Multiple choice

Directions: Read the passage/argument and answer the question that follows it.

In the olden days, in Indian society, college teachers, bankers, and clerks were mainly males; these professions got relegated in monetary returns and social status when they became significantly populated by females. Consequently, if females occupy the majority positions in professions dominated by males now, e.g. transportation, engineering, and investment banking, the monetary returns and social standing of these professions is bound to take a dip.

The argument given above suffers from the predominant flaw of being

  1. an attempt at being chauvinistic

  2. an attempt to justify the poor status of some professions by alluding to gender differences

  3. an instance of confusing cause and effect

  4. an attempt at extrapolating a one-off instance to explain a fairly well-generalized phenomenon

  5. an effort to justify the domination of these professions by males.
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
B Correct answer
Explanation

Option (1) is a bit far-fetched and extreme while (3) is misplaced because he is citing an apparently wrong cause for the observed effect. The author is talking in fairly general terms. So it is not a one-off instance. Thus, option (4) is wrong. The reasoning is not intended to push for male domination, hence option (5) is also ruled out. The author is basically arguing by linking poor salaries and inferior social status with the fact of one's being male or female. This idea underlies his entire thinking process, thereby justifying answer option (2).

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