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Beyond access: Towards meaningful connectivity
[By Teddy Woodhouse and Chenai Chair] In addition to her full-time job as an invoicing agent with a community Wi-Fi service provider, Heny sells mangoes. Fortunately for her, she’s able to use the public Wi-Fi network at her work to post pictures and announce the latest shipments of new produce to would-be customers. Heny is…
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When women’s employment equals family disgrace: A Case from Rural India
[By Renza Iqbal] Fariha, 19 years, belongs to a middle-class family. Though her family could afford to get her a smartphone, it was not deemed necessary. Fariha’s first smartphone was gifted to her by her husband. She sought her husband’s approval before installing WhatsApp on her phone. She had been married off soon after her…
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The future of ‘dishonourable’ work
[By Payal Arora] I was a waitress for three and a half years at an Indian restaurant in San Francisco in the early 1990s. Having been brought up in a privileged family in Bangalore, the ‘waiting’ on people was a novel experience for me. I was excited though as it was my first job abroad…
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Proactive contracting for platform work: Making the design of terms and conditions more participatory
[By Siddharth de Souza] As the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed, platform economy workers are increasingly vulnerable due to a lack of benefits such as minimum wages, health and security as well as the opportunity to organise collectively and build work-life communities. In India over the past few months, workers at companies such as Swiggy have been…
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“Side hustle” is not a swear word: How to make gigs work for young Africans
[By Sharmi Surianarain and Julia Taylor] Across the African continent, the concept of a “side hustle” is not new. Slow job growth, accompanied by a high number of labour market entrants, has meant that young people have for a long time been engaging in informal ‘side’ work to make ends meet. Young people in African…
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Platform drivers: From algorithmizing humans to humanizing algorithms
[By Pallavi Bansal] I remember getting stranded in the middle of the road a few years ago when an Ola cab driver remarked that my trip had stopped abruptly and he could not take me to my destination. Frantic, I still requested him to drop me home, but he refused saying he cannot complete the…
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