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655-705 Level|   Short Passage|   Social Science|         
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Although the industrial union organizations that emerged under the ban 25 Aug 2021, 01:54
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For Q2, I was confused between A and B. I didn't even consider C as an option. how did you guys choose option C?
Please explain.
Thanks in advance.
Quote:
2. Which of the following can be inferred regarding the "gender ideology" mentioned in the highlighted text?

A. It prevented women from making significant contributions to the establishment of industrial unions. - This can be eliminated because we are told that women did in fact make important contributions to the establishment of the unions: "Faue stresses the importance of women's contribution to the development of unions at the community level." Eliminate (A).
B. It resulted from the marginalization of women in industrial unions. - The passage does say that women were marginalized by union bureaucratization, but this reflected the PREVAILING gender idealogy of the period. In other words, the marginalization reflected an idealogy that already existed. The marginalization did not CAUSE the idealogy. Eliminate (B).
C. It had a significant effect on the advancement of women's issues within industrial unions. - We can infer that the prevailing idealogy was one that marginalized women. So the marginalization of women in unions was a product of this prevailing idealogy. If a group is marginalized, then its power and importance is reduced. Being marginalized would obviously affect a group's ability to make advances. (C) looks good.
D. Its primary tenets were nondiscrimination and inclusion. - We are told that the unions themselves generally "embraced the principles of nondiscrimination and inclusion", but the prevailing gender idealogy caused women to be marginalized. This idealogy was one that CAUSED discrimination, not one that upheld nondiscrimination. Eliminate (D).
E. Its effects were mitigated by the growth of industrial unions. - The unions did not mitigate (i.e. lessen) the discriminatory effects of the prevailing ideology. Instead, the unions REFLECTED the discriminatory effects of the prevailing ideology. Eliminate (E).

Choice (C) is the best answer. I hope that helps!
Show more


GMATNinja - Thank you for the amazing explanation. Wanted to confirm on the E part...in the second Para talks about where women were able to create their own political space. So, can we say that its effects were reduced with the growth of the unions or are we saying that there are two interpretations of the scenario where one persons says that women were powerless and their importance were zero because of the male discrimination and the other person is saying that yes male discrimination was there but the women took some political space...So here, she is acknowledging that discriminatory effects and hence the effects has not lessen with the growth of the unions but she has a different point of view about women - i.e they had some role in the political space.
Thanks

VeritasKarishma, TargetTestPrep , or any other experts can help with my analysis
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Although the industrial union organizations that emerged under the ban 25 Aug 2021, 23:33
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nikitamaheshwari
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Shivikaa
For Q2, I was confused between A and B. I didn't even consider C as an option. how did you guys choose option C?
Please explain.
Thanks in advance.
Quote:
2. Which of the following can be inferred regarding the "gender ideology" mentioned in the highlighted text?

A. It prevented women from making significant contributions to the establishment of industrial unions. - This can be eliminated because we are told that women did in fact make important contributions to the establishment of the unions: "Faue stresses the importance of women's contribution to the development of unions at the community level." Eliminate (A).
B. It resulted from the marginalization of women in industrial unions. - The passage does say that women were marginalized by union bureaucratization, but this reflected the PREVAILING gender idealogy of the period. In other words, the marginalization reflected an idealogy that already existed. The marginalization did not CAUSE the idealogy. Eliminate (B).
C. It had a significant effect on the advancement of women's issues within industrial unions. - We can infer that the prevailing idealogy was one that marginalized women. So the marginalization of women in unions was a product of this prevailing idealogy. If a group is marginalized, then its power and importance is reduced. Being marginalized would obviously affect a group's ability to make advances. (C) looks good.
D. Its primary tenets were nondiscrimination and inclusion. - We are told that the unions themselves generally "embraced the principles of nondiscrimination and inclusion", but the prevailing gender idealogy caused women to be marginalized. This idealogy was one that CAUSED discrimination, not one that upheld nondiscrimination. Eliminate (D).
E. Its effects were mitigated by the growth of industrial unions. - The unions did not mitigate (i.e. lessen) the discriminatory effects of the prevailing ideology. Instead, the unions REFLECTED the discriminatory effects of the prevailing ideology. Eliminate (E).

Choice (C) is the best answer. I hope that helps!


GMATNinja - Thank you for the amazing explanation. Wanted to confirm on the E part...in the second Para talks about where women were able to create their own political space. So, can we say that its effects were reduced with the growth of the unions or are we saying that there are two interpretations of the scenario where one persons says that women were powerless and their importance were zero because of the male discrimination and the other person is saying that yes male discrimination was there but the women took some political space...So here, she is acknowledging that discriminatory effects and hence the effects has not lessen with the growth of the unions but she has a different point of view about women - i.e they had some role in the political space.
Thanks

VeritasKarishma, TargetTestPrep , or any other experts can help with my analysis
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Check this: https://gmatclub.com/forum/although-the ... l#p2840457
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Although the industrial union organizations that emerged under the ban 29 Nov 2023, 10:24
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For the question 1. Meaning of
Marginalization - being in a lower or secondary position within a hierarchy or structure.
Subordinate - the process of pushing or keeping a group or individual on the fringes or margins of a society or system.

But in the context of the passage, subordinate means marginalized. The main agreement between both is that women were marginalized because of male domination.

Option Elimination -

A. attribute the inclusion of women in unions to the policies of the CIO - "the policies of the CIO" not discussed.
B. emphasize the importance of unions at the community level - Gabin didn't focus much on that.
C. argue that women played important roles in the establishment of industrial union organizations - Gabin didn't focus much on that.
D. suggest that women in industrial union organizations played a subordinate role - ok.
E. suggest that the interests of women workers were incompatible with those of unions in general - "incompatible" is too strong. Gabin mentioned that women could find their way up by carving out spaces and advocating for their interests within the unions despite facing marginalization.
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Although the industrial union organizations that emerged under the ban 12 Apr 2025, 02:58
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Hi experts KarishmaB GMATNinja MartyMurray

In question 3, below are my reasonings to options reject B and C.

Option B is wrong as the author is not adding any view of his own, he is just presenting two views and there is no attempt to align them with each other.
Option C is wrong: Even if we assume Gabin presented conflicting evidence (but maintains that women...), C would only summarize passage-2, not the entire passage (P1 + P2)

Please let me know if I am faltering somewhere.
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Although the industrial union organizations that emerged under the ban 28 Apr 2025, 14:00
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Hi experts KarishmaB GMATNinja MartyMurray

In question 3, below are my reasonings to options reject B and C.

Option B is wrong as the author is not adding any view of his own, he is just presenting two views and there is no attempt to align them with each other.

Option C is wrong: Even if we assume Gabin presented conflicting evidence (but maintains that women...), C would only summarize passage-2, not the entire passage (P1 + P2)

Please let me know if I am faltering somewhere.
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That all sounds good! In addition, there's no real "evidence" presented in the passage. The author presents the views and conclusions of Faue and Gabin without discussing the evidence behind those views/conclusions.

The "but" in "but maintains" does not indicate conflicting evidence. Instead, it highlights a difference between Faue's view and Gabin's view.
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Quote:

2. Which of the following can be inferred regarding the "gender ideology" mentioned in the highlighted text?

A. It prevented women from making significant contributions to the establishment of industrial unions.
B. It resulted from the marginalization of women in industrial unions.
C. It had a significant effect on the advancement of women's issues within industrial unions.
D. Its primary tenets were nondiscrimination and inclusion.
E. Its effects were mitigated by the growth of industrial unions.


How answer C is correct
Show more
The Question:
What can be inferred about the "gender ideology" mentioned in the passage?
[hr]
Step 1: Identify the key part of the passage
Here’s the most relevant sentence:
Quote:
"Although the industrial union organizations... embraced the principles of nondiscrimination and inclusion, the role of women within unions reflected the prevailing gender ideology of the period."
Show more
This tells us that:
  • Unions officially supported nondiscrimination.
  • But in practice, women’s roles were shaped by gender ideology—which must have been less inclusive or limiting toward women.
Later in the passage:
Quote:
"Women were marginalized by union bureaucratization and by the separation of unions from the community politics from which industrial unionism had emerged."
Show more
And:
Quote:
"Women's contributions... became increasingly irrelevant to unions' institutional life.

Step 2: Understand what “gender ideology” means in context
In this passage, "gender ideology" refers to the common beliefs about gender roles during that time (1930s–40s). The fact that women were marginalized, even though they contributed significantly, shows that this ideology:

  • Limited women's roles, even within organizations that claimed to be inclusive.
  • Influenced how unions treated women—not based on ability or contribution, but on societal gender norms.

Step 3: Evaluate the answer choices
Let’s test each option:
A. It prevented women from making significant contributions...
❌ No — the passage clearly says women [i]did make significant contributions at the community level.
B. It resulted from the marginalization of women...
❌ No — that reverses cause and effect. Gender ideology caused the marginalization.
C. It had a significant effect on the advancement of women's issues within industrial unions.
✅ Yes — this is supported. The ideology limited women’s roles and marginalized them as unions grew. That means it significantly affected the progress of women's issues.
D. Its primary tenets were nondiscrimination and inclusion.
❌ No — those were the unions’ stated ideals, not the tenets of the gender ideology of the time.
E. Its effects were mitigated by the growth of industrial unions.
❌ No — the opposite happened. As unions grew, women were increasingly marginalized.[/i]

let's take a close look at why Option B doesn't fit, even though it might seem tempting at first.

Option B:


This means:
The gender ideology was caused by (or came as a result of) women being marginalized in unions.
But is that what the passage says?

What the passage actually says:

And:

So in simpler terms:
  • Gender ideology already existed in society at large during that time.
  • It shaped how women were treated in unions.
  • As unions became more bureaucratic and less community-based, women were pushed out — i.e., they were marginalized.
[hr]
Why B is incorrect:
  • B reverses the cause and effect.
    • It says gender ideology came from women's marginalization.
    • But the passage says marginalization happened because of gender ideology.
    • That’s the key difference.
Think of it like this:
  • The gender ideology of the time = beliefs that women belonged in limited roles.
  • Those beliefs caused women to be marginalized in the labor movement.
So it’s gender ideology → marginalization,
not marginalization → gender ideology.

If Option B were correct, the passage would have to say something like:

But it doesn’t. It says:

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Although the industrial union organizations that emerged under the ban 20 Sep 2025, 01:40
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For Q3 how do we reject E?
Both of the views seems to give some history about the role of women in the union and how they were marginalized. The second paragraph seems to connect it to the wave of feminism and gender ideology
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bestreturn
For Q3 how do we reject E?
Both of the views seems to give some history about the role of women in the union and how they were marginalized. The second paragraph seems to connect it to the wave of feminism and gender ideology
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bestreturn Good question; I like how you're thinking! I'll try to address your doubt- this is actually one of the most common traps in GMAT RC primary purpose questions - confusing what the content discusses with what the author is doing.

Why E is Wrong?

"Tracing the development of an ideology" means the author would show how an ideology evolved over time - like showing:
- Stage 1: Ideology begins this way
- Stage 2: It transforms to this
- Stage 3: It further evolves to this

But look at what the author actually does:
- Paragraph 1: "Elizabeth Faue's study argues that..."
- Paragraph 2: "Nancy F. Gabin also acknowledges... but maintains that..."

The author is presenting two scholarly views (Faue's and Gabin's) about the same topic. Yes, these scholars discuss historical events and gender ideology, but the author isn't tracing anything - they're just reporting what two different researchers found.

The Key Distinction:
- What Faue and Gabin discuss = historical content about women in unions
- What the author does = presents these two scholarly interpretations

Think of it this way: If I tell you "Smith thinks X" and "Jones thinks Y," I'm presenting views, not tracing development - even if Smith and Jones are both discussing historical evolution!

Here is a framework for "Primary Purpose" questions that can help you:

When you see scholars/studies mentioned by name, check:
→ One view presented? Look for "arguing a position"
→ Two views presented neutrally? Look for "presenting views"
→ Evolution shown by author? Look for "tracing development"

The structure here (Faue says X, Gabin says Y) is classic "presenting two views."

I hope this helps! Feel free to ask any follow-up questions you may have. Good luck!
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