of these

Q.3. Answer the following questions.

a. Briefly explain ‘Gender Stereotypes’. Give an example as well.
Gender stereotypes are the ones that make us believe that boys and girls are suited to certain jobs or
tasks, not naturally but because of the fact that they are either boys or girls.
Girls must learn cooking and other household chores and boys need not do so; Males are decisive
whereas females don’t have the ability to take decisions; Pinks and flowy dresses characterise a girl
whereas blacks, greys and formals are characteristic of boys, and the like, are examples of some
commonly believed in and practised stereotypes.

b. Have all girls received equal access to education in the present times? Justify your answer.
No, all girls have yet not been able to receive equal access to education in the present times. The
category of ‘all’ includes girls from all social, economic, linguistic, regional and religious backgrounds in
the Indian context. When we take that as our backdrop, we receive the answer in the negative. For
instance, a family with limited financial means prefers to send the boys of the family to school while
the girls take care of the home and/or younger siblings. In some cases, traditions or some superstitious
beliefs may also hinder the education of girls. These are some of the many reasons one may state here.

c. “Poor girls drop out of school because they are not interested in getting an education.” Re-read the
last paragraph on page 62 and explain why this statement is not true.
As the question states, the statement “Poor girls drop out of school because they are not interested in
getting an education” is certainly not true. The onus of girls’ education, especially of the ones from
financially weaker backgrounds, lies on many factors.
- In many parts of the country, especially in rural and poor areas, there may not even be proper schools
nor teachers who teach on a regular basis.
- If a school is not close to people’s homes and there is no proper transport, parents may not be willing
to send their girls to school.
- Many parents are too poor and unable to bear the cost of educating all their children.
- Many children also leave school because they are discriminated against by their teachers and
classmates.
Some or maybe all of these reasons lead to the dropout of girl students from schools at an early age.