Despite the recent election of a woman to the office of prime minister

Hey All,

A bit of confusion here, so I thought I'd weigh in. I'm not sure I entirely agree with the notion that the correct incarnation of this sentence is logically flawed, though it is always worth remembering that sentence correction questions don't have to feature a "perfect" example. First, let's talk through the grammar here in detail, then take on the meaning:

Despite the recent election of a woman to the office of prime minister, the status of women in Pakistan is little changed from how it was in the last century.
(A) is little changed from how it was
PROBLEM: The verb "was" makes it sound that the status of women is little changed from how it was changed in the last century. This is not the meaning we want.

(B) is a little change from how it was little change is incorrect
PROBLEM: The status of women is not "a little change".

(C) has changed little
ANSWER:

(D) has changed little from how it has been
PROBLEM: Same problem as A. This makes it sound as if the status has changed little from how it has been changed in the last century.

(E) is little changed from the way it was
PROBLEM: Same as A and D. This makes it sound as if the status is little changed from the way it was changed in the last century.

I think that because three answer choices go the incorrect route, that comes to seem like the status quo. Actually, C is the clearest and most logical answer choice. The context given by the first phrase establishes that a woman has made a major political stride, this is then limited by the clause "the status of women has changed little in the last century", which to my mind is entirely clear.

Hope that helps!