Ductility plays an important role in aseismic design of structures. Reinforced concrete sections can be made ductile in flexural mode of failure as other failure modes are brittle in nature. Ductility of beams are higher than those of columns which are subjected to axial forces along with flexure. The aim of the present work is to demonstrate the influence of axial forces on curvature ductility, and plastic rotation of reinforced concrete (RC) sections. In the present study curvature ductility values of a column section with reinforcement distributed on two sides have been evaluated and compared with the curvature ductility values of a similar section acting in flexure only, i.e., beam. Other parameters like reinforcement content and their distribution in the sections, effective covers, grades of steel and concrete have been considered similar for both the sections. Using the fundamental principles of limit state method curvature ductility and plastic rotations of beam and column sections have been evaluated. Results indicate that the curvature ductility and plastic rotations of columns are lower than the corresponding values for beams. Thus to ensure ductile failure, beams should fail first and not columns. This justifies the strong column-weak beam theory. Columns with higher levels of axial forces exhibit significantly less curvature ductility and plastic rotations than columns with lower levels of axial forces. © 2024 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.