Social Science (087) — AI-generated practice question

Women's mass participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement both challenged and reinforced the Congress's traditional view of women.

Challenged: Thousands of women left their homes for the first time to picket liquor and foreign cloth shops, march in protests, manufacture salt, and court arrest — entering public life on a large scale.

Reinforced: However, this did not bring any radical change. Gandhiji believed women's primary duty was to look after home and hearth and be good mothers and wives. The Congress was reluctant to give women positions of authority and sought only their symbolic presence in the organisation.

Source: Chapter 2, Section 3.2 — How Participants Saw the Movement

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• The question is two-sided — "challenge OR reinforce" — so you must address both to get full marks.
• The key evidence from the passage: women entered public spaces in large numbers (challenge), but Congress wanted only symbolic presence and Gandhi held traditional views on women's role (reinforce).
• Avoid writing only one side; examiners expect a balanced answer here since the question uses "or."
• Use the phrase "symbolic presence" — it appears directly in the source and impresses examiners.