UPSC Sociology 2025 Paper 1
Model Answer:
While Liberal feminists highlight diversity policies reducing overt bias, formal workspaces remain structurally gendered beneath an illusion of bureaucratic neutrality.
Structures of Persistent Bias
- Joan Acker’s theory of Gendered Organizations argues the “ideal worker” norm is structurally modeled on a male life-cycle without caregiving responsibilities, inherently penalizing women.
- Rosabeth Moss Kanter, in Men and Women of the Corporation, highlights “Tokenism” in boardrooms and “Homosocial Reproduction” (male elites promoting similar men), denying women crucial Social Capital (Pierre Bourdieu).
- Marxist-feminists like Sylvia Walby note capitalist workspaces rely on women carrying the unpaid “Second Shift” (Arlie Hochschild), perpetuating structural pay gaps.
Counter-Perspective: Catherine Hakim’s “Preference Theory” controversially attributes disparities to women’s varied lifestyle choices rather than employer bias, though feminists critique these as constrained choices heavily shaped by patriarchal socialization.
The recent “She-cession” during COVID-19 and unequal pay scandals in progressive tech sectors expose how covert biases persist despite modern diversity mandates.
Conclusion
Formal workspaces have merely transitioned from overt discrimination to covert structural patriarchy. Substantive equality requires dismantling entrenched male-centric organizational norms rather than relying on superficial inclusion.
