Platform work and labour legislation in India: Women’s engagement and the role of gender
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2421-2695/20922Keywords:
digital platform, beauty & personal services, gender issues, platform work, worker issue in IndiaAbstract
Focusing on India's digital platform economy, this study examines the gendered experiences of workers. We present a novel methodology to study the working conditions and key issues faced by platform workers in the beauty and personal services segments. Our data comprises 328 workers (both male and female) associated with two popular platforms in India. We find that most workers face issues such as algorithmic control, insufficient technical support, feedback mechanism, safety protocols, and cost concerns. The paper also draws attention to existing provisions applicable to female workers and recent legislative developments related to platform work in India. Through detailed analysis of workers’ reviews and experiences, this paper calls for a calibrated alignment of India's legal framework with the swiftly evolving technological landscapes globally. In this, it emphasizes gender inclusivity to ensure equitable labour market opportunities.
References
Al Jazeera. (n.d.). EU countries endorse diluted draft rules on gig economy workers’ rights, in Al Jazeera [Online], 11 March 2024.
Aloisi A., Platform work in Europe: Lessons learned, legal developments and challenges ahead, in European Labour Law Journal, 2022, 13(1), 4.
Ara I., Urban Company sues workers for protesting against unfair labour practices. Protest Called-Off, in The Wire, 23 December 2021.
Bansal V., Urban Company is eyeing profits and an IPO. But gig workers are angry, in Live Mint [Online], 25 February 2024
Bhandari B., Das G., Gupta S., Sahu A. K., Urs K. S., Pal N., Raj K., Thomas S., Socio-economic Impact Assessment of Food Delivery Platform Workers, National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), Report, 2023
Blanchard O., Beauty platform workers and their customers in India, in Digital Future Society [Online], 2021.
Brock J., Getting Organised Low-paid self-employment and trade unions, in The Fabian Society, 2019.
Cook C., Diamond R., Hall J.V., List J.A., Oyer P., The Gender Earnings Gap in the Gig Economy: Evidence from over a Million Rideshare Drivers, in The Review of Economic Studies, 2020, 88, 5.
Das M.B., Do Traditional Axes of Exclusion Affect Labor Market Outcomes in India?, SSRN [Online], 2006.
Desai P., Gig workers battle exploitation and privacy breaches by Urban Company, in Outlook Business & Money [Online], 1 April 2024.
Desai P., Gig workers battle exploitation and privacy breaches by Urban Company, in Outlook Business [Online], 1 April 2024.
De Stefano V., The Rise of the ‘Just-in-Time Workforce’: On-Demand Work, Crowd Work and Labour Protection in the ‘Gig-Economy, International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Labour Office, Inclusive Labour Markets, Labour Regulations and Working Conditions Branch, 2016.
De Stefano V., The EU Commission’s proposal for a Directive on Platform Work: an overview, in Italian Labour Law e-journal, 2022, 15, 1, 1.
De Stefano V., Durri I., Stylogiannis C., Wouters M., Platform work and the employment relationship, ILO Working Papers, 2021
Dhawan S., Work climate and gender: Why are women scientists so satisfied at work?, in Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, 2000, 59, 2, 121-131.
Digital Future Society, Gendered practices on digital platforms: beauty workers and their customers in India, Report, 2021.
European Commission, Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of The Council on improving working conditions in platform work, EUR-Lex, 9 December 2021.
Fairwork India, Fairwork India Ratings: Labour Standards in the Platform Economy, Fairwork India [Online], 2021, 2022, 2023.
Fuster Morell M., The gender of the platform economy, in Internet Policy Review, 2022, 11, 1.
Ghai N., Urban Company to support service partners facing domestic violence, in The Economic Times, February 6, 2023.
Ghosh A., Ramachandran R., Zaidi M., Women Workers in the Gig Economy in India: An Exploratory Study, SSRN [Online], 2021.
Gomez-Herrera E., Mueller-Langer F., Is there a gender wage gap in online labour markets? Evidence from over 250,000 projects and 2.5 million wage bill proposals, Joint Research Centre (JRC) Working Papers on Digital Economy, 2019.
Griesbach K., Reich A., Milkman R., Algorithmic Control in Platform Food Delivery Work, in Socius, 2019, 5
Hashemi S. M., Ruth S. S., Riley A. P., Rural credit programs and women's empowerment in Bangladesh, World Development, Elsevier, 1996, 24, 4, 635-653.
Hull K., The paradox of the contented female lawyer, in Law and Society Review, 1999, 33, 3, 687-702.
ILO, Work and employment are not synonyms, ILO, 2019.
ILO, World Employment and Social Outlook (WESO): Trends 2022, ILO, 2022.
International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)- ICF (2021), National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), 2019-21: India: Volume I, Mumbai: IIPS.
International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), ICF, National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), 2019-2021: India, Volume II, 2021
Kellogg K.C., Valentine M., Christin A., Algorithms at work: the new contested terrain of control, in The Academy of Management Annals, 2020, 14, 1, 366
Kellstedt D. K., Washburn D. J., Lee S., Gwarzo I., Ahenda P., Maddock J. E., Household motor vehicle ownership and obesity among Indian females and males: 2005–2016, in International Health, 13, 2, 2021, 143-150.
Kenney M., Zysman J., The rise of the platform economy, in Issues in Science and Technology, 2016, 32, 3, 61.
Kristensen N., Johansson E., New evidence on cross-country differences in job satisfaction using anchoring vignettes, in Labour Economics, 2008, 15(1), 96-117.
Kuriakose F., Iyer D. K., A Case for Worker-Centric Platform Economy in India, SSRN, 2021.
Lamannis M., Collective Bargaining in the Platform Economy: A Mapping Exercise of Existing Initiatives, in SSRN, [Online], ETUI Research Paper, 2023, Report 02, 2023, SSRN.
Liang C., Hong Y., Peng J., Gender Wage Gap in Online Gig Economy and Gender Differences in Job Preferences, SSRN [Online], 2018.
Mehrotra K., ‘We’re being pushed into poverty’: Voices of women who took on the unicorn start-up Urban Company, in Scroll India [Online], 2022, 13 January, 2022.
Mehrotra S. K., Informal employment trends in the Indian economy persistent informality, but growing positive development, in ILO Working Papers 995066393502676, 2019.
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation - Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Unlocking the potential of the gig economy in India, Report, 2021.
MoSPI, Periodic Labour Force Survey (2022-23) Annual Report, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Report, 2023.
Nair S., Healey M., A profession on the margins: status issues in Indian nursing, Centre for Women’s Development Studies, 2006.
NITI, India’s Booming and Gig economy: Perspectives and recommendations on the future of work, NITI Aayog, Report, 2022.
NSDC & KPMG, Human Resource and Skill Requirements in the Beauty and Wellness Sector (2013-17, 2017-22), National Skill Development Council (NSDC) and KPMG Advisory Services, Report, 2022.
OECD, OECD Employment Outlook 2023: Artificial Intelligence and the Labour Market, OECD, Report, 2023.
PAIGAM-University of Pennsylvania, Prisoners on wheels? Report on Working and Living Conditions of App-based workers in India, PAIGAM-University of Pennsylvania, Report, 2024.
Parwez S., Ranjan R., The platform economy and the precarisation of food delivery work in the Covid-19 pandemic: Evidence from India, in Work Organisation, Labour & Globalisation, 2021, 15, 1, 11.
Rani U., Unni J., Do Economic Reforms Influence Home-Based Work? Evidence from India, in Feminist Economics, 2009, 15, 3, 191.
Raval N., Pal J., Making a “Pro”: ‘Professionalism’ after Platforms in Beauty-work, in Proc. ACM Humanities-Computer Interactions, 2019, 3, CSCW.
Sarkar S., Sahoo S., Klasen S. Employment Transitions of Women in India: a Panel Analysis, in IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Papers, 2017, 115, C, 291
Sarkhel S., Mukherjee A., Motherhood and labor market penalty: a study on Indian labor market, Global Labor Organization (GLO) Discussion Paper Series, 2020, 673.
Schor J. B., Does the sharing economy increase inequality within the eighty percent?: Findings from a qualitative study of platform providers, in Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 2017, 10(2), 263.
Sengupta A., Das P., Gender Wage Discrimination across Social and Religious Groups in India, in Economic and Political Weekly, 2014, 49, 21, 71.
Sloane P. J., Williams H., Job satisfaction, comparison earnings and gender, in Labour, 2000, 14(3), 473-502.
Sorsa P., Mares J., Didier M., Guimaraes C., Rabate M., Tang G., Tuske A., Determinants of the Low Female Labour Force Participation in India, in OECD Working Paper Series, 2015, 1207.
Team Lease Services, Employment Outlook Report, Report, 2019-2020.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Telecom Subscription Data, TRAI, Government of India, Report, 2023.
The United Nations, State of World Population report 2023, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Report, 2023.
The World Bank, World Development Report: Gender equality and development, The World Bank, Report, 2012.
Urban Company, Setting-up service partners for success: Upskilling at Urban Company, in Urban Company Blog [Online], October 15, 2023.
Urban Company, Urban Company announces 12-point program to improve partner earnings and livelihood, in UC Blog [Online], October 14, 2023.
Vasudevan K., Chan N.K., Gamification and work games: Examining consent and resistance among Uber drivers, in New Media & Society, 2022, 24, 4, Pages 866.
Veisdal J., The dynamics of entry for digital platforms in two-sided markets: a multi-case study, in Electron Markets, 2020, 539–556.
Woodcock J., Johnson M.R., Gamification: what it is, and how to fight it, in The Sociological Review, 2018, 66(3): 542–558.
World Economic Forum, The Future of Jobs Report, WEF, Report, 2018.
Young C., Are platform workers really their own boss?, OECD Observer [Online], January 29, 2020.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Neha Arya, Abhishek Nemuri
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
