The Gig Podcast
The Gig is about the women and men who work in the so-called 'gig economy' worldwide. They find work through online platforms, and will tell us why we all need to be concerned about the real future of work.
Following The Gig Podcast’s successful launch of Season 1, host and executive producer Bama Athreya is back with Season 2 focusing on gig workers in the care economy.
For Season 2, The Gig Podcast is partnering with fellow Labor Radio Podcast Network member Evan Papp of Empathy Media Lab to support the production of the new series.
Learn more at: https://thegigpodcast.com/
Episode 1
The World’s Oldest Profession
In this episode, we learn more about what domestic and care work is, and its roots in exploitation and slavery. We meet organizers in South Africa and Hong Kong and speak with an expert on modern day slavery to understand the power dynamics underlying care.
Guests: Elizabeth Tang, IDWF; Myrtle Witbooi, IDWF/SADSAWU; Ambassador Luis C. deBaca; Tembi, migrant domestic worker organizer
Listen wherever you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Amazon, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts.
Episode 2
Servants to Technology
We fast forward from past to future, speaking with two technologists, one based in New York and the other in Barcelona, Spain about how new technologies are affecting the future of work in the care sector.
Guests: Alexandra Mateesceu, Data and Society; Olivia Blanchard, Digital Future Society
Episode 3
Permanent Wave
We go to India and Thailand to talk about intimate personal care services that take place in people's homes. Advocates and researchers explain how technology is affecting personal care workers who are already low wage, precarious and exploited.
Clients expect 'emotional labor' from these women but there are big risks of gender-based violence that platforms may exacerbate.
Guests: Kriangsak Teerawitkajorn, Just Economy and Labour Institute (JELI); Khawla Zainab, IT for Change
Episode 4
The Company You Keep
An ethical businessperson helps us understand alternatives to the exploitative gig model. We ask: if we keep humans in the loop, can tech in the domestic and care sector be an opportunity rather than a curse?
Guests: Aaron Seyedian, Well-Paid Maids; Sayem, domestic worker
Episode 5
Turning the Tables
We continue to explore ways in which if advocates and workers themselves are part of the design and control of platforms, big data may open up new opportunities for vulnerable workers who have long been isolated and exploited.
Guests: Palak Shah, NDWA Labs; Fairuz Mullagee, University of Western Cape/Social Law Project; Abigail Hunt, Overseas Development Institute
Episodes 6
Who’s the Fairest?
The surprise ending to this season was a wave of protests by India’s beauty care platform workers. How did they find each other? Why did they organize? And can they hold up in the face of the company’s intimidation tactics? The season concludes with a look at what we all can do to create a fair care economy.
Guests: Soumyarendra Barik, Indian journalist; Palak Shah, NDWA Labs
Listen on the platform of your choice, wherever you get your podcast.
About the Host of
The Gig Podcast
Bama Athreya
Bama is an expert on labor, gender equity and workplace social inclusion, labor migration and trafficking and she is interested in the intersection of tech and social movements.
You can follow her work at:
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