Women in the driving seat: Studying the interplay between gender and asset ownership in the platform economy

For half a century now, Indian women’s labour force participation has only declined. A myriad of socio-economic and cultural factors heavily influence women’s participation in the economy. While India needs to urgently bring a series of structural reforms to improve gender parity, this Issue Brief focuses on the interplay between gender and asset ownership on women’s labour force participation. The brief further explores the role of the platform economy in improving women’s participation given the gender gap in asset ownership. Through a thorough sociological inquiry, this issue brief finds that the platform economy offers two distinct advantages, asset monetisation and flexibility, which have remained elusive in traditional models. Additionally, platforms augment asset ownership, further catalysing women’s labour force participation. Thus, labour force participation is no longer a binary decision between household duties and economic aspirations, but women now have the choice to work at will.