CSS Gender Studies chapter 1: Concepts and theory MCQs with answers

By Team Megalecture · Updated 4 Nov 2026

66 exam-style questions on Concepts and theory, each with the answer and a short explanation. Ten of them are below to try. The chapter test draws ten fresh questions each time and is marked the moment you finish, with your score by topic.

66 questions · 4 topics · 10 per test

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What chapter 1 covers

Ten Concepts and theory questions with answers

Try each one, then open the answer. These ten stay the same; the test draws new ones every time.

1. Connell's framework implies that

  1. A
    there is one natural masculinity common to all men
  2. B
    men as a group never hold power
  3. C
    masculinity is by nature the opposite of femininity
  4. 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. Textbooks that always show mothers cooking and fathers going to the office reinforce

  1. A
    gender mainstreaming
  2. B
    gender stereotypes
  3. C
    gender budgeting
  4. 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.

3. Mary Wollstonecraft's 'A Vindication of the Rights of Woman' (1792) argued mainly that

  1. A
    women should be paid wages by the state for their work in the home
  2. B
    women should form separate states of their own
  3. C
    women are rational beings who deserve an equal education
  4. 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.

4. The behaviours and tasks that a society regards as appropriate for women and for men are called

  1. A
    sex characteristics
  2. B
    gender roles
  3. C
    gender audits
  4. 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.

5. Who coined the term 'ecofeminism' in 1974?

  1. A
    Vandana Shiva
  2. B
    Rachel Carson
  3. C
    Francoise d'Eaubonne
  4. D
    Wangari Maathai
Show answer

Answer: C. The French writer d'Eaubonne introduced the term. Shiva and Maathai are important figures in the movement, and Carson wrote Silent Spring.

6. Boys who join girls' games are teased by classmates, while girls who act 'like boys' are told off. This shows that

  1. A
    gender roles are fixed by biology and need no social influence
  2. B
    schools no longer have any effect on how pupils see gender
  3. C
    peer groups enforce gender norms through approval and ridicule
  4. D
    the family is the only agency that shapes gender roles
Show answer

Answer: C. Peers reward behaviour that fits gender norms and punish behaviour that does not, so friendship groups are a powerful agency of gender socialisation alongside the family, school and media.

7. When radical feminists say that 'the personal is political', they mean that

  1. A
    women's private opinions should have no bearing on how they vote in elections
  2. B
    the private lives of politicians should be open to public scrutiny
  3. C
    private matters like family life and sexuality reflect power relations
  4. D
    women should take up elected office only before marriage
Show answer

Answer: C. The slogan challenged the line between public and private life. Matters like housework, marriage and violence were shown to be shaped by unequal power.

8. In 1966 Betty Friedan helped to found which organisation?

  1. A
    the National Organization for Women
  2. B
    the National Woman Suffrage Association
  3. C
    the Women's Social and Political Union
  4. D
    the Women's Christian Temperance Union
Show answer

Answer: A. NOW became a leading American organisation of the second wave. The National Woman Suffrage Association was formed in 1869 by Stanton and Anthony.

9. Ecofeminism argues that

  1. A
    environmental policy is best left to scientists and engineers alone
  2. B
    the domination of women and of nature share a patriarchal logic
  3. C
    women's equality can be achieved only after climate targets are met
  4. D
    environmental damage harms women and men in exactly the same way
Show answer

Answer: B. Ecofeminists see a connection between the way patriarchal societies treat women and the way they treat the natural world.

10. Which concern marks third-wave feminism from the 1990s?

  1. A
    winning the vote in national elections
  2. B
    the campaign for an Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s
  3. C
    the right of married women to own property
  4. D
    differences among women of race, class and sexuality
Show answer

Answer: D. Third-wave feminists criticised earlier movements for speaking mainly for white, middle-class women and stressed diversity and individual identity.

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How many Concepts and theory MCQs are there?

66, each with the answer and a short explanation, across 4 topics: Sex, gender and gender roles, History of feminism and the women's movements, Feminist theories, Masculinity and gender in society. Every chapter test draws ten of them, so you can take it many times.

Is the CSS Gender Studies chapter 1 test free?

Yes. The test, the answers and the explanations are free and need no sign-up. Sign in only if you want your scores kept across devices.

How is the chapter test marked?

The moment you press Finish: your score, the right answer and an explanation for every question, and the ones you got wrong saved in My mistakes to retry.

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