Pic Credit: Pexel
Aug 25: India’s rapidly expanding gig economy is creating new employment opportunities, but women continue to remain significantly underrepresented in app-based work, according to a recent study by the International Labour Organization and the National Council of Applied Economic Research.
The study highlights that India’s gig workforce is expected to expand substantially in the coming years. However, the benefits of this growth are not reaching women at the same pace as men.
Concerns over personal safety, limited mobility, lack of digital skills and prevailing social norms are among the key factors discouraging women from taking up platform-based jobs. These challenges are particularly important in sectors such as ride-hailing, food delivery, home services and other app-based work.
The findings come at a time when India is seeking to increase women’s participation in the workforce. Despite significant progress in access to banking and digital financial services, the same level of participation has not been seen in the rapidly growing digital labour market.
India’s female labour-force participation rate stood at around 32 per cent in 2025, compared with nearly 78 per cent for men, according to internationally comparable ILO estimates compiled by the World Bank.
The expansion of the gig economy is expected to make the issue increasingly important. With the number of gig workers projected to rise sharply by the end of the decade, improving women’s access to these jobs could provide an important source of additional income and employment.
At the policy level, the government is also working to strengthen social security provisions for gig and platform workers. The implementation of the Code on Social Security is expected to pave the way for welfare measures covering areas such as accident protection and maternity benefits.
Authorities are also working to improve the identification and tracking of platform workers through the e-Shram portal, which is intended to help eligible workers access government welfare programmes.
However, worker organisations have raised concerns about delays in sharing and updating worker information. At the same time, several platform companies have expressed concerns about regulatory requirements and the potential overlap between state-level measures and the emerging national framework.
The industry is also facing wider debates over fair pay, working conditions, algorithmic decision-making and income security, particularly for workers exposed to extreme weather and fluctuating demand.
For businesses, increasing women's participation could represent a significant opportunity as the platform economy expands. Creating safer working conditions, improving access to digital training, providing flexible work arrangements and strengthening social protection could help companies attract and retain a larger female workforce.
The next phase of India’s gig economy may therefore depend not only on how quickly the sector creates jobs, but also on how effectively businesses and policymakers make those opportunities accessible, secure and sustainable for women.