This paper delves into the employment aspirations and struggles for upward social mobility of middle‐class Muslim female youth in Delhi, located in segregated and non‐segregated areas. The paper contends that women respondents navigate constraints such that their class, gender and religious background have an ambivalent role in the production of aspirations but a more definitive one in their realisation. This argument is anchored in the three key themes addressed in the paper. For women from middle and lower sections of the middle‐class the presence of high aspirations does not translate into gainful employment, leading to the problem of fraying hope and ‘frustrated freedom’. They are engaged in prolonged waiting experiencing what Ghassan Hage would call ‘stuckedness’. The upper stratum placed strategically in the Bourdieusian field, can leverage their economic and cultural capital to offset uncertainties around employment and marriage. The third section navigates religious, gender and class‐based constraints by participating in self‐employment activities in a segregated neighbourhood in Delhi. For these women, the segregated neighbourhood has a dual role as an enabler and a barrier to their aspirations.

中文翻译：

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协商阶级、宗教和居住隔离：德里穆斯林中产阶级女性的愿望


本文深入研究了位于德里隔离和非隔离地区的中产阶级穆斯林女性青年的就业愿望和向上社会流动的斗争。该论文认为，女性受访者面临着一些限制，例如她们的阶级、性别和宗教背景在实现愿望时扮演着矛盾的角色，但在实现愿望时扮演着更明确的角色。这一论点植根于本文讨论的三个关键主题。对于中产阶级中下层的女性来说，远大的抱负并不能转化为有报酬的就业，从而导致希望破灭和“自由受挫”的问题。他们经历了长时间的等待，经历了加桑·哈格（Ghassan Hage）所说的“陷入困境”。战略上处于布迪厄领域的上层可以利用其经济和文化资本来抵消就业和婚姻方面的不确定性。第三部分通过参与德里一个隔离社区的自营职业活动来应对宗教、性别和阶级的限制。对于这些女性来说，隔离的社区对于她们的愿望具有双重作用：既是她们实现愿望的推动者，又是她们的障碍。