Hidden inequalities: the gendered labour of women on micro-tasking platforms

Around the world, myriad workers perform micro-tasks on online platforms to train and calibrate artificial intelligence solutions. Despite its apparent openness to anyone with basic skills, this form of crowd-work fails to fill gender gaps, and may even exacerbate them. We demonstrate this result in...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Paola Tubaro, Marion Coville, Clément Le Ludec, Antonio A. Casilli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society 2022-02-01
Series:Internet Policy Review
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Online Access:https://policyreview.info/node/1623
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Summary:Around the world, myriad workers perform micro-tasks on online platforms to train and calibrate artificial intelligence solutions. Despite its apparent openness to anyone with basic skills, this form of crowd-work fails to fill gender gaps, and may even exacerbate them. We demonstrate this result in three steps. First, inequalities in both the professional and domestic spheres turn micro-tasking into a ‘third shift’ that adds to already heavy schedules. Second, the human and social capital of male and female workers differ—leaving women with fewer career prospects within a tech-driven workforce. Third, female micro-work reproduces relegation of women to lower-level computing work observed in the history of science and technology.
ISSN:2197-6775