CBSE Notes Class 7 Social Science Civics Chapter 5 - Women Change the World

In this chapter, you understand how some occupations are seen to be more suitable for men than women. In CBSE Notes Class 7 Social Science Civics Chapter 5 – Women Change the World, you will also know how women struggled for their equality. Getting an education was, and still is, one way through which women can create new opportunities. This chapter will briefly trace the different types of efforts made by the women’s movement to challenge discrimination in more recent years.

CBSE Notes Class 7 Social Science Civics Chapter 5 – Women Change the World

Download PDF

Fewer Opportunities and Rigid Expectations

There are many stereotypes that exist in society, such as girls and women are not capable of dealing with technical things. Due to these stereotypes, many girls do not get the same support that boys get.

Learning for Change

Going to school is an extremely important part of a child’s life. In the 19th century, many new ideas about education and learning emerged. Schools became more common, and communities that had never learnt reading and writing started sending their children to school. But there was a lot of opposition to educating girls.

Rashsundari Devi was a housewife from a rich landlord’s family. At that time, it was believed that if a woman learnt to read and write, she would bring bad luck to her husband and become a widow! Despite this, she taught herself how to read and write in secret well after her marriage.

Schooling and Education Today

Today, both boys and girls attend school in large numbers. Yet there are still some differences between the education of boys and girls. 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.

There are several reasons why children from Dalit, Adivasi and Muslim communities leave school. Some of them are:

1. In rural and poor areas, there are neither proper schools nor teachers.
2. Schools are often far away from people’s homes, and there is no transport like buses or vans available for girls. So, parents are not willing to send their girls to school.
3. Many families are poor and unable to bear the cost of educating all their children. In this situation, boys get preference.
4. Many children face discrimination from their teachers and classmates.

Women’s Movement

Women and girls now have the right to study and go to school. Their situation has improved in other spheres like legal reform, violence and health. Women, individually and collectively, have struggled a lot to bring these changes. This struggle is known as the Women’s Movement. Different strategies have been used to spread awareness, fight discrimination and seek justice for women. Here are some glimpses of this struggle.

1) Campaigning

An important part of the women’s movement was Campaigns. Campaigns have led to the making of new laws.

• A law was implemented in 2006 against domestic violence, which states that women who face physical and mental violence within their homes will get some legal protection.
• The Supreme Court formulated guidelines in 1997 to protect women against sexual harassment at the workplace and within educational institutions.
• The dowry laws were changed to punish families who sought dowry.

2) Showing Solidarity

The women’s movement is also about showing unity with other women and causes.

We hope CBSE Notes for Class 7 Social Science Civics Chapter 5 helps you prepare better for your exams. Keep learning and stay tuned for more updates on CBSE and NCERT.