Capital as a pre-requisite for entry into the beauty platform: A case of women's beauty platform service provider in Delhi NCR

Digital labour platforms are often portrayed as open and accessible workplaces that on board anyone willing to work. However, this perception proves misleading, especially in the case of beauty service platforms. These platforms selectively on board individuals, specifically, women beauticians, who possess specific forms of social, economic, and cultural capital, drawing on Bourdieu’s conceptualization. Platform companies portray themselves as neutral intermediaries that simply connect service providers with clients and charge commissions; however their influence extends beyond this transactional role. This paper examines the exclusionary practices embedded in beauty service platforms, which claim to provide opportunities to all but, in reality, impose structural barriers to entry and subsistence. It further highlights how platforms appropriate the social cultural, and economic capital for their own benefit. Economic capital becomes a prerequisite, as service providers invest in products, uniforms, training, and travel. Platforms leverage cultural capital through expectations that service providers demonstrate familiarity with English, adopt prescribed mannerisms, and conform to specific appearance standards. Social capital is similarly appropriated, as platforms encourage service providers to rely on personal networks, including friends, family, and past clients, as unpaid models, sources of new service providers, and new customers. All these forms of capital are not readily available to all beauticians. This study draws on qualitative data collected in 2022 through snowball and purposive sampling of 60 women beauty service providers in Delhi NCR. The sample includes workers engaged with platforms such as Urban Company, Yes Madam, BeU Salon, and Zoylee. Unlike traditional employment models, platform-based beauty workers do not merely contribute labour in exchange for wages; they must also mobilize their capital to sustain their work. By unpacking these dynamics, this paper contributes to understanding of how digital labour intersects with gender, and precarity in platform economies.