Women’s (im)mobility strategies and digital platform adoption: the case study of employees doing desk work in Pune, India

Abstract This paper investigates the shift in (im)mobility through the digitalization of practices, based on the views of women working in a multinational IT company in Pune, India. The digital phenomenon, accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, influences all areas of society, pushing forward the online economy and transforming daily strategies by facilitating mobility and enabling immobility. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 digitally active female participants to determine the role of digital tools in transforming their daily planning strategy, and in motivating their (im)mobility decision. The results demonstrated that the evolution of commuting practices and the adoption of digital platform solutions, as seen by the women themselves, were closely related to their desire for comfortable mobility implying time control and optimization to better complete professional and household duties. The task of driving appeared to be the main avoidance due to inevitable hectic traffic, favoring the use of taxis or company cabs presuming financial status. A preference was given to work from home, and basically to immobility as mobility was regarded as time-consuming. Overall, these digitally privileged women carried out diverse (im)mobility strategies according to their perceptions and multiple structural factors.


Introduction
The massive digital transformation influences all areas of society, including transport and mobility, and redefines practices (Reis et al., 2020).The Covid-19 pandemic intensified digital platform adoption due to strict mobility restrictions during the lockdowns, pushing forward the online economy (Prashant et al., 2022;Zvarikova et al., 2022).
2021 (World Population Review, 2023).Such an increase puts great pressure on public services, multiplying shortcomings in terms of urban infrastructures and facilities.Digital technologies are being used in Pune, like in most "emerging cities", with hopes of solving urban challenges (Butsch et al., 2017).In addition, living standards are profoundly disparate between inhabitants.Extreme poverty coexists with great wealth.These inequalities are reflected in the access to digital platforms.The rising digital economy in "emerging cities", particularly in the area of mobility, is changing habits, making research on digital appropriation pertinent.
The methodology is based on a case study as a type of qualitative research, triangulated with participatory observation.Interviews were conducted with 15 women doing desk work in one multinational IT company, in Pune.This particular type of female employees was selected due to their relative autonomy and well-established digital platform practices, compared to less fortunate women who might have very little access to them (Datta, 2018;Kellerman, 2022).Although they all worked in the same multinational company, the 15 female participants belonged to diverse social, economic, and ethnic groups.Their digital practices kept evolving following trends and contexts, pushing through the adoption of new digital platforms, influencing their daily planning and their (im)mobility decision.For the purpose of this research, the inclusion of digital platforms is limited to taxi and navigation platforms considering available services during the fieldwork period (Shaheen et al., 2017).This selection allows for a specific focus on digital platforms designed explicitly for urban mobility.In this paper, immobility is characterized by an absence of travel when mobility corresponds to physical travels (Kellerman, 2022).Digitalization appears to facilitate mobility and to enable immobility.Since the Covid-19 pandemic incited social distancing, it became extremely common for people doing desk work to work from home (Prashant et al., 2022), and to get deliveries at home using digital platforms.The study focuses on commuting trips to observe (im)mobility strategies, considering the transformative daily mobility practices that have emerged recently.Strategies related to commuting are understood here as everyday conscious decisions evaluating options and constraints to reach the workplace to perform daily professional activities (Jiron & Carrasco, 2019).In the framework of this research, such a methodology was adopted to examine evolving commuting practices applying digital platforms, which result in new (im)mobility habits, and overall to better understand the digital transformation of women in their daily lives to enrich a scientific literature that is still weak in this regard.
This paper aims to examine how commuting practices of female employees doing desk work have been transformed through the digitalization, revealing new societal trends in "emerging cities", and prompting the following interrogations: 1. What are the commuting strategies of female employees doing desk work in Pune, and to what extent are these strategies representative of a highly digitalized working class in "emerging cities"? 2. How and why do the digitalization and Covid-19 pandemic reshape the commuting plans of these working women, keen on adopting new digital practices, and do these have a role to play in motivating immobility?
3. How does contextual information like personal preferences, perceptions, and structural factors (e.g., age, professional status, dwelling place) explain the expressed variations in commuting strategies among a working female group strongly imbued with digital platform practices?

Distinct female (im)mobility
In 1972, Oakley (1972) made the distinction in the usage of the concept of "gender" between its biological dimension, referring to the word "sex", and its cultural and social dimension.Gender needs to be understood as a social construction, which emphasizes inequalities between the sexes (Oakley, 1972).According to Coutras (1993), gender inequalities partly determine our spatial representation, influencing in turn urban landscape.
In India, various studies described women's specific needs and practices in mobility (Hidayati et al., 2020;Mahadevia & Advani, 2016).In her thesis, Vasudevan (2019) compared the daily mobility strategies of mothers between Indian and French cities.In another research program, Mehta and Sai (2021) focused on "the freedom of movement", by examining the mobility of women in Patna, Dhanbad, and Varanasi, through quantitative surveys.They concluded that the more a woman had the ability to move, the more she was likely to work and to commute.Working might give her certain negotiation power within her household.Unequivocally, the scientific literature had demonstrated the existence of inequalities based on gender in travel practices (Coutras, 1993;Hananel & Berechman, 2016;Hanson, 2010).Due to distinct traditional gender roles, women's mobility is strongly related to domestic responsibilities (Loukaitou-Sideris, 2016), resulting in more frequent shorter trips, and in the accompaniment of dependents (e.g., children, seniors) (Loukaitou-Sideris, 2016).Women with lower financial status access cheaper and slower modes of transport with uncertain timings (Anand & Tiwari, 2006).As soon as they can afford it, women generally choose to travel using individual transport modes like private vehicles or taxis, as they can prioritize their comfort and safety over the cost (Massot & Orfeuil, 2005;Vasudevan, 2019).Travel distance and time also influence the selection of transport modes (Eszterg� ar-Kiss et al., 2021).
In this paper, the concept of mobility is employed in its "displacement" dimension and needs to be understood as the ability of people to be mobile in space, which translates to effective physical movements (Levy, 2013).Several researchers interpret immobility as mobility's opposite, which is interpreted by the absence of mobility in space (Adeel & Yeh, 2018;Kellerman, 2022).More importantly, these two concepts, mobility, and immobility, are apprehended as interdependent, in addition to having a social and cultural dimension related to their acceptance (Mata-Codesal, 2015).
In the scientific literature, the (im)mobility strategy appears mostly studied in a context of unequal access to mobility (Jouffe, 2014) or in the adoption of certain transport modes (Vandenbulcke et al., 2011).In this paper, (im)mobility strategies, including commuting understood as a daily mobility task, are comprehended as the conscious choice of selecting the most convenient options among all available transport modes.
Patriarchal tradition plays a role in limiting female mobility, encouraging their immobility.In fact, women often experience a feeling of discomfort in being alone in public spaces (Adeel & Yeh, 2018).They usually then justify their presence with clear reasons, avoiding loitering (Coutras, 1993).Street harassment and unsafe feeling are flourishing themes that constrain and limit female mobility, along with the construction of gender urban spaces (Ceccato & Loukaitou-Sideris, 2022).Consequently, studies showed that in many cases women perceive the interior of their home as more comfortable than outside, and feel safer there (Haridasan & Muthukumaran, 2021).In Indian traditions, private spaces (e.g., the house) are women's main living space, while men's living space is outside, in public spaces (Vasudevan, 2019).Describing paternalist traditions, Hanson (2010, p. 6) wrote: Much of this thinking about how mobility shapes gender ideologies, meanings and practices has its origins in the observation that mobility/immobility stand at the core of traditional gender ideologies [ … ].These ideologies echo the familiar dualism that on one side equates women and femininity with the home, the private, with domestic spaces, and restricted movement [ … ]. and on the other side equates men and masculinity with the not-home, the public, with urban spaces and expansive movement [ … ].
Despite the importance of studying immobility to better apprehend mobility, the scientific literature is not wide on this topic.Manifestly, only a few studies combined immobility with gender (Azmi & Lund, 2022;Mata-Codesal, 2015).Understanding the levers of women's mobility and immobility, taken as interdependent practices, is essential to apprehend the digital transformation of practices and daily planning.Looking at commuting habits is relevant as they evolve through (im)mobility patterns and digitalization.Therefore, this paper contributes to the growing reflection on female (im)mobility, taking the example of a unique working female group with evolving commuting practices (Azmi & Lund, 2022).It aims to provide some understanding of women's digital platform adoption and of their perceptions leading to (im)mobility decisions.

The transformative digitalization in the debate
In digital-oriented societies, technology is envisioned to transform practices and influence (im)mobility.In the literature, researchers confront each other in an old and well-established debate, evaluating the benefits of such a phenomenon partially driven by the increasing adoption of mobile applications and digital tools (Reis et al., 2020).In the domain of mobility, technophiles observe a quality increase in transport services while using digital platforms.For instance, processing certain datasets could provide relevant transport information to users of mobile applications, guiding them across their travels (Eskenazi & Boutueil, 2017;Shaheen et al., 2017).Starting in 2011, Uber made a big change by functioning as a platform connecting taxi drivers with passengers over the interface of a mobile application (Eskenazi & Boutueil, 2017;Gaponenko & Hvoevskaya, 2022;Rajesh & Chincholkar, 2018).Such a platform connects close-by drivers with customers by using GPS technology (Gaponenko & Hvoevskaya, 2022).Overall, the processing of big data made possible the deployment of such "optimizing" services.Confronting this digital solutionism, technophobes denounce the belief that digital platforms could solve every urban issue, especially when major infrastructures are lacking (Datta, 2018;Eszterg� ar-Kiss et al., 2021;Z� erah, 2020).There is also the belief, that digital platforms would have the capacity to contribute to poverty reduction to meet the Millennium Development Goals (Reis et al., 2020).However, several researchers have demonstrated that digital technology increases the intergenerational and socio-economic gap, excluding people despite its promises of social inclusion (Pojani et al., 2021;Vecchio et al., 2022).Digital penetration is also geographically unequal.Disparities can be observed between "North" and "South", urban and rural areas, and among urban neighborhoods themselves (Datta, 2018).Several researchers denounced a postcolonial appropriation of "northern" solutions worldwide, often unsuitable in other contexts (Datta, 2018;Jandri� c & Kuzmani� c, 2015).For instance, many "digital" solutions introduced by private companies in Indian cities were previously developed and tested in "northern" countries.In addition, digital services that increase transport options (e.g., Uber) are often at the initiative of private companies, questioning authorities' engagement and role in managing public transport services and in ensuring inclusivity (Hall et al., 2018).
Researchers observed that the Covid-19 pandemic through strict lockdowns has accelerated the spread of digital platforms among the population of India, bringing out new practices (Zvarikova et al., 2022).During this period of uncertainty, the use of online banking became extremely common.Delivery services of all kinds grew in popularity despite the fact that they primarily serve higher socioeconomic groups (Prashant et al., 2022).The pandemic also appeared to have long-term impacts on the mobility of many individuals doing desk work (Jasrotia & Meena, 2021).During the lockdowns, most individuals doing desk work were incited to work from home to limit the pandemic propagation.This practice of working from home continued after the end of the lockdowns, encouraging immobility to a certain extent (Kellerman, 2022).Consequently, many company offices changed form.Sharing desks on a rotating basis appeared the new norm in multinational companies (Parker, 2020).
Enriched by social geography (im)mobility was presented by several researchers as a vector of exclusion or integration (Orfeuil, 2002), connected with the notion of empowerment.In this context, empowerment should be strictly understood as written by Stein (1997): [The empowerment is] a social action process that promotes the participation of people, organizations, and communities in gaining control over their lives in their community and larger societies.
Theoretically, the more mobile people would be, the more they would have access to urban resources resulting in better professional opportunities (Orfeuil, 2002), boosting self-confidence (Hanson, 2010).Such a statement immediately raises certain questions like: might a gain in immobility following the personal choice of working from home lead to disempowerment?More generally, could digitalization, by encouraging to some extent immobility, be the indirect cause of any disempowerment?This discussion deserves further exploration in future studies as it falls beyond the scope of the present paper.Taking another perspective, the researcher Mata-Codesal (2015) insisted on the normal dimension of (im)mobility varying through cultures.However, she still observed strong divergence of practices between genders.Accordingly, (im)mobility is culturally, socially, and economically gendered.
This paper takes part in this ongoing reflection on digitalization as a transformative practice and contributes to developing the gender dimensions of this research.This study intends to observe the evolution of digital platform practices of a female group commonly using mobile applications by taking the example of commuting habits (Mariscal et al., 2019).It aims to enrich the literature on the digital transformation of female mobility in "emerging cities", understudied compared to "northern" cities.

Materials and methods
We used a qualitative method intending to observe commuting strategies, which included the usage of digital platforms that women used daily to support their mobility, and to examine perceptions.Following the case study method, it was crucial to designate a female social group with characteristics such as having an advanced usage of smartphones, having financial stability and a relatively high professional status, being relatively autonomous and highly educated (Radhakrishnan, 2011).Women with higher economic backgrounds have a larger choice of modes to commute (Anand & Tiwari, 2006), and they usually are regular users of mobile applications.Female employees doing desk work for a multinational company in the IT sector meet all requested characteristics as they work in a globalized and digitalized environment and possess a relatively high professional status (Radhakrishnan, 2011).Accordingly, all multinational companies specifically in the IT sector located in Pune were targeted.Obstacles were encountered in identifying points of contact during fieldwork time.Eventually, we were able to establish contact with two multinational companies, and fortunately, one of them kindly agreed to support the research.In this multinational company, all the female employees were asked to participate in the study.Interviews were conducted until saturation of ideas was reached.In total, 15 female volunteers were individually interviewed for one hour. 4Despite the apparent similarities regarding the organization, the sample was diverse in terms of professional roles, commuting and (im)mobility practices, household, commuting distances and time, mobility perception, etc. Table 1 highlights the background information of the15 interviewees (using pseudonyms) showcasing significant diversity within the sample.
The interview aimed to analyze participants' commuting strategies examining the evolution of their chosen modes of transport in relation to their preferences such as comfort, safety, time, and price, while also seeking to understand their usage of mobile applications to support their mobility.It also aimed to determine the evolution of the digital presence in commuting practices of these 15 women who were already digitally experienced.The questions were designed accordingly.The questions were also inspired by indicators derived from the literature including a review conducted by Solava Ibrahim and Sabina Alkire at the University of Oxford (Ibrahim & Alkire, 2007).They were organized into five categories of indicators based on prior research: 1. "Demographic questions" serve as icebreakers and aim to better know the participants (Paill� e & Mucchielli, 2021).2. "Access to mobility" analyzes mobility habits and strategies (Ibrahim & Alkire, 2007).3. "Decision-making power" evaluates autonomy in terms of (im)mobility (Jejeebhoy & Sathar, 2001).4. "The level of security" measures level of self-confidence in traveling (Shah et al., 2018). 5. "The pandemic's impacts on mobility" to understand how the interviewees' (im)mobility was affected during the periods of high restrictions (Jasrotia & Meena, 2021).
The indicators mentioned in (1), (4), and (5) were inspired by other studies (Jasrotia & Meena, 2021;Paill� e & Mucchielli, 2021;Shah et al., 2018).Organizing the questions within indicators mostly helped to structure the interview.The authors exclusively shaped the questions, ensuring that no sensitive questions causing potential participant discomfort were included.The interviews were conducted in English without the need for translation, and each individual interview took place in a comfortable private meeting room provided by the multinational company.
In parallel with interviewing the women doing desk work, we questioned seven institutional actors and two operators of mobility platforms.The questions being asked were divided into four dimensions selected from the "Cities in Motion Index" (CIMI), conceived by the IESE Business School from Navarra University in Spain.The dimensions were mobility and transportation access, technological adoption, social cohesion and inclusion, and governance (IESE Business School, 2020).The questions were adapted according to the interviewees' expertise.These interviews aimed to gain a deeper understanding of the urban context and its associated challenges related to gendered mobility access and digital platform adoption.In this study, the ethical principles applied in qualitative research were carefully respected (Paill� e & Mucchielli, 2021).The selected multinational company was kept confidential.Before each interview, participants were provided with a consent form outlining the study's purpose and data usage.Their signature was not required as no sensitive data were collected and as their names were pseudonymized using common Indian female names.With the objective of facilitating the interpretation of the results and the understanding of the reader, age, job position, and professional status were mentioned when referring to interviewees.Permission was orally asked of public figures (commissioners, CEOs, directors, etc.) to refer to them in this paper.The interviews were taken by hand or recorded.All recordings were transcribed.The software MAXQDA was used to apply a qualitative thematic analysis method on the research outputs.From the interview transcripts, text segments were coded under specific themes to identify repetitions and similarities, following an inductive approach.Themes were then organized, reviewed, and compared to determine the guidelines of the study based on the results of the analysis.
To conduct the interviews and observe the societal environment, a dedicated period of two months was spent on-site in Pune, while adhering to time restrictions.Participant observation consisted of testing various modes of transportation at different times and evaluating the performance of digital platforms.It aimed to better understand mobility practices and to take notice of cultural bias to limit their potential impact on the quality of the research results.The fieldwork was followed by four months of analyzing interview outputs.

Divergent commuting strategies
Among possible alternatives to commuting, the 15 participants selected their transport mode considering perceptions and personal priorities.Overall, we observed that none of the women participating in the study used public transport as a daily transport mode.In Pune, the public transport network is composed of bus lines lacking reliability and two new metros not fully deployed yet.Considering the urban size of Pune, the public transport network is insufficient.As a result, public transports are mostly used by people with relatively low financial resources.On 28 March 2022, the Managing Director of the public bus operator PMPML in Pune reported during the interview that bus users are mostly students and workers from low economic backgrounds.Thirty percent are female users (interview with the Managing Director of PMPML, 28 March 2022).The choice of transport modes reflects social conditions (Hananel & Berechman, 2016;Orfeuil, 2002).
Figure 1 visualizes the selected commuting modes of every woman taking part in the study, considering available transport options and preferences.In the map, lines were traced between all the living areas, represented by black points, and the workplace, represented by a unique gray point surrounded by black border, to examine all commuting routes from a bird's-eye view.The commuting modes of the women are displayed along the lines with a logo characterizing each of the transport modes they used, following their answers to the questions related to their commuting habits.The women exclusively used three transport modes to commute, which were company cabs, private vehicles and taxi services.The crosses marked on the lines showed the cases of Garima, Kamya, and Ekani, who did not use any transport mode to commute.
The three women were excluded from the commuting strategy analysis as they solely worked from home, eliminating the need for a commute.In the interests of precision, the commuting modes of the twelve women were described below.
Out of 12 women, six women took the company cab to come and return from work at peak hour times.The company cab is a minivan, exclusively reserved for the employees of the multinational company where the investigation was conducted.It picks up employees along its route.Trips are free.Several women complained about the strict schedules and detours.During the interviews, Ekani and Gayathri explained their reluctance to use the company cab: Before COVID, I was taking the company cab.My drop was the last stop, which was so annoying because I live only twenty minutes away from the office.It always took me more than thirty minutes to reach home.Such a waste of time.(Ekani, 32 years old, team coordinator) I do not take the company cab because I am not ready on time.(Gayathri, 37 years old, IT manager) Out of 12 women, 10 owned at least one vehicle (motorbike and/or car), but only three commuted using it.By driving their vehicle, they perceived gaining autonomy.Such a mode of transport freed them from the strict scheduling of the company cab.However, they still had to attend meetings or respect working schedules.Finally, their autonomy was mainly reflected in being able to organize a commuting route to enable a combination of parallel activities (e.g., bringing children to school, doing grocery shopping, etc.), and by having a little flexible leeway in deciding commuting times.Gayathri's interview illustrated such observation: Every day, it takes me 40 min to commute with traffic.While going home, I usually stop along the way to buy food, groceries, and art things.(Gayathri, 37 years old, IT manager) Driving in traffic jams generates stress, especially during the rainy season when road conditions get worse.Rain encourages people using cars over motorcycles when they possess both vehicles.Such an increase of cars on the road worsens traffic, accidents, and driver stress.Pune was ranked 21st most congested city in the world, among a classification of four hundred cities (Source: TomTom Index, 06 September 2022).Traffic is a real burden for drivers, explaining why most of the interviewed women refuse to drive themselves.
Out of 12 women, six ordered taxis as a commuting strategy.It was the sole commuting mode for three of them.For the others, requesting a taxi was common but not the only mode they used.Taxis can include cabs, auto-rickshaws, or bike taxis.However, bike taxis were not used by any of the women.In Pune, bike taxis were a relatively new service, compared to other cities such as Hyderabad where bike taxis were deployed for a longer period (interview with a manager at Rapido,5 3 April 2022).Several reasons could explain the selection of taxis as a commuting strategy.During the interviews, the women's main argument was that taxis were convenient and comfortable.By traveling in taxi, the women mentioned being free from several worries such as searching for parking spots and driving in traffic.Sitting in taxis, they could read emails, call, or play with their smartphone.This quote from Arya illustrated this convenience: Sometimes, I take a cab when I need a bit of time for myself, when I do not want to bother with driving and parking the car, and when I am coming late in the evening because we had some catering or office events.I prefer to get a cab, because I want to relax.(Arya, 39 years old, software engineering director) Although it evidently freed the women from driving, it did not free them from being stuck in heavy traffic jams at peak hours.The main difference was that in a taxi the women could concentrate on other parallel activities.Moreover, ordering a taxi could be challenging whenever the demand for taxi service is greater than the supply.Taxis often become difficult to find at peak hours.It also regularly happens that drivers refuse to offer a ride for various reasons.During the interview, Lajita mentioned her struggles to find a taxi at peak hours: The availability of auto-rickshaws is a big issue, especially during morning peak times.Drivers cancel.I need to be lucky.(Lajita, 46 years old, senior project manager) As a result, the comfort and convenience provided by using taxis differed based on circumstances and on women's individual perceptions.Another main disadvantage in using taxi services is the price.Such service is costly and not affordable for everyone, especially as a daily transport mode.While conducting the study in May 2022, it was found that the cost of traveling a distance of 5 km with an auto-rickshaw ranged from $0.94 to $1.08, while using a cab started from $1.6.Riding a cab was roughly twice as expensive as riding an auto-rickshaw.During the interview, Adya testified: Cabs are an expensive way of traveling.Now, I live very close to the airport, but still, each time I go to the office by cab (4 km), I pay 350 INR (� 4,3$).(Adya, 35 years old, senior software engineer) Clearly, the company cab and taxi services were the predominant selected modes of commute for the women taking part in the study.The company cab was appreciated as the ride was free for employees, but it prevented schedule flexibility.On the contrary, ordering a taxi enabled more schedule flexibility but it was a costly service.Obviously, the women had selected their transport mode to commute based on their own needs and preferences.

Change in commuting and use of platforms
We observed that there had been two main transformative phenomena encouraging the adoption of new commuting practices: the phenomenon of digitalization and the Covid-19 pandemic.Digitalization caused the multiplication of mobile applications and digital practices.The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the practice of using digital platforms and working from home, motivating immobility.

Adoption of multiple mobile applications to commute
In the study, out of 12 women who started commuting again after the lockdowns, 11 used mobile applications daily to commute, either to book a ride or to double-check traffic information along the way.
For a few years already, traffic information and navigation companies have integrated the Indian market and proposed mobile applications.Among three women driving their own vehicle to commute, one uses a navigation application daily to be kept informed about traffic.Accordingly, she tries to take the less congested itinerary.She explained: I use navigation apps such as Google Maps and TomTom Nav to commute, navigate, and be aware of traffic info.(Gayathri, 37 years old, IT manager) Women utilizing the company cab have to digitally adapt by booking their seat in advance through a dedicated mobile application for next-morning pickup.The change happened during the Covid-19 pandemic.Before, the company cab's round-trip was fixed and regular.Amrita explained: Nowadays, I must book the company cab in advance.At 7:30, I get the cab.I reach the office around 8:30-9:00 AM.The ride is shared with colleagues that the cab collects all along the way.I guess, the cab calculates its optimal way.The route keeps changing every day.(Amrita, 28 years old, software engineer) One major turning point of new digital practices happened in the first half of the 2010s with the arrival of taxi platforms in Pune (e.g., Ola, Uber) (Rajesh & Chincholkar, 2018).Ordering a door-to-door ride within a few clicks on the smartphone became possible.Before, traditional taxis had to be hailed or called over the phone.During the interview, Chaitali explained: If I want to get an auto-rickshaw without any app, I need to walk to the main road.It is not convenient.(Chaitali,34 years old,map manager) With taxi platforms, the price of rides became fixed and non-negotiable.On top of recording trips, these platforms enable sharing GPS location with relatives, offering some sense of security.During the interview, the manager at Rapido6 explained the relative success of taxi platforms: Uber, Ola, and later Rapido [ … ] have created a change.They offer door-to-door services by enabling the demand to meet with the offer.[ … ] Since the pandemic, more people started to use auto-rickshaws, bike taxis, and cabs, as they feared sharing trips by taking public transport.These platforms enable women to share their location with relatives, and to book individual rides.(Interview with a manager at Rapido, 03/03/2022) Since the pandemic, the rise of working from home might have to some extent encouraged the usage of taxi services ordered through Ola or Uber.Using taxis to commute twice a week is more affordable than every day.For instance, before the pandemic, Nikita used to commute by driving her car.Since the pandemic, she mostly worked from home and opted for a cab when going to the office was required: If I go to the office, I use OLA or Uber.I prefer cabs because I go once per week to the office.[ … ] pre-covid time, I used to drive my car to the office.(Nikita, 39 years old, data analyst manager) Most of the interviewed women used mobile applications to plan their commutes.Booking taxis though platforms became more popular than street hailing.The company cab also followed this digital trend by being bookable via a designated platform.Within such a sample, digitalization seemed to reorganize commuting strategies and transform practices.

A growing tendency toward "immobility"?
The pandemic of Covid-19 has disrupted habits and brought new practices.During lockdown, the company office where we conducted the research was closed.All work was fully done online.During fieldwork (from March to April 2022), employees were encouraged to return to the office a few days per week.They were provided with shared desks on a rotating basis in a newly designed and pleasant workplace in a new location.This initiative aimed to foster spontaneous interactions, collaboration, and a stronger sense of teamwork, ultimately resulting in increased productivity and creativity.Despite the efforts, the office mostly stayed empty as most employees enjoyed working from home (interview with the office site owner, 31 March 2022).
In the study, we observed that eight women out of 15 came to the office less than twice a week.During the lockdown, two even moved back to their hometown in other cities in the region of Maharashtra: Nagpur and Mumbai.One of them came once a month to meet face-to-face with her team.Both considered coming back to live in Pune if required.Overall, there was a notable difference between the interviewed women as those coming to the office more than twice a week had distinct motivations to do so.They were required by their working team to work from the office, or they simply enjoyed the office for its social environment.Out of 15 only two women mentioned being bored while working from home and enjoyed going to the office to meet with colleagues.While being interviewed, Mitali mentioned: Pandemic was bad.I don't like staying a long time at home.I prefer to go to the office.It was boring.(Mitali, 30 years old, finance team) Such enthusiasm for working from home had multiple reasons.The main arguments given by the women were its conveniency and not wasting time commuting in heavy traffic.Their office was located on a highly congested main road.Even the women living near the office suffered from traffic in addition to repetition, as expressed by Arya during the interview: I like traveling but commuting is different.There is no fun in making the same trip every day.(Arya, 39 years old, software engineering director) By working from home, the women felt they were saving time and gaining selforganization and flexibility, enabling them to better fulfill potential domestic responsibilities while lowering their mental stress.Arya explained: It makes a lot of sense to work from home.This hour of traveling you are saving is valuable.You have more time to work and do something else.This was the learning of the pandemic.(Arya, 39 years old, software engineering director) However, this extra time did not appear to be used by the women to enjoy recreational activities.Not to mention that some of them used it to complete working tasks as they were overwhelmed by work.In this context, saving time did not necessarily relieve stress as it could lead to a task reorganization based on professional and domestic responsibilities.
A second strong argument mentioned by the women was that by working from home they saved money not commuting.Unless they were using the company cab service offering free rides, commuting required spending money driving a private vehicle or riding a taxi.This idea was expressed by Adya who used company cabs and taxis to commute: I worked from home, so I saved time and money.(Adya, 35 years old, senior software engineer) In conclusion, most of the interviewed women perceived working from home as increasing their comfort and reducing traveling costs, despite the radical loss of social interaction with colleagues.The immobility these women experience was growing due to the rise of digital services enabling staying at home.In Pune, mobile applications of delivery services (e.g., food, groceries, etc.) are multiplying.Chaitali testified: Today, people don't do groceries, or even go outside.All is online with Myntra, Amazon, Dunzo, etc.Those apps save us lots of time.For three years I order from these apps and all is delivered at the door.(Chaitali, 34 years old, map manager) Such a rise in immobility challenges the theory that immobility disempowers where mobility empowers.This theory was presented in the literature review section of this paper.

Explanation of commuting strategies and practices
The question emerged to explore potential patterns among the commuting habits of the 15 interviewed women explaining their (im)mobility strategies, keeping in mind the high diversity of the sample regarding professional positions, ages, etc.The commuting strategies of each woman were compared with factors such as age and professional status to draw potential explanations regarding certain practices.During the experiments, it became obvious that the age was irrelevant as the women participating in the study were only 20 years apart, and most of them had worked several years in the multinational company, regardless of their age.On average, the 15 women worked there for more than six years.Another attempt was conducted to observe any possible relationship between working from home and commuting strategies.But no connection could be made despite the example of Nikita7 previously described who, after the lockdowns, started to commute by cabs despite the high cost as she did not have to commute every day anymore.Since the 15 women had divergent professional roles, we thought we could draw and compare patterns between their job titles and the practice of working from home, but found no significant results.The decision of working from home seemed more related to job types and team requirements.For instance, customer support could work 100% at home, while other teams required regular physical meetings (e.g., technical support teams).
Following this comparative analysis between the interviewees' characteristics, we examined the link between commute times and commute modes.The results showed that personal vehicles appeared mostly used when commuting time was relatively short.A threshold of 20 minutes without traffic seemed to be the difference between what is described as short and medium commuting times.As explained earlier, driving in Pune is unpleasant because of heavy traffic jams.Due to relative financial comfort and the presence of the company cab as a free option, the women we interviewed had a large commuting choice.Even though most of the women owned at least one personal vehicle, they seemed to have a strong preference for being driven, especially when the commuting time took over 20 minutes.Therefore, they either ordered a company cab or a taxi, despite driving their own vehicle, which would have potentially given them more navigation flexibility.Comparing individual practices also showed that the women selected auto-rickshaws or cabs according to distance.The women seemed to prefer auto-rickshaws to cover relatively short distances, and cabs to cover long ones.Auto-rickshaws are less comfortable, but they navigate faster through traffic, compared to cabs.The feeling of safety might also explain the choice of taxi.The interviews revealed that the sense of safety was highly subjective and varied for each mode of transportation, reflecting individual perceptions.
We then sought explanations for individual commuting strategies by looking at the professional status and managerial hierarchy of the 15 women.Distinct professional status might lead to different choices of commuting transport mode.To simplify, we used a binary system differentiating "managers" in leading positions (e.g., managers, directors, or team coordinators), and "non-manager", those not in leading positions.While dividing the results of the female interviews this way, we noticed that out of the 12 women still commuting, "managers" and "non-managers" had two distinguishable habits.
In fact, we found out that six out of the seven "non-managers" used the company cab to reach the office as their first commuting mode, while none of the "managers" commuted using the company cab.Among the five "managers", four of them used taxis as a commuting strategy with a preference for cabs.Out of these four women who chose cabs, two occasionally utilized auto-rickshaws when they offered quicker pickup.Overall, their choice seemed to depend on taxi availability at the time of the order.Among the seven "non-managers", two of them explained using taxis to commute as a second but more exceptional option due to pricing.Amrita explained: Sometimes, when I miss the company cab, I take Ola or Uber, but it is very expensive and I try to avoid it.(Amrita, 28 years old, Software engineer, "non-manager") One of the "non-managers" and two "managers" commuted by car.These three women lived relatively close to the workplace.The usage of personal vehicles appeared to be influenced partially by commuting distance and the desire for flexibility, rather than higher salaries or professional status.No comparative findings were available.
As a qualitative study, one limitation is that the results cannot be generalized.The results of these observations simply showed that professional status might influence commuting preferences in the sense that being a manager typically engenders a higher status in the corporate hierarchy, meaning more responsibilities and a higher salary.Increased earning facilitates the access to costly services such as taxis.For instance, Chaitali was a map manager leading a team who exclusively commuted using taxis, taking the first coming taxi without differentiating between cabs or autorickshaws.She lives 30 minutes away from the office.When traffic occurs, she can easily spend more than one hour commuting.Despite this constraint, she goes to the office more than twice a week.Her commuting cost is consequently relatively high, but her salary affords her the comfort of being driven whenever she commutes.Such commuting practice stood out as compared with the seven "non-managers" who only exceptionally used taxis to commute and seemed to prefer the free option of the company cab before opting for paid options.
The key finding was the variation in commuter strategies based on factors such as commute time, professional status, and personal characteristics.Domestic and household responsibilities also played a major role in the selection of commuting modes as the women might have strict schedule obligations such as bringing the children to school.During the interview, Arya explained that she needed to wait for the nanny before commuting: I wake up early, around 6-6:30.Then, I eat.I get my son ready to go to school.The nanny comes at 9:30.When she comes, I can go to the office, because my little one is still very dependent on me.(Arya, 39 years old, software engineering director, "manager") As she needs to wait for the nanny to come at 9:30 AM before leaving for work, she cannot take the company cab that collects the employees before 9:00 AM.Domestic and household responsibilities should be considered when studying female mobility as women often manage both professional and domestic roles simultaneously.

Discussion and conclusions
The goal of this paper was to investigate the transformation of female commuting practices through the adoption of digital platforms, and to examine the perception of the shift in (im)mobility.The study used the example of a specific female group doing desk work with relatively high digital practices evolving through trends and contexts, in the "emerging city" of Pune.The results were not intended to be representative but to illustrate the female adoption of mobility digital platforms taking the example of one specific female group.
This paper highlights the evolution of commuting strategies among the female interviewees, focusing on the influence of digital mobility services in enabling them to book taxis or company cabs and access real-time traffic information.Due to a desire to avoid driving in the usual hectic traffic, many interviewees actively sought alternative options among digital platforms.
One alternative was to commute by selecting travel options beyond driving.The interviewees mostly commuted by company cab, which provided free rides but made detours to pick up employees, and by taxi, which was costly but gave them more control of their time over potential externalities caused by domestic or professional duties (Loukaitou-Sideris, 2016).At the time of fieldwork, they mostly used platforms to organize their commutes, hailing was seen as too constraining and perceived as a waste of time.The digitalization of these transport services has enabled a certain facilitation, encouraging digital practices.Nowadays, a few clicks on the smartphone enable ordering a taxi and reserving a seat in the company cab (Eskenazi & Boutueil, 2017).
Another alternative observed among the interviewees was the preference for working from home, indicating a strong preference for remote work.Paradoxically, while digital platforms appeared to facilitate mobility by optimizing transport services they also simultaneously encouraged the practice of immobility by making working from home possible (Kellerman, 2022).The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated this tendency, as companies had to ensure that their employees work from home in compliance with governmental guidelines (Jasrotia & Meena, 2021).Following lockdown, most of the interviewees went to the office only when their professional obligations required it.They often expressed feeling comfortable and saving time and energy by working from home (Haridasan & Muthukumaran, 2021), despite reduced social cohesion with colleagues.At home, they redistributed the usual allocated time to commute toward other activities.However, time saved was not always utilized for recreational activities but instead was spent on completing domestic tasks (Faiz, 2015) or fulfilling professional work obligations.
Additionally, results from the interviews' and the literature show that commuting strategies are very individually-based and depended on multiple structural factors and perceptions (Massot & Orfeuil, 2005).For instance, the choice of transport modes seemed, among other factors, influenced by travel distance and travel time (Eszterg� ar- Kiss et al., 2021).The women who lived near to the workplace were more likely to drive themselves to work than the others who opted for transport modes where they were driven by somebody else.The scientific literature suggested that the choice of transport modes might be influenced by social status (Anand & Tiwari, 2006;Hananel & Berechman, 2016).In this case study, we observed a preference among women in leading positions to commute by taxis, whereas others showed a preference for the company cab.The explanation could be found in the managers' desire for greater time flexibility due to their increased professional duties, in addition to personal and familial considerations.Their higher salaries also expanded their access to more transportation options (Massot & Orfeuil, 2005).
The transformation of female (im)mobility practices through the adoption of technology raises questions about the evolution of traditions and acceptances, as well as empowerment and disempowerment effects (Hanson, 2010).In the study, the women interviewed seemed discouraged to travel outside because of constant heavy traffic restricting their access to the city and consuming time.It raises concerns about the free choice of (im)mobility and the potential effect on empowerment (Azmi & Lund, 2022;Orfeuil, 2002).Future studies would benefit from adding a comparison with more financially and socially vulnerable groups to underline digital exclusion (Pojani et al., 2021).Digital penetration is unequal and highlighting such inequalities among the female population in Pune might result in observing disparate perceptions and behaviors regarding (im)mobility as digitalization and mobility influence each other in transforming practices.
This research had certain limitations due to the challenging conditions of the fieldwork.Indian culture is very diverse and difficult to apprehend for outsiders.8Such a cultural gap creates biases, adding to language difficulties.By questioning working women in a multinational company, the translation task of Marathi language was avoided as all interviews could be conducted in English.Another limitation was that interview questions had to fit the company values, requiring the suppression of direct interrogation related to religion, income, and caste.Further studies should explore the impact of the Indian caste system on the female mobility strategies, offering intriguing insights.
Ass. Prof. Dr. Anu Masso is an associate professor of big data in social sciences at Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance, Tallinn University of Technology.Her research focuses on the social consequences of the implementation of data technologies, social transformations and spatial mobilities.She is also known for her work on social science methods and methodologies.
Prof. Ralf-Martin Soe is a Director of the FinEst Centre for Smart Cities at TalTech.In 2023, he is also a Global Digital Governance Fellow at Stanford University.His previous positions include being a Counsellor to the Minister of IT, a Government Fellow at the United Nations University, among others.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Usage of transport modes by the female participants.

Table 1 .
Profile of the 15 female interviewees.