Out of the following which was not the issue of concern for women's m…

Out of the following which was not the issue of concern for women's movement during 1970?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → Sati

Option (1) Sati — Not a concern of the 1970s (Correct). Sati belonged to the nineteenth century reform movements, which attacked the backward aspects of tradition such as sati, child marriage and the ill treatment of widows. When women’s issues re-emerged in the 1970s, the emphasis had moved to ‘modern’ issues.

Option (2) Representation of women in popular media — A concern of the 1970s (Incorrect). How women were shown in films, advertisements and the press was one of the ‘modern’ issues taken up in the 1970s.

Option (3) Dowry system — A concern of the 1970s (Incorrect). The movement of the 1970s campaigned against dowry murders, the killing of brides over dowry.

Option (4) Rape of women in police custody — A concern of the 1970s (Incorrect). The rape of women in police custody is the first of the ‘modern’ issues of the 1970s.

Note: The words naming two of the ‘modern’ issues of the 1970s, ‘the rape of women in police custody’ and ‘dowry murders’, in the section ‘Struggle for Women’s Equality and Rights’ of the chapter ‘Patterns of Social Inequality and Exclusion’, were there in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023. They have been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the paragraph on the women’s issues of the 1970s is still there.

NCERT (2025-26): “5.3 Struggle for women’s equality and rights … Two decades after Independence, women’s issues re-emerged in the 1970s. In the nineteenth century reform movements, the emphasis had been on the backward aspects of tradition like sati, child marriage, or the ill treatment of widows. In the 1970s, the emphasis was on ‘modern’ issues – the representation of women in popular media, and the gendered consequences of unequal development. The law was a major site for reform in the 1980s and after, specially when it was discovered that many laws of concern to women had not been changed since the 19th century. As we enter the twenty-first century, new sites of gender injustice are emerging. You will recall the discussion of the declining sex ratio in Chapter 2. The sharp fall in the child sex ratio and the implicit social bias against the girl child represents one of the new challenges of gender inequality.”

NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “5.3 Struggle for Women’s Equality and Rights … In the 1970s, the emphasis was on ‘modern’ issues – the rape of women in police custody, dowry murders, the representation of women in popular media, and the gendered consequences of unequal development.…”