Kavita, a qualified engineer, attends a job interview at a construction firm. The manager tells her that the post needs someone who can handle pressure on site, and adds that women usually cannot. That evening, Kavita watches a television serial in which the people of one region are shown as hot-tempered by nature, with no one from that region behaving differently. A few weeks later she learns that the post has gone to a less qualified man, though the firm told her that the selection was done purely on merit.
Kavita's loss of the post to a less qualified man is best described as:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Discrimination
Option (1) Discrimination — Correct. Giving the post to a less qualified man kept Kavita out of an opportunity open to others. Discrimination is actual behaviour that disqualifies a group, such as refusing a job because of gender, and it is often hidden behind a claim that the selection was on merit.
Option (2) Prejudice — Incorrect. Prejudice is a pre-conceived opinion or attitude about a group. The manager's remark shows such an attitude, but giving the post to someone else is an act done to Kavita.
Option (3) Stereotyping — Incorrect. Stereotyping fixes a whole group into one trait, as in the remark that women cannot handle pressure. It is a way of thinking about a group and does not describe the firm's act of denying her the job.
Option (4) Social stratification — Incorrect. Social stratification is the lasting ranking of groups in a society into layers of unequal wealth, status and power. It is a society-wide structure and does not name one firm's act against one woman.
NCERT (2026-27): “Social Inequality … |