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In a new report published on Monday by the Fairwork project, Krishan and her co-author Kavita Dattani turn their attention to location-based digital platform work – including ride hailing, food delivery and at-home beauty treatments – and the ways in which the gig economy can aggravate gender inequalities.

Conducted over four years, 38 countries and 180 platforms, the report’s three-part data collection strategy saw an international team of researchers interview more than 5,000 workers. What they discovered is an economy where failures to ensure safe working conditions and tackle gender-based discrimination are “commonplace”.

“There were so many reports of violence and abuse,” Krishan says. “The thing that really came to the fore was the incidence of sexual harassment. I didn’t expect them to have to deal with so much – it was shocking.”

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Elsewhere in the US, workers described carrying guns to protect themselves from clients – with black women reporting that they feel particularly at risk. “We know that in the US, black people experience feeling unsafe in white neighbourhoods, as well as extreme levels of policing. Those two things compound experiences of inequity.”

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Despite women joining the gig economy in the quest for more freedom, researchers found little evidence of platform flexibility. Instead, workers described limiting their roles to safer neighbourhoods and declining work at night, effectively widening the gender pay gap.

In countries such as Bangladesh and Paraguay, Krishan says platforms have had some success in combating these issues by requesting identification from clients – a practice which, although not widespread, allows workers to vet and flag those who use their services. However, other attempts at safety features have proved less successful.

Krishan points again to India, where she says platforms banned women from working after 6pm and from delivering heavy groceries. “The platforms usually realise ‘oh, this was terrible’ and change these policies,” Krishan says. “But in the meanwhile, people have lost income that they really can’t afford.

“So much of it is just the platform not listening to the women,” she says. “They’d rather come up with a very complicated algorithmic solution than just talk to them. And as a woman, that’s so frustrating.”