Exploring the Digital Platform Economy Through a Gendered Lens: Women in Courier Work

Abstract

Digitalisation has been transforming economic activities tremendously. It has led to the emergence of new businesses and changed the way business is carried out all over the world. Moreover, it has given way to the development and rapid rise of platform based enterprises, which are also referred to as e-platforms. The increase in the sale of goods online also affected the logistics sector and as a consequence the need for couriers to deliver the goods rose as well. The current qualitative study has aimed to shed light on the general working lives of courier women working for e-platforms. Twenty courier women who have been working for the same e-commerce company took part in the study. Data has been collected through focus group discussions and one-to-one interviews. Detailed analysis of in-depth discussions and interviews revealed that the logistics sector seems to be excluding women from the sector to a great extent. Women working as couriers for e-commerce companies have to struggle with very heavy parcels, suffer from the difficulties of working outside, male hostility, gender discrimination, gender-work identity conflict and sexual harassment. Moreover, it was found out that the ‘sole proprietorship’ employment model for couriers is leading to discontent among couriers and seems to be chosen deliberately to transfer the risks and losses to the couriers. © 2024 Copyright held by the owner/author(s)