Patriarchal Discrimination and Capitalist Relations: The Gender Question in the Gig Economy

The paper notes that India has relatively fewer women in the workforce standing only at 24.5 percent of the total women population in 2018-19. This is a notable decline from 31.2 percent in 2011-12. It is considerably low compared to the global average of 45 per cent. Gender-based violence, unpaid household work, lack of mobility due to social norms, and discrimination in the hiring process are seen as some of the key reasons for the decline in women’s workforce participation.

The paper cites a 2020 FairWork report which examined 11 digital platforms using five metrics – fair pay, fair conditions, fair contracts, fair management, and fair representation. India’s four largest digital platforms Uber, Ola, Swiggy, and Zomato were ranked the lowest.

According to the research findings from food delivery services (like Swiggy and Zomato), there is a significant pay disparity between male and female gig workers doing similar work. Patriarchal structures and the gig economy's capitalist relations, which grant platform owners the authority to regulate compensation and monitoring of working practices, tend to produce, reproduce, and strengthen gendered working conditions for female gig workers.

The limited presence of women gig workers in labour unions due to the isolated nature of the gig work restricts women’s ability to come together and collectively bargain for their working hours, wages, or other factors related to the improvement of working conditions.

According to a study conducted in 2020, digital platforms in India lack sufficient mechanisms for registering complaints. This leads to women being in a more vulnerable situation where they are less likely to report abuse or harassment by clients or contractors. Moreover, gig workers have become more vulnerable than other groups due to lack of labour laws and social protection regulations.

Indian women spend 299 minutes daily performing unpaid domestic tasks (such as washing, cooking, cleaning, elderly and children care), a sharp contrast to men spending only 76 minutes daily on these services, as per a 2019 Government of India survey. The paper suggests that any progress towards improving women gig workers’ working conditions, must be accompanied with better acknowledgement of women’s unpaid services. This can be done through wages for housework or through unmediated ownership and control rights of productive assets, including land, housing, and new technology.

The report recommends that for overall improvement of working conditions of women gig workers in India, the report recommends that it is vital for state and market agencies to upgrade labor laws, hold companies accountable for workers health, safety, and security, introduce a minimum wage and a skill upgrading support services, and track gender-related and intersectional data on women gig workers. Additionally, for inclusive and sustainable development, gender-based violence should be considered in state policies and social practices.

Focus and Factoids by Pragati Singh Parihar.

PARI Library’s health archive project is part of an initiative supported by the Azim Premji University to develop a free-access repository of health-related reports relevant to rural India.