A Dialectic Approach of Women’s Labor Experiences in Ridesharing: The Case of Uber Africa

Insights on women’s labor experiences remain scant despite the interest in proposing ridesharing as a means of addressing gender inequality. Drawing upon Marxist and Foucauldian perspectives, this study explores the experiences of women drivers involved in Uber located in six African countries. Findings illustrate that women experience eight oppressive practices prior to, during and post travel that create and emerge after times of emotional, bodily and economic vulnerability. Oppression is maintained through ideas and material resources resulting in three dialectic experiences in ridesharing (exclusion-inclusion; control-autonomy; and inequitable-equitable). Experiences are later transformed in-practice in three ways for not only service providers but also travelers, namely learning, evaluation and identity transformation. This study proposes a dialectic view of women’s labor experiences in ridesharing to move away from the dominant marketing practice perspective to one that is based on socio-political labor. The study provides a gender-aware, processual labor perspective to highlight the challenges of addressing gender inequality.