U-Turn: Female Food Couriers Find Strength in Stereotypes

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In a new book on China’s platform economy, female delivery riders talk about overcoming the roadblocks they face in a male-dominated industry. Editor’s note: Dr. Sun Ping is a researcher focused on the platform economy — economic and social activities facilitated by digital platforms — as well as gender, technology, and social development. Since 2017, she has collected data and conducted extensive interviews to learn about the lives of China’s ubiquitous food couriers and the modern labor paradigm. This summer, she published her findings in the book “Transitional Labour: Food Delivery Workers in the Platform Economy of China.” Following is an excerpt from a chapter of the book that explores the challenges facing female delivery workers and the solutions they have devised. According to our studies, over 80% of all delivery riders took the job to secure a stable salary, serving as their primary motivation for entering the industry. Many of them previously worked on construc ………………………………