Direction: In the following questions, read the passage carefully and choose the best answer to each question out of the four alternatives.
PASSAGE
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.
SOME IMPORTANT WORDS
(1) ethos (N.) : the moral ideas and attitudes that belong to a particular group/society
(2) deterrence (N.) : the fact of somebody less likely to do something
(3)combat (N.) : fighting/a fight, especially during a time of war
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The passage implies 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?
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- The all-volunteer character of the present armed forces.
- The past service records of women who had assignments functionally equivalent to men’s assignments.
- The level of awareness on the part of the larger society of military issues.
- An increased decline in the proportion of deterrence oriented non combat assignments.
Correct Option: A
The all-volunteer character of the present armed forces.
