The concept of the passage is rooted in :

Concept: A passage is “rooted in” the body of thought whose governing assumptions organise it. Every school of thought is identified by two things together — the object it takes as its subject, and the claim it makes about that object. To place a passage, name its subject and name its claim, then match that pair against the school that is defined by exactly that pair, instead of matching isolated words.

Application: Read this passage for its subject and its claim.

• Subject: from first line to last the passage speaks about women — their status, their struggles and their sacrifices.

• Claim about that subject: their present standing was won rather than given, as antiquated local customs were replaced by laws that uphold and protect their rights.

• Direction of the argument: a concerted demand for equality from the nineteenth century onward, the winning of suffrage, and steadily greater economic, social and political standing.

So the subject is the position of women, and the claim is that this position can be and has been raised towards equality. The body of thought defined by exactly that pair — the study of the social, political and economic position of women together with the argument for equality between the sexes — is feminism. The passage is therefore rooted in feminism.

Contrast with the other frameworks:

• Psychoanalysis takes the individual mind as its subject and explains conduct through unconscious drives and early experience, whereas this passage advances no claim about mental processes.

• Masculinity studies takes the construction of manhood and the shaping of male roles as its subject, whereas this passage’s subject is the position of women.

• Gender-neutral ideologies seek to avoid gender-based distinctions in law and policy, whereas this passage argues for laws that specifically uphold women’s rights, which foregrounds gender instead of setting it aside.

Answer: Feminism.