The recent change to all-volunteer armed forces in the United States w

Question

New Project RC Butler 2019  -  Practice 2 RC Passages Everyday   
Passage # 200, Date : 11-Jul-2019
 This post is a part of New Project RC Butler 2019 .  Click here for Details

The recent change to all-volunteer armed forces in the United States will eventually produce a gradual increase in the proportion of women in the armed forces and in the variety of women's assignments, but probably  not the dramatic gains for women that might have been expected . This is so even though the armed forces operate in an ethos of institutional change oriented toward occupational equality and under the federal sanction of equal pay for equal work. The difficulty is that women are unlikely to be trained for any direct combat operations.  A significant portion  of the larger society remains uncomfortable as yet with extending equality in this direction. Therefore, for women in the military, the search for equality will still be based on functional equivalence, not identity or even similarity of task. Opportunities seem certain to arise. The growing emphasis on deterrence is bound to offer increasing scope for women to become involved in novel types of noncombat military assignments.   1 
 B 
 1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) present an overview of the different types of assignments available to women in the new United States all-volunteer armed forces 
(B) present a reasoned prognosis of the status of women in the new United States all-volunteer armed forces 
(C) present the new United States all-volunteer armed forces as a model case of equal employment policies in action 
(D) analyze reforms in the new United States all-volunteer armed forces necessitated by the increasing number of women in the military 
(E) analyze the use of functional equivalence as a substitute for occupational equality in the new United States all-volunteer armed forces

2 
 E 
 2. According to the passage, despite the United States armed forces' commitment to occupational equality for women in the military, certain other factors preclude women's

(A) receiving equal pay for equal work 
(B) having access to positions of responsibility at most levels 
(C) drawing assignments from a wider range of assignments than before 
(D) benefiting from opportunities arising from new noncombat functions 
(E) being assigned all of the military tasks that are assigned to men

3 
 A 
 3. The passage implies that which of the following is a factor conducive to a more equitable representation of women in the United States armed forces than has existed in the past?

(A) The all-volunteer character of the present armed forces 
(B) The past service records of women who had assignments functionally equivalent to men's assignments 
(C) The level of awareness on the part of the larger society of military issues 
(D) A decline in the proportion of deterrence-oriented noncombat assignments 
(E) Restrictive past policies governing the military assignments open to women

4 
 B 
 4. The "dramatic gains for women" and the attitude of a "significant portion of the larger society" are logically related to each other inasmuch as the author puts forward the latter as

(A) a public response to achievement of the former 
(B) the major reason for absence of the former 
(C) a precondition for any prospect of achieving the former 
(D) a catalyst for a further extension of the former 
(E) a reason for some of the former being lost again

carcass · Accepted Answer

Q3 question is a great question and even I had a hard time to figure out.

The passage implies that which of the following is a factor conducive to a more  equitable representation of women  in the United States armed forces than has existed in the past?

The recent change to  all-volunteer  armed forces in the United States  will eventually produce a gradual increase in the proportion of women  in the armed forces.

the search for  equality will still be based on functional equivalence , not identity or even similarity of task

(A) The all-volunteer character of the present armed forces

Bingo. Stated in the first sentence.

(B) The past service records of women who had assignments functionally equivalent to men's assignments

Now is so. In the past was the contrary

(C) The level of awareness on the part of the larger society of military issues

This is not mentioned in the passage

(D) A decline in the proportion of deterrence-oriented noncombat assignments

The passage hopes exactly the contrary

(E) Restrictive past policies governing the military assignments open to women

I do not know what that means. For sure is not the answer

rinkumaa4 · Answer

CAN SOME ONE EXPLAIN Q3? 
I did not get the link....

yash12899 · Answer

please explain me ques no.4 I was indifferent in option E and Option B

adstudy · Answer

For Question 4, I also got stuck at the same point . But this is how I resolved my doubt.

Let's compare them side by side -

(B) the major reason for absence of the former

(E) a reason for some of the former being lost again

Here Former is - "dramatic gains for women" and latter is - "significant portion of the larger society".

Let us take out the part where these two are mentioned

The recent change to all-volunteer armed forces  in the United States  will eventually produce a gradual increase in the proportion of women in the armed forces and in the variety of women's assignments, but  probably  not the  dramatic gains for women   that might have been expected .

A significant portion of the larger society  remains  uncomfortable as yet  with extending equality  in this direction

From First and Second part we can clearly infer that some changes were made to the all volunteer armed forces that will help increasing the proportion of women's assignments as comapred to men's assignments in the same organization.  BUT STILL , some gains were still not considered or added. This was still not added, as  A Significant Portion is still uncomfortable  with this parameter being considered equal for all volunteers.

Hence if we look at option E -  a reason for some of the former being  lost again  . 
It says 'lost again',  but it was never added only to begin with . So how can it be lost.

Hence B is the better and the correct option out of the two.

Hoping this was helpful for you

mrinalsingh918 · Answer

How to see explanation of the answers in detail?

Posted from my mobile device

carcass · Answer

ASKING WHICH QUESTION YOU DID NOT UNDERSTAND AND A MOD OR SOME OTHER USER PROBABLY WILL EXPLAIN YOU.

Regards

robinbjoern · Answer

Why to you cross out "will eventually" in the first quote? That means the changes are not implemented yet..

Posted from my mobile device

adstudy · Answer

Sorry did not notice. Edited my answer. 
Thanks

nikhilbhat · Answer

Can someone kindly explain comparison between options B and D in Q4?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

B is true here because B give the true direction to the points discussed in the two different text above. The word  "further extension"  make the option  D  wrong as there is no further extension is given rather a cause and its effect is discussed.

altairahmad · Answer

carcass  and other experts

For Q4,isn't option C a better choice. Its a close competition between B and C, however in the sentence "A significant portion of the larger society remains uncomfortable as   yet   with extending equality in this direction" the word 'yet' gives the impression that unless the society becomes comfortable with the idea of women entering combat roles (latter idea), women can not truly be equal to men (former idea).

Kindly explain how B is a better choice than C. I am surprised that such close answer choices exist on the GRE.

nipun7399 · Answer

Hi All,

I am confused with Q4. How could option B be the right answer?

Option B says "the major reason for the absence of the former", but nowhere in the passage it has been mentioned that the significant part of the larger society decides what should be included/excluded in Armed forces Policies. So, how could the views (Only) of the latter be the the "major reason" for the absence of the former?

Please help!!

carcass · Answer

This was tough for the wording

We could say that the author considers as key element  significant portion of the larger society  as a requisite for what reason ?? I.E the second element is related to the first one in the chain so the third is related to the second on which base ??

It is a large portion of the society that does not permit a major gain of the women in the armed forces. This is the relationship

The "dramatic gains for women" is related to the "significant portion of the larger society" which is the main reason, in circular reasoning, WHY we do not have the huge gains of women

X=Y=Z turns out z=x in circle.

A >>> B >>>>> C

C back to A

Hope this helps

nipun7399 · Answer

Hi Carcass,

Though you have explained it pretty well, I am still facing the difficulty in understanding the logic.

Anyways thanks for your efforts ??

Posted from my mobile device

Kprasoon29 · Answer

Can anyone please explain Q3 and Q4 ?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Question #3 is explained here in the link below https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-recent-c ... l#p2227514 Question #4 is explained twice in the links below https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-recent-c ... l#p2499207 https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-recent-c ... l#p2529621 Good Luck

Akhil5495 · Answer

For Q3, I understand why A is right, in the past the armed forces were not open to volunteering, but now they are. However, why can someone explain why B is wrong?

lionx7 · Answer

I think Q4 is a difficult question.. B and C could be right. It depends on how you see the question.

Because it's true that  B) the major reason for absence of the former  is true in context of the passage.
But C is also true, but you would have to read the question in a more general term.

According to the logic, it MUST be a precondition, since  "dramatic gains for women"  stand and fall with the attitude of society. But what diminishes this possible answer is the following:  a precondition for  any  prospect of achieving the former.  Yes, exactly ANY is the problem. At the end of the text we see that it is certain that opportunities can arise. What then speaks against dramatic gains being achieved in the future?

I think GRE wants us to stay inside the box, therefore B would be correct. C seems also correct, but you can poke holes into that answer. B MUST be right.

Definitely a difficult question, where B is one step ahead of C in the details.

The recent change to all-volunteer armed forces in the United States w

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The recent change to all-volunteer armed forces in the United States w

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