Business
Is the Gig Economy Improving the Lives of African Women? By Tolu Olasoji
THE GIG ECONOMY IN AFRICA has grown significantly as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, serving as a stopgap for consumers when businesses shut down during lockdowns, and offering employment for those shut out from formal and even informal opportunities. But women are being prevented from taking full advantage of these opportunities, because of the ways in which long-standing gender disparities are manifesting themselves in digital platforms. A new project by Caribou Digital bears this out. Through interviews and participatory videos, the digital economy research and advisory firm collected the experiences of people who earn their living on digital platforms to understand how the Covid-19 pandemic has shaped their experience. The project forms part of their ongoing research, supported by the Mastercard Foundation, into “platform livelihood.”
26
March-April 2021
Women are benefitting from the gig economy’s low barrier of entry, and the flexibility and autonomy it offers, says Grace Natabaalo, a research lead at Caribou who spearheaded the project. But interviews revealed several barriers for women at an “individual, societal and institutional level,” Natabaalo told Quartz Africa, “including access to capital, access to ICT and skills, harmful societal norms, and knowledge of online opportunities” she said. The challenges facing women when they work for online platforms are complex, even as the platforms present themselves as a better, simpler alternative to traditional jobs. Seeking gig economy opportunities Dathive Mukeshimana, 31, joined ride-hailing and delivery company SafeBoda in Kampala two years ago in search of more stable income, and after exploring opportunities in both the formal and DAWN
www.africabusinessassociation.org
