1. Women in the Gig Economy:
Platforms as ‘a Godsend’?
Al James
al.james@ncl.ac.uk @Re_AlJames
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/gps/staff/profile/aljames.html
Artists in the Gig Economy (Edinburgh)
Gigs, Economies and Social Reproduction
24 August 2018

2. Platform Work-Life Possibilities? ‘The
dawn of a new humane era’ (Rifkin, 2014)
Third Industrial Revolution – Internet reduces
cost of production (eliminates middlemen)
‘The optimally efficient state for promoting the
general welfare and represents the ultimate
triumph of capitalism’ (p. 10-11)
Unbundling of production from employment
Result: ‘a more humane and efficient capitalist
market’ (p. 27).

3. Gig Work Platforms In a Nutshell…
Image of 24/7 on–demand digital labour, instant
availability through mobile phone apps
Requesters post discrete job tasks / gigs / HITs
Taskers bid on posted jobs
Platform matches buyers with tasker offers (mediated
by algorithms, feedback scores); buyer chooses tasker
Platforms eschew any responsibility as ‘employers’
Taskers identified as ‘self-employed’ ‘independent
contractors’ (cf. recent lawsuits)
Pay deposited in taskers’ platform account; requests
made for release. No minimum wage

4.  FORBES (2015) interview with founder and CEO of
Moonlighting (Jeff Tennery):
 “Mobile Optimized Mothers, or as we call
them M.O.M’s… are empowering
themselves, choosing to work from home
and earn a living on their terms. We’re very
honored to help them on their mission to
achieve that balance between career and
life.”
 ‘For professional women, the on-demand
economy is already a godsend… to advance
in their careers or at least stay in the game
while being the kind of parents they want to
be’ (Andreasson 2015:2). [!!!]
Sickly-Sweet Celebrations of Female Work-Life
Emancipation in the ‘Platform Economy’

5. RESEARCH FOCUS: (Invisible) Women Using
Work Platforms - UK
1.Everyday realities of gig work for mothers?
2. Work-family supports through platforms?
3. Experiences of management by algorithms?
52 x 1 hr interviews + 26 image sets home work spaces
(Jan-July 2018 – PPH, Upwork, Copify, Fiverr, Taskrabbit,
TimeEtc, Yuno Juno) – mix of full-time freelancers and
platform top-ups (from highly paid, to low paid)
White collar desk work from home: communications,
marketing, business devt, HR, office support, web, design,
graphics, voice overs – majority mothers
Includes creative practitioners: writers, photographers,
graphic designers, voice over artist (strong consistency of
experience with wider participant group)
Lack of analysis –
despite women well
represented in UK on-
demand workforce
(see Huws et al. 2016
survey, 52% UK
platform workers)
Majority research
focus: public facing
male dominated apps,
especially transport
and delivery

6. 1. Women Gigging in the Platform Economy:
Multiple Drivers / Motivations
Seeking greater ‘flexibility’ of work
Time and space constraints of ‘proper jobs’
Bad managers and lack of WLB support
Denied request for flexible working
Demoted in previous role after childbirth
Illness (personal and child)
Search for reduced commute
Better fit work with husband’s schedule
Lack of local employment opportunities
Income top up

7. 2. New Female Work-Life Flexibilities?
Greater ‘flexibility’ of work (cf. previous jobs)
Enabling better fit: pockets of gig work around
care (and around PT work - and FT work!)
Greater sense of self-esteem after career break
But: lack of line manager + employer support:
‘it’s all on me’ – no paid sick leave / holiday leave /
pension (‘1 hr child time = 1 hr lost income’)
Regular evening and weekend working
Jackpot jobs demand instant proposals
Excessive customer demands
Servicing overseas clients in real time
Stress: variable income flows (& non-payment)

8. 24/7 Availability of Atomised ‘Digital Labour’?
Gender Constraints on Taskers Competing
‘My work is always set for the times when she’s already in the bed,
but … it happened to me twice… my daughter didn’t want to go to
sleep. My computer is downstairs. Her bedroom is upstairs. And I
was stuck, like, what do I do? Do I go to the computer with the baby
in my arms... there is nothing you can do.’ (female freelancer, PPH,
Jan 2018)
‘I… set that precedent as well that I'm not available 24/7. So I do the
nursery run, the school run and then… meetings, phone calls,
catch ups. Then it's normally pick up, spend a couple of hours with
my daughter and a pocket of two or three hours in the evening, so
from 7pm until 10pm where I really catch up’. (female freelancer,
PPH, Jan 2018)

12. 3. Female Health and Safety in the ‘Gig
Economy’: New (?) Digital Insecurities
LOWER / NO maternity pay
for female freelancers (UK)
Hiding pregnancy from
clients
Working close to due date
Cutting maternity leave short
Loss of clients
General silence on these
issues in platform research
and policy literatures
‘I actually had a customer last year,
I was put off freelancing for a little
while … would ring me at 5pm, for
an hour, an hour and a half every
evening. He knew I had a child. He'd
always be calling… I found that
very uncomfortable. Also, he was a
man, he had my address because
my invoices were there and I didn't
feel safe. He also had my mobile
number so I ended up having to
block him … I was living in paranoia
that he was going to turn up here.
That's awful. No one should have to
feel like that’. (female freelancer,
PPH, Jan 2018)

13. Autonomy? C.f. managed by algorithms
rooted in customer feedback scores
Upwork Work Tracker tool (key strokes,
mouse movement, webcam screen caps)
Taking work offline vs. dangers of non-
payment + not being seen in algorithm
Customer feedback as reputational
capital: biting tongue, not requesting
payments to disable, constraints on post-
divorce surname change
Hefty service fees taken by platforms,
need to set competitive (low!) rates 
longer work hours
Variable workflow and income precarity
promote overwork (‘while the sun shines’)
4. Female Online Freelancer Autonomy? vs
Algorithms, Surveillance, Platform Overwork
‘This is my income. This
isn't a joke. This is me
paying for my rent. This is
me paying for food, paying
for uniforms, things like
that." I was like, "You
cannot drop my ranking."
How ridiculous is that, that
I'm begging them not to
drop my ranking. But I'm
like, "You can't drop me
out of the algorithm
because people won't find
me and I won't be able to
get any work”’. (female
freelancer, PPH, Jan 2018)

15. Effecting Positive Change? Suggestions from
Female Platform Workers
Bring back the support desk and make it much more accessible
Platform minimum wage + fairer pricing structures
List 3 most recent / top reviews rather than all (to lessen effect of bad reviews)
Stricter monitoring (and exclusion) of bad buyers
Female managed platforms