Abstract
The increased usage of digital technologies has led to the rise of gig work platforms such as South Africa’s M4JAM (Money for Jam). Young, black women between the ages of 18 to 35 years old are participating in the gig economy through M4JAM but there is a limited understanding of the experiences of young, black women as they navigate the gig economy. This study intends to enhance an understanding of the experiences of young, black women that participate in the gig economy. The precarious and informal nature of the gig economy perpetuates the economic oppression and exploitation of gig workers. To explore the notion of economic oppression and exploitation of young, black women in the gig economy, African Feminisms was selected as an appropriate theoretical framework to explore this phenomenon. This study was qualitative with an exploratory research design, and it had a sample of 15 participants. One-on-one in-depth WhatsApp interviews were conducted to collect data on the realities, views and opinions of young, black women that are gig workers on the M4JAM platform.
The main finding of this study was that young, black women participate in the gig economy to make an income so that they can support their families financially by purchasing food. Some of the young, black women have had job retrenchments and they decided to find opportunities to make money online. Some participants that were students did not want to be entirely reliant on their parents and siblings for extra money. The family was also a source of encouragement to work in the gig economy and peer gig workers in informal WhatsApp groups where gig workers encouraged one another to do gigs and they got trained by other gig workers. The second finding of this study was that participants found out about M4JAM through social media and the M4JAM platform has master jobbers that assisted other gig workers to navigate the platform by engaging with their jobber army on social media platforms. This study also touches on gig work campaigns that are available on the M4JAM platform where different organisations and companies outsource labour from M4JAM. These campaigns are called Heineken campaign, spaza campaign, construction site campaign, Covid vaccine and condom audit campaigns. The study also found that gig workers that are mothers have more care responsibilities compared to gig workers that do not have children. Young, black women that are gig workers that are mothers must ensure that their children have someone to look after them whilst they work, or they take them to gigs.
Keywords: gig economy, gig worker, M4JAM, young, black woman, care responsibilities, African Feminisms