Last Monday Uber introduced a unique feature, Women Preferred View, which allows women-driver partners in Saudi Arabia to give a ride to women only. The first of its kind by Uber, the company tested it last year and found it really helpful for women drivers in Saudi Arabia.
The Women Preferred View falls under “Masaruky” idea that focuses on providing women job opportunities where they feel safe and contribute to the economy. The new feature will give more women in the Kingdom an opportunity to take up a driving job. This also shows Uber’s commitment to offering services that are inline to the culture and values here.
Commenting on the announcement, Tino Waked, General Manager of Uber Middle East and North Africa, stated: “Last year we announced the launch of Masaruky, an initiative aimed towards empowering women with economic opportunities by providing accessible transport solutions. We have seen an incredible response in the Kingdom thus far. As part of this initiative, this newly introduced feature will open new doors and opportunities for women as Uber driver-partners, while being conscientious of local cultural norms”.
He also said “We launched this feature in response to the feedback we received from women drivers in Saudi Arabia and we are committed to always being thoughtful of how we can always improve their experience driving on the app. This is just the start, and we will continue working with experts to leverage our external research as we move forward to ensure that this is in the best interest of women driver-partners in the Kingdom”.
Uber joined hands with Ipsos to study women’s viewpoint on transport and driving in the Kingdom. The research was carried out last year and found that around 31% of women in the country like to take driving as a job. Another study found that 74% of women thinking about taking a driving job only if they can drive women riders.
In the test phase of Women Preferred View, the women driver at Uber were able to connect with the female riders at the click of a button.