Author: Gitanjali Prasad
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 335
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0143061828
Description
This pioneering book offers a stimulating perspective on how new imperatives have affected roles and responsibilities within the middle-class Indian family. Gitanjali Prasad draws upon mythology, history, autobiographies and social science research to support impressions garnered from in-depth interviews, and comparisons with the situation in the West provide a scenario of the work—life balance of the family of the future.
Is the Great Indian Family an endangered species as India goes on an economic overdrive? As work becomes all-consuming for urban Indians, what of work-family balance and the implications for families as women become an integral part of the workforce? A new generation of working women who are trying to retrofit their traditional family roles to the modern demands of high-pressure careers should find this book especially enlightening and instructive…I wish it had come out twenty years earlier when I started working.
-Naazneen Karmali, Consulting Editor, Business India
Gitanjali Prasad describes the shifts in Indian marriage and family life…focusing on the roles of men and women, both in the home and workplace. She looks too at what has been happening in Europe and the USA and puts forward a powerful case for a readjustment of the work-home balance. This book is a must-read for everyone concerned with family life in India and it should become a potent catalyst for change.
-Professor Martin Richards, Centre for Family Research, Cambridge University, UK
Family is a metaphor often evoked to describe an organization’s culture…but what family values executives aspire to in their personal lives is hardly ever examined. Gitanjali probes the concept of family amongst middle-class Indians… her journalist's eye for the evocative detail often gives more insight than a scholarly analysis could give. -Arun Maira, Chairman, Boston Consulting Group, India
Gitanjali Prasad tracks the hues and dimensions of the family and how it defines contemporary India. What exactly does family mean and how do you cope with its varied permutations and combinations? It’s truly a question of answers for the Indian woman of today.
-Andrea CostaBir, Editor, Savvy
An original, interesting and relevant book…that will help in not just understanding, but also in managing, work-family conflict.
-Leena Chatterjee, Professor of Behavioral Science, IIM Calcutta
An interesting eye-opener for all of us who conduct our lives on the stereotypical definition of the “Indian family.
-Manjira Dutta, Editor, Good Housekeeping
Press Review(s) for The Great Indian Family: New Roles, Old Responsibilites
Prasad is a thorough journalist. She has looked at every possible angle in the story of family and with the first-person voice popping up often, she conveys a sense of sympathy and empathy for many of the people that she has spoken to.
-The Week
A useful, honest, sincere, and unpretentious contribution to a vitally important area of study.
-Outlook
A handy compendium.
-India Today
An interesting, compelling read.
-Verve
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PREFACE
Introduction: Changing Perceptions
The joint Family: Twice the Joy or Double the Trouble?
Full-Time Housewives: Desperate Housewives or Blissful Homemakers?
Working Women: Superwomen or Overworked Drudges?
Today’s working fathers: Bonding with the family or in Bondage at Work?
Young singles; Living the Good life or no Time for A Life?
Today’s Workplace: Dream Come True or Living Nightmare?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX