The Future of the Care Economy: Digitalisation and Gig Work

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This article is part of the essay series - Nations, Networks, Narratives: World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2025.

Digitalisation has the potential to enable and transform the care economy by improving access and efficiency of care services. The convergence of the care economy with the digital economy is a phenomenon that has received limited attention, even though it is becoming widespread with new models for care emerging around the world that leverage digital technology for care services. The care economy—which encompasses paid and unpaid services related to childcare, eldercare, and domestic work—is essential for inclusive economic growth and gender equality, as women perform the majority of unpaid and paid care work. Women, on average, undertake approximately three times more unpaid care work than men. In a developing country like India, they do nearly eight times more—a disparity that prevents women from entering and progressing in the labour force.

The care economy, which was long neglected as a policy issue, became central to the global agenda during the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought to light the disproportionate burden of care on women. The demand for care workers is expected to expand globally, with ongoing shocks like the climate crisis, increasing economic inequality, demographic shifts, and technological changes presenting challenges. By investing in care infrastructure and services, some 300 million jobs can be created by 2035, and it is estimated that about 70 to 90 percent of these jobs will benefit women. A significant percentage of these jobs will be created in the digitally-enabled care economy.

The demand for care workers is expected to expand globally, with ongoing shocks like the climate crisis, increasing economic inequality, demographic shifts, and technological changes presenting challenges.

The digitally-enabled care economy harnesses digitalisation to match demand for care services with supply by integrating digital tools and platforms for care delivery. The digitalisation of care has the potential to address the critical care access gap, which stems from a lack of sufficient and accessible paid care. This, in turn, leads to an overreliance on unpaid care and loss of capacity and opportunity for women. Research by UN Women on digital care enterprises in Southeast Asian countries indicates several advantages to digital care models, as they enhance flexibility and autonomy, offer higher and more stable income, along with convenience and learning opportunities for the predominantly female workforce.

Two aspects of the digital care economy warrant further examination: i) emerging models for digital care services, including gig work, and ii) the role of digital gender gaps in its development.

Emerging Models for Digital Care Services  

The digital care economy reimagines conventional models of caregiving by integrating them with apps, online marketplaces, care management software, and remote monitoring. For instance, in Southeast Asia, digital care enterprises like Malaysia’s Kiddocare—which offers childcare with on-demand trained babysitters—and Indonesia’s LoveCare—which offers caregiving services for the elderly through a platform, have been gaining traction.

In India, which is undergoing both a demographic transition and rapid digitalisation, digital care enterprises that provide long-term and short-term services in childcare, eldercare, and domestic work have expanded in urban areas. Platforms for childcare like Klay and Broomees offer on-demand babysitting services, while platforms such as Khyaal and Goodfellows offer on-demand assistance for elder care, along with innovative top-up services like companionship for daily tasks, as well as online games and workshops to counter social isolation.

With the rapid expansion of these services, care work is being integrated with gig work and quick commerce platforms. Urban Company, one of India’s largest employers of female gig workers, offers Insta Help, which provides instant domestic services like cooking and cleaning at home. Platforms like Snabbit offer on-demand domestic services in 10 minutes.

Urban Company, one of India’s largest employers of female gig workers, offers Insta Help, which provides instant domestic services like cooking and cleaning at home.

Care work in India is largely informal and falls short of decent work standards, including fair income, workplace security and social protection. With the digitalisation and platformisation of care work, there may be an increase in income and autonomy for the female workforce, but the experiences of female gig workers in India point to several unresolved challenges, including fair compensation, job security, bargaining power, and algorithmic discrimination.  It is essential that digitalisation and formalisation of the care economy, including the implementation of decent working standards, occur simultaneously.

Digital Gender Gaps

The theme for this year’s World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, ‘Gender equality in digital transformation,’ is exceedingly relevant to highlight how the gender gap in access to digital technologies curtails women’s economic opportunities, skills development and overall participation in the digital economy and society. The theme underlines that even though digital technologies can unlock opportunities for all, they remain out of reach for women and girls who make up the majority of the 2.6 billion people in the world who are still unconnected. India has one of the highest digital gender gaps in the world—75 percent of women own mobile phones in the country compared to 85 percent of men, and only 35 percent of women own smartphones, according to a report by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) in 2024.

The theme underlines that even though digital technologies can unlock opportunities for all, they remain out of reach for women and girls who make up the majority of the 2.6 billion people in the world who are still unconnected.

As the future of the care economy will increasingly intersect with the digital economy, digital gender gaps in access and literacy will affect women’s participation in the care economy. Women’s unpaid work, which is essential for the well-being of households, communities, and economies, remains largely unrecognised and undervalued. Increasing investment in the care economy is the path forward to address the unequal distribution of unpaid work.

Closing the digital gender gap to achieve gender equality is a prerequisite to unlocking women’s potential in the care economy.

Sunaina Kumar is a Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation.

• Developing and Emerging Economies
• India
• digital care economy
• digital gender gap
• digital gig economy
• digitalisation and gig work
• digitally enabled care economy
• gig economy

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