Upward and Outward Mobility: Women’s Aspirations for Their Daughters in Urban India

Abstract

Using the case of women home-based workers in India and the aspirations they have for their children, this chapter argues that aspirations across generations can reveal constraints and conflicts of current social positions. As workers in the informal economy, women’s work experiences are shaped by a matrix of oppression shaped by gender, class, caste, and religion. Yet, resistance to this work only became apparent when discussing hopes for their children’s future. It was in these articulations of aspirations that women stressed the exploitative characteristics of their work and their wish for their children to avoid these same experiences.

Citation

Boeri, N. (2021), "Upward and Outward Mobility: Women’s Aspirations for Their Daughters in Urban India", Demos, V. and Segal, M.T. (Ed.) Gender and Generations: Continuity and Change (Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 30), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 35-52. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-212620210000030002