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. 2022 May 19;12(1):8502.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-12558-x.

Women in gig economy work less in the evenings

Sofia Dokuka  1 , Anastasia Kapuza  2 , Mikhail Sverdlov  3   4 , Timofey Yalov  4
Affiliations

Women in gig economy work less in the evenings

Sofia Dokuka et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Women have been systematically disadvantaged in the labour market. This could be explained by a complex association of factors, such as the lower speed of women's professional growth within companies, their under-representation in management positions, and the unequal distribution of caregiving and housework between men and women. The rise of the gig economy-a market system that is based on hiring independent contractors and freelance workers as opposed to creating full-time contracts-has brought researchers and policymakers into a discussion on the effects of online platforms and flexible work arrangements on labour market gender parity. In this study, we examine the case of the largest online English-language school in Eastern Europe, Skyeng. Data on 6,461,404 lessons given by 13,571 teachers demonstrate that women had fewer working hours than men in most age categories, but especially for ages 30-35. The workload deficit for the women could be partly attributed to the fact that they worked less often than the men did in the evenings (7-10 p.m.). We conclude that, despite the flexible work arrangements the gig economy has offered, the women taught fewer classes than the men (i.e., having fewer paid working hours), which in turn led to a gender pay gap. The rapid growth of the gig economy makes it important to monitor gender-gap dynamics as well as discuss potential mechanisms eliminating gender inequality in the labour market.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Average weekly teaching workload over 78 weeks, from January 1, 2019, to July 1, 2020. Vertical bars correspond to 95% confidence intervals. The black dashed line indicates the start of the national lockdown. The male teachers had a higher workload than the female teachers at Skyeng. Workload decreased in January and May (New Year and Christmas and national holidays, respectively).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Average weekly teaching workload over 74 weeks, from January 1, 2019, to July 1, 2020, for four age categories. Vertical bars correspond to 95% confidence intervals. The black dashed line corresponds to the start of the national lockdown in Russia. Skyeng’s male teachers had a higher workload than its female teachers notably in the 30–35 age group.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Average weekly teaching workload for four age categories in 2019. Vertical bars correspond to 95% confidence intervals. Skyeng’s male teachers had a statistically significant higher workload than female teachers in each of the age categories.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Hourly changes in the proportion of lessons. Skyeng lesson intensity displayed peaks in the morning (10:00 to 13:00) and evening (19:00 to 22:00). The minimal activity level corresponds to the night period (01:00 to 06:00).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Average yearly teaching workload in 2019 for four different age categories. Vertical bars correspond to 95% confidence intervals. Skyeng's male teachers had a higher workload than its female teachers notably in two age groups: 25–29 and 30–35.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Average yearly teaching workload in 2020 for four different age categories. Vertical bars correspond to 95% confidence intervals. Skyeng’s male teachers had a higher workload than female teachers notably in three age groups: 18–24, 25–29, and 30–35.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The dynamics of the number of unique teachers (men and women) during the observation period.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The proportion of women in the sample during the observation period.
Figure 9
Figure 9
The dynamics of mean age of Skyeng teachers.
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