Navigating Double Burden: Job Quality and Gendered Precarity of Women in the Gig Economy

The question of job quality and working conditions in the gig economy has become central in the studies and research on gig work due to growing concern over low pay and precarity. However, this discussion has primarily been missing a gender-specific aspect. Therefore, this research will focus on the gendered working conditions of women gig workers, using Indonesia as a case study.

Drawing from the interviews conducted with 60 women who work in the on-demand platforms in Indonesia, this paper explores how gender influences and affects the job quality of individual female gig workers, contributing to the ongoing debate on job quality and working conditions in the gig economy. Using the three dimensions of job quality in the gig economy’s framework: autonomy, economic security, and enjoyment of work, this study find that gendered identities and gendered familial roles shaped women’s working conditions in the gig economy and, ultimately, affect their job quality.