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Author	Ms Shambhavi Singh
Organisation/Institution	National Law Institute University, Bhopal
Country	INDIA
Panel	Women and Law
Title	ALGORITHMIC INFRASTRUCTURES OF CARE: LABOUR RIGHTS, GENDER JUSTICE, AND THE FUTURE OF WORK IN THE DIGITAL CARE ECONOMY
Abstract	The expansion of algorithmic management in the Indian labor market has transformed the terms of gig and care work while increasing pre-existent insecurities. The ‘on-demand’ platforms, like Urban Company and Helpr, are regulated by algorithms that determine workers’ visibility and income. These platforms classify them as independent contractors and not employees; that compels them to rely upon fragmented and voluntary welfare schemes. This withholding of healthcare, pensions, and insurance exacerbates gig work’s precarity. Indian domestic workers have faced institutionalized exploitation, based in informality, and on caste, class and gender hierarchies. Algorithmic platforms can worsen these inequities by incorporating biased customer feedback into ranking and wage calculation, exploiting current vulnerabilities. These systems erode workers’ bargaining power and entrench reliance on client evaluations. The field of care work, particularly child and elder care or household assistance, experiences these vulnerabilities in an even more acute manner. This work is generally carried out in private and intimate settings, where the spatial and relational arrangements reinforce inherent power asymmetries. Women workers are disproportionately concentrated in low-wage and highly surveilled positions. The paper asserts that these algorithmic platforms instead of alleviating these risks, amplify them through opaque governance frameworks. It calls for a rights-based, worker-centered regulatory framework that specifically addresses the vulnerabilities associated with domestic and care work, and that guarantees social security, dignity and protection for workers in the platform economy.
Biography	I am Shambhavi Singh, a research/PhD scholar at National Law Institute University, Bhopal. I have cleared UGC NET (an eligibility examination for the post of assistant professor conducted in India), and I am also enrolled as an advocate with the State Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh. My doctoral research revolves around establishing a legal framework for the care economy. Unpaid care work is undervalued in India and globally. My work will thus explore the childcare, maternity, and paternity policies and contends to draft social securities and pension schemes for this highly undervalued sector in macroeconomics and the legal domain. My broader research interests include constitutional law, feminist legal theory, and labor rights.