[PRESS RELEASE] Women and Myth of Flexibility in Gig Economy | Difussion #41

Yogyakarta, January 21st, 2021 – The gig economy is a game-changer. The idea of gig economy offers flexibility in schedules and hours from work to work as a central attraction. This work scheme appeals to women with multiple burdens, who have to make ends meet by working and meeting domestic work demands. To discuss these gender issues in the gig economy, Center for Digital Society (CfDS), in collaboration with the Center for Social and Innovation Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (HKU) invited Prof. Jack Linchuan Qiu as moderator and Treviliana Eka Putri (Research Manager of CfDS) and Paska Darmawan (Digital Intelligence Lab Manager of CfDS) as speakers at the 41st Difussion. This event is held via Google Meet, and broadcast live on YouTube.

Trevi opened the session by stating that despite the notion of flexibility offered by the gig economy platform, there are still two main structural factors limit workers in managing their time. First is the availability of jobs based on the platform algorithm, and the second is the dependence of workers on the income from those jobs. In their presentation, Trevi and Paska presented the results of research and case studies regarding female workers or drivers in the digital economy platform sector based on delivery services and food ordering applications (online motorcycle taxis).

Availability of Work

In practice, the gig economy has succeeded in increasing the absorption of Indonesia’s labor force, especially for women. Although it is seen as progress from an economic perspective, this has triggered the emergence of social dilemmas that impact the lives of women workers. Gender-based discrimination still often occurs in the form of cancellation of orders from customers, either because of stigma or norms/beliefs about female drivers. Various reasons such as women’s ability to drive and the bias of a driver’s job that is predominantly filled by men directly affect the amount of income and daily orders. These issues are triggered mainly by the dependence of drivers on the platform algorithm to get orders. “However, this platform cannot go beyond the gender blind algorithm,” said Trevi.

Dependence on Income

Jobs as an online motorcycle taxi driver are appealing to individuals who need flexibility, both in terms of time and place (flexi-time and flexi-place). This employment is also seen as a lucrative opportunity for women as family breadwinners trying to maximize working hours for bonuses and targets. They are faced with the double burden of working long hours but still have to take care of household or family matters. On the other hand, women who work in the gig economy as a side job can be more flexible in accepting orders (or not) from the platform and simultaneously sharing their time to take care of household chores at home. Paska concluded that flexibility does not necessarily have a positive impact on how these drivers manage their work time compared to rest and family time when assessing work-life balance.

Moving Forward

Although women face a variety of discrimination in the ride-hailing industry, there have been several attempts to support this group of workers. One of the gig economy platforms has implemented a particular policy for women, namely that female drivers can choose to (only) provide food order services and goods delivery. This policy was enforced due to countless cases of sexual harassment experienced by female drivers while carrying customers. Although initially seen as insignificant, many of the online motorcycle taxi industry provided training on handling sexual harassment. It implemented stricter policies on ethics for drivers and customers to prevent cases of sexual harassment. In addition, the government’s role to adjust labor laws and recognize the online motorcycle taxi industry as a mode of public transportation is also needed to ensure the safety and welfare of the livelihoods of workers, especially for women workers.

Author: Christophorus Ariobumi

Editor: Ruth T. Simanjuntak