Society, Gender & Culture: Gender, family and youth

Women and gender justice

Past topics: UPSC CSE Essay, Section B, topic 5 (official UPSC question paper): “Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands — two equally harmful disciplines.”; UPSC CSE Essay, Section B, topic 5 (official UPSC question paper): “Hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”

More past topics (2014–2020 papers): UPSC CSE Essay, Section A, topic 1 (official UPSC question paper): “If development is not engendered, it is endangered”; UPSC CSE Essay, Section B, topic 2 (official UPSC question paper): “Fulfilment of ‘new woman’ in India is a myth.”; UPSC CSE Essay, Section B, topic 7 (official UPSC question paper): “Patriarchy is the least noticed yet the most significant structure of social inequality”.

Outline for the 2023 topic. Hook: a sister told to be home by sunset, a brother told he must become an engineer. Meaning: patriarchy harms both; girls through limits on freedom, boys through pressure to earn, not cry, and dominate. Dimensions: family (unequal care work), education (subject choices by gender), workplace (glass ceiling, men’s long hours), mental health (boys’ suppressed emotions), violence (control as a learned behaviour). Counter-view: some rules protect. Reply: protection should not mean control; teach safety and respect to both. Conclusion: raise children, not ‘girls’ and ‘boys’.

For ‘Hand that rocks the cradle’: honour mothers’ influence, but avoid praising women only as mothers; argue for women’s education, health, leadership in panchayats and Parliament, and shared parenting, so that both hands rock the cradle and both shape the world.

Family, youth and changing values

Past topics: UPSC CSE Essay, Section B, topic 5 (official UPSC question paper): “Social media is triggering ‘Fear of Missing Out’ amongst the youth, precipitating depression and loneliness.”; UPSC CSE Essay, Section A, topic 1 (official UPSC question paper): “The process of self-discovery has now been technologically outsourced.”; UPSC CSE Essay, Section A, topic 2 (official UPSC question paper): “Your perception of me is a reflection of you; my reaction to you is an awareness of me.”

More past topics (2014–2020 papers): UPSC CSE Essay, Section A, topic 2 (official UPSC question paper): “Is the growing level of competition good for the youth?”; UPSC CSE Essay, Section B, topic 4 (official UPSC question paper): “‘Social media’ is inherently a selfish medium.”; UPSC CSE Essay, Section B, topic 3 (official UPSC question paper): “Fifty Golds in Olympics: Can this be a reality for India?”.

Outline for the social media topic. Benefits first (learning, jobs, voice for the voiceless), then harms: comparison with curated lives, sleep loss, cyberbullying, isolation despite connection. Causes: design for attention, weak family time, academic pressure. Remedies: digital literacy in schools, family screen rules, counselling access, platform design duties under law, and offline community spaces (sports, clubs). Avoid exaggeration: say ‘can trigger’, not ‘always’.

Changing family: joint to nuclear families, migration, ageing parents living alone, more inter-caste and inter-faith marriages, and new ideas of individual choice. Balanced view: keep the family’s support role while accepting individual freedom and equality inside it.