This has led to an intensification of the process of commodification and outsourcing of reproductive work within the framework of neoliberalism as an economic, social, political and cultural project (Federici, 2012). This paper is based on the preliminary conclusions of ongoing research based on semi-structured interviews with women workers on domestic work, care and cleaning platforms in Madrid (Spain) and Buenos Aires (Argentina).
Although we recognise the differences between these sectors, we maintain that addressing these platforms as a whole allows us to analyse the dynamics of the privatisation of social reproduction and the structural effects of platformisation on workers in the sector in a cross-cutting manner. This is an essential contribution given that, despite the exponential growth of these platforms in a sector that is always in demand, domestic and care work remains invisible in public and academic debates on the gig economy, which generally focus on more visible and generally masculinised sectors. We raise important debates regarding the transformations arising from the growing platformisation of the sector in two different contexts: Madrid and Buenos Aires.
This allows us to explore the intrinsic logic of platformisation regardless of national conditions, such as precariousness or informality, as well as the feminised and racialised nature of these sectors.
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This project has received funding from the HORIZON-MSCA-2023-SE-01-01 under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101183165.