---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Kavita Krishnan <[email protected]> Date: Tue, Jul 2, 2013 at 1:28 PM Subject: Petition against UGC NET exam's sexist question - pl sign and share widely To:
http://petitions.halabol.com/2013/07/01/ugc-must-apologise-and-make-amends-sexist-stereotypes-cant-be-eligibility-test-collegeuni Sir, We, the undersigned register our protest against the following question asked in the NET exam held last week on 30 June 2013, that smacked of gendered and sexist stereotypes. The question read: *At primary school stage, most teachers should be women because* *a. can teach children better than men* *b. know basic content better than men* *c. are available on lower salaries* *d. can deal with children with love and affection* The question itself begs the sexist and gender-stereotyped answers that are offered as 'options.' That the UGC can use such a question to screen and select eligible teachers is appalling. *Need we really tell the UGC in the 21st century that one's biological sex does not make one more (or less) suitable to nurture and teach children, and that such patriarchal notions only serve to tie women down to certain gendered roles? And that is highly offensive to suggest that women might be more worthy of employment because they are 'available on lower salaries'?* Whichever option the UGC may deem 'correct', it is clear that the question – no less than the suggested answers - itself reflects the prejudiced, sexist and highly patriarchal mindset. *Such a question is an insult to millions of women who battle such social stereotypes daily. * *We demand that the UGC offer an unconditional public apology for posing such a question. We demand that those conducting the evaluation/marking of the answer sheets be instructed to keep this question aside, since it would be a travesty for the UGC to mark candidates on the assumption that any one of the answers is the 'right' one. We also demand that an expert panel be constituted to thoroughly review and recommend an overhaul of the UGC NET examination question papers, so that their content can be more in tune with their purpose. * -- You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot build up a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you will build on the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole. -AMBEDKAR http://venukm.blogspot.in http://www.shelfari.com/kmvenuannur http://kmvenuannur.livejournal.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
