Women in the Platform Economy: Descriptive Evidence from Drivers in India and Indonesia
NBER Working Papers · 2026 · Achyuta Adhvaryu、Levina Adiputri、Valentina Brailovskaya、Priyanka Dua、Jenny Susan John、Pratibha Joshi
中文摘要
我们利用印度和印度尼西亚的调查数据与行政数据，就女性从事平台型驾驶和配送工作的经历提供描述性证据。通过与主要的两轮车平台合作，我们研究了具有代表性的司机样本，并对女性进行过度抽样，以考察性别差异（印度：女性404人，男性2,153人；印度尼西亚：女性892人，男性2,114人）。女性参与率极低——印度为0.8%，印度尼西亚为1.5%——这与安全顾虑、文化规范以及获取必要资产受限等相关障碍相一致。在确实进入该行业的女性中，平台工作的利用方式不同于男性：女性工作时间更短，更可能在空闲时间上线，并且更重视灵活性和补充性收入。女性每小时收入低于男性——印度低6%—8%，印度尼西亚低8%—22%——这些差异与工作时段、地点和服务类型方面具有性别特征的选择相吻合，而这些选择很可能受到安全与家庭约束的影响。女性还面临一些独特的挑战：两国女性报告的骚扰发生率均较高；在印度尼西亚，顾客歧视普遍存在，且女性的事故率更高。与此同时，女性在加入平台前处于失业状态的比例显著偏高，而且女性比男性更可能报告当前收入高于此前工作时的收入。总体而言，这些证据凸显出，在低收入和中等收入国家基于地点的平台工作中，灵活性与持续存在的女性特有风险、约束及不平等回报并存。
Abstract
We provide descriptive evidence on women's experiences in platform-based driving and delivery work using survey and administrative data from India and Indonesia. Partnering with major two-wheeler platforms, we study representative samples of drivers, oversampling women to examine gender differences (India: 404 women, 2,153 men; Indonesia: 892 women, 2,114 men). Female participation is extremely low -- 0.8% in India and 1.5% in Indonesia -- consistent with barriers related to safety concerns, cultural norms, and limited access to required assets. Among women who do enter, platform work is used differently than by men: women work fewer hours, are more likely to log in during free time, and place greater value on flexibility and supplemental earnings. Women earn less per hour than men -- by 6-8% in India and 8-22% in Indonesia -- differences that align with gendered choices over working times, locations, and service types, likely shaped by safety and domestic constraints. Women also face distinct challenges: higher reported harassment in both countries and, in Indonesia, widespread customer discrimination and higher accident rates. At the same time, a disproportionate share of women were unemployed before joining the platform, and women are more likely than men to report higher current earnings relative to prior work. Together, the evidence highlights how flexibility coexists with persistent gender-specific risks, constraints, and unequal returns in location-based platform work in low- and middle-income country contexts.