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.

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".

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.