The platformization of feminized labor such as childcare and sugar dating introduces new mechanisms for reproducing gender inequalities. On platforms like Babysits and Seeking, visibility determines access to jobs, requiring workers to strategically curate their self-presentation. Drawing on a thematic content analysis of 800 worker biographies from Brussels and Milan, this article examines how workers navigate gendered platform affordances through digital self-branding. We identify three strategies: (1) constructing an authentic self to cultivate trust and credibility, (2) leveraging transitional life stages (e.g. studying, migration) to signal both affordability and aspiration, and (3) adopting stereotypical feminine traits to align with platform logics and user expectations. We argue that self-branding functions as a gendered survival strategy in feminized digital labor markets, employed by workers to reframe reproductive labor as skilled, complex, and capability-intensive. It converts relational, emotional, and gendered performances into client-recognized value, while managing platform incentives and reputational risks.
Vandevenne et al. (Wed,) studied this question.