A significant body of theoretical and empirical work among middle-class women of the global south has argued for focusing on their experiences and perspectives intersected by other structural arrangements of caste, race, and class. Contemporary inclusive and critical feminism does not see women as victims or just recipients; rather, it sees them as articulative and having agency. By focusing on urban middle-class married women working in white collared jobs in Delhi, who simultaneously navigate through professional careers and traditional constraints of family life, the present chapter identifies these women from the Global South as economic agents. The in-depth interviews with these women working in an autonomous organization in Delhi, who are living in heterosexual relationships and are in the age group of 27–57 years, demonstrated that in the formative years of their career, they develop complex skills and strategies to manage paid work, child care, and family responsibilities. The economic privileges that they have may not necessarily translate into empowerment. Their lives revolve around their professional careers, enhancing their educational and professional skills, taking care of their growing children’s education and career and marriage prospects, living up to the middle-class status, saving for their future and retirement and having a view on political events and circumstances. The portrayal of an autonomous and independent working urban woman who is self-determined and capable of making conscious choices contrasts with the hybrid image of the women in my field whose socially constituted self is relational and shifting. They are professional workers who, with their jobs, strategically conform to the traditional norms, profess individual choice, and take pride in family responsibility.

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The Urban Middle-Class Consciousness: Paid Work, Aspirations, and Family Among Women from the Global South

  • Gunjan Arora

摘要

A significant body of theoretical and empirical work among middle-class women of the global south has argued for focusing on their experiences and perspectives intersected by other structural arrangements of caste, race, and class. Contemporary inclusive and critical feminism does not see women as victims or just recipients; rather, it sees them as articulative and having agency. By focusing on urban middle-class married women working in white collared jobs in Delhi, who simultaneously navigate through professional careers and traditional constraints of family life, the present chapter identifies these women from the Global South as economic agents. The in-depth interviews with these women working in an autonomous organization in Delhi, who are living in heterosexual relationships and are in the age group of 27–57 years, demonstrated that in the formative years of their career, they develop complex skills and strategies to manage paid work, child care, and family responsibilities. The economic privileges that they have may not necessarily translate into empowerment. Their lives revolve around their professional careers, enhancing their educational and professional skills, taking care of their growing children’s education and career and marriage prospects, living up to the middle-class status, saving for their future and retirement and having a view on political events and circumstances. The portrayal of an autonomous and independent working urban woman who is self-determined and capable of making conscious choices contrasts with the hybrid image of the women in my field whose socially constituted self is relational and shifting. They are professional workers who, with their jobs, strategically conform to the traditional norms, profess individual choice, and take pride in family responsibility.