AI-generated practice question — model-generated for extra practice, not a previous-year CBSE board question.
The reaction of women hand-spinners was economically rational, not merely destructive. Spinning was one of the few sources of income available to poor women, and the Spinning Jenny directly threatened to eliminate this livelihood by reducing labour demand in spinning. As the textbook notes, workers lived with constant fear of unemployment; during economic slumps, up to 35–75% of workers were without work. Losing even irregular spinning wages could push families into destitution. The women correctly understood that the machine would displace their work permanently, making their attack a desperate economic self-defence rather than ignorance.
Source: The Age of Industrialisation, Life of the Workers
The examiner expects you to link the women's action to specific economic conditions described in the chapter — fear of unemployment, dependence on hand-spinning income, and vulnerability of the poor. Quote or paraphrase the magistrate's source (Source B) and the passage on workers' fear of new technology. Do not just say "they were afraid of machines" — explain why job loss was catastrophic for these workers given the conditions of the time. Three marks = three linked points: (1) spinning was their main income, (2) unemployment was severe and relief minimal, (3) their understanding of the economic threat was correct.