Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.
In the last fifty years, the idea of women empowerment has gone through a sea change, from a welfare-oriented approach to an equity approach. It has been understood as the process by which the powerless gain greater control over the circumstances of their lives. In practice, however, empowerment includes control over both resources and ideology. It leads to a growing intrinsic capability, greater self-confidence and an inner transformation of one’s consciousness that enables one to overcome external barriers. This view stresses two significant aspects. First, it is a power to achieve desired goals, not a power over others. Secondly, the idea of empowerment applies more to those who are powerless, irrespective of their gender, class and caste. Though the concept of empowerment is not specific to women, it is unique in that it cuts across all classes and castes and also works within families and households. Women empowerment is also defined as a change in the context of a woman’s life which increases her capacity to lead a fulfilling human life. It is reflected both in external qualities such as health, mobility, education, awareness, status in the family, participation in decision making and material security, and in internal qualities such as self-awareness and self-confidence.
The writer says that empowerment is “a power to achieve desired goals, not a power over others”. This suggests that empowerment
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → is about gaining the ability to shape one’s own life rather than controlling other people
The line has two parts.
- Empowerment is a power “to achieve desired goals”. Desired goals are the things a person wants to reach in life.
- It is “not a power over others”. So the person does not rule anyone.
- Earlier the passage says the powerless “gain greater control over the circumstances of their lives”. Circumstances are the conditions a person lives in.
- So empowerment is the power to run one’s own life, not other people’s lives.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: aims to reverse the existing order so that the powerless come to rule over others — Incorrect. Contradicted: To rule over others is a power over others. The line says empowerment is “not a power over others”.
Option 2: is mainly the gift of material resources to those who had none — Incorrect. Wrong focus: The passage does say that empowerment includes control over resources. But this line is about the kind of power gained, not about giving things to people.
Option 3: is achieved only when women hold the same public posts as men — Incorrect. Not mentioned: The passage says nothing about public posts. The goals it speaks of belong to a person’s own life.