Read the passage given below and answer the question.
Khasi matriliny generates intense role conflict for men. They are torn between their responsibilities to their natal house on the one hand, and to their wife and children on the other. In a way, the strain generated by such role conflict affects Khasi women more intensely. A woman can never be fully assured that her husband does not find his sister's house a more congenial place than her own. Similarly a sister will be apprehensive about her brother's commitment to her welfare because the wife with whom he lives can always pull him away from his responsibilities to his natal house. The women are more adversely affected than men by the role conflict generated in the Khasi matrilineal system not only because men wield power and women are deprived of it, but also because the system is more lenient to men when there is a transgression of rules. Women possess only token authority in Khasi society; it is men who are the defacto power holders. The system is indeed weighted in favour of male matri-kin rather than male patri-kin. (In other words, despite matriliny, men are the power holders in Khasi society; the only difference is that a man's relatives on his mother's side matter more than his relatives on his father's side).
Pick the correct option:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Khasi matriliny generates intense role conflict for men and women
Option (1) Khasi matriliny generates intense role conflict for men only — Incorrect. The passage opens with the role conflict of men, but goes on to say that the strain affects Khasi women more intensely. So the conflict is not limited to men.
Option (2) Khasi matriliny generates intense role conflict for women only — Incorrect. The men are torn between their responsibilities to their natal house (their mother’s and sister’s home) on the one hand, and to their wife and children on the other. So men face the conflict too.
Option (3) Khasi matriliny generates intense role conflict for men and women — Correct. A role conflict arises when the duties of two roles pull a person in opposite directions. The man is torn between his natal house and his wife and children. The women feel the strain even more: a wife can never be sure that her husband does not prefer his sister’s house, and a sister can never be sure of her brother’s commitment, since his wife can pull him away.
Option (4) Khasi patriliny generates intense role conflict for men and women — Incorrect. Khasi society is matrilineal, not patrilineal. The conflict arises because of matriliny: property comes down the mother’s line while control lies with her brother.
Note: Box 3.3 on the Khasi matrilineal family, in the chapter ‘Social Institutions: Continuity and Change’, which describes this role conflict, was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023. This box has been deleted from the NCERT book (2025-26), though the chapter is still there.
NCERT: Indian Society — Chapter 3: Social Institutions: Continuity and Change, Box 3.3 (Pre-rationalised)
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