User:Sam Shrivatsa/Gig worker

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Gender and gig work
''There are several gender differences within gig work from the number of women who are participating to the wage pay gap. Globally, the gender differences in participation of women in the gig economy differ. For example, in the United States, female gig workers make up 55% of the gig work population.'' In India, 28% of the gig workforce consists of women. The platform economy has been described as conferring a professional status that allows women to participate in paid work without disrupting social hierarchies and while managing household and childcare responsibilities. The advent of home service providers and beauticians within the gig economy has led to the formalizing and feminization of casual labor, dubbed “pink collar work".

In October 2021, India’s first women-led gig workers’ strike was led by 100 women agitating outside the office of Urban Company in Gurugram, Haryana, a platform that provides at-home services, protesting “low wages, high commissions and poor safety conditions”. This led to a lawsuit being filed by Urban Company against its workers for "instigating violence against the Company". The lawsuit stated that Urban Company was an aggregator connecting customers to independent workers and sought a permanent prohibitory injunction from the court against protests by the Urban Company employees .The protest was eventually called off following the imposition of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in Gurugram.

The gig economy is ostensibly less gender-segregated worldwide than the traditional labor market. However, women across the world continue to protest against gender gaps such as lower wages and working hours and the lack of flexibility. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for worker protections for women who work in the gig economy for supplemental income.

India
NITI Aayog defines 'gig workers' as those engaged in work outside of the traditional employer-employee arrangement. In 2020-21, the gig economy was estimated to employ 7.7 million workers, with a projected workforce of 23.5 million by 2029-30. The industry is expected to produce a revenue of $455 billion by 2024. 47% of gig workers are employed in medium-skilled jobs, about 22% in high-skilled jobs, and about 31% in low-skilled jobs.

93% of the Indian population is employed in the informal economy, which is dependent on local linguistic, ethnic and regional dynamics and networks. The technologization of informal labor with app-based work has obviated the need to navigate these local systems for work and payment. Rural-to-urban migrants form a majority of the gig workforce, which serves an intermediary work settlement and an alternative to unregulated contractors who place them at risk of trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Class and caste identities that have historically been excluded from the formal labor market have utilized the gig economy as a means to escape discrimination. However, the term “platform paternalism” has emerged to describe the perpetuation of caste and class hierarchies, trapping workers in jobs with very little security and no potential for long-term growth. For instance, caste-oppressed women continue to dominate low-paying work, such as cleaning and washing in households. BookMyBai, a platform service that helps people hire house-maids and caretakers, has provisions to request workers from specific geographic regions and religions. This has been criticized for perpetuating caste-based discrimination.

The Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers and the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union currently have 36,000 and 10,000 members respectively, including cab drivers, food and grocery delivery workers, and e-commerce delivery persons. Some of the demands of these unions include security benefits, higher base fares and protection against exploitation by aggregator companies.

In response, the Indian parliament passed new laws guaranteeing social security and occupational health and safety of gig workers in 2020. These laws are yet to be implemented. In its 2021 report, NITI Aayog also recommended fiscal incentives including tax breaks or startup grants for companies with about one-third of their workforce as women and people with disabilities. Securing social protection coverage, improving national statistics on gig and platform work and policy options, and discussing insurance and tax-financed schemes for gig platforms have been delineated as key priorities for the G20 summit 2023, held at Delhi, India.