Congratulations to CIRHR PhD student Laura Lam, who has been awarded a SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) Canada Graduate Scholarship for her project, Empowerment or Entrapment? A Longitudinal, Mixed-methods Study of Migrant Women’s Experiences in Platform Work.
Laura’s research project will look at the ways in which engaging in platform work helps or hinders migrant women’s labour market opportunities. Platform work, or work “enabled through digital labour platforms” is disrupting the Canadian workforce and, Laura also notes, is “disproportionately impacting racialized populations, women and young people.”
In her research, Laura will be focusing on the “gendered nature of platform work and the caring economy situated within platform-based work.”
As a researcher focused on the experiences of migrants, and especially migrant women—in the Canadian labour market, Laura says “the phenomenon of digital labour platforms” appeals to her “as a symptom of greater systemic barriers that migrants in Canada face in our labour market.”
“The ease of access and allure of ‘flexibility and control’ of platform work seemingly makes entering the labour market easier.”
“But I believe there is a cost to this convenience. I am particularly interested in how this form of work can become a stepping-stone or a trap to the immigrant labour market integration experience.”
Congratulations, Laura!