Women in BPO Sector in India: The Dilemma of Empowerment, Work-Life Balance and Exploitation

A job gives a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of freedom and autonomy to a woman. Today, most of the young girls in metro cities are engaged with the jobs of call centers, which is definitely gives them a satisfaction of self-dependent. Yet they are hampered by the assumption that working outside the home are not meant for them. Because of such attitude of society, women are not able to reach their peak point. This paper deals with the origin of call center industry in India and proportion of women workers in this industry. This paper specifies the major reasons due to which women join this industry and the problems and challenges they face to balance her work life with her personal life. This paper also outlines the working environment of call centers, their conditions, pay gaps due to gender discrimination, exploitation of female workers, effect of working in night hours on the health of female employees etc. This paper lastly provides some useful measures to ensure the safety of women in call centers and some tips to women by which they can ensure their safety and avoid abnormal molestation and eve teasing cases. This paper suggests that society which still believes in patriarchal system should change her mindset because coming India will be based on skills of a person rather than his/her gender.