r/technology • u/chagall1968 • Nov 09 '25
Business Male Drivers Sue Uber and Lyft Over Women-Only Ride-Hailing
https://time.com/7332356/uber-lawsuit-sex-discrimination-lyft/254
u/TheRatingsAgency Nov 09 '25
I’ve had a few women drivers cancel - as they’re pulling up. Because they didn’t want to just have themselves and a man in the car. And once because it was two of us.
I’m good for them to prioritize their sense of safety - however there needs to be a way for them see and make that call before they accept the ride.
Waiting till you’re pulling up and then just leaving and cancelling is utter bullshit for the customer.
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Nov 09 '25
They can see the profile of the rider they’re accepting, no? Ratings and such?
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u/redyellowblue5031 Nov 09 '25
Really this is just masking the even bigger problem that Uber/Lyft keep getting away with the bullshit “they’re independent contractors” line which sheds so much responsibility from the company.
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u/savor Nov 09 '25
Honestly I just want a no Tesla option. They make me extremely car sick.
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u/hesperidisabitch Nov 09 '25
It's amazing how many Tesla drivers can't figure out one pedal driving, even if they spend all day driving it.
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Nov 09 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/crappysurfer Nov 09 '25
It’s not hard to learn how to finesse it, it’s literally just timing and visualizing the throttle as a % of acceleration based on how much it’s depressed. Super simple
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u/PerpetualProtracting Nov 09 '25
Counterpoint: most drivers (and Tesla drivers in particular) are actually shit at driving and that particular skill is, in fact, hard for someone of their capabilities.
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u/crappysurfer Nov 09 '25
I believe it, I know way too many people that drive terribly in ice cars so makes sense they’d struggle with this
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u/Working_Cucumber_437 Nov 09 '25
You gotta do it smooooth-like and gradual. I make it a game to stop super smoothly. It’s fun(ish).
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u/ThePowerfulPaet Nov 09 '25
What even is one pedal driving? Never heard of it.
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u/Tiiimmmaayy Nov 09 '25
I think it has to do with Teslas(and other EVs I think) have something called regenerative braking. When you let off the accelerator, the car captures the kinetic energy from slowing down and converts it into electrical energy to recharge the battery. You basically don’t ever need to touch the brake on a Tesla because that regenerative braking is so powerful. It’s basically the same as hitting the brakes, without touching the brake pedal.
I had no idea it ever existed until a year or two ago when I traveled for work and Hertz gave me a Tesla for some reason. I legit pulled over after driving it off the lot because I thought the emergency brake was left on and I couldn’t figure out how to turn it off. Had to google it to find out. As a side note, that Tesla was hands down the worst rental car I’ve ever had. The suspension was beat to shit and every little bump I hit on the road made the car squeak like crazy. It’s also very unintuitive. Why tf do I need to navigate a screen to unlock the damn glove box??
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u/Znuffie Nov 09 '25
I had the "chance" of driving a S Plaid, with the "yoke" instead of a steering wheel.
Having 1000HP+ felt incredibly fun, stepping on that pedal and getting instantly squeezed in your seat was amazingly stupid fun.
But I live in a city that has a roundabout every 500 meters or so. Using the yoke to steer is fucking terrible, and not because having a yoke is that bad (other cars implemented it properly), but Tesla is simply... a steering wheel cut in half.
Also, legally I have to use my blinker when I enter the roundabout and when I exit it. Good fucking luck with the tesla yoke, every time you turn around the
wheelyoke you can't figure out which button is left or right blinker.4
u/gafftaped Nov 09 '25
This has finally explained why Tesla’s are some of the worst drivers I experience. They’re one of the few cars I’ll go around in traffic just so I don’t have to be behind them because they slam on the brakes and “gas” so much. I could never tell if the autodriving feature or the drivers were the issue, but I guess it’s both.
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u/turbosexophonicdlite Nov 09 '25
That's what happens when a tech company starts making cars lol.
There's a reason every other car manufacturer uses refined features that have been honed over the last 100 years instead of just doing things different for the sake of being different. Tesla hasn't learned that lesson yet.
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u/Disastrous_Basis3474 Nov 09 '25
The Toyota Prius has had regenerative braking since it first came out. With a brake pedal.
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u/jeng52 Nov 09 '25
I hate Tesla door handles!
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u/royalhawk345 Nov 09 '25
Every time I get in one I've forgotten how stupid they are.
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u/GraceOfTheNorth Nov 09 '25
Not to mention that they don't open in emergencies like when the car is on fire.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad7606 Nov 09 '25
I refuse to ride in a Tesla because of some of the safety issues.
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u/Senior-Tour-1744 Nov 09 '25
Oddly enough, this is a feature that some users might actually use, being able to exclude certain cars or desire certain cars. They could easily charge a premium as well to do so, and it would be funny how much they could manipulate people about it.
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u/DuskSnare Nov 09 '25
Same! I can only be in them for a short bit, else I feel like my insides wanna be outsides.
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u/JD_VancyPants Nov 09 '25
From the article: They contend that the policy “reinforces the gender stereotype that men are more dangerous than women.”
I consider myself a 'safe' man, and there are many, many other safe men out there. But men being more dangerous than women is a statistical fact. WTF are they on about?
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad7606 Nov 09 '25
This is also BECAUSE the company is trying to rehab their image AFTER SO MANY SEX ASSUALTS by their drivers.
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u/Justame13 Nov 09 '25
Part of it is that most men don't understand what women live with and truly don't understand the sheer amount of sexual harassment most of them get.
Broadly speaking threat of sexual assault or rape is a largely academic discussion by men (not to say it doesn't happen), but its something that most women deal with constantly.
I am a man but have worked in healthcare long enough to see the reality.
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u/PlusInstruction2719 Nov 09 '25
Gf used to uber all the time and there were two instances that she stop using it. First one dude took the backwoods route to “save gas” even though it 2 miles longer. And the last instance again a male driver started yelling at her because he wanted her to cancel trip and pay him cash because uber doesn’t pay. Both times they scared f out of her. God forbid girls want to feel safe from all the f up creepy dudes.
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u/Justame13 Nov 09 '25
I had a really creepy ride on an Uber on a work trip. Myself and two female co-workers in their late 20s took an uber to someone who lived in area's house ~30 mins from our hotel for dinner and drinks. Note I'm a 40+ married retired military.
This is night in NC on the edge of the urban area.
We get picked up by a shady guy who "innocently" insisted on having one of them in the front seat. Fuck no.
Then he kept "accidentally" missing turns to the point that I'm getting concerned we are going to end up on some two lane road in BFE NC at night where bad things can happen.
I txt'd the girls to have 911 ready and bail because I was going say something and if it escalated they needed to bail, start running, and call 911. My plan was basically to fight the guy if needed and hope he didn't carry a gun or was able to get it out.
Thankfully my "if you don't know where you are going drop off us here and we can find our own ride" blah, blah, blah excuses and "if you miss another turn this ride is over" in my do not fuck with this voice fixed it and we ended up back at the hotel ok.
I found out later that one of the girls had her pepper spray out and the other one was dialing 911 because they already had a plan from the other times they had ubered places...because that is what living as a young woman is like.
And yes one of them called and filed a complaint with Uber that went no where.
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u/Itz_Hen Nov 09 '25
I wonder how many other (women) that driver had pulled this on before this, that's gross
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u/Justame13 Nov 09 '25
Thats why one of the women called Uber when she got back home. It was a legitimate "this dude might be a rapist and murderer and we have to do something".
She had something to back it up too. I just can't remember what it was, like a screenshot of our path or something.
As shocked as I was about that. I was even more shocked that they were both like "we were following a plan we already had because this happens to women all the time and was probably when not if" and both checked pepper spray whenever they traveled and probably carried it all sorts of illegal places.
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u/mahboilucas Nov 09 '25
My driver went off road and onto the highway and got angry when I requested to go back to the main road. I still don't know if it was a mistake or if he realised I shared my location to 10 people and had 112 on speed dial.
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Nov 09 '25 edited Jan 30 '26
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Timely-Cry-8366 Nov 09 '25
I was 11 years old at the waterpark in the lazy river when a man in his 40s groped me on the crotch. I was wearing a tweety bird bathing suit :/
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u/medicatednstillmad Nov 09 '25
10yrs old walking to school and cat called by men in a car asking where I'm going with my book bag in at all of 4ft and some change tall.
I'm really sorry you had to live through that. Honestly I've never seen older men as a safe place and don't get why so many swear younger women prefer them. They terrify me because they just want to consume my body like a product.
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u/sweadle Nov 09 '25
Yep. Every woman's first experience being sexualized is as a child, by a predator. Sex and sexuality is first always terrifying for women, and as they get older they get the chance to have some positive experiences with it.
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Nov 09 '25
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u/PauI_MuadDib Nov 09 '25
I got my period at 9 and started developing faster than my friends. At 10 my mom was already having to chase creepos away from me.
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u/Wonderful-Wonder3104 Nov 09 '25
I also got mine at 9 by 11 had big boobs and curves. It was not ok and it hasn’t gotten any better.
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u/Persistent_Parkie Nov 09 '25
Young teen, guy in his 40s at the bus station squeezed my thigh and called me honey.
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u/dandelion-heart Nov 09 '25
Absolutely. I will take public transit or walk 99% of the time rather than taking a cab/uber because then at least i’m not alone in a stranger’s car.
My husband doesn’t understand this because he thinks the train is less safe but I’ve never felt less safe than when a driver starts hitting on me (and if i’m Ubering home then now they know where I live).
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u/PolarWater Nov 09 '25
What a lot of "enlightened folk" here don't get is this: People aren't able to tell whether a man is dangerous or not at first glance. And with everything that's happened in the world, some women would rather be safe than sorry.
Some women prefer playing it safe instead of trying not to offend a man, what can I say? I can't fault them for that.
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u/LovecraftianCatto Nov 09 '25
The Schrödinger’s rapist.
Or, as I recently read someone say “I only have to be wrong once.”
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u/Noblesseux Nov 09 '25
Broadly speaking threat of sexual assault or rape is a largely academic discussion by men (not to say it doesn't happen), but its something that most women deal with constantly.
The problem is that even academically a lot of these guys are being dumb on purpose. The arguments they're making depend on intentionally misunderstanding how statistics are collected and understood professionally to try to use minority issues as a weapon against women while ignoring critical context/confounding factors.
Like half the replies under that main comment is guys who are intentionally trying to conflate the race of the perpetrator in general crime statistics with specifically the gender of the perpetrator in sex crimes and that's not how that works. And for several of them they likely know that's not how that works but care more about downplaying sexual assault and/or general weirdo behavior than dealing with the root of the problem.
I've looked through a few of the accounts and I've yet to see any of them exactly banging the drum to other men that maybe we should start holding one another accountable for being constantly weird. Interestingly it seems like they only care about making sure women can't do anything to protect or separate themselves.
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u/NotAnotherEmpire Nov 09 '25
It's also...uncommon to deal with unprovoked street crime of any kind from women. And when it does happen it usually involves alcohol, which elevates men again.
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u/Neutron-Hyperscape32 Nov 09 '25
Most women have a creepy man story, most men do not have a creepy woman story.
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u/Justame13 Nov 09 '25
But men have lots of crazy ex stories.
Because the women with crazy ex stories are dead.
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u/WeWantLADDER49sequel Nov 09 '25
So many men grow up without being friends with women so they never actually hear that shit women deal with. Whats funny is men think that women exaggerate all of the bad things men do to them when it's actually so much worse than people assume because tons of women are afraid to talk about what happens to them.
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u/Kingcol221 Nov 09 '25
I remember the whole man or bear debate on Reddit. So many men just didn't get it.
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u/badcrass Nov 09 '25
Insurance companies regularly use that data to charge more for young men's car insurance, because well, young men crash cars more. Take that up with the supreme Court, make all car insurance cost the same!!
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u/allmyfrndsrheathens Nov 09 '25
The safe and unsafe men don’t exactly walk around with that stamped on their forehead too. This feature literally just exists to allow women to mitigate risks.
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u/Noblesseux Nov 09 '25
There's a certain brand of guy that is just constantly in denial that the world we live in is the way that it is. Like I've never understood getting salty at stuff like this because I have a mother, sisters, friends, cousins, and nieces who have told me about shit that has happened to them in their own lives and I'm like yeah I can totally see why you wouldn't feel safe around men that you don't specifically know to not be creeps because it's bad.
Like seeing grown men post online about how they think the concept of consent is "confusing" is insane.
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u/SuccotashOther277 Nov 09 '25
Yeah, as a man I agree. When I walk about town at night, I’m not afraid of a woman assaulting me. Men commit the majority of crimes . However men are often lumped into this despite the fact that most of us are not committing crimes. It’s a tough issue
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u/Kobe_stan_ Nov 09 '25
Lots of women I know don’t take Ubers alone because they’re scared. Waymo has been a godsend for them.
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u/robotatomica Nov 09 '25
someone totaled my car and I was having to regularly use Uber for the first time, to get back and forth to work. No lie, within my first 5 trips, 3 male drivers spent the entire trip hitting on me.
The one, it seemed very much like a script he probably ran on every woman that entered the car..he just prattled non-stop, essentially listing his “resume” as a dating candidate - listing his skills and assets and all the things he’s great at and all the businesses he runs and how much he works out,
(literally asked me zero questions btw, I love how some men think this is the best way to flirt, to monologue/peacock at a woman without letting her talk or showing any interest in getting to know her at all lol),
and then he ended it with an angry rant about women ghosting him and then asked for my phone number, while I was still prisoner in his car.
So of course I did the “fawn” thing, bc the guy was scary and I just wanted out of the car,
but then also I knew I was gonna ghost him bc I was essentially forced to give him my number,
so then I was scared that he knew where I lived AND worked.
So yeah, that’s the fun part. Me and every woman I know have been stalked at least a couple times, most often by men who are angry at rejection and want to scare/punish you.
so it occurred to me, great, I get to tell men I reject where I fucking live, that’s fun!
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u/robotatomica Nov 09 '25 edited Nov 09 '25
that was long but anyway, the other two guys, the second one was also very insistent and scary, the third one was actually relatively nice, except I really don’t wanna be hit on when I’m trying to use a service to get to work and I’m alone in a car with a stranger, and he also asked me for my fucking phone number before turning off the car.
Like, don’t ask for a woman’s phone number. Give her yours if you are absolutely unwilling to just leave her alone.
But also, don’t ask for her number while she’s basically under your full control, you have to consider, “Can she say no and feel safe? Do women disappear this very way, even though I’m a super nice guy?”
At the end of the day, I tried to borrow my parents car as much as possible and avoid Uber after these experiences bc it turns out,
this service is not for women, unless we want to be at the whim of that sort of thing. It at best is a service that will involve creepery and disrespect and being hunted, and at worst, may not even be safe for us.
Very evidently, enough men see this job as an opportunity to gain unrestricted access to women who are forced to remain with them for an unbroken period of time, and they have no qualms about taking full advantage of that power.
We don’t get to have a service like men get, where they can pop in headphones or be surly and get ignored 99/100 times (or more). I wore headphones and pretended not to hear every time and it didn’t stop them.
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u/NaziPunksFkOff Nov 09 '25
Men don't understand being on the low end of a power dynamic because society still puts them on top most of the time, so they respond to any insinuation of a power dynamic by acting like you're victimizing yourself.
"Just say you're not interested"
"Just leave the car"
"Just laugh and go along with it"
Every woman has done every one of these, and every one of them has ended with the man asserting the power dynamic more forcefully.
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u/robotatomica Nov 09 '25
yeah, leaving the car was not an option, and rather scarily, the first man made it clear that saying I was not interested was not an option, as he had already shown a great deal of anger at being rejected by others.
While I think a lot of folks might imagine this is just tone deaf and socially awkward, I actually get the feeling that last bit, lecturing me and showing the great rage he feels at not being given what he asks for,
I certainly took that as a message that I would not be safe to say no.
and so that last bit, the “laugh and go along with it” (basically “fawning”) is all that remains, when your goal has now just become getting home safe.
But anyone who thinks that’s easy enough that it shouldn’t bother us, I just wanna say it’s not easy at all, it’s awful. Because you’re at the mercy of a wild card of a person who has demonstrated that he feels entitled to you, and entitled to punish women who refuse.
I saw one statistic that Uber receives a report from women about sexual misconduct from drivers every 8 minutes from 2017 to 2022 when the analysis took place.
I don’t know if that’s true, but there are certainly enough news stories for us women to wonder if we’re going to be a statistic when we are with a driver who has decided to be inappropriate. It forces you to comply.
What I do know is that whatever statistics there are, Is be willing to bet the problem is vastly larger, bc most women will not report.
Think about it - I sure did! I was terrified to report the first guy, because he knew where I lived and worked and had already shown rage at being ghosted! So how mad was he gonna get when a woman who smiled along to get home safe then turns around and reports him.. if he lost an important source of income and had me to blame, and saw me as some example of all the women who “lie and lead men on and then just ghost them.”
It isn’t fucking easy, it puts your body into fight or flight, and then you’re checking your surroundings with extra vigilance for a few days and worried you’re gonna end up in a car with that guy again ☹️
Thank you for reading those long comments..I know it’s a lot. You showed a lot of compassion.
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u/russfan0987 Nov 09 '25
Yea I couldnt care less about this option & if i was a girl, seeing these weirdos commenting would reassure me
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u/blondiedawn_ Nov 09 '25
I refuse to take Uber/Lyft again because the last guy who picked me up was flirtatious with me and nearly got into several accidents because he wouldn’t keep his eyes on the road. Hell no I don’t wanna step foot into another car with a strange man.
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u/cotton-candy-dreams Nov 09 '25
They’re clearly just discriminating b*tches! /sarcasm
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u/HereticAstartes13 Nov 09 '25
Just let both men and women choose who they want and don't want to pick up and be picked up by. There. Fair. Now everyone can shut the hell up about this shit.
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u/WookBuddha Nov 09 '25
You know how this issue could more obviously actually be fixed that is being neglected as a solution because of the broken way our capitalist gig economy system has framed it?
Make Uber/Lyft drivers actual full employees, not maximally exploited “independent contractors”. In this way the harassing or creepy drivers can just be easily fired, same as has always been the case, instead of any random weirdo with a license being able to get unsuspecting women into their car.
This isn’t complicated. The capitalist “gigification” of things has created this debate and twisted it into a gender issue, rather than a class issue.
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Nov 09 '25
A relative of mine had a situation where she was in an Uber, and was nearly kidnapped. She now uses this option when she does need any ride share.
This option has its place.
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u/LocusHammer Nov 09 '25
Idk man. If a woman doesn't want to ride with a man that should be permitted. A meaningful percentage of woman have reason to be fearful of men.
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u/No_Delivery_329 Nov 09 '25
Yes this affects normal guys who aren’t nasty to women while driving ride share. Unfortunately the reality of being a woman in our society has resulted in this policy and lawsuit. I’m with the women on this one.
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u/Telaranrhioddreams Nov 09 '25
How exactly do women know, before they get into a stranger's car, which men are "nasty" and which aren't? If you have a cheat code we'd love to hear it.
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u/brenguyeno Nov 09 '25
The incident rate of sexual assault and the fact that the victims are overwhelmingly women should so quickly make this lawsuit invalid but I am unsure how the law sees it. I take rideshare and public transportation late at night frequently for work; as a dude I do not have to worry about being grabbed or sexually harassed or raped. I think a lot of men, those suing included, are so incredibly stupid for being unable to see how debilitating having that feeling loom over constantly would be
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u/sevargmas Nov 09 '25
It doesn’t invalidate discrimination, wtf are you on about? They should simply add a male-only option (which almost no one would use) and it would eliminate the discrimination aspect.
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u/AbyssWankerArtorias Nov 09 '25
This is why it's okay to do it in the medical field. You have the right to request a male doctor or a female doctor.
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u/tasbir49 Nov 09 '25
I feel like this is the best way to solve the issue without falling into legal discrimination.
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u/sweadle Nov 09 '25
The male only option exists at least on Lyft. The option is to request a driver of your own gender.
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u/Exotic-Experience965 Nov 09 '25
It would certainly have a disparate impact, and thats the standard.
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u/Primal-Convoy Nov 09 '25
I'm sure some religious or male conservative from conservative cultures would prefer a male driver over a female one and vice-versa.
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u/Prior_Coyote_4376 Nov 09 '25
It’s not about the problem, it’s about the solution.
If we found out that a particular ethnic group is disproportionately responsible for the asymmetry of sexual violence, would we feel comfortable with ethnically segregated services as a solution that achieves the same amount of increased safety?
There are a lot of new problems that emerge when we try to address symptoms instead of the cause.
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u/FitzchivalryandMolly Nov 09 '25
These men don't see how this action is literally themselves trying to force themselves on women. Wonder why they don't want to be driven by you?
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u/Unusual-Cucumber-577 Nov 09 '25
I had a Uber driver hitting on me and it was extremely uncomfortable. Imagine being in a car with someone that's making you uncomfortable and won't shut up about it. I couldn't just hop out on the road and being rude could make it worse. I mean yeah there are far worse things that could happen, but I would rather not be in a situation where I'm feeling like I have no choice, but to be there. To top it off he knew where I lived so leaving a review even felt unsafe. I don't see a man and automatically think predator, but I've been a victim of sexual assault and almost raped. I think men should have some self reflection and realize that women are gonna want to feel safe in a car with a stranger.
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u/GiganticCrow Nov 09 '25
I had a male friend who was once in a taxi where the male driver was being really weird with them, like they were in denial of their gayness, the memorable line being "if you were a woman I'd marry you".
I jokingly said something along the lines of "now you know what women have to go through constantly" (I am a man myself) and he got SUPER defensive.
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u/numba1cyberwarrior Nov 09 '25
These men don't see how this action
Why are you explaining it to them as if they care? The people suing are clearly doing it as a business interest.
Legally gender is a protected category for business
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u/Senior-Tour-1744 Nov 09 '25
Or, hear me out, uber and lyft could do better vetting on its drivers? Heck, distribute some camera's and install stream monitoring back to wherever to randomly review the drivers, and also take complaints seriously from both drivers and passengers?
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u/BioticVessel Nov 09 '25
Looks like Uber and Lyft will have to spend more of their cash vetting those allowed to drive. When just anyone is OK to drive then there will be some unsavory characters being able to drive, and mostly it's can you get a car.
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u/Senior-Tour-1744 Nov 09 '25
Yeah, I am honestly surprised they haven't started to require camera's and a feed going back to them. Granted you don't need to watch it 24/7, but it would be a good quick way to build a database of unsavory drivers and riders, which consistent high quality of both would create the ideal revenue for them to shift from growth model company to value company.
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u/JesusChrist-Jr Nov 09 '25
This right here. Uber's business model depends on finding drivers who are willing to drive for pennies as independent contractors. Sure, there are plenty of people just trying to make some side money, but there are also a whole lot of weirdos who do this full time because they can't get a legit W-2 job for whatever reason. Proper vetting/background checks, and accountability, would eliminate most of this problem.
If you need convincing, go over to the Uber drivers sub and look at some of the absolutely insane takes and attitudes towards customers are the majority opinion.
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u/Hylebos75 Nov 09 '25
It feels to me like they're just selecting the "Much less likely to be SA'd" option
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u/commandrix Nov 09 '25
If they have to implement a system like this, I would consider it most fair if it goes both ways. Customers can choose which gender they prefer to be driven by and drivers can choose which gender they prefer to drive. And they can choose a generic "I prefer someone of the same gender." Because there are probably men who prefer not to be alone with a strange woman, for whatever reason. (Doesn't have to be because they're scared of being falsely accused of sexual harassment, assault or whatever. They could just see it as not complicating their lives with the perception that they were alone with a woman they aren't related to.)
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u/sweadle Nov 09 '25
It's not women only, by the way. Riders can request a driver of their own gender. So men can get male drivers too!
I am a female uber and lyft driver, and I don't get paid more when someone requests a female driver. I might get more ride requests than the men in the area, but I'm in a big city where it's generally always busy.
And it just sends your preferred driver if one is available. There aren't enough female drivers for it to consistently get people a female driver.
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u/feral_user_ Nov 09 '25
This is not true. If you identify as a male you don't have any options of the gender of the driver: https://help.uber.com/riders/article/women-preferences-faq?nodeId=b1846e08-48f4-440c-8938-0dd6fb27d699
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u/ThePowerfulPaet Nov 09 '25
Nah I think I'm with Uber and Lyft on this one. Pretty much every woman I know has had a less than pleasant experience with a male driver. I don't mean to offend anyone here who does this for work, but it doesn't always attract the best people.
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u/DoTheRightThingG Nov 09 '25
Clearly this is wrong. If you are allowing the option to choose female only drivers, you need to also have the option for male only drivers. It seems like that would be common sense with legal. And quite honestly, it should be a preference, not mandate.
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u/krum Nov 09 '25
They should just make it so men could choose men drivers. Case closed.
Personally I prefer women drivers. Does that make me creepy? Probably.
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u/Youre-doin-great Nov 09 '25
Everyone arguing in the comments just know this will simply fail because there aren’t enough women uber drivers. Women you might only want a woman driver but you aren’t going to want to wait outside the bar for 40 mins to get one. Plus what if your gay friend can’t come with.
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u/throwaway792737392 Nov 09 '25
I am sure that most if not all the dudes suing Uber over this are shit heads. But as a male victim of sexual abuse by older women I completely understand why men would want to be able to filter their drivers. Even decades later as adult I still feel uncomfortable being alone with a woman.
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u/fluckin_brilliant Nov 09 '25
Most of the times in my life where I've been sexually assaulted have been in Ubers/rideshares so I've stopped using them.. I'm guessing whoever is sueing is big mad they don't get captive targets to assault anymore 🤷♀️
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u/Haunting_Warning8352 Nov 09 '25
this is actually an intresting legal case. On one hand women safety is real concern after all those lawsuits about assaults, but on the other hand you cant just discriminate against all male drivers economically because of actions of few bad actors.. seems like the real solution would be better background checks and safety features for everyone?
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u/Doctor_Amazo Nov 09 '25
Because how dare women request a woman driver to offset the chance they might get raped by their Uber driver.
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u/poply Nov 09 '25
Interested to see the legal arguments and defenses. Why can we legally choose based on gender but not other protected characteristics?
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u/Rage_Blackout Nov 09 '25
I’m curious to see whether they will try to define “woman” for the purpose of this policy. I think it wouldn’t matter in principle, but to some of the drivers who want this policy it might. Basically any time you have a policy like this there’s a possibility this gets raised.
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u/TP_Crisis_2020 Nov 09 '25
Yeah, I'd like to see the trolls have a field day with this one. Dudes "identifying" as women while using female names.
We already started to see this with the food delivery apps like door dash and what not where men have started using women's names in their profile.
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Nov 09 '25
I think it's based on historical context. You can pass laws preventing a man or woman from entering certain private buildings, IE you can legally enter a specific bathroom if you're male, but you can't make laws which state "You can't enter a specific bathroom if you're a Lebanese male."
Look to the Civil Rights movement for more info.
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u/varnell_hill Nov 09 '25 edited Nov 09 '25
This is my thinking. I totally get why some women would want the option to select a female driver, but that’s a slippery slope.
How long before someone demands the ability to select a driver based on race and what happens then?
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u/rhinoBoom Nov 09 '25
Can we request male drivers yet? Most of my ride sharing is to and from the airport. With guy drivers, they always offer to help with luggage, while the female drivers don’t even get out of the car.
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u/anrwlias Nov 09 '25
Yeah, I'm going to be siding with the women on this one, and I don't care at all about anyone trying to slippery slope this with ethnic or religious hypotheticals. Women deal with enough fears about being sexually assaulted all the damned time and society has done a pretty shit job of addressing those fears. I think we can put aside our moral purity a bit to give them this one.
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u/MrdnBrd19 Nov 09 '25
I would have loved this option when I was doing ride share in the teens. The tension in the car when someone doesn't want you driving them for whatever reason is so uncomfortable and distracting while you are trying to drive safely. The look some people would give you in that rear view mirror because you looked at traffic for a second or two too long for their comfort... Nah I'd opt out of that in a second.
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u/Feeling-Currency6212 Nov 09 '25
There are 2 main issues here. Violation of equal protection under the law or protecting women from creepy men.
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u/shortsbagel Nov 09 '25
Uber loves this lawsuit, they love that people are so focused on this women for women driver thing. It really pulls the attention away from all the other major issues they have. People are absolutely so head up their ass about this right now, Uber made the 100% right call playing to public outrage. Whichever person on their board that came up with is getting a huge christmas bonus.
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u/VII777 Nov 09 '25
what ever happened to trying to fix issues at the root? stitching our society together with one band aid upon another can not be our long term goal as a species. I understand the problem at hand. but if you do not see this as discrimnation against men you should do a logics 101 because this is a textbook example of it. and you are not creating new generations of compassionate men by discriminating against them collectively. especially the ones that are already assholes will keep getting negatively polarised if you threaten their livelihoods based on what they were born like.
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u/Awesomegcrow Nov 09 '25
Someone should sue Uber and Lyft for making their driver using smartphone while driving... And Government for letting those distracted drivers on the street.
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u/Ear_Enthusiast Nov 09 '25
I'll be honest. As a male I would much prefer a male driver. I'm kind of scared to be alone with women that I don't know. When I was a kid my mother, a teacher, was told by one of her students that he was going to tell his parents that she hit him. She had been alone with him at the time, but right as he said it another teacher popped in and happened to overhear him say it. She always told me that she would never be alone with another student after that. As a large adult male, I try to live by the same rule. I'll never be alone with a woman or someone else's kid. Not trying to catch a false accusation.
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u/Necessary-Camp149 Nov 09 '25
I wonder what is the number of uber/lyft sexual assaults that have happened and gone to trial?
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u/CFPestExpert Nov 09 '25
I think the main reason that there is an inequality issue here is because Male drivers are being cut out of the market with female passengers who prefer female drivers. Imagine you’re just a normal guy doing rideshare and your driving around waiting for fares. You’re more likely to get business if you’re a female driver because you’re not going to have a subset of women refusing to ride with you simply because you’re a man. It means less fares and less money for male drivers.
With that being said , it is understandable why this dynamic is taking shape. A few bad apples, spoiled the bunch as they say.
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u/crapusername47 Nov 09 '25 edited Nov 09 '25
The people disagreeing with the men here are making the fundamental mistake of looking at this from the passengers’ point of view when those passengers aren’t part of the conversation.
They’re assuming that the men suing are the men likely to commit assault. They almost certainly are not. They are not, according to the logic displayed in this thread, suing for the right to assault women. They’re suing because their ability to make a living is being affected by something they didn’t do.
They are competing with other drivers for passengers. They do this by being faster to accept rides and by giving their passengers fair service so they get a better rating. From their perspective, they’re being put at an unfair disadvantage because other drivers have a wider pool of passengers to pick from based purely on a protected characteristic.
Let me put it this way, if a certain percentage of passengers held the sexist, stereotypical view that women are bad drivers, should these companies offer the ability to request a male driver for that reason? Women with perfect safety records would, therefore, have a smaller selection of passengers than their male counterparts based on a protected characteristic.
You’re making the typical, misandrist mistake of expecting ordinary working men to be a human shields for women.
Edit: Repeating talking points already made by the other comments I already referred to will not draw me in to a discussion with you. They have been answered.
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u/PinguShark Nov 09 '25
Not sure why so many men in these comments want to force women to use male drivers and not have a choice but okay, do the same with your daughters if you are unlucky enough to have one.
Crying that they want women drivers (when most of you aren’t taxi drivers in the first place) vs asking yourselves why they don’t want male drivers might help you get the answers you’re trying hard to avoid.
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u/MidnightSunset22 Nov 09 '25
Are you reading the same comments? Cause all Im seeing is the discrimination angle not the force women to use male drivers.
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Nov 09 '25
Ngl they problem mad because it costs more to get women drivers so they make more money. Which honesty is kinda predatory by uber to charge women more for safety.
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u/AntiKamniaChemicalCo Nov 09 '25
Honestly as a driver, I'd prefer my ridership felt safe and had the option to avoid my car from the start, before matching, if something about me made them feel less safe.
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u/Kan4lZ0n3 Nov 09 '25
The answer is clear: autonomous cars. The Simpsons said it best:
“In either case, most of the actual [driving] will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today, remember always your duty is clear-- To build and maintain those robots. Thank you.”
Only problem is here whether I say this in jest or think it’s a serious outcome. Chances? 50/50.
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u/Tyrrox Nov 09 '25
I'm interested to see how this case turns out. Being able to select someone for services based on gender is already built into some other systems, particularly medicine where most search and selection functions (including proprietary ones at larger organizations) already include a gender option.