Utme 2017 English Question 4

Read the passage carefully and answer each question that follows. Anthropologists tell us that for a society to remain stable, the roles of men and women must be properly differentiated and well defined. In primitive societies, the men were assigned the roles of going out to hunt, fish and fight off the hostile tribe next door while the women did the housekeeping and minded the children. The men were believed to be superior to the women in physical strength and capability. There were no controversy in these societies as to what the roles of the sexes should be. Consequently, primitive societies enjoyed great stability. However, with the advancement of civilisation, many of the special privileges traditionally enjoyed by men began to be eroded one after another. There is hardly any sphere of human endeavour in which women have not gained a firm foothold: there are women doctors, engineers, pilots, prime ministers, judges, bankers and so on. Today, the women's spheres of operation are no longer restricted to the home; she is successfully competing with her counterpart in every area of human activity. But has this development been an unqualified blessing to the society? To answer this question, let us examine some of the problems created in the process of achieving women's emancipation. First, a large number of women including the married ones and mothers now take up paid employment. The conditions attached to such employment make it extremely difficult if not impossible for them to take adequate care of their children at homes. Since no one serves two masters, the health and education of the children suffer tremendously.