Women Change the World

Q20. Why women were not seen as potters?

Ans.  In the pottery trade, women collected the mud and prepared the earth for the pots. But since they did not operate the wheel, they were not seen as potters.

Q21. What did Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain do for other girls?

Ans. Her education gave her the power not only to dream and write, but also to do more – to help other girls go to school and to build their own dreams. In 1910, she started a school for girls in Kolkata, and to this day, the school is still functioning.

Q22. Who was Rashsundari Devi? What did she write in her autobiography?

Ans. Rashsundari Devi was a housewife from a rich landlord’s family. At the age of 60, she wrote her autobiography in Bangla. Her book titled Amar Jiban is the first known autobiography written by an Indian woman. She wrote about her everyday life experiences in details in her autobiography.

Q23. Mention any two stereotypes, about what women can or cannot do.

Ans. Stereotypes, about what women can or cannot do are:

                       i.        Many people believe that women make better nurses because they are more patient and gentle.

                      ii.        It is believed that science requires a technical mind and girls and women are not capable of dealing with technical things.

Q24. What are some of the pressures that boys experience?

Ans. Some of the pressures that boys experience are:

                       i.        Boys at an early age are encouraged not to cry in front of others.

                      ii.        They are also teased and bullied if they do not behave like other boys.

                     iii.        Boys are pressurised to think about getting a job that will pay a good salary.

Q25. Why does government of India conduct census every 10 years?

Ans. India has a census every 10 years, which counts the whole population of the country. It also gathers detailed information about the people living in India – their age, schooling, what work they do, and so on. We use this information to measure many things, like the number of literate people, and the ratio of men and women.

Q26. What is Sultana’s Dream about?

Ans. This story imagined a woman called Sultana who reaches a place called Ladyland. Ladyland is a place where women had the freedom to study, work, and create inventions like controlling rain from the clouds and flying air cars. In this Ladyland, the men had been sent into seclusion – their aggressive guns and other weapons of war defeated by the brain-power of women.

Q27. List one reason why learning the alphabet was so important to women like Rashsundari Devi, Ramabai and Rokeya?

Ans. Learning the alphabet was so important to women like Rashsundari Devi, Ramabai and Rokeya because alphabet is the building block of literacy. After learning that, they were able to put an impact on the societies by writing stories, letters, and autobiographies.

Q28. What do you understand Women’s Movement?

Ans. Women and girls now have the right to study and go to school. There are other spheres – like legal reform, violence and health – where the situation of women and girls has improved. These changes have not happened automatically. Women individually and collectively have struggled to bring about these changes. This struggle is known as the Women’s Movement.

Q29. Who set up a mission in Khedgaon near Pune in 1898? What was the mission about? How did the mission help the women?

Ans. Ramabai set up a Mission in Khedgaon near Pune in 1898, where widows and poor women were encouraged not only to become literate but to be independent. They were taught a variety of skills from carpentry to running a printing press, skills that are not usually taught to girls even today. Ramabai’s Mission is still active today.