My first cousins are Indian (my aunt married an Indian man and raised their kids there) and I went to India for a month a few years ago. My impressions are (and this is only my perception of course) as follows:
There is very little middle class in India. Even more so than the states, India consists of haves and have nots. It only costs something like $2 a day to have an unskilled (uneducated) servant at your beck and call, so someone with a middle class amount of money in the western world would live like a king in India- $6 a day for 3 full time servants (driver, cook/housekeeper, gardener, etc.).
Women are not treated poorly as a rule, but it is a patriarical society. Men generally are taken care of by the women (although I did see several families in which women seemed to wear the pants- just like here). Arrainged marriage (where the parents choose the bride and groom without the individuals knowing each other well before hand) is still fairly common, although there is a westernized backlash (among younger generations) to it.
Many (mostly wealthier) Indians are acheivement oriented in terms of their education and career. Most Indians working in the US as doctors and engineers come from upper class families, and the education is comprable (or even better) than that of the US. Gender doesn't factor into it as much as wealth and status.
I'm just speaking in gross generalities here, but I do belive there is some truth to them.