Totally cool, but they should also give men the option to choose to ride with a man.
Uber is letting women avoid male drivers and riders in the US
Submitted 10 hours ago by Beep@lemmus.org to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.uber.com/us/en/newsroom/women-preferences-expands-nationwide/
Comments
quips@slrpnk.net 2 hours ago
Pudutr0n@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
There’s already an app that does that.
It’s called grindr.
cdf12345@lemmy.zip 17 minutes ago
What if I’ve only been using Uber Black?
KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 41 minutes ago
I don’t get why they don’t just make this a global option. Anyone can choose their preferred gender. Some women prefer women, some prefer men. Hell, some men prefer men.
Wammityblam@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
Probably gonna get flak for this, but as a man, I have no issues if women want to stick with other women and I don’t particularly care if I have the option to pick whatever driver I want.
Obviously weirdness and sexual misconduct can occur to both men and women from both men and women, but it’s naive as hell to pretend that men being weird or sexual towards women isn’t the most common.
Shirasho@lemmings.world 9 hours ago
No flak. I was gonna post the same thing. Women deserve to feel safe too.
NatakuNox@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
The relationship between men and women (and generally all human interactions) in America has gotten so fucking weird. I agree that people should be able to take personal steps to keep themselves safe. My point is we are so rightfully fearful of each other here because we’ve completely abandoned the sense of unity in America. Our social safety net, sense of humanity, belief in the good in the world, justice system, and education is so poor it’s literally statistically unsafe to be alone with a stranger. It’s what happens to your society when hyper individualism takes hold and you end up with a nation of people thinking they are the main character.
Viceversa@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
Probably gonna get flak for this
Oh please.
You know perfectly well it’s not a controversial opinion.GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
Lemmy is filled with men right activists and misogynists that don’t hide.
Wammityblam@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
I only added it because I wasn’t sure if there was a population of man-children who feel slighted every time women get anything even remotely positive on Lemmy like there was on Reddit
Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
If it wasn’t controversial MRA wouldn’t exist lol
BassTurd@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
As a burley man with lots of facial hair, when I’m out for a run, if I’m passing a woman in an isolated area or if I’m passing someone, I do everything I can to look not threatening and alert people of my presence to not startle them. It’s unfortunate that it’s something I feel I need to do, but I’m not out there trying to scare anyone, but when I do on accident it feels like getting kicked in the nuts.
I’m very for women being able to make choices to protect themselves, especially when it’s something like this Uber stuff where it doesn’t hurt someone else. One could argue it could hurt a males revenue, but that would be a weak argument.
dhork@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
I understand why women feel this is necessary, but I also understands that a policy like this paints all men with the same brush. It’s like they are saying “Since a small number of men are creeps, we give you the option to avoid all men”. Which seems to be counterproductive.
Meanwhile, Uber has invasive tracking, where they know everyone’s history. They know how many drives a customer has provisioned without incident. And I have always considered these rideshare things to be particularly safe, because all parties are consenting to the tracking.
If Uber had rolled this out and said “you have the option to avoid rides with the opposite gender without an established history in our files”, then I think I would have less of a problem with it. But it seems like I can do everything right, and be respectful of everyone, and give Uber shitloads of money, and still be potentially waiting longer for a ride, just because of my parts. How is that OK?
daychilde@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
It’s not about you. Repeat after me: It’s not about you. It’s about women who feel unsafe.
Most sexual assault is not reported.
And you will not be waiting longer, women who choose this service will be. So cut the pity party. You lose absolutely nothing.
Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
Large numbers of men are creeps, and I say that as a man. That’s the issue, that’s why they’re doing this.
porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 6 hours ago
Since a small number of men are creeps, we give you the option to avoid all men". Which seems to be counterproductive.
Speaking as a man, the majority of men are creeps, but even if they weren’t, it wouldn’t be counterproductive. If it was, say, a 5% chance, one in twenty, that would be far and away high enough of a risk to make a move like this worthwhile. Hell even 1%. And we know the proportion is far greater than that.
They know how many drives a customer has provisioned without incident.
No they don’t, single digit percentages of sexual harassment are ever even reported let alone followed up because almost nobody gives a shit about it. Someone’s squeaky clean history is basically indistinguishable from that of a serial creep.
How is that OK?
Sadly, lots of things in the world aren’t ok. It’s tough out there.
Canconda@lemmy.ca 10 hours ago
Fuck uber / lyft / skip / dash anyways.
Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 hours ago
100%. I feel better knowing that the women in my life have the ability to not ride around with some random dude. I have done Uber to make ends meet a number of times, and I’d happily accept the decrease in ridership if it means women are less scared.
new_world_odor@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
As a smaller guy with a slightly feminine appearance (that I try to lean away from but how much can I do), I also fear men I don’t know (bad experiences) and wish that somehow I could choose too. But any sort of ‘qualified selection’ would guarantee someone slips through eventually, and that’s obviously not worth it. I’m not going to let jealousy and whataboutism get in the way of progress. On that note, I do worry slightly about how they’re verifying gender? If it’s by DL, this will affect trans folks in some states much more than others. If it’s not, then verification becomes a very big question mark.
I also can’t help but notice all the language is very passive, on one hand it makes sense they wouldn’t be able to guarantee anything but at the same time I find it so hard to trust passive language from any tech company, they’ve all abused my good faith of it into the ground. But I digress.
No flak just thoughts, concerns notwithstanding this is good to see overall. I’m sure Lyft will have to deploy something equivalent to stay competetive.
searabbit@piefed.social 1 hour ago
Lyft already has this feature, it’s called women+
mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 hours ago
Yup, I’m also squarely in the “good for them, it doesn’t really affect me in the slightest and they deserve to feel safe” boat. But I also have a sneaking suspicion that the guys like us aren’t the ones who would be upset about this. The Venn diagram of “men who care about this” and “fucking creeps” is probably close to being two separate circles.
samus12345@sh.itjust.works 6 hours ago
Wouldn’t it be a single circle?
dil@piefed.zip 4 hours ago
The issue is they feel safer, yet woman are used to traffick other woman because they feel safer around them.
yucandu@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
it’s disingenuous as hell to pretend that men being weird or sexual towards women isn’t the most common by a colossal margin.
I’m not convinced. Every guy I know has a story about women being creeps to them, but ask them if they reported it, every single one of them will say no.
And for the very few that do try to report it? They’re usually laughed out of the room. My own mother said “oh but it’s cute when older women do it to younger guys”. That’s not a rare opinion, that’s the default in our culture.
So we don’t show up in any official statistics, because our culture discourages us from reporting, and is less likely to take us seriously if we do.
So no, I’m not convinced that men being weird to women is the most common by any margin. We haven’t even asked men.
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
Hello. You now know me. I have none of those stories. Women have been nothing but respectful to me.
But if you’re comfortable sharing, I would love to hear your story about how you were harassed by a female Uber driver.
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 7 hours ago
I think women drivers only wanting to pick up women is fine if thats what they want to do. That won’t negatively effect everyone else who is working. It only negatively effects your own potential at making your money.
But riders being able to select women drivers really takes a hard monetary hit against male drivers for the sake of being sexist.
TwilitSky@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
So what happens when the rider can’t find a ride because 99% of drivers are men and it’s the middle of the night? We never ask the hard questions, do we? Should sex discrimination in employment be legal? I’ve always felt bad for male masseuses, nurses and childcare providers having to deal with additional scrutiny.
sheogorath@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Well they’ll just show the no drivers available screen and give the rider option to widen the search criteria?
ripcord@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Lyft has been doing it for a while and it seems to work out.
This also boosts demand for women drivers
Deceptichum@quokk.au 1 hour ago
More women in the gig economy!
ZebulonP@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
As a man, this makes me sad. As a man, I also understand.
LadyButterfly@reddthat.com 1 hour ago
Thank you
ArgumentativeMonotheist@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
I don’t think anyone worth listening about anything would find this problematic. It ain’t women casually raping and killing, we all know that.
Pudutr0n@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
I don’t find this problematic, but umm… I’m just going to leave this here. And while I’m here, why not this… Oh, and this. And umm… this.
Men are statistically way more likely to commit violent and sexual crimes than women (i’m guessing but p sure), sure but um… Would you say “It ain’t white people who are casually killing each other’s gang members”? Gang violence is statistically more likely for people of some races… But would you say that’s a fair statement? And how is it different from your statement?
ArgumentativeMonotheist@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
That’s like 4 people, man, come on. Also, it is DRASTICALLY different, because the differences between the sexes are well documented and easily seen, what are the racial differences that cannot be explained by culture that result in some ethnicities being more dangerous than others? 🤔
Women have to be protected by men FROM other men, across cultures and time. Be real.
Iconoclast@feddit.uk 3 hours ago
I don’t necessarily even disagree with this feature but I can’t help but imagine the outrage if that was almost literally any other group of people.
Pudutr0n@lemmy.world 55 minutes ago
I want to ride exclusively with bilingual Mongolian ginger Zoroastrian jazz enthusiasts over 5´10" to feel safe and demand a feature for me to do so.
liori@lemmy.ml 32 minutes ago
Great! We just happen to have a driver matching your requirements. Unfortunately, demand for bilingual Mongolian ginger Zoroastrian jazz enthusiasts over 5’10" is off the charts! Fares have increased to get more bilingual Mongolian ginger Zoroastrian jazz enthusiasts over 5’10" Ubers on the road: 9001.0x the normal fare
OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 3 hours ago
What other group of… Oh.
rImITywR@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
Maybe Uber should be responsible for background checks of their drivers and hold them accountable for their actions and be able to fire them for misconduct. But that might require hiring drivers as actual employees. And then Uber could issue company vehicles.
Oh wait, I’m describing taxi companies that already existed before Uber.
The fact that we allow Uber/Lyft to operate as a way to skirt regulations that were put in place to keep people safe, and then trust Uber will implement work around solutions like this is ridiculous.
Same goes to AirBnB
fizzle@quokk.au 1 hour ago
I dont think that this is really the problem uber is solving here.
I dont think women passengers or drivers are being physically assaulted during an uber ride, they just feel uncomfortable with men. Maybe its flirting, maybe its a fertive glance, maybe its nothing. It doesn’t really matter whether male drivers have ever done anything to deserve being avoided, the point is that women want to avoid them.
Im a guy. I feel a bit awkward about this, as if someone had said to me “I dont want to interact with you because you might rape me”. Its not a nice feeling but its a misconception of what’s really happening.
Ultimately in any specific instance where a woman chooses not to interact with a man, I absolutely believe its her right to do so. However, I do hope that society doesn’t reach a point where women in general make that choice as a matter of routine.
fuzzzerd@programming.dev 7 hours ago
While I agree with this, and I’m not defending skirting regulations, before rideshare apps, taking taxis was an awful experience. At least half the time, if you try to pay with a credit card, the machine was “broken”, if you wanted to get a ride at a specific time you had to call ahead and hope that a taxi would show up.
Rideshsre apps forced regular taxis to up their game and provide better service, some did and now have their own apps.
LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
I don’t even know what regulations they are skirting. You can’t just sign up to become a driver without submitting information just like any other job. Background checks are required, licenses and what not. People are also supposed to leave feedback if they had a bad experience so I could only imagine what the complaints would be surrounding the idea that Uber isn’t following up on the feedback enough. That said it 500 people ride with that driver and rate them well, and 1 person says they were a perv, and Uber looks at it and finds that person has called several male drivers pervs while they get good ratings from everyone else, there could be a problem that those people have a type, or Uber could be thinking the issue is the rider at that point
NGram@piefed.ca 8 hours ago
That also only solves half of the problem. Female drivers also want to be safe and doing background checks on everyone who has an Uber account isn’t very practical.
TheSeveralJourneysOfReemus@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
Don’t read the reddit comments, thank me later.
LadyButterfly@reddthat.com 1 hour ago
Thanks you for your service
vantablack@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 hours ago
unless you’ve actually literally lived as a woman you cannot know the monumental amount of sexual harassment we face and fear on a day-to-day basis. doubly so for trans women. every single moment i am alone in public i am deathly anxious that i could be harassed (sexually or otherwise) or hate-crimed or whatever. and the worst part is, there’s nothing i could do about it. the perpetrator would get away scot-free. the cops do not fucking care
however bad you think it is, it’s worse. whatever you’re imagining, it is exponentially more horrendous
Allero@lemmy.today 1 hour ago
As a man, I genuinely wonder how much actual harassment women face vs how much they hear about it.
I get to feel that a lot of these fears are real, but many are manufactured. But I can be wrong.
Beebabe@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Anecdotally, last week I (middle aged lady) was approached by two strange men. One tried to grab me outside my work site, and one told me how lovely I was and asked for my number (in target). It’s much, much worse for young women. It’s not manufactured, unlike the doubt of women’s lived experience seems to be.
innermachine@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
I have twice been in public with my fiance and some random twat in a pickup truck yells cat calls while driving by slowly in a parking lot. Wish the fuckers would stop so I can pull them through the window. God knows what she’s delt with when I’m NOT standing next to her holding her hand. Sick as a society we are, that’s why we have trump as pedophile in cheif. Smh.
minorkeys@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
If men can never know. How can men ever trust women’s calls to action on the issues are fair, just or worthwhile?
ChadGPT2@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
You answered your own question. The task for men is to trust women when they describe their experiences, even if it’s completely invisible and alien to their own experiences. Reading detailed firsthand accounts is a good way to build understanding.
BrilliantantTurd4361@sh.itjust.works 5 hours ago
Your retort is that because you lack empathy women are somehow suspect?
GiantChickDicks@lemmy.ml 5 hours ago
The same way we trust that it’s really painful for men to get kicked in the junk without having to experience it ourselves.
TheSeveralJourneysOfReemus@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
The introduced it first in saudi arabia in 2019, after women were given the right to drive, turns out they found it good so they used this setting in the US (2025) and elsewhere (2025 - 2026). The feature is a priority queue for women
When requesting a trip, women will receive a new option called ‘Women Drivers.’ If the wait time is longer than they want, though, they’ll still have the option to receive other rides with faster pickup times.
In other words, if you’re a guy and the area is poorly covered, you get your uber driver all the same.
eestileib@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 hours ago
This is the thing as a former white man.
Authority to touch others flows down the privilege hierarchy.
Trans women are always judged as the aggressor, always. Our bodies are considered public property.
dude@lemmings.world 3 hours ago
It depends where you live really. It’s a problem in the US indeed but for instance in many countries in Europe they don’t sexually harass their females on a “day-to-day basis”
yermaw@sh.itjust.works 3 hours ago
OctopusNemeses@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
The internet is never not a shitshow when it comes to women.
Except when it comes to a country like India or Japan. Then it’s all like nodding and agreement that men are creeps who need to be restrained.
Bluegrass_Addict@lemmy.ca 10 hours ago
can males avoid women drivers or is that considered sexist? what if a male wants to mitigate the chance of being falsely accused of assault/rape? I hope people have the choice regardless of gender
Havatra@lemmy.zip 10 hours ago
It might be considered sexist, depending on who you ask.
The amount of males being falsely accused of sexual assault is much lower than the amount of females being exposed to sexual assault. Hence why there has been provided a measure for women at this scale, and not for men.
atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 8 hours ago
As a penis haver who has been falsely accused of sexual assault, it’s far more common than you think.
yucandu@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
The amount of males being falsely accused of sexual assault is much lower than the amount of females being exposed to sexual assault.
And you know this because… vibes?
minorkeys@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
But the fear of sexual assault is why women prefer women, so ain’t the fear of accusations a justifiable reason? Why does it have to be equal to matter?
EmpatheticTeddyBear@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
As a domestic abuser survivor (of a woman), a lot of us men are just not taken seriously. It is a lot like how people diminish one person’s pain/suffering just because it “isn’t as bad” as someone else’s pain. Men are absolutely abused, raped, and falsely accused. But because it happens to women more, we have to bear our suffering in silence.
Wammityblam@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
No one is saying that men cannot be victims of harassment or assault.
However it is objectively true that women deal with this problem in much higher quantities than men do.
TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org 10 hours ago
[deleted]WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 9 hours ago
I never understood this fear.
Always seems weird when people are more worried about accusations than sexual assault/harassement. The latter seems far more common ime, even if you are seen as a guy.
yucandu@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
You ever tried taking a little girl to the park when you identified as a man?
It gets really weird when complete strangers go up to her and ask her if she knows you.
They don’t do that when you present as a woman.
Honytawk@discuss.tchncs.de 9 hours ago
The amount of falsely accused is less than 5% of all the rape cases.
So a women getting raped is about 20 times more likely than a man being falsely accused of rape.
And that is only counting all the instances where the rape got reported.
artyom@piefed.social 9 hours ago
The amount of falsely accused is less than 5% of all the rape cases.
LOL how could you possibly know that?
So a women getting actually raped is about 20 times more likely than a man being falsely accused of rape.
So that makes false accusations a non-issue for men? Not sure what you’re trying to get at here.
YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 9 hours ago
Said it yesterday about this on a post on my instance.
I drive for Uber occasionally, I am a guy, and got offered this option to only accept women riders. That doesn’t seem right…
vantablack@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 hours ago
i have only ever been sexually harassed by male uber drivers. this is a nice feature
Hozerkiller@lemmy.ca 3 hours ago
The “best solutuon that doesn’t alienate the predators and therefore their money” award goes to. The platform moderation must be in an abysmal state. I consistently get drivers that go 70 through the city (speed limit is 50) I imagine just as much is being done about sexual harassment as bad driving.
mark@programming.dev 6 hours ago
I really irks me when people change the titles of the articles they link to to try to fit their narrative. Because sadly people dont really click through to the article. Just share the real title and give your commentary on the comments.
MrsVeggies@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 hours ago
I wish I could opt out of interacting with men more. Kind of crazy they weren’t doing this sooner.
minorkeys@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Women’s fears of men seem like it will naturally encourage gender segregation in society, leasing to privileges and advantages exclusive to women.
Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
It’s things like this that make me, as a man, to prefer male servers/drivers.
If women chose other women, that’s fine but I do feel bad about the men getting less work, so I think it’s only fair to balance the demand gap by allowing men to chose male servers/drivers.
That behaviour would probably have the opposite effect that the people who created this rule would want.
MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
Lyft had been doing that for a while.
Also,
Fuck Reddit and Fuck Spez.
XLE@piefed.social 10 hours ago
What a relief. I’m glad they addressed the only problem with Uber /s
TwilitSky@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
Honestly, I don’t care about gender. Can you keep them off the phone and silent (goes both ways, I will do the same).
TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 10 hours ago
this smells like a setup for some legal strategy against trans-folks
BigTrout75@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Makes me wonder if the next option will be language.
alexanderniki@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
And the interesting question is what if XY human being identifies itself as a woman?
RabbitBBQ@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
You would have to be able to avoid lesbians too for this to be able to really work
GrammarPolice@lemmy.world 23 minutes ago
Men dominate the app. Don’t exactly know what this achieves other than being performative