Historians have identified two dominant currents in the

[rihanna.hayat]

Hello Instructors,

RC:

Historians have identified two dominant currents in the
Russian women's movement of the late tsarist period.
"Bourgeois" feminism, so called by its more radical
opponents, emphasized "individualist" feminist goals
such as access to education, career opportunities, and
legal equality. "Socialist" feminists, by contrast,
emphasized class, rather than gender, as the principal
source of women's inequality and oppression, and
socialist revolution, not legal reform, as the only road
to emancipation and equality.
However, despite antagonism between bourgeois
feminists and socialist feminists, the two movements
shared certain underlying beliefs. Both regarded paid
labor as the principal means by which women might
attain emancipation: participation in the workplace
and economic self-sufficiency, they believed, would
make women socially useful and therefore deserving
of equality with men. Both groups also recognized the
enormous difficulties women faced when they
combined paid labor with motherhood. In fact, at the
First All-Russian Women's Congress in 1908, most
participants advocated maternity insurance and paid
maternity leave, although the intense hostility between
some socialists and bourgeois feminists at the
Congress made it difficult for them to recognize these
areas of agreement. Finally, socialist feminists and
most bourgeois feminists concurred in subordinating
women's emancipation to what they considered the
more important goal of liberating the entire Russian
population from political oppression, economic
backwardness, and social injustice.

Question:

The passage suggests that socialists within the Russian women's movement and most bourgeois feminists believed that in Russia

(A) women would not achieve economic equality until they had political representation within the government
(B) the achievement of larger political aims should take precedence over the achievement of women's rights
(C) the emancipation of women would ultimately bring about the liberation of the entire Russian population from political oppression
(D) women's oppression was more rooted in economic inequality than was the case in other countries
(E) the women's movement was more ideologically divided than were women's movements in other countries

The OA is (b), please refer to screenshot link as a proof.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/829/81349769.jpg/

It is quite clear from the last sentence "Finally, socialists.......social injustice" that the correct answer is (c). But the OA is (B). Please explain.

Thanks.

[RonPurewal]

It is quite clear from the last sentence "Finally, socialists.......social injustice" that the correct answer is (c). But the OA is (B). Please explain.

Thanks.

If you're reading carefully, it should be quite clear -- from exactly the sentence you quoted -- that the answer is (b), not (c).

That sentence says that both groups "concurred in subordinating
women's emancipation to what they considered the
more important goal".
that's pretty much exactly what (b) says: they agreed that the pursuit of women's rights should be subordinated to political goals that they considered more important.

--

There are two big problems with choice (c).

First, "... would ultimately bring about..." isn't right; there is no evidence that the feminists believed they would ultimately achieve success. The passage talks only about what they were working for, not about whether they thought they would achieve it.

Second, from the sentence you quoted, it's apparent that "the emancipation of women" was not the avenue through which these people expected the Russian people to be liberated.
Read the sentence again -- it says that they subordinated the goal of women's emancipation to the drive to liberate the Russian people. If they had to subordinate #1 to achieve #2, then it's clear that #1 must not be the way to achieve #2!

[rihanna.hayat]

Thanks for replying Ron.

First, "... would ultimately bring about..." isn't right; there is no evidence that the feminists believed they would ultimately achieve success. The passage talks only about what they were working for, not about whether they thought they would achieve it.

I got this one.

Second, from the sentence you quoted, it's apparent that "the emancipation of women" was not the avenue through which these people expected the Russian people to be liberated.
Read the sentence again -- it says that they subordinated the goal of women's emancipation to the drive to liberate the Russian people. If they had to subordinate #1 to achieve #2, then it's clear that #1 must not be the way to achieve #2!

Ok, I got this one also. I think I was not able to understand the sentence "Finally, socialist ..... social injustice.". Just want to confirm if I understand it clearly. The usage is "subordinating X to Y", where X=women's freedom and Y=goal of liberation from political oppression, and other things" and that is why correct answer is B which mentioned that "Y should take precedence over X". Am I right?

[RonPurewal]

The usage is "subordinating X to Y", where X=women's freedom and Y=goal of liberation from political oppression, and other things" and that is why correct answer is B which mentioned that "Y should take precedence over X". Am I right?

right.