Business platforms using digital technologies to connect customers and workers have entered service and labour markets in most EU member states (Manyika et al., 2016). Unlike activities in the traditional economy, the platform economy is usually viewed as an inclusive economic model (Florisson and Mandl, 2018), which has the capacity to transform the nature of work by providing a liberating option for those unable to attain stable employment elsewhere (Adebiyi, 2019).
Nevertheless, the emerging evidence suggest that the rollout of platforms is posing very serious questions about the inclusiveness of the platform economy itself. What is more important to mention, the platform economy may even increase the gender exclusion and inequality that exists in the traditional economy, reproducing race and class hierarchies (Fuster Morell, 2016).
While the share of women involved in platform work has been increasing worldwide, women’s participation in the platform economy remains invisible to the public gaze. Unlike the work performed by delivery workers, who tend to be men and publicly visible on the streets of any large city, women are usually involved in doing jobs that are hidden from the public (Lloyd and Gauret, 2021).
Sectoral and occupational segregation based on gender
The growing share of women participating in the platform workforce, the platform market follows the dynamics that already exist in the traditional economic activities with sectoral and occupational segregation based on gender. Results from the second COLLEEM survey showed that men are much more likely to perform transportation and delivery services, while women more often perform translation and certain on-location services (e.g., housekeeping or beauty services). Similarly, previous research conducted in 2014-2015 indicated that 87 per cent of workers on the Etsy platform were women, while only 14 per cent of women worked for the Uber platform (Palagashvili and Suarez, 2021).
Interestingly, Galperin (2019), in examining gender segregation in the context of the platform economy, finds that stereotypes about male and female occupations play an important role in sorting men and women into different jobs in an online freelance marketplace. The analysis based on anonymised data from Nubelo, an online freelance platform based in Spain (that was acquired by Freelancer.com), suggests that women continue to face a significant hiring penalty in male-typed occupations associated with STEM skills. Female candidates are less likely to be hired for male-typed jobs (e.g., software development) but more likely to be hired for female-typed jobs (e.g., writing and translation) than equally-qualified male candidates.
Gender Gap
Considering that sectoral and occupational segregation based on gender are already the emerging reality of the platform economy, the unequal pay between women and men now becomes more evident. Researchers from Columbia University examined the work of over 20,000 men and women who completed more than five million tasks online, using collected data from the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform. On average, they found that women’s hourly earnings were 10.5 per cent lower than men’s earnings. Several factors contributed to the gender pay gap, including the tendency for women to select tasks that have a lower advertised hourly pay (Litman et al., 2020). Similarly, looking at the profiles of men and women working at two freelance platforms, Upwork and Fiverr, researchers found men charge more for their work (Guzior, 2018).
Other findings suggest that female status and participation in the labour market is significantly improved by the platform economy, due to the potential anonymity associated with online working. This would offset barriers, bias, and discrimination still faced by women in the workforce today (James and Temple, 2019). Thirty-three per cent of female platform workers have done work under a username that does not reveal their gender. The majority of women (72%) who choose to work under a gender-neutral name do so to maintain anonymity, while smaller groups do so to increase bids on projects (14%) or to avoid sexism or hostility (14%) (Hyperwallet, 2017).
Different notion of flexibility
Women are more likely than men to report that platform work is “fitted with their schedule”, indicating that non-work commitments such as family constrain women more than men (Churchill and Craig, 2019). It is indeed evident that the flexibility of platform work enables women in balancing unpaid and paid work (Hunt et al., 2019). However, flexible work arrangements do not solve the issue of the childcare; in fact, they make it more invisible.
Hyperwallet (2017) surveyed 2,000 female platform workers to understand their behaviours, career aspirations, and the challenges they face. Ninety-six per cent indicated that flexibility was the primary advantage of working for platforms and a quarter of respondents had recently left traditional employment because they needed flexibility or more time to care for a child, parent, or relative.
It is well-known that where support services, notably childcare, are available, women are more likely to engage in the labour force. However, where childcare is lacking outside the household, women are more likely to take up informal and low-paid work (Hunt et al., 2019).
In addition, other findings suggest that although many workers view platform work as more flexible than other paid work available to them, caring for young children proves challenging – not least given unpredictable schedules, early starts and long commutes (Samman and Hunt, 2020).
Source: Reshaping Work https://medium.com/@reshaping_work/it-is-time-to-include-women-in-the-discourse-on-platform-work-d0ab3ff04228
References:
Adebiyi, I. (2019). Digitisation and women in the workforce: Exploring the impact of the gig economy on female ‘participation’ and ‘status’ in the labour market. Granite Journal. Available at: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/pgrs/documents/Granite%20Digitisation%20and%20women%20in%20the%20workforce,%20Adebiyi,%20pp%2053-65.pdf
Churchill, B., & Craig, L. (2019). Gender in the gig economy: Men and women using digital platforms to secure work in Australia. Journal of Sociology, 55(4), 741–761. https://doi.org/10.1177/1440783319894060
Galperin, H. (2019). “This Gig Is Not for Women”: Gender Stereotyping in Online Hiring. Social Science Computer Review, 089443931989575. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439319895757
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