Read the passage and answer the following questions

Scholars refer to the western perception of Third World societies. They discuss the same when raising the questions of who produces knowledge about Third World women.

An Indian scholar has discovered that women in the Third World are represented in most feminist literature on development as having 'needs' and 'problems' but few choices and no freedom to act. What emerges from such modes of analysis is the image of an average Third World woman constructed through the use of statistics and certain categories. It is said that an average Third World woman leads an, essentially truncated life based on her feminine gender and her being third world-ignorant, poor uneducated, tradition bound. domestic, family oriented and victimised. This is in contrast to the self-representation of western women as educated, modern with freedom to make their own decisions. These representations assume western standards as the benchmark against which to measure the situation of Third World women.

The result is paternalistic attitude on the part of western women toward their Third World counterparts. It is perpetuation of the hegemonic idea of west's superiority. It is in this process of homogenisation and systematisation of the oppression of women in the Third World, that power is excercised in much of the western feminist discourse. This power needs to be redefined, because of its subjective nature of interpretation.


1. The western feminist literature looks at Third World women with

(a) In-depth knowledge of their issues

(b) An urge to liberate them

(c) The need to enforce universal values

(d) Western standards as real benchmarks


2. The Third World women have an image constructed through the parameters of

(a) Compassionate representation

(b) Quantification and categorisation

(c) Geographical proximation

(d) Familial issues


3. The western feminist literature depicts Third World women as having

(a) Fewer choices and no freedom

(b) Greater support from external influences

(c) Benefits of modernisation

(d) Become amenable to western influence


4. The passage is critical of

(a) The submissive Third World women

(b) Modernised western women

(c) Hegemonic ideas of western superiority

(d) Homogenisation of feminist discourse


5. The western women consider themselves as

(a) Saviours of oppressed women

(b) Agents of homogenisation

(c) Modern and free

(d) Equally exploited like Third World women


ANSWERS 

1 - d

2 - b

3 - a

4 - c

5 - c