The digital services industry has the opportunity to get gender right. Shreya Batra, Senior Partnerships Associate, identifies the gaps as they stand today and charts possibilities for a better tomorrow.

The Indian labor market is witnessing a transformation through the rise of the platform economy. Companies such as Zomato, Ola, Uber, and Urban Company have redefined traditional work boundaries, turning mobile phones into the modern workplace. The steady expansion of the platform economy in India has been enabled by both the demand for services provided and a steady supply of workers willing to take up jobs. 

The workforce engaged by these platforms is projected to reach 23.5 million by 2030.[1] However, women still have limited participation on these platforms. There is a high degree of occupational segregation on gig platforms in India and the rest of the world. [2] For example, on the Hassle platform, which provides cleaning services in the United Kingdom, 86.5% of workers are women. On the region’s food delivery platform Deliveroo and private transport platform, Uber, this drops to below 7%. In India, among the 2,20,000 personnel working on Swiggy, a food delivery platform, only 1,000 are women. In contrast, one-third of salon, spa, beauty, and cleaning service providers on Urban Company, a home-based service delivery app, are women due to the ‘feminized’ nature of these tasks. [3]

This disparity is rooted in socio-economic factors, cultural norms, infrastructure challenges, and urban-rural migration for women. Mobility constraints like lack of access to personal vehicles also play a critical role. Many traditional manufacturing firms that have been in business for decades have only now started formulating strategies to onboard more women in the blue collar workforce. [4] Factory floors traditionally require workers to operate heavy machinery, which requires physical strength. But factories are becoming more mechanized, using robots, hoists, and lifts to do the heavy lifting. Shop-floor workers operate these machines using joysticks, which requires precision rather than strength, allowing companies to hire a more diverse workforce. Most platforms do not require work that requires heavy lifting. Women need to own a smartphone, must know how to operate one, must have a 2-wheeler, must know how to drive, and should feel safe on roads and at the point of delivery. This requires changing perceptions around what women can and cannot do and infrastructural changes like access to finance, safe roads, public toilets, and sensitized customers. There is no such thing as women can’t do this work, so let’s push that out of the window.

During my conversations with multiple platform firms in India, onboarding more women on their platforms has always been highlighted as a major pain point. Some platforms want more women because it is an ‘operational’ requirement, some do it to serve their female customers better, and a few do it because they think it is the right thing to do to have more women on platforms. Government, philanthropists, and civil society organizations also push for women’s participation in the platforms, so there is an incentive to push this agenda on a high level. But, most platforms struggle to understand the complex myriad realities of women they want to onboard. Since these platforms mostly run on Venture Capitalist (VC) money, they want a quick fix, something that can give them a good Return on Investment. Hence, the approaches/strategies they build are overly simplistic and do not cater to the nuances of women’s lives in our country. 

Many of these platforms approach recruiting agencies in migration source states like Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Orissa to facilitate the migration of women to destination cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. Platforms need women to migrate from low-income states so that they can incentivize them to stay in cities and work for them. However, it is challenging to do so because incentives for women are missing at various touch points in the migration journeys that women may want to take. In rural-urban migration, rural women are typically season- and area-bound when it comes to working, they can’t travel without a family/husband, and if they are working in agriculture, their work depends on landowners. And so platforms look for women in small towns instead of far-off rural areas. The gap in digital literacy also hinders women’s aspiration in platform work. Only 26% of women in India own smartphones in contrast to 49% of men, and only 43% of women in India have ever used the internet. [5]

In addition to the educational and digital literacy gaps, the absence of necessary documentation like Aadhar cards, coupled with limited travel experience, adds layers of complexity to women’s migration journey. Support at this stage is crucial. Platforms should leverage initiatives by NGOs such as Aajeevika Bureau, Jan Sahas and others to focus on assisting women in obtaining essential documents and preparing them for travel, addressing a critical gap in the migration process.

Upon arriving in urban centers like Delhi and Mumbai, women confront a new set of challenges. Housing insecurity, unfamiliarity with urban landscapes, and safety concerns in public spaces are primary hurdles. The National Crime Records Bureau’s reports on women’s safety in urban areas also underscore the need for secure living conditions for stable employment. [6]

Platforms can play a transformative role here. By providing or facilitating access to safe housing, orientation programs, and local support networks, they can significantly ease the urban transition for migrant women. Collaborative efforts with local authorities, NGOs, and housing discovery firms such as Bandhu Urban Tech can amplify the impact of such interventions.

Addressing each touchpoint in a woman’s migration journey is essential. At the source, awareness campaigns and skill training programs can prepare women for urban employment. Partnering with local NGOs and community leaders can help in dismantling societal barriers and encouraging women to consider migration for work.

In urban destinations, platforms need to go beyond just offering employment. They must invest in creating ecosystems that support women’s overall well-being. This includes partnerships with local governments for affordable housing, providing safe transportation options, and establishing support systems for childcare, which is often a significant concern for working mothers. The Migrant Support Center established by Shahi Exports with a program framework conceptualized by Good Business Lab is just one of many possible examples that can be instituted at a wider level.

Currently, many platforms only approach recruitment agents to simply source women workers. Since this is an operational requirement, they don’t go into the nitty-gritty of the challenges women face at the home and community level and how that affects their occupational journeys. Platforms in turn, struggle to discover women, onboard them, and once onboarded, struggle to retain them.

Governments and policymakers can play a pivotal role in facilitating the migration of women into urban employment sectors, including the platform economy. Policies focusing on safety, fair labor practices, and support services can make urban workspaces more attractive to migrant women. Philanthropy can also play a huge role in facilitating these multi-stakeholder partnerships to enable more women in this ecosystem. 

Platforms work under high pressure as most of them are VC-funded start-ups trying just to break even. The system needs more multi-stakeholder partnerships where platform firms, government, and civil society organizations can be incentivized to come together to solve this pressing issue of increasing women’s participation in the growing platform economy. 

Many traditional sectors have had an uneven impact on gender imbalances. The technology sector has an opportunity to create structural inclusions for women in its emergent stages. The complexity of these challenges calls for a collaborative approach. Partnerships between platform companies, NGOs like Aajeevika Bureau and Jan Sahas, and government bodies are crucial. Each stakeholder plays a unique role:

• Platform Companies: Could focus on creating inclusive work environments, offering training, and ensuring fair labor practices.
• Government: Needs to implement policies enhancing rural education, simplifying migration processes, and ensuring urban safety.
• Civil Society Organisations: Can provide on-ground support in rural areas for skill development and in urban centers for transition and integration.

The potential of the platform economy to transform lives is immense, but realizing this potential requires a concerted effort from all stakeholders. By addressing challenges at both the source and destination, we can pave the way for women to participate in the platform economy, and ensure that it becomes a vehicle for empowerment and equality.

Photo by Nayantara Parikh.

Have any thoughts, ideas or questions that you would like to share? Write to shreya.b@goodbusinesslab.org.

Citations:

[1] India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy (NITI Aayog)

[2] Women and the Platform Economy (IT for Change)

[3] The gig workforce is growing but female participation remains low (The Hindu Business Line)

[4] Bringing More Women to the Factory Floor in India (SHRM)

[5] Making The Platform Economy Work For Women (NDTV Profit)

[6] Crime against women (PIB)