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Negotiating Respectability: Comparing the experiences of poor and middle-class young urban women in India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2019

KATHERINE TWAMLEY  and
JUHI SIDHARTH
KATHERINE TWAMLEY
Affiliation:
University College London Email: Katherine.twamley@ucl.ac.uk
JUHI SIDHARTH
Affiliation:
Flame University Pune Email: juhi.sidharth@flame.edu.in
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Abstract

This article draws together two studies: one that explores the intimate relationships of young slum-dwelling Dalit women in Mumbai and the other of young middle-class women in Baroda, Gujarat. Using an intersectional lens, we trace the ways that gendered ideals of respectability shape women's freedom of movement and relationships. The comparison produces new insights into the ways that class, caste, and location cut across gender to shape young women's lives in India. We argue that the distinctive positionings of the women structure the ways in which they react to gender norms and the means with which they strategize around them. Middle-class young women strike a ‘passive bargain’, upholding ideals of respectability by shoring up symbolic capital for a ‘good’ marriage and class privilege. The Dalit women show more active resistance to an ideal that they struggle to achieve, despite heavy control and surveillance over their movement and relationships. However, contrary to previous research, we show that both groups are beholden and lay claim to similar gendered and intimate ideals.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 53 , Issue 5 , September 2019 , pp. 1646 - 1674
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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Footnotes

Many thanks to Professor Ann Oakley for her insightful comments on drafts of this article and to the anonymous reviewers for their feedback and suggestions. A very special thank you to those who participated in the research in Baroda and Mumbai. This collaborative article was funded by the UCL Sea and Currents Fund.

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