CSS Gender Studies MCQs with answers
Practise CSS Gender Studies (Optional) with 196 exam-style MCQs, each with the answer and a short explanation. Every test is marked the moment you finish and shows your score chapter by chapter, so you know what to revise next. It is free and needs no sign-up.
196 questions · 3 chapters
What each chapter covers 3 chapters
The questions follow the syllabus chapter by chapter. You can test the whole subject or one chapter at a time.
- Concepts and theory 66 questionsSex, gender and gender roles, History of feminism and the women's movements, Feminist theories, Masculinity and gender in society
- Gender, development and rights 65 questionsGender, work and the economy, Gender and development approaches, International conventions and conferences, Women's rights in Islam
- Women in Pakistan 65 questionsConstitutional and legal status of women in Pakistan, Violence against women, Women's political participation and the women's movement in Pakistan, Education, health and employment of women in Pakistan
Sample CSS Gender Studies MCQs with answers 12 questions
12 questions from the test, one or two from each chapter. Try each one, then open the answer.
1. Connell's framework implies that
- A
there is one natural masculinity common to all men
- B
men as a group never hold power
- C
masculinity is by nature the opposite of femininity
- D
there are several masculinities, ranked in a hierarchy
Show answer
Answer: D. Connell stressed plural masculinities and relations of power among men as well as between men and women.
2. Gender planning differs from conventional planning because it
- A
assumes that all households are alike and share resources equally
- B
plans projects for women only and leaves men out of every scheme
- C
starts from the fact that women and men have different roles and needs
- D
treats the household economy as outside the scope of planning
Show answer
Answer: C. Conventional planning often treats the household as one unit. Gender planning looks inside it at who does what and who controls what.
3. When the National Assembly had 342 members, the number of seats reserved for women under the 2002 arrangements was
- A
10
- B
60
- C
20
- D
33
Show answer
Answer: B. The 2002 arrangements reserved 60 seats for women. Earlier constitutions had reserved ten or twenty.
4. Textbooks that always show mothers cooking and fathers going to the office reinforce
- A
gender mainstreaming
- B
gender stereotypes
- C
gender budgeting
- D
a gender audit
Show answer
Answer: B. Repeated images of this kind present a division of roles as natural and shape what children expect of themselves.
5. Under CEDAW, a reservation by a state party is not permitted if it is
- A
made in writing at the time of ratification
- B
made by a developing country
- C
incompatible with the object and purpose of the Convention
- D
made after the Convention enters into force for that state
Show answer
Answer: C. Article 28 bars reservations that conflict with the Convention's object and purpose. The Committee has criticised many such reservations.
6. Which agricultural task do rural women in Pakistan commonly perform?
- A
operating combine harvesters
- B
selling crops at city wholesale markets
- C
caring for livestock and milking
- D
deciding the sale of the harvest
Show answer
Answer: C. Women commonly care for animals, milk, and process crops in the home or in the field, while men usually handle machinery and the sale of produce.
7. Mary Wollstonecraft's 'A Vindication of the Rights of Woman' (1792) argued mainly that
- A
women should be paid wages by the state for their work in the home
- B
women should form separate states of their own
- C
women are rational beings who deserve an equal education
- D
women should be kept out of public life by law
Show answer
Answer: C. Wollstonecraft held that women seemed inferior only because they were denied education. Her book is a founding text of liberal feminism.
8. A value of the Gender Inequality Index close to 1 indicates
- A
perfect equality between women and men in all respects
- B
a high level of human development
- C
a high share of women in parliament
- D
a very large inequality between women and men
Show answer
Answer: D. The GII runs from 0 (no inequality) to 1 (maximum inequality), so higher values are worse.
9. Sexual harassment is best described as
- A
mutual flirtation between two colleagues who both welcome it
- B
a formal complaint made by an employee against an employer
- C
a consensual relationship between two employees of the same firm, known to colleagues
- D
unwelcome sexual conduct that interferes with a person's work or dignity
Show answer
Answer: D. The key word is 'unwelcome': harassment is conduct that the other person has not invited and that harms her or his dignity or working conditions.
10. The behaviours and tasks that a society regards as appropriate for women and for men are called
- A
sex characteristics
- B
gender roles
- C
gender audits
- D
secondary sexual characteristics
Show answer
Answer: B. Gender roles are socially defined expectations of how women and men should behave. Sex characteristics are biological and a gender audit is a tool for checking organisations.
11. In which year did the UN General Assembly adopt CEDAW?
- A
1948
- B
1975
- C
1979
- D
1995
Show answer
Answer: C. CEDAW was adopted in 1979 and entered into force in 1981. 1948 is the year of the UDHR and 1995 that of the Beijing conference.
12. Which leader said, 'No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you'?
- A
Liaquat Ali Khan
- B
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
- C
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
- D
Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar
Show answer
Answer: C. Jinnah spoke repeatedly of the need for women's participation in the national struggle, and the sentence is widely attributed to him in his addresses to Muslim women in the 1940s.
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Ways to practise 5 ways
- Quick check. 10 questions drawn fresh each time, about 10 minutes.
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When you get a question wrong, a short note called "The idea behind this" explains the topic it belongs to, with the rules to remember and a worked example.
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The 196 MCQs are our own, written to the syllabus in the style of the exam.
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Instantly. You get your score, the right answer and an explanation for every question, and a list of the topics to work on.
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