Flexible but Unprotected? Women in the Gig and Platform Economy and India’s Code on Social Security, 2020

The Code on Social Security, 2020, enacted but not yet in force, is India’s first law to define gig workers, platform workers and aggregators. This paper examines its adequacy for women platform workers, who are a small but growing share of an expanding workforce. Using doctrinal and comparative analysis of the Code, the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Rajasthan Act of 2023 and the UK Supreme Court’s decision in Uber BV v. Aslam, together with research on algorithmic management and women’s platform work, it finds that the Code’s third-category, scheme-based model offers social-security possibilities but no minimum earnings, hours protection, transparency of algorithms or clear aggregator responsibility for harassment. The paper recommends minimum-earnings and hours rules, aggregator duties on safety and complaints, transparent deactivation procedures and maternity support portable across platforms.