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Second International Handbook of Urban Education pp 347–368Cite as

The City, Education and Social Mobility: Women’s Narratives from Delhi

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Abstract

This chapter focuses on one city – Delhi – and explores the experiences of young women in relation to education, work, and being in the city. Based on in-depth interviews with 15 young working women (below 35 years of age) employed in a range of occupations across socio-economic strata, this chapter details that while education is seen as critical for survival in the city, educational and occupational choices, attitudes towards education, and aspirations are still mediated by family and gender. The city is seen as vital by many in providing opportunities and ‘choices’ unavailable in small towns and villages; however, the city itself can be aggressive and uninviting for women, and negotiating ‘space’ and ‘time’ becomes critical for these young working women.

I thank Geetha Nambissan and participants of the Delhi workshop on “The Urban and Education in India” held at ZHCES JNU (March 2015) for their advice and comments. I am grateful to Diya Mehra and Ankur Datta for comments on an early draft. I also thank Tanisha Gagoi, Shobhana Sharma, Swati Saurav and Komal Yadav for their research assistance. I am grateful to all informants who spared their time for the interviews. The fieldwork for this paper was funded by a UPE-II grant (2014) from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    1 lakh = 100,000.

  2. 2.

    The reason for restricting the sample selection to those aged below 35 was to capture women recently out of education and those already making a place in the labour market as by 35 young people are expected to have entered the labour market and also to have achieved “occupational maturity” (Goldthorpe and Erikson 1992; Vaid and Heath 2010)

  3. 3.

    In the context of non-formal education and its role in women’s education, “feminist action” and empowerment see Stromquist (2015, p. 60).

  4. 4.

    I thank Geetha Nambissan for this point.

  5. 5.

    Translated from the Hindi.

  6. 6.

    For example, English language skills, work and personal etiquette and grooming, rather than qualifications alone play an important role in the hiring process, as does coming from a ‘good family’ which is a cover for other factors such as caste, class and urban education (Jodhka and Newman 2010).

  7. 7.

    Despite questions on caste and their experience of caste in the city, these women did not discuss caste as either constraining or facilitating opportunities. This cannot be taken to imply that caste is not important in the city, but rather that conversations on caste with a relatively unknown researcher may not be considered politically correct in the city. For more on caste and occupation/labour market see Vaid (2014a).

  8. 8.

    We also see that the possession of English skills seems to alleviate some of the discrimination faced by migrants from the North East of the country to Delhi. The interviews found support for McDuie-Ra’s work (2012) on how these migrants made a “home” and “place” in Delhi taking advantage of neoliberal growth especially in the services industry.

  9. 9.

    This was true even for the respondent who was married at 16. But, while her father encouraged her to study, her marriage was non-negotiable. For her, her dropping out of school was due to her own lack of interest and due to discrimination she faced at school, and not due to parental pressure.

  10. 10.

    As the present study did not interview mothers, their views on education could only be imputed by what the daughters related.

  11. 11.

    For a discussion on the ‘choice’ of subjects enrolled in/disciplines in which women predominate, and changes in these patterns over-time, see Chanana 2007 (also see Raju and Baud 2007).

  12. 12.

    Interestingly, this act of showing aggression (seen as a legitimate male trait) did not bode well for women according to Puja, the entrepreneur.

  13. 13.

    I thank Diya Mehra for pointing this out.

  14. 14.

    However, the downside to bringing up children in Delhi is the issue of safety which seems to be magnified for those women who have young daughters.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 110067, India

    Divya Vaid

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  1. Divya Vaid
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Educational Policy & Lead'ship, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

    William T. Pink

  2. School of Education, Uni. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

    George W. Noblit

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Vaid, D. (2017). The City, Education and Social Mobility: Women’s Narratives from Delhi. In: Pink, W., Noblit, G. (eds) Second International Handbook of Urban Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40317-5_21

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