On-Demand Bias: Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence in the Ride-Sharing Industry – Te Puna Haumaru Seminar Series

Much of the current legal and regulatory concern associated with the rise of the gig economy has focused on how to fit gig workers into the traditional definitions that govern employment status. While this is important and helps to develop the legal and regulatory framework for this ever-expanding sector, issues of gender inequality are often ignored, or take a back seat, reflecting and perpetuating broader patterns of gender discrimination within society.

Ride-sharing, which forms a significant part of the gig economy, has revolutionised public transportation and ease of travel through on-demand apps that prioritise customers and ratings, but it does so at the expense of safety and well-being. It puts women into unsafe situations where their behaviour is moderated based on ratings rather than responding to the harmful situations. To put it concisely, ride-sharing has become a vehicle for the growing and internationally recognised issue of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV).

This talk will explore the escalating problem of on-demand bias that pervades the ride-sharing industry.

SPEAKER: 

Dr. Amanda Turnbull is a Lecturer in Law at Te Piringa Faculty of Law, School of Law, Politics & Philosophy and a Research Associate with Te Puna Haumaru, New Zealand Institute for Security & Crime Science at the University of Waikato.

Her research focuses on law and technology, specifically how we are adapting to the “Algorithmic Turn” in society, wherein algorithms are becoming the main mediator through which power is carried out.

Her teaching interests include law and technology, transnational law, contracts, feminism and law, and legal theory. Amanda is a cross-disciplinary scholar committed to fostering dynamic thinking in our increasingly complex and globalized world where legal problems are becoming much more than problems about law.

She holds a PhD (Osgoode), MA(Carleton), a BA (Ottawa), an ARCT, and a Dip AA. She is also a Fellow of the European Law Institute.