“How Gig Work Exploits Instead of Empowers Women in the Global South”

…A Kampala woman who had lost her logistics job during the shutdown founded a new, all-women ride-hailing app called Diva Taxi, hiring dozens of Ugandan women, many who were also laid off or furloughed, providing these workers an economic lifeline…

…The cofounder of the Centre declared that balancing multiple gig jobs was the future of employment for young Ugandans…

…women compose the majority of the informal workforce, through occupations like domestic and home-based workers, street vendors, market traders and waste-pickers…

…the pandemic forced people onto digital platforms in order to survive…

But while gig platforms began to boom in Global South nations like Uganda during the pandemic, workers did not benefit in the same way…Technology can exacerbate these problems…

…In many countries, gig workers are effectively excluded from existing unions…

Women working in the digital economy also face discrimination from clients who don’t want to hire women, sexual harassment and stalking by customers, and a lack of safety measures from employers…

...Out of 12 platforms that were assessed in Uganda [by Fairwork], only one company, Glovo, scored any points at all in meeting the minimum standards of providing fair work...

[In December 2023, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre invited the 12 platform companies assessed by Fairwork to respond to the report. The companies' responses & non-responses can be found here.]