Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) Competitive Examination for Recruitment to BPS-17 Posts under the Federal Government
Time Allowed: 3 Hours
Maximum Marks: 100 Marks
Paper: Gender Studies
PART-2 (Subjective) 80 Marks
Attempt ONLY FOUR questions from PART-II. (20×4)
PART-II
Q2. Critically examine the theoretical arguments of social constructionism and queer theory regarding the categories of sex and gender. How do these arguments illuminate contemporary debates about transgender rights and the controversies over the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018 in Pakistan? Support your answer with examples from legal debates and activism.
Q3. Trace the evolution of the Feminist Movement in Pakistan, from the activism of the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) against the Hudood Ordinances in the 1980s to the digital activism of the 2020s. How has the locus of resistance shifted from “Legal Rights” to “Bodily Autonomy”?
Q4. Evaluate Pakistan’s performance in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025. Identify the socioeconomic and political factors contributing to Pakistan’s ranking, including labour force participation, education, health, and political empowerment.
Q5. Climate change has gendered impacts. Drawing on feminist environmentalism and ecofeminist perspectives, critically analyse how recent floods and heat waves in Pakistan have affected women differently.
Q6. Critically examine the “NGO-ization” of the women’s movement in Pakistan. Has the donor-driven agenda of Gender Mainstreaming depoliticized the feminist struggle, converting it into a technocratic “project” rather than a social revolution? Use the WAD (Women and Development) critique in your answer.
Q7. Using intersectionality as an analytical framework, examine the experiences of marginalized groups of women in Pakistan, including rural women, ethnic and religious minorities, and differently-abled women. How do overlapping systems of oppression shape their access to health, education, and employment?
Q8. Write short notes on the following:-
(a) Gendered implications of digital transformation and the narrowing mobile gender gap in Pakistan (2024-2025), including the fact that eight million more women came online and the mobile internet gender gap fell from 38% to 25%.
(b) The role of masculinity studies in understanding violence against women in Pakistani society.
