Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 2020, 21 (2): 59-84

The Gender Pay Gap in the Platform Economy: Comparing the Importance of Market and Organisational Dynamics on Two German Crowdworking Platforms

Anja-Kristin Abendroth
Bielefeld University

The rise of the platform economy has brought about crowdwork as a new form of flexible work where individuals solve specific problems or provide specific services or products in exchange for payment via online platforms. Survey data for crowdworkers in Germany collected by the 'Digital Future' collaborative research unit are used to compare gender inequalities in hourly pay among crowdworkers sampled from a marketplace platform and a micro-task platform. The results reveal that fathers earn higher hourly pay than mothers and childless women and men, but only on the marketplace platform. These differences can partly be explained by fathers being better positioned in the overall labour market and fathers' investment patterns in crowdwork, with longer seniority on the platform and quick task performance, which results in higher hourly pay. Investments in crowdwork and overall labour market positioning are only of modest importance on the micro-task platform. This points to different organisational settings and inequality regimes on the two platforms under study.

Keywords: platform labour, platform economy, crowdwork, algorithmic control, gender inequalities, gender pay gap, flexibility

Accepted: November 9, 2020; Prepublished online: January 13, 2021; Published: January 12, 2021  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Abendroth, Anja-Kristin. 2020. "The Gender Pay Gap in the Platform Economy: Comparing the Importance of Market and Organisational Dynamics on Two German Crowdworking Platforms." Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 21(2):59-84.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Acker, J. 1990. Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations. Gender & Society 4 (2): 139-158, https://doi.org/10.1177/089124390004002002. Go to original source...
    2. Adams, A. 2020. The Gender Wage Gap on an Online Labour Market: The Cost of Interruptions.
    3. CEPR Discussion Paper DP14294: 1-34, https://ssrn.com/abstract=3518636.
    4. Adams, A., J. Berg. 2017. When Home Affects Pay. An Analysis of the Gender Pay Gap Among Crowdworkers. SSRN Journal, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3048711. Retrieved 3/3/2020 (https://plu.mx/ssrn/a/?ssrn_id=3048711). Go to original source...
    5. Barzilay, A., A. Ben-David. 2017. Platform Inequality: Gender in the Gig-Economy. Seton Hall Law Review 47 (2): 393-431, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2995906. Go to original source...
    6. Bergvall-Kåreborn, B., D. Howcroft. 2014. Amazon Mechanical Turk and the Commodification of Labour. New Technology, Work and Employment 29 (3): 213-223, https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12038. Go to original source...
    7. Bonin, H., U. Rinne. 2017. Omnibusbefragung zur Verbesserung der Datenlage neuer Beschäftigungsformen. Bonn: IZA Institute of Labour Economics. Retrieved 3/3/2020 (https://www.iza.org/de/publications/r/188/report- no-80-omnibusbefragung-zur-verbesserung-der-datenlage-neuer-beschaftigungsformen).
    8. Budig, M. J. 2006a. Gender, Self-Employment, and Earnings. Gender & Society 20 (6): 725-753, https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243206293232. Go to original source...
    9. Budig, M. J. 2006b. Intersections on the Road to Self-Employment: Gender, Family and Occupational Class. Social Forces 84 (4): 2223-2239, https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.2006.0082. Go to original source...
    10. Chung, H., T. van der Lippe. 2018. Flexible Working, Work-Life Balance, and Gender Equality: Introduction. Social Indicators Research 4 (2): 1-17, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-018-2025-x. Go to original source...
    11. Cook, C., R. Diamond, J. Hall, J. A. List, P. Oyer. 2018. The Gender Earnings Gap in the Gig Economy: Evidence from over a Million Rideshare Drivers. NBER Working Paper 24732, https://web.stanford.edu/~diamondr/UberPayGap.pdf. Go to original source...
    12. Dechant, A., H.-P. Blossfeld. 2015. Changes in the Division of Labor Within Highly Educated German Couples When the First Child Is Born. Zeitschrift für Familienforschung 27 (3): 121-144, https://doi.org/10.3224/zff.v27i3.21279. Go to original source...
    13. Durward, D., I. Blohm, J. M. Leimeister. 2016. Rags to Riches - How Signaling Behavior Causes a Power Shift in Crowdsourcing Markets. SSRN Journal, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3159165. Retrieved 3/3/2020 (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3159165). Go to original source...
    14. England, P. 2010. The Gender Revolution: Uneven and Stalled. Gender and Society 24 (2): 149-166, https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243210361475. Go to original source...
    15. England, P. 1992. Comparable Worth. Theories and Evidence. New York: De Gruyter.
    16. Eurofound. 2015. New Forms of Employment. Luxembourg: European Union, https://doi.org/10.2806/937385. Go to original source...
    17. Folkerts, F., V. Schreck, S. Riazy, K. Simbeck. 2019. Analyzing Sentiments of German Job References. Pp. 1-6 in IEEE International Conference on Humanized Computing and Communication (HCC), Laguna Hills, CA. Retrieved 3/3/2020 (https://iug.htw-berlin.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/AnalyzingSentimentsOfGermanJobReferences_copyright.pdf).
    18. Galperin, H. 'This Gig is Not for Women': Gender Stereotyping in Online Hiring. 2019. SSRN Journal, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3501207. Retrieved 3/3/2020 (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3501207). Go to original source...
    19. Giard N, P. Hemsen, M. Hesse et al. 2019. Technical Report, Interdisziplinäre Befragung von Crowdworkern.Bielefeld: Forschungsschwerpunkt Digitale Zukunft. Retrieved 3/3/2020 (https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/download/2936990/2936992/TechnicalReport_Crowdworkerbefragung_FS_DigitaleZukunft.pdf).
    20. Gomez-Herrera, E., M. Bertin, F. Mueller-Langer. 2017. Trade, Competition and Welfare in Global Online Labour Markets. A 'Gig Economy' Case Study. Digital Economy Working Paper, JRC Technical Reports 5. Seville, Spain: European Commission. Retrieved 3/3/2020 (https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/eur-scientific-and-technical-research-reports/trade-competition-and-welfare-global-online-labour-markets-gig-economy-case-study). Go to original source...
    21. Howcroft, D., B. Bergvall-Kåreborn. 2019. A Typology of Crowdwork Platforms. Work, Employment and Society 33 (1): 21-38, https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017018760136. Go to original source...
    22. Huws, U., S. Joyce. 2016. Crowd Working Survey. The Size of Germany´s 'Gig Economy' Revealed for the First Time. University of Hertfordshire: UNI Europa Global Union; Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS). Retrieved 3/3/2020 (https://www.feps-europe.eu/resources/publications/447:size-of-germany-s-gig-economy-revealed-for-the-first-time.html.)
    23. International Labor Office (ILO). 2018. Digital Labour Platforms and the Future of Work: Towards Decent Work in the Online World. Geneva: ILO. Retrieved 3/3/20 (https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_645337.pdf).
    24. Kuhn, K. M., A. Maleki. 2017. Micro-entrepreneurs, Dependent Contractors, and Instaserfs. Understanding Online Labor Platform Workforces. Academy of Management Perspectives 31 (3): 183-200, https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2015.0111. Go to original source...
    25. Kelly, E. L., S. K. Ammons, K. Chermack, P. Moen. 2010. Gendered Challenge, Gendered Response. Confronting the Ideal Worker Norm in a White-Collar Organization. Gender & Society 24: 281-303, https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243210372073. Go to original source...
    26. Kenney, M., J. Zysman. 2019. Work and Value Creation in the Platform Economy. Pp. 13-41 in Kovalainen, A., S. Vallas (eds). Work and Labor in the Digital Age. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited. Go to original source...
    27. Kirchner, S. 2019. Arbeiten in der Plattformökonomie: Grundlagen und Grenzen von 'Cloudwork' und 'Gigwork'. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie (71) 1: 3-25, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11577-019-00587-w. Go to original source...
    28. Lechmann, D. S. J., C. Schnabel. 2012. Why Is There a Gender Earnings Gap in Self-employment? A Decomposition Analysis with German Data. Journal of European Labor Studies 1 (6): 1-25, https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-9012-1-6. Go to original source...
    29. Leimeister, M., D. Durward, S. Zogaj. 2016. Crowdworker in Deutschland. Eine empirische Studie zum Arbeitsumfeld auf externen Crowdsourcing-Plattformen. HBS Working Paper Series 323. Düsseldorf: Hans Böckler Stiftung. Retrieved 3/3/2020 (https://hdl.handle.net/10419/146407).
    30. Litman, L., J. Robinson, Z. Rosen, C. Rosenzweig, J. Waxman, L. M. Bates. 2020. The Persistence of Pay Inequality: The Gender Pay Gap in an Anonymous Online Labor Market, PLoS ONE 15 (2): e0229383, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. Go to original source...
    31. Lott, Y., H. Chung. 2016. Gender Discrepancies in the Outcomes of Schedule Control on Overtime Hours and Income in Germany. European Sociological Review 32 (6): 752-765, https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcw032. Go to original source...
    32. Lott, Y., A.-K. Abendroth. 2020. The Non-Use of Telework in an Ideal Worker Culture: Why Women Perceive More Cultural Barriers. Community, Work & Family 54 (1): 1-19, https://http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2020.1817726. Go to original source...
    33. Misra, J., M. Murray-Close. 2014. The Gender Wage Gap in the United States and Cross Nationally. Sociology Compass 8 (11): 1281-1295, https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12213. Go to original source...
    34. Pesole, A., C. Urzí Brancati, E. Fernández-Macías, F. Biagi, I. González Vázquez. (eds.). 2018. Platform Workers in Europe. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2760/742789. Go to original source...
    35. Phelps, E. S. 1972. The Statistical Theory of Racism and Sexism. The American Economic Review 62 (4): 659-661.
    36. Pongratz, H., S. Bormann. 2017. Online-Arbeit auf Internet-Plattformen. Empirische Befunde zum 'Crowdworking'. Deutschland. Arbeits- und Industriesoziologische Studien 10 (2): 158-181.
    37. Ridgeway, C. L., S. J. Correll. 2004. Unpacking the Gender System: A Theoretical Perspective on Gender Beliefs and Social Relations. Gender & Society 18 (4): 510-531, https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243204265269. Go to original source...
    38. Ridgeway, C. L. 2001. Gender, Status, and Leadership. Social Issues 57 (4): 637-655, https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00233. Go to original source...
    39. Risman, B. J. 2004. Gender as a Social Structure: Theory Wrestling with Activism. Gender & Society 18 (4): 429-450, https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243204265349. Go to original source...
    40. Schor, J. B., W. Attwood-Charles, M. Cansoy, I. Ladegaard, R. Wengronowitz. 2020. Dependence and Precarity in the Platform Economy. Theory and Society 49: 833-861, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-020-09408-y. Go to original source...
    41. Serfling, O. 2018. Crowdworking Monitor Nr. 1. Für das Verbundprojekt "Crowdworking
    42. Monitor. Hochschule Rhein-Waal: BMAS. Retrieved 3/3/2020 (https://www.bmas.de/DE/Presse/Meldungen/2018/ausmass-von-plattformarbeit-in-deutschland-hoeher-als-erwartet.html).
    43. Stier, H., H. Lewin-Epstein. 2003. Time to Work: A Comparative Analysis of Preferences for Working Hours. Work and Occupations 30 (3): 302-326, https://doi.org/10.1177/0730888403253897. Go to original source...
    44. Tomaskovic-Devey, D., D. Avent-Holt. 2019. Relational Inequalities: An Organizational Approach. Cambridge, UK: Oxford University Press. Go to original source...
    45. Treas, J., S. Drobnič. 2010. Dividing the Domestic: Women, Men and Household Work in Cross-National Perspective. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Go to original source...
    46. Vallas, S., J. B. Schor. 2020. What Do Platforms Do? Understanding the Gig Economy. Annual Review of Sociology 46: 273-294, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-121919-054857. Go to original source...
    47. Wood, A. J., M. Graham, V. Lehdonvirta, I. Hjorth. 2019. Good Gig, Bad Gig: Autonomy and Algorithmic Control in the Global Gig Economy. Work, Employment and Society 33: 56-75, https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017018785616. Go to original source...
    48. Williams, C. L., C. Muller, K. Kilanski. 2012. Gendered Organizations in the New Economy. Gender & Society 26: 549-573, 10.1177/0891243212445466. Go to original source...
    49. Williams, J. C., M. Blair-Loy, J. L. Berdahl. 2013. Cultural Schemas, Social Class, and the Flexibility Stigma. Journal of Social Issues 69 (2): 209-234, https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12012. Go to original source...
    50. BY-NC Anja-Kristin Abendroth, 2020.BY-NC Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 2020.
    51. Anja-Kristin Abendroth is a junior professor for technical and social change at Bielefeld University and part of the interdisciplinary research programme 'Digital Future'. Her research interests include gender inequalities, work-life balance, flexible working, the digital future of work, and organisational inequality regimes. Contact e-mail: anja.abendroth@uni-bielefeld.de.

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content