https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8765-3199
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Abstract
In this article we chart a conceptual path to challenge the presumed gender neutrality of on-demand mobility platforms (ODMPs) as an effort to unlock an entry point for feminist critiques and interventions. Drawing on the Foucauldian notion of dispositif, the ODMP is theorized as a “platform assemblage”—a complex sociotechnical system encompassing the digital and the nondigital stack that are mutually constituted in a contingent, relational, and contextual way. We employed a quantitative feminist approach to unpacking the “black-boxed” gender neutrality of the sociotechnical system. We argue that the gender nonneutrality is more than merely a symptom of the immanent masculinist propensities of ODMPs, but also the origin and organ that simultaneously represent the phenomena, processes, and products of how the gender relations of power operate through digitally mediated mobilities, while contextually, relationally, and rhizomatically coopting into and with other always-already gendered social categories. We first argue that gendered practices and processes of digitally mediated mobilities and gender nonneutrality of ODMPs in the digital stack are relational and mutually constituted. ODMPs actively abstract extant gender inequalities in daily mobilities into “idiotic” data derivatives, feeding and propagating into the platform demand and pricing calculi that algorithmically prioritize mobile and masculine subjects, perpetuating or amplifying gender inequalities in digitally mediated mobilities. The digital presences and practices of ODMPs create new temporalities and spatialities of daily mobilities that are perceived as gender-specific time–space fixity and flexibility. Furthermore, ODMP-mediated mobilities have not fundamentally disrupted the conservative gendered power relations at home, and the masculinist form of control over familial automobility.
我们描述了一种概念性方法, 挑战了按需流动性平台(ODMP)的性别中立性, 为女权主义批判和干预找到切入点。根据福柯式(Foucauldian)的“策略”概念, 将ODMP理论化为“平台组合”——一个复杂的社会技术体系, 包括以偶然性的、关系性的和连贯性的方式相互构成的数字和非数字堆栈。我们采用定量女权主义方法, 揭开了社会技术体系的性别中立“黑匣子”。性别非中立性不仅是ODMP内在的男权主义特征。数字流动性产生了权力的性别关系, 性别非中立性还是该现象、过程和结果的起源和组成部分, 并在背景、关系和根本上融合了其它性别化社会类别。在数字堆栈中, ODMP数字流动性和性别非中立性的性别化实践和过程, 是相辅相成的。ODMP主动地将日常流动性中的性别不平等, 抽象为“愚蠢”的数据衍生物, 并将其传递到平台需求和定价。定价算法优先考虑流动男性主体, 从而在数字流动性中延续或加剧了性别不平等。ODMP的数字呈现和实践, 创造了崭新的、具有性别化时空固定性和灵活性的日常流动时间性和空间性。ODMP流动性并未从根本上破除保守的性别化权力关系以及男性对家庭自动化的控制。
En este artículo elaboramos una ruta conceptual para disputar sobre la supuesta neutralidad de género de las plataformas de movilidad por demanda (ODMPs), a modo de esfuerzo para destrabar un punto de entrada a las críticas e intervenciones feministas. Basándonos en la noción foucauldiana del dispositiv, la ODMP se teoriza como una “plataforma de ensamblaje” –un complejo sistema sociotécnico que abarca las pilas digitales y las no digitales, y que se constituye de forma contingente, relacional y contextual–. Empleamos un enfoque cuantitativo feminista para desentrañar la neutralidad de género del sistema sociotécnico. Sostenemos que la no neutralidad de género es algo más que meramente un síntoma de las propensiones masculinistas inmanentes de las ODMP, aunque también del origen y órgano representa simultáneamente los fenómenos, procesos y productos sobre cómo operan las relaciones de poder de género a través de las movilidades mediadas digitalmente, a la vez que cooptan contextual, relacional y rhizomáticamente con otras categorías sociales, ahora y siempre informadas por género. En primer término, argumentamos que las prácticas y procesos de las movilidades mediadas digitalmente por género y la no neutralidad de género de las ODMPs en la pila digital, son relacionales y mutuamente constituidas. Las ODMPs abstraen activamente las desigualdades de género existentes en las movilidades cotidianas, en derivadas de datos “idiotas”, alimentando y propagando la demanda de la plataforma y los cálculos de precios que priorizan de manera algorítmica a los sujetos móviles y masculinos, perpetuando o ampliando las desigualdades de género en las movilidades mediadas digitalmente. Las presencias y prácticas digitales de las ODMPs crean nuevas temporalidades y espacialidades de las movilidades cotidianas, que se perciben como fijaciones y flexibilidades espaciotemporales específicas por género. Todavía más, las movilidades mediadas por las ODMPs no han alterado en lo fundamental las relaciones conservadoras de poder de género en el hogar, ni la forma masculinita de control sobre la automovilidad familiar.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Dr. Brian King and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and generous encouragement.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Supplemental Material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2024.2322478
Notes
1 The notion of post-Confucian or post-Confucianism refers to the philosophical and ideological movement that marks a departure from the traditional values and belief system of the classical premodern Confucianism. In a post-Confucian society, a greater emphasis is put on individual rights, freedoms, and a more diverse set of values, compared to the traditional Confucian values that emphasize social hierarchy, order, and duties.
6 According to McLafferty (Citation1995), the quantitative feminist approach is the employment of quantitative methods in describing and analyzing the broad contours of difference and similarity that vary not only with gender, but also with race, ethnicity, class, and place. Although we align ourselves with Bergmann, Sheppard, and Plummer (Citation2009) that “quantification and mathematization are not problematic per se but rather how results are interpreted” (Kwan and Schwanen Citation2009, 263), we must clarify that how gender is quantified and modeled does matter in the critical interpretation of the results in feminist geographies.
7 “The [DiDi] app just pops up a ‘box,’ demanding you to report when the rider is female. Otherwise, if anything happens, it’s all on your own. Moreover, these in-vehicle cameras and audio systems can automatically detect whether you are engaging a conversation that contains keywords like ‘do you have a partner,’ or ‘where do you live.’ The algorithms don’t care whoever initiate the conservation. DiDi will send a warning to you or leave a record. This happened to me once, the sad part is that I did not even start the conversation.” (Yang, male, ODMP driver, age twenty-eight)
I was nervous, I’m not even joking. Picking up female passengers at night sometimes drives me crazy. I don’t even dare to touch the central console gear and the cup holder near it while driving, because I am afraid that I might accidentally touch their legs, and they will report to DiDi. They [DiDi] immediately warn you with an automatically generated call as soon as the passenger got off, or even worse, the platforms might forbid you from continuing to drive for DiDi.” (Dexin, male, ODMP driver, age thirty-five)
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Notes on contributors
Fang Bian
FANG BIAN is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Planning, School of Architecture, Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen). Shenzhen, China. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include gendered mobility, feminist digital geographies, the politics of mobility, and platform urbanism.
Si Qiao
SI QIAO is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Urban Planning and Design at the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include the spatial inequalities in urban mobility and the issues of city platformization.