Uber launched a feature Monday to allow both women riders and drivers across the U.S. to be matched with other women for trips, expanding a pilot program aimed at addressing concerns about the safety of its ride-hailing platform.

The new feature is being rolled out nationwide despite an ongoing class action lawsuit against the policy in California, filed by Uber drivers who argue that it discriminates against men. Rival ride-hailing company Lyft is facing a discrimination lawsuit over a similar offering that it introduced nationwide in 2024.

  • ryper@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    I suppose now it’s just a matter of time until a transphobe complains that the women-only option matched them with a trans woman.

    • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Yup, and Uber will cave, saying cis women have a right to “be comfortable.” They’ll ignore that women being comfortable was the main justification for Jim Crow laws.

  • wrinkle2409@lemmy.cafe
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    3 days ago

    I don’t like these policies and find them sexist. It is as if men were these wild creatures that women must stay away from and cannot be reasoned with. It is dehumanizing. How would you feel if I could choose not to take rides from people of color because of some bullshit statistic about them being more likely to commit crimes?

    • Velma@lemmy.today
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      3 days ago

      Except it’s not a bullshit statistic that men are more dangerous to women than other women.

      • Yeather@lemmy.ca
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        3 days ago

        It’s also not a bullshit statistic to say black americans are more likely to commit and be arrested for violent crimes.

        • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          There’s a lot riding into that figure: asymmetric policing, asymmetric wealth, racist violence by white to black tends to go unreported, etc.

          Edit: also there is a recurring, unsubtle theme in history of falsified reports for insurance or PR where people will say they were attacked by a black man. There’s at least two notable instances from characters that earned a Dollop episode giving police a description of a fully fabricated black man.

        • Velma@lemmy.today
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          3 days ago

          You aren’t living in reality if you believe that the violence men commit against others is just bullshit statistics.

            • Velma@lemmy.today
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              2 days ago

              Can you read? That’s exactly what the commenter was implying.

              I don’t like these policies and find them sexist. It is as if men were these wild creatures that women must stay away from and cannot be reasoned with. It is dehumanizing. How would you feel if I could choose not to take rides from people of color because of some bullshit statistic about them being more likely to commit crimes?

              It’s also not a bullshit statistic to say black americans are more likely to commit and be arrested for violent crimes.

        • Velma@lemmy.today
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          3 days ago

          Yes they are. To pretend like men aren’t violent towards others is disingenuous. It’s also true that men are more dangerous to women than other women.

  • 58008@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    While understandable, being able to request specific characteristics from your driver, like sex and gender, is putting drivers at risk even more than they already were. Like I can already think of a few dark scenarios and situations that are facilitated by this feature. In fact, this feature opens Uber drivers up as a much more viable source of victims for sex offences, robbery, stalking/inceldom, etc.

    • MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world
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      3 days ago

      No, women being able to request female drivers doesn’t put them more at risk. It’s puts them much less at risk. Why are you making things up? You fantasizing about “dark scenarios” doesn’t make them likely.

      If you have any friends…chances are you have one or more that have been sexually assaulted after hiring a ride…that’s how common it is.

      • mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca
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        3 days ago

        you didn’t understand their point.

        being able to choose that a woman will show up increases the availability of somebody getting a woman to show up where they want. this is a non-zero increase in risk for that specific event.

        • MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world
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          3 days ago

          So your logic is that because it’s theoretically possible for the system to be “gamed”…the option shouldn’t be available for anyone? SMH

          Uber aren’t saints…they’re just reacting to behaviour that’s already happening: A customer can already “vet” their driver and choose somebody with lots of ratings and their preferred (declared) gender etc. This option isn’t creating any additional harm…all it’s doing is adding a filter…and therefore a niche for women who want to provide rides to females and vice versa.

          A criminal lying about who they are won’t be exasperated or eliminated with this new option. There’s no downside.

          • mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca
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            3 days ago

            I’m not reading your comment since you referred to it as “my” logic, btw

            get some reading comprehension

    • Velma@lemmy.today
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      3 days ago

      I’d be curious to see if Lyft found that attacks on drivers increased when they started offering this. I wouldn’t think there would be that great of a difference honestly. Women drivers are already at increased risk in general.

        • Velma@lemmy.today
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          3 days ago

          I found some more sources for you:

          "There are more licensed female drivers in the U.S. than male drivers. But men nonetheless drive far more than women each year.

          A disproportionate share of fatal traffic accidents involves male drivers, particularly when speeding or alcohol use is a contributing factor. Overall, male drivers were involved in over 72% of fatal car accidents in the U.S. in 2023."

          https://www.consumeraffairs.com/insurance/male-vs-female-driving-statistics.html

          “For nearly every year from 1975 to 2023, the number of male crash deaths was more than twice the number of female crash deaths.”

          https://www.iihs.org/research-areas/fatality-statistics/detail/males-and-females

          “The results indicate that young women who exhibit high-risk driving behavior deviate more from the general population of young women with respect to alcohol use, alcohol misuse, and marijuana use than high-risk-driving young men differ from other young men. In addition, findings indicate that even if young men and women were to eventually have equal levels of substance use, women would likely retain their lower-risk driving profiles. These findings suggest the need for (1) future research to understand the differential associations, and (2) prevention programs that consider these gender differences.”

          https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1538974/

          • iopq@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            On average, men drive about 16,550 miles and women around 10,142 per year, which is 39% fewer miles than men.

            So per mile, women are still safer drivers

        • Velma@lemmy.today
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          3 days ago

          Is the punchline sexism? Hilarious.

          “But compared with women, male drivers of cars and vans had twice the rate of fatal accidents per mile driven. Male truck drivers had about four times the rate of women truckers, and men driving motorcycles almost 12 times the rate of women motorcyclists. For bus drivers and bicycle riders, there was little difference between the sexes.”

          https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/27/well/live/car-accidents-deaths-men-women.html

      • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I get passed by the same three women nurses every morning. You can tell by their car tags they are nurses. They pass into oncoming traffic. They pass in heavy rain. They pass in non passing zones. They are the worst drivers out there on my morning commute. All cars have damage. Two have multiple dipshit dings. So yeah. Its men who are the whole problem. /s

            • Velma@lemmy.today
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              3 days ago

              Reading comprehension is a real struggle for you, isn’t it?

              Knowing that men, on average, are worse drivers than women does not mean I think all men are terrible drivers.

              Same as knowing that 3 women being terrible drivers doesn’t mean all women are terrible drivers.

              • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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                3 days ago

                I didn’t say all women were bad drivers. I described the three worst drivers I encounter on my morning commute and you extrapolated all women from that. With you superior comprehension skills. LOL.

                • Velma@lemmy.today
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                  3 days ago

                  You clearly offered that anecdotal evidence to refute my claim that men are worse drivers than women on average.

                  Your sarcastic line at the end of your comment “So yeah. Its men who are the whole problem. /s” belies your intent.

          • TwilitSky@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. It could also ending up costing you 30% more for car insurance so choose wisely.

          • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Yeah, Those nursing tags virtually guarantee they will never get pulled over and it shows in their reckless sprint to work every morning.

    • MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world
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      3 days ago

      Right. Water is also wet. Why are we saying things everybody knows?

      If you have any friends…odds are one or more have been sexually assaulted after hiring a ride….that’s how common it is. It’s reasonable to give women a less a dangerous option.

          • StarryPhoenix97@lemmy.world
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            3 days ago

            I’m really not that invested. I haven’t used an Uber for years, I’m not a woman, and I don’t work for Uber.

            I wish only safety for those that use it but my dog isn’t in this fight. All woman ride sharing? Cool. I see some issue with male drivers lying. Women drivers getting for-sure trapped by it but being that neither of the situations are likely to happen to me, and my theoreticals aren’t backed up by anything but worry and pessimism.

            The idea gets a thumbs up from me. Just curious how reality and human nature will find a way to ruin good intention.

            • MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world
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              3 days ago

              Thank for being honest.

              My angle is I have a few friends who’ve been assaulted in cabs and Ubers. Yeah…they were smashed and engaging in risky behaviour…but they didn’t deserve what happened. I’m all about harm reduction.

              Sure…some edge cases will always game the system…but I also can’t think of a reason not to try to address a problem.

  • iopq@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    If you think this is fine in the name of safety, how about a white-only option?

    • Velma@lemmy.today
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      3 days ago

      No one has issues with women requesting female doctors. What’s your issue with women trying to be safer while traveling?

      • iopq@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I don’t have an issue with it. But wouldn’t that also apply to white people traveling?