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CD (Page #) and Commentary (How does it connect to the key concept and FQ.

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“What was considered a flexible day shift job in the United States is rigid night work in India" (37).

As call center jobs in India are associated with their American counterparts, they often require individuals in India to work the night shift. However, the temporal night space of this work challenges the cultural obligations that Indian women must attend to at home as the assigned caretakers and nurturers. In the West, this job is characterized as a flexible occupation as it’s during the day time, but due to the unsafe nighttime conditions of India, Patel states that “[w]hat was considered a flexible day shift job in the United States is rigid night work in India" (37). Women in this workforce in India are subjected to more restrictions than men due to their responsibilities as the family caretaker as well as their limited physical and temporal mobility at night which has allowed more men to move into these jobs. The cultural differences in how women are raised between the U.S. and India shape their agency and ability to challenge societal norms to work within the call centers.

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"Earning a high income does not necessarily buy women respect in the home, as illustrated bu Gita's husband, who continued to see it within his domain to have a wife by his side ready to "Serve food!""(Patel 122).

Even though working in a call center let women make more money, it did not help them with the fact that culturally they still had be subservient and work the "second shift".

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"Also, in many households, a mother or mother-in-law ends up attending to the day shift domestic front. This dynamic is interesting from the perspective of relations between young women and elderly women." (Ch 6 P109) This quote describes a more subtle social relation that isn't as explored in this book (since it is usually male vs. female relations). This shows that working at a late age due to their domestic life presents a challenge in women's lives; hence, the call-centers allow for younger women to have more agency where older women have less agency, providing an example of kinship. This system of living for families exclusively connects kinship with social relations.

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"If you are careful and don't send the wrong signals, no one is going to try anything." (Patel 56) Poonam says this in reference to leaving the house at night and how it is acceptable to go to work the night shift in call centers but how "wearing mini skirts and parading around town" were two different things. This shows the patriarchal culture in which women are blamed for actions men commit against them. First, they shouldn't be out at night, but when that is normalized, it has something to do with how they dress. The society finds a way to villainize women for "luring" men instead of acknowledging men's intentional decisions. This is evidence of the deeply engrained misogyny in this Indian society.

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"women employed in call centers are no longer bound by the traditional patterns of family control over daughters" (52). This quote states that in some jobs that allow and rely on women to work, even at night, this gives women more flexibility in their at home and family dynamic because they aren't entirely financially dependent and they have a stable living. In this instance, daughters in a kinship structure have preconceived roles and therefore because they have jobs they can afford to break out of that structure. In a society where women are usually forced to stay at home and that their "real" work lies in housework, the call center jobs gives women the ability to choose their own career, make their own living, be assertive, and have their own independence. As a result, call centers in some case allow for women at home to have more agency in their choices.

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"At an age when they should be retiring and enjoying a matriarchal status, elderly women continue to be treated as unpaid servants or managers of the household" (Patel, 109); this quote shows how the identity and role of a woman in a household doesn't change as they grow older, and rather they have more work forced upon them, with things such as preparing meals, helping young children, etc.

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"Family pressure, however, has deemed it unacceptable. what would people think? was a common theme that emerged during interviews with single women who wanted to use their call center income to live on their own" (102).

This quote shows that even when women are independent and have given their own income, they still have limited agency. Really it is their familal ties as well as societal influence that holds power over them and prevents them from becoming fully independent. So while they gain economic power, they still have limited mobility.

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"Shilpa decided to leave her teaching job and take a night shift job because it provided her with... much higher salary" (112). This quotes shows how the money from the call center jobs have empowered women to have more mobility and more choices in terms of how they live. This also connects with the social feminist theory which explains how women can gain power and independence only once they become financially independent.

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The increased salary Shilpa receives has also made her redefine her relationship with her husband. At first their relationship was rocky, and her husband's ego was difficult to deal with, but the benfefits of this switch to a night shift job have meant more than just more money. The power she gains from being the higher-earning member of the family has made her relationship smoother, her husband takes on more responsibilities in response to the benefits that Shilpa's salary provides. Her job also gives her a sense of power and fulfillment, she is proud of the challenge she faces when taking on a job and managing the family at the same time.

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“Income from call center employment had provided her with the financial means necessary to take a stand for herself” (117).

While not all women gained agency as a result of working in the call center industry, some, like Karen, were able to gain financial freedom that gave them power in the face of structures. In this example, Karen was able to move away from her estranged father because of the financial agency that her call center job gave her. This allowed her to act against traditional structures in India that give the men of the household power and take some of that power for herself. With the ability to influence her own financial resources, Karen was able to take control of the situation and act in her best interest. The power to do so came from the agency she was able to gain from working in the call center industry.

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"Despite the apparent lack of change in gender relations, Anan worked full time and participated in an MBA program because of the sense of independence it gave her. Vasanti, age twenty-three, also pointed out that for married women like her, the sense of independence derived for the night shift empowerment meant "we can spend on whatever we want" and "we don't have to ask someone for money,""(Patel 108).

Even though the call center industry did not seem to give women more agency it still seemed to help some as it helped give them an identity where they did not feel 100% dependent on men for money even if in reality men still controlled the household and all of the associated financial stuff.

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In chapter 6 of “Working The Night Shift” Patel described societies thoughts sourounding women employed in call centers. They said the job "gives the impression that their daughters are promiscuous, and this is viewed as marring the reputation of the entire family" (116). This is an example of how women working the night shifts are victims of stigmas and stereotypes spread by a culture of gossip. In India social relations are very important. For example, an individuals and families reputation has lots of impact over how they are treated by their peers. In this case, the negative stigmas attatched to women that work the night shift impacts their own, and families, reputations causing them to be treated poorly. This is an example of how women working in call centers agency is limited because they loose control over their reputations after becoming employed and therefore are treated differently by their peers.

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"Instead of the worst, she has found out that her husband is now very proud of her" (113) You can see the shift in dynamic from the husband having intense animosity for his wife as she had been more educated than him. To him becoming proud of her and her endeavors.

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In the quote, "transnational call center employment represents a shift from exporting the production of material goods or culture to a full scale reproduction of identity and culture" (28) Patel explains one way that call center employment has shifted Indian culture. While not an impact that only women feel, this "reproduction" of culture is one way in which women face less agency in their working conditions. It also shows the greater issue, that is, how people are impacted by this globalization (through identity, harassment, etc.) and because of women's lower rungs on the society, that change in the world impacts them disproportionately (which we can see in discussions of double standards and men entering the workforce).

"Women leaving the confines of the home to earn an income is viewed as an indicator of society moving along the path of 'modernization' and thus emancipating women from traditional gender roles. Yet in most cases the demand for women workers is less about ensuring their equal participation in the paid labor force and more about meeting the demand for [cheap workers]" (Patel 32). This quote explains how women don't necessarily reap the benefits of social change at economic change. As the book discusses, the majority of the change that comes about it based on economics. There are some small culture shifts (women being allowed out of the home at night, women making money), but those changes are not accompanied by an actual change in the base culture that created them. This 'change' is being created by global forces with no understanding of or interest in actually changing women's place in Indian society. Therefore the changes seen from them cannot be attributed to actually changing how the society views women.

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"Although concern for women traversing the urban nightscape was generally presented in the framework of protection and concern for women's safety, it became apparent that the underlying concern for women going out at night came from the "What will people think?" narrative. This form of manipulation was not lost on some of the employees I interviewed. Kavita, a twenty-two-year-old in Navi Mumbai, stated outright that family concern for young women working the night shift is less about physical safety and more about how a women's presence will negatively affect a family's reputation."(60)

While women are gaining more agency, mobility, and financial independence because of these night shift jobs, the social repercussions of their occupation have negative connotations for their family, revealing a social network in which a woman's image is directly tied to her family's. In this sense, women may not feel like they can take hold of this agency for fear of tarnishing their own or their family's reputation. So while women have more freedoms in India, they are still controlled to an extent by societal pressure and cultural norms.

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"In addition to labeling women who work in call centers as too independent and bold, families view negatively the fact that they work at night. This dynamic illustrates how perceptions about women in the paid labor force extend beyond the actual workspace" (116). Society refers to how humans organize themselves in communities and groups. In this community, society's perception of women working call center jobs translates to a "call girl" job, which taints that specific woman's reputation, and in turn, negatively impacts the reputation of that woman's family. A family's reputation is held at a high value in this society, and women having these jobs is significantly frowned upon due to the negative impact it has on the family's reputation. Regardless of whether or not the woman is gaining agency, they lose agency over how they get treated or how others see them.

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"By 1929, the Bombay Maternity Benefit Act was enacted to provide maternity leave for women. To avoid tightened legal restriction on women's employment, cotton mills in Mumbai summarily fired their female workforce and replace them with men. Although the Indian Factories Act of 1911 and the Bombay Maternity Benefit Act were enacted under the guise of protecting women, in reality these laws resulted in removing women for the workforce."(Patel 49)

Women did not seem to gain more agency because even though they were able to gain more money the era of women working did not necessarily last as all of the best jobs went back to men leaving work opportunities for women only marginally improved.

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"The change in work time... an important part of the labor force that demands people skills and knowledge work." (36). This shows the demand for change in India's workforce especially for the female population shows that people must go along with the times or they will be left behind. For example, Poonam realized how opportunities are increasing and that the life she would have with her husband was unfavorable. So she fights for financial independence and moves away from her family. The quote also emphasizes how the technological advancements in India will offer women more opportunities for jobs. These changes will lead to much more from women being able to have free physical space and more safety at night to financial and social mobility. That is why the first initial change may be seen as too big or having a negative impact because of how it will continue to give more rights to the women of India.

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"On the basis of her experience, living with her in-laws, she said, she now understands the importance of money and believes that it is equally important for the mother to earn an income..... she believes that as her children grow, she too must grow as an individual. In other words, some women are able to interpret unequal demands and expectations in ways that nonetheless offer them a sense of empowerment. (113)"

Shilpa's situation of her earning more money gradually in comparison to her husband shows how women have a heightned sense of empowerment when they are given the oppurtunity to advocate and provide for their family besides the tradition of being homemakers.