SECTION B
Essay
125 marks
Patriarchy is the least noticed yet the most significant structure of social inequality.
WRITE IN
90 min
1,000–1,200 words
Reading the topic
The topic claims patriarchy is so normalised in family, language, religion and the economy that it goes unnoticed, yet it shapes inequality more than any other structure. The examiner expects an essay that exposes its invisible workings and their intersection with caste and class.
ThesisPatriarchy endures because it hides inside everyday routines that seem natural, so dismantling it needs change in homes and minds alongside laws and quotas.
Dimensions to cover
- 1Family: unpaid domestic and care work falls overwhelmingly on women and is rarely counted as work
- 2Economy: low female workforce participation and wage gaps reflect social expectations more than ability
- 3Law and politics: women's under-representation in legislatures and courts means laws are often made without their voices
- 4Intersection: Dalit and tribal women face caste and gender together, making patriarchy multiply other inequalities
- 5Men: rigid masculinity norms harm men too, discouraging emotional expression and fuelling violence
Counter-view
- Some argue that legal equality and rising female education show patriarchy is fading. The essay should acknowledge progress but show how informal norms, such as mobility restrictions and dowry, persist beneath formal equality
Open and close
- Open: Open with a family dinner where the women serve, eat last and clear up while everyone, including the women, sees nothing unusual in it
- Close: Close by arguing that patriarchy will fall not when it is condemned in speeches but when its daily routines stop looking natural
Where marks usually go
- Writing only about crimes against women and missing the 'least noticed' everyday structure
- Presenting men as villains instead of analysing a social structure
- Ignoring the comparative claim 'most significant' and failing to relate patriarchy to caste and class
Examples that fit
- DataIndia's first Time Use Survey found women spent about 299 minutes a day on unpaid domestic services against about 97 minutes for men.National Statistical Office, Time Use in India 2019
- ThinkerGerda Lerner traced patriarchy to historical processes rather than nature, showing it was created and can therefore be undone.Gerda Lerner, The Creation of Patriarchy (1986)
- CaseThe Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 reserves one-third of seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women, to take effect after the next census and delimitation.Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023
- StoryThe Malayalam film The Great Indian Kitchen (2021) shows a newly married woman ground down by endless cooking and cleaning, making invisible patriarchy visible.The Great Indian Kitchen (2021), dir. Jeo Baby