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Uber has spent the last year trying to stem the negative publicity around its relationship with women, namely its response to the reported rapes of passengers in India and the U.S. and its executives’ notorious comments regarding women’s use of the application. (Last year, CEO Travis Kalanik said that he should call the company “boober” because of all the female attention he gets as its CEO.) Add to that the international outcry after the company implemented surge pricing during the hostage crisis in Australia, and Senior Vice President Emil Michael’s comments about how the personal lives of journalists and media critics of the company should be available for investigation and Uber has itself a publicity disaster. So, the company’s announcement that it is partnering with the U.N. to bring jobs to women seems like a much-needed band aid.
The company has revealed that it will work with U.N. Women in order to create 1,000,000 jobs for women as drivers for Uber by 2020, and it is using the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration to do so. The company blog posted a joint message from Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of U.N. Women and Kalanick:
We intend to invest in long-term programs in local communities where we live and work, as Uber commits to creating 1,000,000 jobs for women globally on the Uber platform by 2020…This important mission can only be accomplished when all women have direct access to safe and equitable earning opportunities. We look forward to a partnership where UN Women and Uber will drive more access to these types of opportunities around the world.
Of course, ideally, this project is not just a band aid. Mashable notes that Uber currently has over 160,000 drivers in the U.S. — 14% of which are women. Getting more women on board the company’s business would be progressive if Uber can continue to demonstrate a commitment to gender equality. The company does continue to garner funding and expand despite many cities’ attempts to ban it as a service altogether — Berlin and New Delhi for starters. It remains to be seen whether or not Uber’s partnership with U.N. Women is the starting point of a real turnaround for the company, or if it’s a stunt to repair its image. Uber has a hefty amount of work to do to reverse its sexist reputation, especially as multiple countries mull its legality.
