Thinker
Sylvia Walby
Sylvia Walby is central to 33 previous-year questions, spanning 2010 to 2025 across Paper I and Paper II. Everything below is drawn from the official papers — the questions themselves, the concepts they test, and where they sit in the syllabus.
33Questions
2010–25Years tested
I & IIPaper
6Syllabus topics
Concepts asked alongside Sylvia Walby
What the examiner actually wants you to know when this name appears.
patriarchy 20sexual division of labour 18intersectionality 7gendered division of labour 5gender socialisation 4public and private divide 4commodification of women 3double burden 3glass ceiling 3son preference 3structural violence 3backlash thesis 2brahmanical patriarchy 2control over female sexuality 2dual burden 2feminisation of work 2public and private spheres 2social stratification 2
Where Sylvia Walby appears in the syllabus
Every question on Sylvia Walby
Each links to a full breakdown — how to approach it, a model answer, and the examiner’s perspective.
2025
- Do you think that the formal workspaces are free of gender bias? Argue your case.
- Is the social stratification theory gender-blind? Elucidate.
- What do you understand by gender-based domestic division of labour? Is it undergoing a change in the wake of increasing participation of women in formal employment? Clarify your answer with illustrations.
2024
2023
2022
2021
2019
- Define patriarchy. Does it have bearings on women's entitlement in Indian family system? Explain.
- What is POSH Act? “Identification of tormentor by women at workplace does not come easily even today.” Examine the statement with substantive examples from India.
- Why is gender a dimension of social stratification? How does gender intersect other dimensions of inequality based on caste, class, race and ethnicity?
2017
- Despite gains from the women's movement and state policy of women empowerment, gender equality is far from achieved. Identify two major challenges that prevent this goal from being reached.
- Examine 'patriarchal bargain' as gendered division of work in contemporary India.
- Examine gender, ethnicity and race as major dimensions of social stratification.
- What are the reasons for the escalation of violence against women in the public domain?
2016
2014
2013
2012
Browse all thinkers by exam frequency, or see the full trend analysis.