(Self-)governing through gig time: Exploring the gendered times of power in Australian home task app-work

Gig apps (i.e., apps that arrange short-term or irregular task-based work, such as Uber and Airtasker) advertise to workers by promising them freedom over their work time. Drawing on interviews with 18 gig workers from across Australia, this thesis critically evaluates this promise – investigating how different women and men are able to use their time in gig work. I found that, while gig workers are provided with significant formal control over their time, the social, technological, and political context in which they work and live often makes it difficult for these workers to use their time ‘well’.