In recent years, India has seen an increasing number of changes in women's involvement in various spheres of Indian society. Today, women are present not only in traditional, but also in new areas of the economy, including high technologies, including information. They have also significantly expanded their involvement in politics both in the states and in the center. This is becoming a familiar part of India's public landscape.

Today, no one is surprised that the president of India is Pratibha Patil, the leader of the ruling party is Sonia Gandhi, and the chief minister of the largest state of Uttar Pradesh (with a population of more than 180 million people) is Mayawati1.

Women are very active as ministers, governors, ambassadors, and in numerous party and non-governmental organizations. In this respect, India is ahead of not only many developing countries, but also developed countries. All this has become possible as a result of long-term, seemingly inconspicuous changes in Indian society, which has been steadily moving step by step along the path of democratization over 60 years of independence.

The positive changes affected mainly the middle class and, to a much greater extent, its upper stratum. This class has grown significantly over the past 10 years. According to Pawan Varma, Director General of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, anyone who has a home, the ability to eat three meals a day, use basic health services, public transport, send their children to school, and the income to buy a ceiling fan, a wristwatch, or a bicycle "has already entered the middle class car." class". Based on this, according to Varma, the size of the middle class is about 400 million people2. However, there are other estimates - 250-300 million people*.

The result of complex, contradictory, deep-seated processes in this steadily growing segment of the Indian population is increasing women's participation in socio-economic and political life. I had the opportunity to see this during a trip to India in January-February 2008, during conversations with scientists, teachers and students, public and political figures. Of particular interest were meetings with young people who shared their observations, their understanding of the current and future status of women in the family and society.

AIR OF FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE

At the University of Delhi. Jawaharlala Nehru, after a seminar on the comparative situation of Russian and Indian women, one of the graduate students shared her life experience with me. She belonged to a typically patriarchal middle-class family. The father always emphasized his dominant role, never took care of two daughters, did not consider it possible to be in public with his wife, whose lot was the household. But gradually, as the girls grew older, under the influence of internal and external changes in the house and outside it, the father began to pay more attention to his children and his wife. There was no discrimination against girls, as there was no boy in the family.

After entering the university, my interlocutor left her hometown, began to live in a hostel with other students, and felt the air of freedom and independence. This was the transformation of a child from a traditional family with all its restrictions into a free person who no longer wanted to bind himself to the conventions of patriarchal life. She had her own creative plans (defending her dissertation, writing a book, working at school). She was in no hurry to tie the knot.

Such sentiments are typical for many young women today. And this is a fundamentally new phenomenon in their lives. Much is still being planned, much is still unclear and not fully realized. Moreover, family and social traditions still cling tenaciously to these young souls. Nevertheless, the trend is marked-a movement towards economic and spiritual independence, towards personal freedom. Never before have women so clearly and definitely felt the need for complete independence.

Although the inner, deep processes associated with the growing role of women are not so obvious as to be immediately noticed and understood, they are nevertheless quite intense. There is a gradual accumulation of changes in the family and society, which will undoubtedly continue to affect the status of women. Not the least role in this is played by the mass media-television, cinema, radio, and the Internet.

Namita Mohanty, one of the teachers at Delhi's private high school, told me how the behavior of students has changed over the past 10 to 15 years. Now, both boys and girls often disagree with the teacher's opinion and give their arguments, referring to television and the Internet. Just like in Russia, schoolchildren prefer the Internet rather than books. This is what has the most powerful impact on shaping their views on " what is good and what is bad." Another interviewee added: "The vast majority of middle-class parents prefer to give their children a modern education. Boys, as a rule, are exempt from the upanayana procedure - a traditional ceremony that introduced boys aged 7-11 to the spiritual heritage of their ancestors, gave them the right to participate in the spiritual life of their parents.-

* India has a population of about 1.1 billion. human.

right to read ancient sacred texts. Now they go to school, they are not given to gurus to teach religious Sanskrit texts. This means that they grow up to be more democratic and free from male chauvinism and patriarchal views on the purpose of women in this life." And since the initiation rite was intended only for the upper castes, who set the tone in society, it is clear that changing the social behavior of the more enlightened members of these castes affects the rest, even the orthodox members of the middle class.

According to a survey conducted in January 2008 in eight major cities in India (Delhi, Mumbai ,Kolkata, Chinnai, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Bhilai and Patna) among men and women aged 18-35, 85% of respondents answered yes to the question: "Do I need to go to college?" Another 88% gave a positive answer to the question: "Do I need to know English to live well?"³ This was confirmed by Arun Kumar Pande, the head of a traditional Brahmin family from Bihar, a middle-class entrepreneur. He said with pride that both of his daughters are studying at a private school at the Christian Convention, they "will receive a good liberal arts education, including English, and this will give them the opportunity to go to university."

A LOVE MATCH

It is in the urban middle class that noticeable processes are taking place related to the position of women in the family and society. The city is dominated by nuclear (small) families, where both spouses are employed at work. The wife, like the husband, contributes to the material support of the family, which leads to an increase in its role in family life. However, there is still no full equality between the sexes in the remaining traditional society, including in the city.

Women who have received professional education have to overcome the stagnation of traditional ideas about their place not only at home, but also at work.

Meanwhile, the situation is changing. Indian women are more and more actively involved in the processes related to the development of education, science, and modern technologies. Today, there are more than a thousand engineering colleges and institutes in India, which annually graduate about 150 thousand high-tech specialists.⁴ There are many women among them. The number of computer firms and information technology companies in the country has increased dramatically. Their managers recruit for jobs based on the knowledge and readiness of the applicant.

Unmarried young people, breaking away from their parents, come from all over India to major cities-Bangalore, Hyderabad, etc., where the largest number of such centers are concentrated. Their social life in a new place is determined by the environment, their colleagues, with whom they work an average of 10 or more hours not only on working days, but often on weekends. They also spend their free time together. This creates an environment where young people themselves determine how to build relationships with each other, including entering into love marriages.

If earlier the arrangement of a traditional marriage was always the responsibility and responsibility of parents, when young people often did not even see each other before the wedding, now the situation looks somewhat different. In the changed conditions, when girls and boys receive a fairly high salary, but belong to different castes, marriage for love does not cause much objection to their parents. Although they still need to be approved by both families, and often even castes, it is not caste that is becoming crucial, but a new community, in this case, high-tech professionals. This creates a new code of conduct, a new set of rules ⁵.

In recent years, the so-called free marriage has also become widespread, especially among students and young people working in information technology centers. This is primarily caused by the living conditions and joint work of young people and represents a kind of challenge to the patriarchal tradition. Many explain this new phenomenon by the desire of girls to maintain their independence and be free from male chauvinism and traditional family relations.

Some young people even leave a large family, their parents and relatives, live separately, communicate with people who are close to them in their activities and spirit. Often they form communes, work together, relax, and play sports. In this way, they free themselves from the need to participate in numerous religious family rites and celebrations.⁶

Another new phenomenon concerns affluent married couples who prefer careers. Often, the husband and wife work in different cities and keep in touch with the house by phone. Children, usually one child, are taken care of by a nanny-housekeeper. Family meets on holidays or weekends ⁷. As M. R. Madhavan points out, "the realities of modern times are forcing urban residents to limit themselves to having one child." Although two children continue to be the norm for most middle-class families, in major cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, the number of married couples who choose to have only one child is increasing every year. According to the observations of children's doctors and school teachers, ten years ago such families were the exception.⁸

TRADITIONS ARE STILL STRONG

A new lifestyle makes its way with great difficulty. Traditional values and customs, especially those related to marriage, continue to dominate society. Public surveys consistently confirm that the majority of young people adhere to the old norms when getting married, among which the bride's virginity and wedding within their caste and community are mandatory.⁹ At the same time, opinion polls show that 40% of young people consider premarital sex acceptable ¹⁰.

Recently, inter-caste marriages have become more common. New practice in semeino-brac-

This is largely due to the decline in the number of women in the country. With a negative attitude towards the girl as a burden for the family, the use of modern medical technologies in order to get rid of female embryos has become widespread. This, combined with female infanticide (the killing of a newborn girl), has become a national problem, as it exacerbates gender imbalances in society.

The last Census of India (2001) showed that there were only 933 women on average per 1,000 men in the country, while in the North of India, in rich states such as Haryana and Punjab, there were 861 and 874 women, respectively ^.11 Indian scientists predict the possibility of such a situation in other districts ¹².

Due to the shortage of brides in Northern India, there are many cases of marriages between boys from northern states and girls from southern states, including Kerala. This is despite significant cultural, social, and other differences, including linguistic ones. Moreover, women in Kerala are raised in a matriarchal culture, have more rights to family property, and have a higher level of education than in the North of the country. All this affects new mixed families and even leads to the breakdown of marital ties.¹³

Inter-caste and inter-religious marriages are gradually spreading in society, despite the resistance of conservative circles that do not want to accept the violation of traditional principles. ¹⁴

THE DOWRY INSTITUTE IS ALIVE AND WELL

Family and marriage relations are very stable. But they are also changing, just as the family and society are changing. However, these changes occur mainly within the framework of the established system of traditional values, where caste still plays an important role. Some of the key elements of Hindu marital relations, such as dowry, are also subject to changes that do not lead to its abolition or disappearance. But on the contrary - to adapt it to the new conditions of a developing society. Moreover, the practice of giving a bride dowry went beyond the boundaries of Hindu castes and began to spread among tribes and even Muslims, for whom the bride price was previously mandatory.

It is noteworthy that the Muslim Personal Law Council*, when recently codifying this right, included in it "the permissibility of exchanging gifts during an engagement". Engagement was not practiced among Muslims before, and the "exchange of gifts" is nothing more than receiving a dowry from the bride's parents.

Dowry becomes an important factor in organizing the hierarchy of various social groups. At the same time, families with only daughters are at the bottom of the social ladder. Families with sons occupy the top rung of the hierarchy, and families with both sons and daughters try to compensate for the cost of their daughter's dowry by receiving a dowry when their son marries. In the last two decades, the status of a family has become increasingly dependent on the ability of the bride's family to organize a "decent wedding" - the more luxurious and richer it is, the more worthy this family looks in the eyes of its community. Often the girls themselves insist on a rich dowry, considering it as a guarantee of their safety, as a kind of protection from the bad attitude of the husband's parents and the husband himself.

At a time when the costs of arranging a daughter's marriage have skyrocketed, the young woman is experiencing enormous psychological pressure from her own family, forcing her to adapt to the family of her husband's parents and endure the manifestations of injustice and even violence against herself. It is not uncommon for the husband's family to use a woman as a hostage, constantly demanding money and expensive gifts from her. Indian practice is replete with examples of violence against women whose arrival in the husband's family, according to its members, was not accompanied by a sufficient dowry. They are intimidated, mistreated, pushed to commit suicide, and even killed. The law prohibiting dowry (1961), which was further tightened in 1981, is rarely used by a young woman's relatives to protect her. Going to court on such intra-family and related issues is usually not approved by society.

Women's and student organizations constantly raise the issue of abolishing this vicious tradition, conduct propaganda work among parents and potential suitors. Thus, during a dowry dispute at J. Nehru University, it was suggested that young men publicly promise that they will refuse to take a dowry. To this, one of them said that he was ready to refuse, but no one in his caste would understand this act correctly.: "Everyone will think that I am somehow inferior and ready to marry on any terms, if only the bride agrees to marry me."

According to a survey conducted in 2005 in 18 states by the Indian School for Women's Development Studies in collaboration with the All India Democratic Women's Association, the majority of respondents from almost 10,000 families from various classes, castes and communities who participated in it said that dowry is necessary, it is "inevitable" ¹⁵ Frontline magazine, referring to a representative sociological survey, noted that "all crimes, including the destruction of the female embryo and female infanticide, are associated with the practice of dowry, which over the past two decades has taken on threatening proportions and has actually reached all segments of society" ¹⁶.

NEW JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN

In recent decades, India has made impressive strides in the development of information technology, particularly in the field of software. Information technology has turned out to be an area in which-

* An organization of Muslim theologians and jurists that aims to regulate the application of Sharia law among Indian Muslims and its coordination with Indian civil law.

swarm along with men work and women.

In this regard, in our opinion, it is necessary to tell about call centers* that turned out to be attractive in terms of employment for a certain category of Indian women.

The American financial company GE Capital was the first to open its call center in India - in Gurgaon (a suburb of Delhi) to conduct operations on a global level.

The number of call centers in India is growing rapidly - up to 15-20% per year. Already by 2003, about 40 Indian companies of the same profile had entered this business on the basis of partnership with the Americans. In 2005, there were about 250,000 such operators in the country's call centers, ²⁰ of which, according to some sources, women account for up to 40%.

India has become a base for call centers for a number of reasons. It is located in a time zone that makes it attractive to customers from the United States and the United Kingdom. While in these countries it is night, in India it is day, and vice versa, and call centers work around the clock. In addition, India, with its large English-speaking population (the second largest country in the world) and its technical staff, suits the corporations of Western countries, especially the United States and Great Britain, very well. But the main thing is that low salaries in the service sector make this business profitable for foreign companies.

Working in an Indian call center is essentially the same as working in an American one. Only in the former is it considered highly paid and therefore prestigious, and in the latter - low-paid and low-prestige. For example, employees of an Indian call center received a salary that is less than 1/4 of the salary of the same employees in the United States, but it is attractive to Indians, especially for women. They receive a starting salary equivalent to $ 200. In six months or a year, it can rise to $ 300 - $ 400, and along with the salary, the prestige of the job also increases.

When hiring for a call center job, a good knowledge of English with a "neutral accent" is required (i.e., there is no noticeable influence of Indian languages on English pronunciation). In addition, you need to have knowledge of the cultural characteristics of the respective country, as well as have basic computer skills.

Most call centers are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Employees are provided with transport, all formally have an 8-hour working day, 30 minutes for a free lunch or dinner, an additional two 15-minute breaks, two days off a week. As a reward for more intensive and productive work, companies provide social packages that are included in contracts for employees who are hired for permanent work.

Strict control over the work of operators keeps them in constant tension, which affects the physical and mental state of employees. In general, a year and a half on such a job is the maximum time for which the operator has time to "burn out". However, the labor turnover rate in Indian call centers is somewhat lower than in Western countries. American sociologist T. Friedman, who visited several such centers in India, believes that some of them have adopted a "sweatshop system", although he highly appreciates their effectiveness from the point of view of American business21. It is no coincidence that call center employees are people under the age of 30, many of whom work temporarily or only part of the working day22.

According to opinion polls related to working in call centers, almost all female operators are urban residents. Most of them are aged 21-25 years - 67%, 26-30 years-15%, younger than 20 years-14%. More than 90% are single. By level of education, 60% have a bachelor's degree, ²²% have completed secondary school23. At the same time, the vast majority of all employees studied in private kindergartens, schools and higher educational institutions with teaching in English. Their families were able to pay for their education in order to "invest" in their knowledge of the English language.

The decision regarding a young woman's work in a call center is mostly made by the father or husband (43%), and in 41% of cases, the daughter is also involved. It is noted that only 11% of women independently made this choice. The share of the mother as the main arbiter in resolving this issue accounted for only 5% of cases ²⁴.

Contrary to the officially announced 8-hour working day, most of the operators worked 9-10 hours a shift,

* Call centers (Call center, Call center, Callcenter, Call center, Contact Center-a phone call processing system) transmit information to a remote client from the companies they serve. In developed countries, they first appeared in the 1980s and became part of telecommunications, banking, insurance, tourism and other types such activity resulted from a massive shift in transactions to computerized technology. A decade later, call centers, including in India, have become a prominent part of the information business. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, the number of employees in call centers worldwide was more than 15 million, and each year it is growing by 20-30%¹⁷.

Since the mid-1990s, large Western corporations have been actively looking for ways to reduce costs in the field of information technology through so-called outsourcing, or the transfer of labor-intensive processes, in particular, the information business, to regions of cheap labor. Outsourcing reduced companies ' costs by half or even more ¹⁸.

For example, the British agency "Reuters" uses outsourcing when processing elements of the news chain. When receiving initial information from any company in the world, Reuters sends it to Bangalore. The reporters who work there use it to make electronic versions of their messages, no worse than in London or New York. But the salary of Indians, the cost of renting a room in India is less than one-fifth of its counterparts in Western countries. Reuters can hire several correspondents for the price of one reporter in New York, " says American journalist T. Friedman. One of the company's executives told him, "India is a luxury destination for employers, not only in terms of the technical skills of the local workforce, but also in terms of financial resources." ¹⁹

often at night. All this suggests that they and their families went to a certain violation of such a traditional ban as women working together with men, especially in the evening and at night. Custom forbade this.

Labor laws prohibit women from working at night, but the Government of India made an exception for the information technology industry in 199825 by special decree.

The work of women in call centers indicates that they are quite successfully introduced to new types and forms of employment related to the development of information technology. The vast majority of women working in call centers (87%) belong to nuclear families, which almost completely coincides with the share of unmarried women workers in the centers. 2/3 of them come from families working in the service sector, and about 1/3 - from the families of entrepreneurs.

Most of the female call center workers in Delhi, Gurgaon and Nodia did not have families in these cities. 50% of these girls initially came to study at public universities in Delhi, lived in student dormitories, then went to work in call centers. They admit that they work for material reasons. But some of them cite social independence as the reasons for their choice: "to be far from home and feel free."

Relatively greater freedom from family-related restrictions is a new phenomenon in the social behavior of young unmarried women. In the past, the work of young single women from well-off families in Delhi was limited to the profession of nurses, who came mainly from the southern state of Kerala. Almost all other female migrants lived in Delhi as family members and remained in the same status as economically dependent members.²⁶

For the majority of women employed in call centers, their earnings are a significant increase to the total family budget. About 20% of these women's families have a combined income of less than $ 500. These families are financially dependent on the earnings of a female operator.

The largest group (47%) consists of families with a total income of between $ 500 and $ 1,250.²⁷ These are middle-class people who seek to improve their standard of living. Therefore, the contribution of a working woman is very important for the well-being and development of the family.

Call centers do not discriminate on the basis of gender. Complex technical processes that require higher qualifications are usually performed by men. However, there are many examples where professionally trained women quickly move up the career ladder.

However, the vast majority of women work at the grassroots level. Their professional development is largely hindered by numerous family responsibilities related to marriage, childbirth, caring for the sick in the family, etc. Therefore, women are often forced to leave their jobs. His wife's professional career continues to be considered secondary by tradition.

Women operators working in call centers are only a small part of the total number of female employees employed in various areas of economic activity. And it is hardly possible to expect that their appearance in the field of information technology will lead to a rapid, qualitative change in the status of women. Nevertheless, their participation in such work, albeit limited, is a new phenomenon, a step forward in expanding the activities of women, an opportunity for them to have their own earnings, and independently solve many issues related to their personal lives. This indicates positive changes in the attitude of the family and society to women's work in modern types of employment.

* * *

Current issues of gender equality are raised by political parties, influential women's and other organizations. This is also evidenced by the fact that problems related to the status of women not only in India, but also in other countries, are studied in the country's leading universities. The development of programs, textbooks and manuals on this topic is carried out by the Indian Association for the Study of Women's Issues, a number of universities.

Without addressing the current problems of women in India, it is impossible to successfully move the entire society along the path of its reform in the interests of the vast majority of the population.

¹ See: Yurlova E. President of India-Pratibha Patil / / Asia and Africa Today. 2007, N 12, pp. 47-50.

^{Varma Pavan К.} 2 The Great Indian Middle Class. New Delhi, 2007, p. XVIII.

³ The Hindustan Times. 26.01.2008.

^{Varma Pavan K.} 4 Op. cit, p. XXIII.

^{Baas Michael.} 5 'Arranged Love': Marriage in a transnational work environment // HAS Newsletter N 45, Autumn 2007, p. 9.

^{Joshi Namrata.} 6 The Circle of Frisson // Outlook. June 25, 2007, p. 48 - 53.

^{Goyal Malini.} 7 Weekend couples // India Today. December 19, 2005, p. 67 - 69; Shahane Devayani. Money Talks // India Today Woman. June, 2007, p. 22 - 28.

^{Madhavan Minakshi Reddy.} 8 One Kid, Doubly Pleased // Outlook. July 2,2007, p. 86 - 88.

^{Kaiser Ejaz.} 9 MLA fined for son's inter-caste marriage // The Hindustan Times. January 30, 2008.

¹⁰ The Hindustan Times. 26.01.2008.

¹¹ Census of India 2001, Paper 1 of 2001.

^{Sen Amartya.} 12 The Argumentative Indian. Writings on Indian history, culture and identity. New Delhi, 2005, p. 227 - 228.

^{John Mary.} 13 Kerala Mixed Marriages: Haryanvi lads end their search with Payyan-nur's girls // Outlook. June 11, 2007, p. 14 - 16.

^{Ghose Bhaskar.} 14 Of beliefs & trends // Frontline. February 1, 2008, p. 112.

^{Karat Brinda.} 15 Survival and Emancipation. New Delhi, 2005, p. 251.

¹⁶ Frontline. November 09 - 22, 2002.

^{Mazumdar Indrani.} 17 Women Workers and Globalization. Emergent Contradictions in India. New Delhi, 2007, p. 38, 240, 303.

¹⁸ For comparison, the average annual salary (in dollars) in call centers (1998) was 32,000 in Japan, 26,000 in the United States, 24,000 in Hong Kong, 22,000 in Singapore, 20,000 in Ireland, 19,000 in the United Kingdom, 17,000 in Australia, and 5,000 in India (MazumdarIndrani. Op. cit., p. 247,306).

^{Fridman Thomas.} 19 Flat World. Moscow, 2006, pp. 26, 27.

^{Sengupta Somini.} 20 Careers Give India's Women New Independence - http://www.ny-times.com/2007/11/23/

^{Thomas Friedman.} 20 Discworld.., p. 31.

^{Mazumdar Indrani.} 21 Op. cit., p. 242.

^{Singh Preeti and Ann Pandey.} 22 Women in Call Centres // Towards Empowering Indian Women. New Delhi, p. 464.

²³ Ibid., p. 469.

^{Mazumdar Indrani.} 24 Op. cit., p. 277.

²⁵ Ibid., p. 295.

^{Singh Preeti and Ann Pandey.} 26 Op. cit., p. 468.

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