Sustaining Livelihoods in the Gig Economy: A Case Study of Paid Domestic Workers and Their Crisis of Social Reproduction in India

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This study seeks to comprehend how the daily workinglives and livelihoods of gig workers are influenced byconditions of 'home,' defined as the locus of SR activities,and how the vagaries of gig work shape social relations athome. The study focuses on a paid domestic worker (PDW)gig platform because women make up the majority of theself-employed workforce in this sector (NCEUS, 2007; Jha,2016), and among PDWs (CIS, 2021). The study willconsider the increased pressures on SR of PDWs in aplatform economy, as well as their diverse copingstrategies to sustain families and regenerative processes.In addition, the study investigates the role of the state inthe reproduction of labour power and social relations in aderegulated Indian economy. This study thus investigatesgig work from a female perspective and from the globalSouth, supplementing existing literature that is typicallyglobal North and male-centric. The study intends to conducta comparative case study across two cities in India,Mumbai and Kochi, which have higher and lower levels ofliberalisation, respectively.