Jamila begins the video by saying that from now on if she places an Instacart order and sees that the shopper is a boy, she will immediately cancel the order. She then elaborates by comparing female shoppers to male shoppers and says that a female shopper will message you about an out-of-stock item and potential substitution. She also adds that female shoppers will actually try.
By comparison, Jamila says that a male shopper won't bring your full order, or even reach out to you for potential substitutions. She also adds other examples of male shoppers' behaviors, including only bringing bruised and unusable fruits and vegetables and taking forever to complete your order. Jamila finishes by saying that it's like her little brother is shopping, and elaborates, "Didn't even think."
Jamila's video currently has 905.6K views, 239K likes, and a comment section full of opinions.
I spoke to Jamila, who works as a content creator, writer, and producer based in Atlanta, Georgia. Jamila has been an Instacart customer for about two years, and said that as an avid homebody and mother of a toddler, the service is incredibly useful, though she added, "When you get the right shoppers." Jamila said, "Almost every time I had a (perceived) male shopper, I experienced the same thing. It just felt like they wouldn't even try to get the specific products I requested. As I stated in my video, they would not give me the same superior services as the women shoppers I encountered."
When asked why she believes that this difference between male and female Instacart shoppers exists, Jamila said, "Of course, this is my experience. But if you want to know my suspicion, I think women are used to having to do more, especially when it comes to domestic duties." Jamila's video has actually prompted a conversation about gender roles, as some commenters argued that the difference in the quality of male versus female shoppers is actually a symptom of something much deeper. Jamila said, "Women are expected to be homemakers. If I'm being honest, in my experience, men like to put on this weaponized incompetence when it comes to certain tasks."
