Zuha Siddiqui

Pakistan

Labor and Tech Reporting Fellow at Rest of World

Tech and climate reporter in South Asia. Words: @restofworld, @WIRED, @foreignpolicy, more. @GloJo_NYU @nyukevo alum. Send me tips! [email protected]

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Articles

Pakistan’s mass transit is failing. BusCaro thinks it has the solution

Dec 16, 2024 | restofworld.org | Zuha Siddiqui |Ananya Bhattacharya

The day mass transit startup Swvl announced its decision to downsize operations in Pakistan in June 2022, its country general manager Maha Shahzad fully grasped the dire circumstances that female commuters faced. Shahzad’s LinkedIn inbox flooded with messages from women asking how they would get to work the next day. Parents were worried about their daughters. “I had messages from fathers asking me point-blank, ‘How do I get my girls to school tomorrow?’” Shahzad told Rest of World.
‘Creeping coup’: In Pakistan, lack of Internet access is costing livelihoods

Dec 9, 2024 | thestar.com.my | Zuha Siddiqui

KARACHI: A protest by thousands in Pakistan’s capital last month demanding the release of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan triggered the arrest of hundreds, but also, digital rights campaigners say, nationwide Internet outages and slow-downs. Pakistan has a record of curbing online access in response to political turmoil, banning social media sites or simply temporarily shutting down the Internet altogether.
In Pakistan, lack of internet access is costing livelihoods

Dec 6, 2024 | context.news | Zuha Siddiqui

What’s the context?
10 hours on the road with diabetes and no insurance: Gig work is taking a toll on the elderly

Sep 22, 2024 | scroll.in | Zuha Siddiqui

This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West. When Mirza Khurram Shahzad, 58, lost his job as an air conditioning engineer in Islamabad five years ago, he sat at home for five months, sending out his resume in the hope of finding a new job. When he heard nothing back, he turned to ride hailing. “I realised that driving is also a skill, and I needed money, so I became a Careem driver,” he told Rest of World.
How fare-bidding apps, economic woes drove Careem to the margins of Pakistan’s ride-hailing business

Aug 3, 2024 | scroll.in | Zuha Siddiqui

This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West. In 2022, when Careem announced that its app had completed its billionth ride, Pakistan was the company’s top market. Nearly 30% of the billion Careem rides had come from Pakistan, where the app was synonymous with ride-hailing.
How Careem went from Pakistan’s ride-hailing leader to stuck on the sidelines

Jun 4, 2024 | restofworld.org | Zuha Siddiqui

In 2022, when Careem announced that its app had completed its billionth ride, Pakistan was the company’s top market. Nearly 30% of the billion Careem rides had come from Pakistan, where the app was synonymous with ride-hailing. Careem — whose co-founder and CEO Mudassir Sheikha is of Pakistani origin — was so closely linked to the country that it was often assumed to be a Pakistani company in media reports and social media posts, despite being headquartered in Dubai.
The Graying Gig Workers

May 20, 2024 | restofworld.org | Zuha Siddiqui |Kimberly Mutandiro |Laís Martins |Andrea Hernandez Briceño

Aches, pains, and no health insurance for aging gig workersPakistan has one of the youngest populations in the world, which means older gig workers are seldom the focus of platform policies.
Inflation and unemployment are forcing older Pakistanis into gig work

May 20, 2024 | restofworld.org | Zuha Siddiqui

When Mirza Khurram Shahzad, 58, lost his job as an air conditioning engineer in Islamabad five years ago, he sat at home for five months, sending out his resume in the hope of finding a new job. When he heard nothing back, he turned to ride hailing. “I realized that driving is also a skill, and I needed money, so I became a Careem driver,” he told Rest of World. Since becoming a driver in 2019, Shahzad has settled into a routine.
What we learned in a year of reporting on labor and technology

May 19, 2024 | restofworld.org | Kimberly Mutandiro |Laís Martins |Lam Le |Zuha Siddiqui

Exactly a year ago, we embarked on a journey with Rest of World to report and write stories about tech labor from our respective corners of the world: Kimberly in Africa, Laís in Latin America, Lam in Southeast Asia, and Zuha in South Asia. As we started working on our first stories, we quickly realized we were on to something unprecedented.
Bangladesh built a tech park for 100,000 workers. Now it’s a ghost town

Apr 18, 2024 | flipboard.com | Faisal Mahmud |Zuha Siddiqui

Dubai6 hours ago'Apocalyptic' Dubai floods shake picture-perfect citybbc.co.uk - By Sean Seddon • 6hIf Dubai is the ultimate Instagram city, then this was the week the filter came off. Over an unprecedented 48 hours, the skies over the United Arab Emirates darkened and torrential storms washed away Dubai's picture-perfect image.