Study flags digital, safety and mobility barriers for women in India’s gig workforce
An ILO-NCAER study finds women remain underrepresented on app-based work platforms including Swiggy, Uber and Urban Company. Digital-access gaps, safety concerns, mobility constraints and social norms could limit participation as India’s gig workforce is projected to reach 23.5 million by 2029-30.
What happened
ILO and NCAER find women remain underrepresented in India’s app-based gig workforce, including Swiggy, Uber and Urban Company. Digital-skills gaps, safety,
Key facts
- India female labour-force participation: about 32% in 2025 versus almost 78% for men
- Potential increase in annual growth if female participation reaches 50%: about 1 percentage point
- Projected gig workers by 2029-30: 23.5 million
- Projected annual gig-economy output contribution: ₹2.35 lakh crore ($24.5 billion)
- Women aged 15+ owning mobile phones: 56.2%
- Women aged 15+ able to perform online banking: 37%
- 2024 digital banking account ownership: 32% of men versus 14% of women
Why this matters
Targets and partners offering worker safety, digital-skills, transport and identity-verification solutions could become strategically valuable as platforms seek to unlock women’s participation.
What to watch
- Female worker share and retention disclosures from Swiggy, Uber, Urban Company, Zomato and quick-commerce platforms.
- Changes in state-level gig-worker welfare rules, platform safety mandates, insurance requirements or social-security contributions.
- Reported safety incidents, harassment complaints, customer-verification adoption and emergency-response performance.
- Expansion of women-only or women-preferred service categories, shifts and delivery zones.
- Rider incentive inflation, fulfillment delays and unfilled-shift rates in major Indian cities.
- Growth in electric two-wheeler leasing, device financing and women-targeted mobility programs.
- Build women-specific recruitment funnels through colleges, self-help groups, microfinance networks and local community organizations.
- Offer safety-linked operating features: verified customer identities, emergency response, safer route guidance, preferred service zones and penalty-free trip refusal.
- Create flexible shift, childcare and return-to-work programs for delivery, driving, warehousing and home services.
- Reduce device and vehicle entry barriers through leased e-bikes, smartphone financing, maintenance support and earnings guarantees during onboarding.
- Track gender-specific funnel metrics including application conversion, active-worker retention, cancellation exposure, safety incidents, earnings parity and promotion into supervisor roles.
- Use women’s participation gains as a service-quality and customer-acquisition lever in categories where female customers prefer female providers.