Valuing Women’s Voices: Call Center Workers in Malaysia and India

Abstract

This article discusses the experiences of women workers in the emerging Information Technology Enabled Services sector (ITES), in particular those working in call centers representing customer care services for both national and globally-outsourced business entities. Although the Malaysian and Indian cases are not entirely comparable, the case studies give a certain insight into the changes in the lives and career patterns of women in the developing world. The article contributes to the debates about whether these novel institutions replicate the experience of the runaway manufacturing firms in the exportoriented sector of the 1980s. By producing new empirical data and privileging the voices of women workers themselves, the article discusses whether there is a devaluing of women’s work and skills or whether women workers have gained through these new employment opportunities, empowering themselves in the process. The article concludes that the future prospects for this type of work in developing countries need more state attention, in the context of the potential informalization of these jobs and trade protectionism from the West, particularly in the case of offshore locations.