Data collection for this study was supported by Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) as part of its "Future of Work in the Global South" initiative through the Fairwork Project, and by FISIPOL UGM under the Hibah Riset Fisipol 2020 grant. Treviliana E. Putri was supported by the Indonesian Ministry of Finance through the LPDP Scholarship (contract number SKPB-1050/LPDP/LPDP.3/2023) during the writing of this article. The authors would also like to thank Richard Heeks for his helpful comments and suggestions during the initial writing process.
1The gig economy, also often referred to as the platform economy, has transformed the work landscape, globally, during the past few years. In Indonesia, the gig economy is expanding within a specific context, where the informal sector has been pervasive due to the failure of the formal sector to absorb the abundant labor force and a rising precarity in the formal sector, where businesses had begun to increasingly rely on flexible employment (Yasih 2023). The Covid-19 pandemic has rendered this dynamic more visible and intensified it across Southeast Asia, as lockdowns accelerated reliance on on-demand delivery services and rising unemployment pushed workers toward platform-based labor (McCarthy 2023; Baijal et al. 2021). In light of these conditions, gig economy platforms in Indonesia, most notably ride-hailing services (ojek online) such as Gojek and Grab, have become increasingly attractive as accessible income-generating options amid constrained labor markets. Especially since gig workers are afforded the convenience of deciding their work time, depending on their schedule and other responsibilities that they may have. Thus, the gig economy platforms have promoted themselves as offering a win–win solution for the Indonesian labor market, claiming to satisfy customer demand, provide workers with income through purportedly flexible arrangements, and deliver low-cost services to consumers. This narrative has positioned gig platforms as broadly beneficial to the economy (Rachmawati et al. 2021:34).
2Debates surrounding the economic contribution of digital labour platforms are deeply intertwined with questions of gender and inequality. While platforms are often celebrated for expanding income-generating opportunities, scholars argue that they frequently reproduce long-standing racialised, gendered, and classed divisions of labour within the service economy (Graham et al. 2017; Wu et al. 2019; van Doorn 2017). Central to this expansion is the promise of flexibility, a feature commonly framed as particularly advantageous for women balancing paid work with unpaid care responsibilities. However, empirical evidence complicates this narrative. Studies show that gig workers face income instability and high exit rates (Farrell & Greig 2016; Balaram, Warden & Wallace-Stephens 2017; Lepanjuuri, Wishart & Cornick 2018; Azuara, González & Keller 2019), while many work extended hours to secure sufficient earnings, thereby undermining the promise of flexibility and work-life balance (Maftuchan, Djamhari & Thaariq 2018; Putri, Darmawan & Heeks 2023). As Lehdonvirta (2018: 24) argues, platform flexibility is structurally constrained by the availability of work and workers’ dependence on platform income, both constraints that are often gendered in their effects. In Indonesia, existing scholarship has primarily examined either the general precarity of drivers (Novianto 2024; Yasih 2023) or broader barriers to women’s labour force participation (Cameron 2023; Setyonaluri & Utomo 2024). Yet limited attention has been paid to how women experience and negotiate the promise of flexibility while navigating both the “bogus partnership” structure of platform labour (Novianto 2025) and enduring gendered social stigma.
3This study examines the experiences of women ojek online drivers in Indonesia and how women navigate these structural constraints in the gig economy that disproportionately impact them. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 30 women ojek online drivers during the Covid-19 pandemic, the study addresses the following research question: How do women ojek online drivers’ experiences and challenge platform claims of flexibility in the gig economy? The pandemic provides a critical context in which existing gendered and classed inequalities are both intensified and made more visible. For poor urban women working as ojek online drivers, the combined demands of caregiving and supplementing household income have intensified during the pandemic, particularly due to school closure that shifted children’s education into the home (Savirani & Mustika 2020; Setyonaluri et al. 2023). This study investigates how women ojek online drivers interpret their work and negotiate its everyday complexities as mediated by platform algorithms, within the particular cultural and social context of Indonesia.
4This paper is structured as follows: the first section critically examines the gig economy and its promise of flexibility, particularly in relation to women’s participation in Indonesia. The second section interrogates the notion of women and work flexibility, analyzing how it is constructed and governed within Indonesia’s labour landscape. The third section outlines a detailed overview on how we systematically collected and analysed the interviews data. The subsequent findings and discussion reveal the structural constraints shaping women ojek online drivers’ work, including uneven access to work opportunities and heightened income dependency under platform governance. The final section synthesizes the findings and reflects on their implications for future research and policy.
5This section reviews existing literature on flexibility in gig economy platforms and subsequently contextualizes these debates within scholarship on women’s work and gender role attitudes in Indonesia’s employment landscape.
6In the gig economy, including online ride-hailing, flexibility is promoted by platform companies as a defining advantage over standard employment. It is commonly understood as workers’ discretion over when, where, and how long they work, as well as the ability to adjust boundaries between work and family in response to shifting demands (Glass & Estes 1997; Hall & Richter 1988; Hill et al. 2008). Much of the literature associates such flexibility with improved work-life balance, reduced work-family conflict, and enhanced productivity (Grönlund 2007; Lu et al. 2018; Hill et al. 2008). The rise of gig platforms is frequently interpreted as an extension of this flexibility paradigm. However, much of this scholarship approaches flexibility primarily from the standpoint of employer interests and labour market efficiency, obscuring how, in practice, such “flexibility” can operate as a mechanism of labour externalisation and intensified precarity within an increasingly exploitative economic order. More recent research has begun to foreground individual-level experiences of work flexibility and work-life balance (Gregory & Milner 2009: 7). As Guest (2002: 259) argues, flexibility can be understood in both objective and subjective terms: objectively, in relation to measurable indicators such as hours allocated to paid work versus family or leisure; and subjectively, in terms of individuals’ lived sense of balance. This distinction underscores the importance of examining how flexibility is experienced by workers themselves, rather than assuming its benefits from an organisational perspective.
7Despite the promise offered by the platforms, flexibility is not a novel benefit introduced by the gig economy. “Flexible” labor arrangements have long existed as “nonstandard” employment relations—including part-time, temporary, and contract work—which differ from “standard work arrangements” characterized by full-time, indefinite employment at an employer’s site (Kalleberg 2000: 341; Arnold & Bongiovi 2013: 294). In Indonesian context, “stable and permanent models of work” have never been the only norm (Yasih 2024: 6). Instead, the Indonesian gig economy has “institutionalised older forms of precarious work” previously found in the pervasive informal sector, such as the ojek or motorcycle taxi, and deployed them within the formal economy (Yasih 2023: 848-849). This framing complicates the rigid “formal-informal” dichotomy often applied to developing economies. Gig work in Indonesia is highly formal in its execution: every transaction is digitally recorded, and the relationship is governed by strict, albeit asymmetrical, contracts. Yet, as Novianto (2025) argues, this creates a regime of “informalized formal work” or “bogus partnership.” While the work possesses the administrative surveillance of the formal sector, it retains the lack of social protection characteristic of the informal sector.
8At the time of the initial emergence of ojek online platforms, the ride-hailing sector appeared to be a promising working mechanism for Indonesian urban citizens, especially motorbike owners. With the driver’s autonomy to authorize (accept/decline) their option of responsibilities using their vehicles, this mechanism successfully equipped the platform to attract workers into this process of capitalist exploitation voluntarily (Ettlinger 2016: 273). The labour process offers a systemized working opportunity through the Big Data algorithm, an efficient match-making machine between the supply (drivers) and the market demand (customers). Nevertheless, this appraised autonomy and flexibility are merely nominal, specifically to encourage drivers’ working motivation (Finkin 2016: 18; Aloisi 2016: 662). The algorithm is used to assess drivers’ behavior in choosing their “flexibility.” The platform will incentivize drivers to receive more orders. To maintain their incentives, the drivers will continuously have a longer work schedule (Wu et al. 2019: 580). Thus, drivers face “splintering precarity” where income instability forces them to work excessive hours to meet basic needs (Mustika & Savirani 2021: 49). This results in what Novianto (2024: 381) describes as “gamification from below,” where drivers must constantly strategize against algorithmic control to secure a living wage.
9Consequently, the gig economy in Indonesia should be viewed as a mechanism that integrates the “uncertain, unstable, and insecure employment practices” of the informal economy into the formal capitalist structure (Kalleberg & Hewison 2015: 22). Ride-hailing platforms utilize customers’ demand and evaluation as a strategy to improve service quality and, at the same time, manipulate the driver’s working hours and extra payments (Wu et al. 2019: 6). The burden of economic risk has then shifted from the company to these drivers, creating a disposable labour force where companies may hire and fire workers easily in response to fluctuating demand (Kalleberg 2000: 346; Arnold & Bongiovi 2013: 295; Anwar & Graham 2020: 241).
10Under the New Order, the Indonesian government formalized the idea that women must fulfill both productive and reproductive roles through the doctrine of peran ganda (double role), thereby prescribing women’s appropriate social function (Ford & Parker 2008: 9). Nevertheless, although the New Order has collapsed, many of its gendered assumptions continue to persist. One of them is the stigma of women being secondary earners. The underlying assumption being that married women do not work and that the husband is the primary income earner (Gardner 2007).
11This cultural framework is deeply rooted in the ideology of kodrat (biological destiny), which positions women primarily as wives and mothers, viewing income-earning as secondary to these domestic duties (Setyonaluri & Utomo 2024: 2426; Cameron 2023: 191). As a result, the decision to enter the labor market often involves a complex negotiation of “opportunity costs,” specifically the conflict arising from time away from children (Setyonaluri & Utomo 2024: 2424). As secondary earners, women are expected to generate additional income for the family by choosing a career path that does not interfere with their primary roles as wives and mothers (Utomo 2012: 68). The socialisation of women as secondary earners further supports the traditional gender roles in marriage, which then translates into the gender gap in the contemporary labour market (ibid.: 82).
12It is within this context of constrained choice that the “flexibility” of the gig economy appears initially appealing. However, the promise of flexibility by platforms often obscures its role as a strategy of worker co-optation. As Gerstel and Clawson (2014: 396) argue, while flexibility is often framed as a solution to the mismatch between rigid jobs and family needs, in practice, it frequently reinforces traditional gender expectations. For women, this “flexibility” often manifests as a mechanism that allows them to be co-opted into the labor force while simultaneously maintaining their full burden of domestic labor, a dynamic Gerstel and Clawson (ibid.: 404) describe as “neotraditional.”
13As previously mentioned, some scholars have acknowledged that the so-called flexibility of the gig economy does not offer true freedom to workers. Findings from Wulansari et al. (2024: 37) further support the argument, showing that gig workers are subject to strict controls via algorithms, rating systems, and incentive structures. Drivers in Indonesia often must work long hours to earn a sufficient income, and failure to comply with platform demands results in penalties such as reduced orders or suspension. This creates a paradox for female drivers: they enter the sector for the promise of balancing work and family, yet the algorithmic demands often penalize the very flexibility they require (Tjuaca et al. 2024: 405). This tension was exacerbated during the Covid-19 pandemic, where women carried the double burdens of income generation and intensified caregiving due to school closures (Savirani & Mustika 2020).
14Women working in this sector encounter additional challenges, not only from the platforms themselves but also from societal factors. The underrepresentation of women in Indonesia’s workforce is not new (Schaner & Das 2016: 1) and is still echoed within the gig economy despite the potential for technology to bypass traditional barriers. Nair (2019: 4) identifies at least four major hindrances to women’s labour participation in ASEAN countries: education, sectoral and occupational biases, the possibility of automation replacement due to technology, and a lack of political will to improve women’s roles in the workforce.
15Studies on ride-hailing services show that safety and social stigma have become huge concerns for female drivers. A survey by the International Finance Corporation (IFC 2018: 30) showed that 64% of female respondents across six countries cited security reasons as their primary factor for not applying as an Uber driver. In China, numerous instances of sexual harassment against female drivers have sparked a debate about whether platforms should restrict female drivers from accepting only female passengers (Tang et al. 2021: 3482). Female drivers also felt that ride-hailing platforms did not do enough to ensure their physical safety, especially related to harassment from the passengers (Rizk, Salem & Weheba 2018: 41).
16In the Indonesian context, this is compounded by gender stereotypes regarding driving competency. Several studies found that female drivers face significantly higher order cancellation rates than men, often because customers refuse to be driven by a woman due to perceptions of safety or propriety (Wargadiredja 2017; Nurradifan 2018; Juddi et al. 2024: 3). Furthermore, female drivers often receive lower performance ratings due to customer bias or their refusal to engage in unsafe situations, which the algorithmic management systems fail to account for (Juddi et al. 2024: 2; Putri et al. 2023: 3). As a result, female drivers often receive fewer orders compared to their male counterparts. These sectoral and occupational biases are factors that significantly influence how women are perceived, especially in the ojek sector, where the traditional ojek drivers are predominantly men.
17This qualitative study was conducted from July to October 2020 to understand the shared experiences of women online ojek drivers in Indonesia. This research was conducted independently by researchers from Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia, without any affiliation with or collaboration from Grab, GoJek, or other platform companies where the ojek drivers are working. Due to Covid-19 mobility restrictions during the data collection period, the team collaborated with trained local enumerators to assist the data collection in cities outside Yogyakarta, where the university is located. Local enumerators received comprehensive training on interview protocols, research ethics, and the principles of phenomenological interviewing. While enumerators conducted most of the interviews, all data analysis and interpretation were performed by the research team.
18This study adopts a phenomenological research design to examine the lived experiences of women ojek drivers within the platform economy. By foregrounding first-person accounts, phenomenology allows the researchers to explore how gender norms shape these experiences and how women interpret, negotiate, and sometimes resist the vulnerabilities imposed by platform work. This approach enables a nuanced understanding of both the constraints and the strategies women employ to navigate the gendered and precarious dynamics of gig labour. Using phenomonology, we aim to identify the shared essence of a phenomenon as experienced by multiple participants.
19In line with Creswell’s (2017) methodological framework, this study first established the appropriateness of phenomenology for addressing the research problem, given its focus on women’s common experiences of platform-mediated work. The phenomenon under investigation was then clearly defined, and data were collected primarily through in-depth interviews and participant observation. The data were subsequently analysed through thematic clustering, allowing recurring meanings and experiential patterns to emerge. Through this process, the analysis moves from individual narratives toward a synthesis that captures the core structure of participants’ experiences.
20Face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted in five cities in Indonesia: Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Jakarta, Makassar, and Medan. The decision to select five research locations was based on the presence of women online ojek drivers in the selected cities. For example, Yogyakarta is home to thousands of female motorbike taxi drivers as well as numerous active female motorbike taxi drivers’ unions representing them. Besides, we also considered the geographical context of the selected locations to capture the diverse Indonesian experience. Participants were recruited directly through drivers’ networks and gathering points, without involvement from the platforms. Two recruitment approaches were employed. For the data collection in Yogyakarta, participants were recruited through snowball sampling via women drivers’ unions. We collaborated with women drivers’ unions in Yogyakarta to identify suitable participants. Meanwhile for the other four cities, we combined convenience and snowball sampling to find research participants. The team would approach women drivers at their common gathering points. If the drivers agreed to participate, we would then ask them to refer other potential participants.
21Participants were selected using criterion sampling to ensure that all interviewees have direct and sustained experience of the phenomenon under study. In addition to meeting the gender and location criteria, participants were required to have worked for at least one year with either Grab or GoJek, Indonesia’s leading on-demand transportation platforms. This requirement ensured sufficient experiential depth to reflect meaningfully on platform work. All participants provided informed consent prior to the interviews. In total, thirty women drivers were interviewed, with six participants recruited from each of the five selected cities. Of these, twelve identified ojek work as part-time employment, while eighteen reported relying on it as their primary, full-time source of income. The sample size was determined by the principle of data saturation, whereby additional interviews no longer yielded substantively new themes or experiential dimensions. Consistent with phenomenological research standards, the aim was not statistical representativeness but depth of insight into shared meanings and patterns across participants’ lived experiences.
22Following the completion of the interviews, data analysis was conducted in several stages. All interviews were first transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were then read multiple times to facilitate immersion in the data before coding commenced. Consistent with Creswell’s (2017) phenomenological analysis framework, the coding process proceeded in three phases. In the first phase, each researcher independently conducted open coding to identify significant statements and preliminary meaning units related to women’s experiences of gig work. In the second phase, the research team compared and consolidated these initial codes into broader thematic categories through iterative discussion.
23Through this process, four key themes emerged: “gendered occupational risk and social stigma,” “algorithmic work allocation,” “economic reliance on platform work,” and “negotiating paid and unpaid labour.” Representative excerpts were then selected to illuminate each theme and to distil the shared essence of participants’ lived experiences. Particular attention was paid to how differing economic positions (e.g., high dependence on income from platform vs low dependence on income from platform) shaped these experiences, while also identifying common structures that characterised the collective phenomenon of being a woman gig driver. All coding and analysis were conducted in Bahasa Indonesia to preserve contextual meaning; selected quotations were translated into English only after thematic development was finalised.
24This section higlights the study key empirical findings, highlighting the structural constraints faced by women ojek online drivers within the gig economy. Building on Lehdonvirta’s (2018: 24) analysis of structural constraints shaping work flexibility, we identify availability of work and income dependence as the two key factors influencing women drivers’ different perceptions of flexibility in the Indonesian gig economy. Further, it critically analyzes and situates the findings within existing literature and theoretical frameworks.
25The availability of work in the gig economy depends heavily on the allocation of work by the platform’s algorithms and the number of customers’ demands. Women online ojek drivers experience an extra layer of structural constraint due to their gender attribute, aside from the work distribution that is solely decided by the platform’s algorithm. One of the most salient issues is customers’ cancellations. Platforms usually let customers cancel their orders via the application under several circumstances, such as: “driver is too far away,” “driver asks me to cancel.” However, drawing on our respondents’ experience, male customers often explicitly express their disappointment when they realize that the assigned driver is a woman.
When they see us [picking up the customer], they go, “You are a woman? I am sorry, I am not used to being on a ride with a woman, may I cancel [the order]?” (M, 47)
Yes, many cancel their orders because [I am] a woman. It is almost every day, at least once a day [that I received order cancellations due to being a woman]. (N, 27)
Yes, I often experience that, when I come to pick up the customer,they cancel it … they said, “Ma’am, I want a male driver,” and I said, “Okay, Sir, no worries’ and then [they] cancel [the order]. (R, 40)
26These customers usually do the cancellation themselves via the application and put the reasoning behind the cancellation with technical options that would not negatively affect the driver’s ratings (i.e., the driver asks me to cancel).
If the customer [man] were canceling his order, he would be asked the reason for the cancellation, which includes several options. However, the reason for cancellation due to our gender [the driver is a woman] is not available. We usually ask them to choose the “the driver is too far away” option, which has the least impact on our working performance. (R, 29)
We only work by the order that appears in the app. If they do not want to get on the ride because the driver is a woman, then they are the ones who have to submit the cancellation [via app]. If we are the ones to cancel, the blame will be on us. (M, 47)
27Although customers’ preferences over male drivers, on one hand, negatively impact the number of rides that they get in a day, our respondents also mentioned that sometimes, they are still happy if the customer still pays for the ride even without getting on the ride with them.
At first, when there are not many women drivers, many customers cancel their orders. Back then, I usually tried to argue with them because I have the right to work [as a woman]. Now, when I argue like that, they usually just let me finish the order [without getting on the ride], but still paid for the full ride. (M, 41)
Once I received an order, but the customer drove the motorbike and I sat in the passenger seat because he said he wanted to go faster, so I let him do it. After that, he still paid for the ride and even spared me some more money. I like that. (E, 52)
28Drawing from this evidence, some customers, when they do not cancel their order, are willing to pay for their ride while allowing women drivers to complete the trip from the pickup point to the destination without actually getting on the motorbike. This approach allows both the customer and the driver to avoid the platform’s rating system, which discourages cancellation. Additionally, male customers may choose to drive the motorcycle themselves, allowing women drivers to take the passenger seat. This approach also reduces negative outcomes, such as financial or time losses, for both customers and drivers. This finding highlights the importance of financial motivation for these women drivers despite having to deal with possible discrimination due to gendered social norms about women driver.
29Women often also could not maintain their rating system due to the low number of orders they get (due to cancellations). One driver from Jakarta, E (52), expressed her aspiration on how the platform should treat its drivers.
I feel bad for the women drivers in the Gojek platform, the company has inadequately applied the same mechanism to both men/women. This could be a burden for women with domestic workload… (E, 52)
I start at 8 in the morning, and then come home at ten at night. If I have not met the target [to get incentives], I will not go home. (N, 40)
30Women drivers’ experiences show that platform algorithms remain gender-blind and do not account for the specific challenges women face at work. The platform matches women drivers with both male and female customers without offering safeguards against gender-based discrimination. These structural limitations are intensified by everyday inequalities, including stigma about women’s driving abilities, religious beliefs, and social norms that discourage women from working as motorcycle taxi drivers. As a result, the platform fails to reduce gender inequality and instead leaves women drivers more exposed to discrimination.
31Fortunately, since the start of Covid-19 pandemic, Grab has been allowing their drivers to select their working options among ride-hailing, food delivery, or personal goods delivery services. Although this mechanism is not explicitly tailored to women’s needs, female drivers can still take advantage of the platform and manage their work performance alongside other working options beyond ride-hailing.
If you use Grab, you can turn off a few of their features. They have GrabBike, GrabFood, GrabExpress. You can just choose your preference on that feature for your workload. (J, 25)
I usually choose food delivery instead of ride-hailing. This way, I can also bring my son with me [in the passenger seat]. I am still working, while at the same time, he is with me as well. My son will also understand how I work to earn money. (V, 41)
32The diversification of service options beyond ride-hailing reduces women drivers’ exposure to gendered risks, including bias-driven cancellations and harassment linked to close physical proximity. At the same time, it enables forms of strategic agency within structural constraints. Confronted with gendered expectations that they remain primary caregivers, women selectively undertake tasks that allow them to bring their children to work. This practice does not reflect emancipatory flexibility, but adaptive negotiation within an environment that continues to naturalise women’s responsibility for unpaid care, forcing them to merge paid work and childcare in order to sustain labour participation.
33However, food delivery work also entails specific risks, particularly “fake orders,” through which financial risk is effectively transferred to drivers, who are required to initially cover the cost of the order. Although platforms may reimburse these losses following a reporting process, this mechanism remains burdensome, as it requires drivers to advance their own funds, navigate administrative procedures, and absorb temporary income loss and uncertainty (Dewi & Kurniawan 2021). This finding corroborates David and Philips’ (2023: 2072) concept of gendered feedback loops that entrench women in a low-inclusion equilibrium within the digital sphere. It shows how incremental investments in digital inclusion are unlikely to generate sustainable or scalable change beyond the short term. In the absence of broader structural transformation, deeply embedded social norms are likely to push women back into conditions of limited digital participation (ibid.: 2081).
34For those whose husbands are the family’s primary breadwinners, the main motivation to work as a female online ojek driver is not necessarily financial. For instance, M (47) told us that her primary reason for becoming an ojek driver is to find other productive activities in addition to taking care of her household. She used to work full-time at a local factory before resigning from it and becoming a full-time housewife. In both occupations, she felt frustrated because she had to stay in one place for a long time. Therefore, she looked for a side hustle that would allow her to go to places and meet other people. The same thing was also expressed by N (48). Her husband worked full-time and was able to take care of their financial needs. Therefore, she only did ojek work as a side activity and saved up money in emergencies. RW (40) added that she gained many friends from working as an ojek driver. This factor became her main motivation to keep working as an ojek driver.
[In the future], as long as I can still work as a driver, why not? As a driver, I can socialize with many people and make many friends. We [drivers] often greet each other on the road, and whenever one of us is in trouble, the others always come to the rescue very quickly. (RW, 40)
35Nevertheless, they continue to prioritise domestic labour over paid work. For example, M (47) started working for Gojek at around 9 am, after finishing her unpaid domestic work. She would take a lunch break for an hour and end her work at around 4 pm. N (48) started accepting orders after taking her kids to school at around 7 am and would take a break at around 11 am to pick up her kids. Then she would continue working at 2 pm until she turned off her application at around 6 pm.
36For these women, gig work offers an opportunity to earn additional income, engage in activities outside home. One key distinction that may set these female drivers apart from those who use platform work as their main source of income is their ability to forgo the substantial bonuses offered by the platforms for not meeting the target number of orders. Therefore, they can wrap up their work early since they are not solely dependent on the income they earn from the platform.
I was getting bored of staying at home all the time after resigning from my full-time job at the factory. Therefore, I was looking for a side job that is flexible enough so I can still do my responsibilities at home. Finally, I found Gojek. So far, I enjoy my work as an online ojek driver, and I can fulfill my duty as a housewife. (M, 47)
37In contrast to the experiences of M, N, and RW, participants who are the primary breadwinner of the family solely look for job as a driver due to lack of opportunity for better job elsewhere. A representative example is R (40), a mother of two whose husband is unemployed. Before working as a full-time female motorbike taxi driver, R was a factory worker who earned minimum wage. She left the job because the wage was not sufficient to support her family. Encouraged by the notion that she could earn more as a female online ojek driver, R decided to join Grab. She told us that now she can make more money and provide for her family. MS (41) experienced a similar situation. MS relies on her income as a full-time driver to support her three children. Although she was recently wedded to a fellow Grab driver, MS insisted on playing the family breadwinner role.
Because of working here, I can pay my bills and support my family. I can earn Rp 300.000 per day. I just got married for the second time, but I still want to provide for my family. I have three children from my previous marriage, and I don’t want to put the burden on my new husband. (MS, 41)
38When the individual does not have much skill to offer in the job market, the opportunity to become one of the women online ojek drivers is appealing, as stated by V (41), who must support her family due to her husband’s unstable job. She works for almost eleven hours per day to get more orders, which means more money for the family.
I work here because I have to support my family since my husband’s work is unstable […] I do not have much choice, what else can I do […] I start my day at 7 in the morning and go back home at 8 in the afternoon. (V, 41)
I work here because I need to provide for my family, I need more money to support my family […] I start my day at 7 am and then stop working at 9 pm, on average, I work for 12 hours a day. (A, 39)
39Drawing on participants’ accounts, their position as primary household breadwinners shapes how work flexibility is mobilized, often to intensify paid working time rather than to create space for rest. It further reproduces unequal temporal pressures between paid labor, rest, and family life. While previous studies show that men are more likely to expand their working hours, often for performance, compared to women in a flexible working arrangement (Chung & van der Lippe 2020: 376); this study shows that, an expansion of working hours to achieve performance may also occur, especially for those who are single mothers.
Yes, of course, there are those who are like that [over-work]. Well, they do not have husbands, if they have husbands, it is impossible for them to work until late at night, your husband must be angry, right? Like me, coming home at 10, my husband complains to me. We must take care of the house and also our husband as well. Of course, it will be complicated if they [women drivers] have husbands. (R, 40)
I give myself one day off because my kids ask me to. If they don’t say anything, I will just go on and keep on working [overtime]. I told my kids, “I work hard like this so that you can have meals and snacks.” But then, my kids replied, “Well, if that is the case, I would not eat and buy snacks so you can be with us.” Because of hearing that, now I try not to overwork for the sake of my kids. (M, 41)
40Based on these participants’ accounts, it has been suggested that women participation in the gig work still portrayed the unequal “gender role-compatible” participation in the formal labour market. Women workers faced more work-family conflict as the domestic and child-raising work were assumed as central to their sense of identity. In both groups, women frame their motivations for working in relation to family circumstances, either as contributing to household income or as supporting their husbands, frequently subject to their husbands’ approval. Many women still consider their work as second status after their main role as mothers and wives. For some women, working is indeed important as a subsistence effort for their family livelihood, while for others, working shall be done only if needed and permitted by their husband and family. Our findings clearly confirm prevalent gendered domestic roles, with which most participants appeared to have internalised as well.
41Platform companies often emphasize the flexibility of gig work to attract women into their workforce. However, our findings show that such flexibility is conditional on multiple factors, particularly in locally delivered forms of gig work such as ojek online in Indonesia. Table 1 summarizes our study result, highlighting the two main structural constraints and factors that shape them.
Table. 1 Mapping structural constraints for women ojek drivers
| Type of constraints |
Influencing factors |
Explanation |
| Availability of work |
Algorithm |
The algorithm decides on incoming orders. Drivers may need to wait for hours to get an order. |
| Norms, culture |
Cancellation rate towards women drivers due to the uneasiness of male customers (occupational bias that ojek drivers should be male) |
| Dependence on income |
Work as the main income |
Women drivers who have a high dependence on income from this work have to work long hours while still maintaining domestic labour. |
| Part-time work |
Women drivers who engage in this work not as their primary livelihood but as a supplementary source of income often use it as an opportunity to socialize and build new relationships, offering a temporary break from the domestic labour. |
42This table highlights how the concept of flexibility within the ojek online industry fails to materialize in practice, hindered by two main types of structural constraints impacting female ojek drivers: a) availability of work and b) dependence on income. The first influencing factor, the algorithm, operates as a structural constraint by determining the allocation and frequency of orders received by drivers. Female drivers frequently report receiving fewer orders than their male counterparts. This disparity is closely linked to the gendered construction of ride-hailing as a male-dominated occupation, rooted in deeply embedded cultural norms. Women drivers therefore confront sexism and social stigma, including instances in which male customers cancel rides upon discovering that their assigned driver is a woman. Such cancellations not only reduce women’s daily earnings but may also affect future job allocation, as platform algorithms tend to prioritise drivers with higher completion rates and performance metrics. In this way, gender bias becomes indirectly encoded into algorithmic management systems, reinforcing unequal work distribution.
43Our finding aligns with prior research demonstrating that, even within dual-earner households, socio-cultural norms continue to reproduce male breadwinner ideologies (Utomo 1997: 205). As a result, women’s labor force participation is frequently constructed as supplementary to that of their husbands, thereby reinforcing entrenched gender hierarchies. These dynamics extend into the digital sphere, where gender inequality has been identified as “one of the most significant inequalities amplified by the digital revolution” (Moolman, Primo & Shackleton 2007: 4). The persistence of such structural inequalities is particularly concerning in the context of the pandemic, which has further intensified women’s disproportionate exposure to economic and social vulnerabilities (Nanthini & Nair 2020: 2).
44With respect to income dependence, we identify full-time engagement in platform work as a key influencing factor. Women ojek drivers who rely on this work as their primary source of income exhibit high levels of economic dependence and often work extended hours to sustain household livelihoods, particularly when they function as primary breadwinners. At the same time, unpaid care and domestic labour within their households remains disproportionately their responsibility. The combination of long working hours and persistent care obligations heightens the risk of overwork, with potentially adverse consequences for their physical and mental well-being.
45Consequently, women drivers with high dependency on income from platform works appear to be particularly economically precarious. Struggling to make ends meet, they often find rest neither feasible nor imaginable, underscoring the survivalist character of their engagement in paid platform work. This pattern reveals stark inequalities among women workers themselves, particularly between those with limited dependence on platform earnings and those for whom such income is indispensable. The findings thus challenge narratives that frame platform work as a matter of choice or flexibility; rather, consistent with Balakrishnan, McGowan and Waters (2016: 12), women’s participation in part-time or temporary gigs is more accurately understood as a response to constrained labour market opportunities and inadequate social protection.
46This study has shown that the working experiences of women online ojek drivers in Indonesia have challenged the notion of flexibility in the gig economy employment in several ways. Many women entered this sector in pursuit of the promised work-life balance. However, a closer examination of flexibility and work-life balance reveals the need to critically reassess what constitutes a meaningful balance in practice. The work-life balance experienced by these women drivers, particularly those who are primary breadwinners, corresponds to what Guest (2002: 261) characterizes as an “equally heavy” balance. They face high demands in paid work, reflected in extended working hours, alongside substantial strain in non- paid work domains, where care and domestic labor remain persistent and time-intensive.
47Women drivers often struggle to secure orders due to constrained decision-making power across both paid and domestic spheres, reflecting the enduring gendered division of labour. Platform task allocation is governed by algorithmic management systems that prioritize cumulative working hours, responsiveness, and performance ratings. Although these systems appear gender-neutral, this ostensibly neutral market mechanisms embed and reproduce pre-existing social inequalities. Because women’s paid working time is structurally limited by unpaid care responsibilities, their performance metrics are systematically disadvantaged, resulting in fewer orders and lower earnings. In this way, algorithmic infrastructures function not merely as technical tools but as institutional mechanisms that re-entrench gendered hierarchies through data-driven allocation and customer-based rating systems.
48Working as an ojek driver, while can be read as a pathway towards the “digital-hoped-for-futures” (Arnez, this volume) for these women drivers, it is often at odds with their everyday lives. In practice, high income dependency and algorithmic management combine to intensify working hours and constrain non-work time. The “equally heavy” balance experienced by these women drivers underscores how platforms work only reproduces gendered inequalities.
49In conclusion, this study demonstrates that gig work frequently fails to deliver meaningful flexibility, particularly for marginalized women who shoulder both paid labour and domestic responsibilities. As van Doorn (2017: 907) observes, “in the world of platform labor, inequality is a feature rather than a bug.” Platform design and governance structures embed forms of gender blindness that interact with pre-existing structural inequalities, thereby reproducing and intensifying gendered disparities in access to work and income. These governance arrangements generate persistent asymmetries of information and power, enabling platforms to discipline workers while obscuring the ways in which gendered inequalities are embedded within ostensibly neutral technological systems.
50While this study has highlighted several issues about women’s flexibility within the gig economy in Indonesia, it has some notable limitations. First, this study focused on temporal flexibility, as the workers being studied are working for ride-hailing jobs. Future studies examining other forms of gig work, such as cloud work, could extend this analysis by highlighting labor arrangements that enable higher degrees of spatial flexibility compared to ojek online platforms, where work remains spatially bounded. Second, this study was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, which may have introduced specific limitations, particularly in terms of the temporal flexibility of the respondents. Therefore, conducting the research in a post-pandemic context would add further insights to our understanding of women’s flexibility in this sector. Thirdly, despite assuming these structural constraints from the algorithms, there have been ways for gig workers to resist them. Further research may also elaborate on specific ways in which women workers build their agency against the algorithmic power of the platforms. It is essential to further explore women’s experiences and agency in the digital labour that shapes their digital-hoped-for-futures.
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