Women's Safety Strategy at Uber
A corporate commitment to prevent gender-based violence
A Global Epidemic
1 in 3 women, or over 700 million individuals, worldwide have experienced some form of sexual assault and/or domestic violence¹. 1 in 6 men in the US have experienced sexual abuse or assault as children or adults². These numbers are highly underreported and only increase when you intersect other marginalized identities. In the US, 35% of Black women experienced some form of contact sexual violence³ and 47% of transgender people⁴ have experienced sexual assault. Each of these statistics represent real people experiencing real harm. Sexual violence is a global epidemic that can affect anyone and no industry, is immune.
Is Uber Safe?
In 2016, Uber was strongly criticized by media, advocates, and regulators for not doing enough to address reports of serious safety issues like sexual misconduct and violence. Uber had become a household name for convenient transportation, but lacked the expertise to combat such safety incidents appropriately and effectively.
Highly publicized assaults by Uber drivers and riders and the company’s response created distrust with the public and employees. The prevailing narrative was that Uber was unsafe, particularly for women, and that the company did not care about the women and marginalized communities who experienced harm on the platform.
Uber knew that it needed to step up and be part of the solution to this societal issue. More importantly, Uber wanted to make a difference and was committed to driving change, inside and outside the organization.
Creating Safer Spaces - In the Company and on the Ride
JP and his team partnered with teams across the company to identify trends and opportunities for improvement. We engaged with and listened to candid feedback from gender-based violence and LGBTQ+ experts to craft a holistic strategy to address these issues internally and externally.
This led to the creation of Uber’s Driving Change Initiative; a multi-faceted strategy spanning expert partnerships, educational campaigns, internal employee training and support, and product features.
It began with Uber committing $5 million over five years to fund sexual violence prevention initiatives. The money supported non-profits including NO MORE; Raliance; Women of Color Network, Inc.; A CALL TO MEN; and the Anti-Violence Project to advance prevention and direct service work.
Next, in partnership with these experts, we developed global prevention education.
This included in-person trainings on respect in India, interactive video modules on sexual misconduct for all drivers in the US, and a bystander awareness campaign with night-life businesses in entertainment districts.
It was also crucial to support Uber’s employees. We created expert-informed training for customer support agents globally to empathetically respond to reports of sexual violence and launched a program to support employees experiencing domestic and sexual violence. Additionally, company executives received expert-led training on sexual violence and how they could continue to up-level safety for women and marginalized groups.
The strategy also included leveraging technology by building safety into the design of the app. We helped create and advise on Trust & Safety product features such as RideCheck, Emergency Button, Safety Toolkit & Center, Trusted Contacts, Follow My Trip, Rider Pick-up and Drop-off and Phone Number Anonymization, and Real-time ID Check.
Becoming a Leader in Safety
Driving Change and the programs and product features that followed were instrumental in shifting the narrative around Uber and safety. The same organizations who criticized Uber’s approach before became some of its strongest allies and partners. For example, Raliance, a national partnership dedicated to ending sexual violence in one generation, has stated “We encourage other companies to follow Uber’s lead by bringing sexual violence to light.”
Media reports also shifted. Safety incidents will always grab headlines but instead of news reports solely focusing on safety issues, journalists covered the positive steps that Uber took. The Washington Post highlighted Uber’s work to create a safer platform and global communities in an article titled Safety as social change and Mashable recognized Ubers efforts to address gender-based violence as one of 14 innovations that helped make the world a better place.
Sustained efforts are critical to driving meaningful social change. Uber has continued to foster the 30 partnerships created with nonprofits across 6 continents as well as design product features with safety in mind. Driving Change in conjunction with Uber’s other safety features has laid the foundation for a safer platform and a more collaborative, transparent approach to safety. The work supported and heavily referenced Uber’s first Transparency Report in which the company noted that more than 99.9% of trips are completed without any reported safety issues and that only 0.0002% of trips had a report of a critical safety incident. There is always more to do to create safe and inclusive spaces, but by addressing the critical issue of women’s and marginalized community safety, we were able to help Uber become a safety leader.
[1] World Health Organization; Violence Against Women Prevalence Estimates, 2018.
[2] The U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 2005.
[3] The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2010-2012 state report.
[4] U.S. Transgender Survey, 2015.
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