Lyft is introducing a new feature that lets women and non-binary riders choose a preference to match with drivers of the same gender.
The ride-hailing company said it was a “highly requested feature” in a blog post Tuesday, saying the new feature allows women and non-binary people to “feel that much more confident” in using Lyft and also hopefully encourage more women to sign up to be drivers to access its “flexible earning opportunities.”
The service, called “Women+ Connect,” is rolling out in the coming months. Riders can turn on the option in the Lyft app, however the company warns that it’s not a guarantee that they’ll be matched with a women or non-binary person if one of those people aren’t nearby. Both the riders and drivers will need to opt-in to the feature for it work and riders must chose a gender for it to work.
ITT: Men who don’t understand the dangers of living as a woman.
I’m a passing trans woman. I presented as a man for decades of my life and have lived the last handful as a woman. But the amount of times I’ve been groped, harassed, chased or made to feel worried about my physical safety just for existing in the world has skyrocketed. Truly, I know what it’s like to experience society both ways and without question it is worse for women.
I’ve had men sit next to me at the theater, put their hand on my knee and try to feel me up. Ive had men smirk as they “accidently” bump in to me at the grocery to squeeze my breasts. I’ve been followed to my car by men asking what I was doing tonight, who then started yelling and only left because I had pepper spray.
Like, srsly. Every single one of you saying this is discrimination have no clue what it’s like to worry that any interaction with a man you don’t know can quickly turn scary. Getting in to some random guys lyft who will then know where I live, while he has the ability to lock the doors is honestly a super vulnerable position to put yourself in situation.
Yes, mens wages will be harmed, but women are physically being harmed right now. Tell lyft to pay their drivers an hourly wage like they should anyways and STFU about a safety feature.
I’m not sure how blatantly enabling sex discrimination is going to help things here.
Well, then you are just being willfully ignorant because I already typed out why getting in to a cab is scary. Features like this are going to help women choose what type of situation they are putting themselves in. Say whatever you like about women being to use a gun/knife too, but assault and sexual assaults happen, the average man is stronger than the average woman and being in a confined space with a stranger is putting yourself at risk. Women are at a greater risk then men, so should have greater control how they handle those interactions.
Then Lyft should focus on driver quality rather than enabling blatantly illegal sex discrimination.
I think a lot of straight cisgender men think that they understand the anxiety women and visibly LGBT+ people face in these sorts of situations. And maybe they understand it at some academic level. But they really don’t truly grok it, and how it affects people’s lives.
I’m a bisexual non binary black person. I do understand the anxiety discriminated groups face, but that’s not an excuse to discriminate even more. We should look at the root causes of the violence and solve those rather than just discriminate even more and just let the issue get worse.
Editing this as a reply to the comment below because this thread got locked and I believe it harmful to ignore the fact that we do know the causes and how to solve them without discrimination
The root causes are societal pressures towards boys doing violent things I.e. military, police aswell as a societal acceptance of male violence “oh boys will be boys” and male loneliness and the inability to open up. The practical measures are not discriminate more. I’m curious abt how enbys or trans people who don’t visually transition would fit into this system. Creeps would have 0 issues just saying they’re enby or trans and I doubt they’d even mind cross dressing if it meant they could.creep more effectively.
The issue is creeps, not men and this doesnt solve that issue. We need to get rid of creeps by changing the societal causes and giving them mental support when needed as we should everyone.
I mean I agree we should look into the root causes. But practically that is a long-term, society-wide project. We don’t even know what the root causes are, let alone how to address them. And moreover that project is not one a ride-share company can address.
So we sometimes have to take less-than-ideal, but more practical measures to address the current situation, right?
Males represented 77% of homicide victims and nearly 90% of offenders.
In other words, male on male crime. What’s wrong with men’s culture to be causing this problem? 🤔🙄
I don’t doubt you had terrible experiences related to sexual harassment, and I’m sorry for you. Nobody deserve this.
But don’t try to muddle the issue here. You have been attacked by people. And you decided that the pertinent group to understand these attacks is their gender, so we need to differentiate on this basis. You could have analyzed it along education level, wealth, apparent race, apparent religion, social persona, zodiacal type, car brand, profession, haircut, or anything else.
But you chose to judge the risk level of people based on their gender. Because you think that, for some reason, you have a much clearer perspective than other people you know litterally nothing about but their gender. It is the exact same thing that makes people discriminate others about the color of their skin, or wealth, or any of the illegal type of discrimination. You are using the same logic, and by extension, you are legitimazing it. There’s a reason discrimination laws do a blanket ban of this kind of thing, and not “some genders/races/others are more protected than others” : it’s because every use of every kind of this arbitrary categorization strengthen every other.
Thing is. Nonbinary must be allowed to mean literally anything in the way it currently is defined.
I am a man, I identity as a man. However, if I were to Identify as Nonbinary, that would need to pass - I might internally and externally be male, but if I say I don’t identify with being male - it’s sexist to deny me the right to identify that way - because identifying that way is not tied to a specific thing you do.
What’s next? The “no blacks” option? I’m sure you can find studies to validate that fear too.
Lately we seem to be going backwards in equality. Men are getting shat on, especially those that haven’t even committed the atrocities they are being punished for.
Why pick and choose who can use the feature to request gender. Make it fair and allow everyone or none.
There’s a lot to unpack here…
But mostly I suggest you learn about the difference in equity and equality.
Equality (what you are arguing for) is treating people the same.
Equity (what this feature promotes) is giving people what they need to be successful.
Equality aims to promote fairness, but it can only work if everyone starts from the same place and needs the same help. Equity appears unfair, but it actively moves everyone closer to success by “leveling the playing field.”
Equity involves trying to understand and give people what they need to enjoy full, successful lives. Equality, in contrast, aims to give everyone the same thing, which does not work to create a more equal society, only to preserve the status quo, in the presence of systemic inequalities.
Given that violent crime in the ride share industry is committed almost universally by men and disproportionately against women, this feature aims to provide equity to support more women as both riders and drivers.
Equity is antithetical to equality. They are oppositional ideals. Either you aim to provide equal opportunity for everyone, or you intentionally limit opportunity to ensure equal outcomes. Democracy and multiculturalism is premised on equality. It seeks to ensure the right of different groups to behave differently and arrive at different outcomes. For example, Asian high-school students spend significantly more time studying and doing homework than any other ethnic or racial group. You can verify these stats yourself by going to the cited source. Unsurprisingly, this group earns more, has higher employment, and lower crime.
Equity, on the other hand, is authoritarian. To use the example above, it means either forcing Asian children to study less, or forcing children of other ethnicities to study more. There is no room for cultural differences or free expression. Equity is only achievable under an authoritarian system, because in order to achieve it, it requires ensuring every child has exactly the same experience in life. The same amount of homework. The same schools. The same friends and family. The same sports and extracurricular activities. The same hobbies. They must study the same subjects in school and universities. It requires complete homogeneity. No modern society wants this, and the use of the term “equity” is deeply alarming to anyone who considers themselves democratic or liberal in the classical sense.
Why not just not allow men to be drivers? Problem solved, equity maximized.
Neither “equality” nor “equity” involve any amount of equality, equity, fairness, nor justice of any kind. They’re all hot garbage.
What people need is freedom and liberty maximized, and artificial barriers removed. And don’t expect equal outcomes.
this feature aims to provide equity to support more women as both riders and drivers.
it aims to provide equity, but through a really shitty and half-assed method that results in systemic discrimination
Lyft could be vetting their drivers, taking a hardline approach on drivers which are reported, a trusted driver program, etc, anything that would actually be protecting vulnerable people from abusers, but instead went with the easiest most simple minded approach (which also doesn’t protect any vulnerable men) because they have no problem treating their drivers like shit
It’s not equal if it gives special treatment to one but not both. Why can’t I request a specific driver as a man. What if I don’t feel safe with a woman driver based on stereotypes like the woman and trans passengers are. If they assume the male driver is going to make comments or passes at them then I as a male passenger should be able to assume the woman driver might be bad and get me in an accident.
What “playing field” are you talking about, what is unequal, and what does this do to supposedly equalize this… playing field?
This is the dumbest take I’ve seen. What are you even getting on about. This is just rancid bigotry veiled as concern.
What are you even basing this on? Are you afraid of black people? Or do you just hate the LGBTQIA+ community and women? Or are you still privileged as one of those two that you don’t use Uber and are just spreading shits because you can?
Like it or not, Lyft is helping customers discriminate on the basis of gender. It may not have come from bad intentions, but it could have bad consequences. I’m not sure which genders will be less popular as a result of this, but they may have a harder time generating an income from Lyft. (If this feature takes off.)
I’m not saying that this feature necessarily has no place. I can empathize with people wanting to pick the gender of their driver, but it may not end up being fair for everyone.
If you could empathize, then you’d understand how shitty of a sentence, “WhAt abOUT BlAckS,” is. Or, “It’s okay to ignore the problem 'cause it’s not fair to men.”
Really think about it. Guys have no choice but to not have the option. What is taken away? This is the same BS as, “Why do we need a lactation room? MEN can’t use it.” “How come women get days off for their PMS-related things, I don’t menstruate.”
Well getting harassed is also not fair.
Also this probably will have an unintended consequence of letting the popular gender choice(s) earn more, as there is less supply and more demand than if the whole driver pool was available.
Kinda telling this was your first comment when it’s about women’s safety and the rising number of abuses women have faced as passengers from the men driving.
Kinda telling this was your first comment when it’s about
women’swhite’s safety and the rising number of abuseswomenwhites have faced as passengers from themenblacks driving.
All the dudes complaining in here are the epitome of “wanting to be oppressed so bad”. So much invalidation of women’s experiences and trauma from harassment and abuse. I knew many Lemmy users were weird but God damn bro, y’all make Redditors look like saints. Until my partner stops constantly being stared at by perverted men on an almost weekly basis, I’ll keep letting women decide who they’re comfortable to be around.
I’m a man, and even I find many men to be uncomfortable to be around with how they talk about women, gays and trans people. Other men are the primary reason why I often feel ashamed to be male.
“I’ll keep letting women decide who they’re comfortable to be around.”
Show me one comment in this thread that contradicts this statement. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
Thats right, you can’t. Because no one here is actually saying the thing you’re accusing them of saying. You’ve done nothing but build your own strawman and tear it right back down. Congratulations, I guess?
As a man, it’s honestly quite embarrassing some of these comments. My gf is tiny and one of my best friends is also a tiny woman. They endure so much shit on a daily basis without even discussing how imposing men can be in an enclosed area like a cab. I wonder how many of them in here whining are creepers themselves
I’ll keep letting women decide who they’re comfortable to be around
That’s kind of a red herring from “a corporation providing systemic discrimination”
Lyft announces new feature: Separate, but equal.
Let’s see how this plays out for them.
Why not let men do the same thing?
It might have something to do with women being at a higher risk of being abused. But unless you’ve been living under a rock you already knew that. So what are you really asking?
Higher risk for woman of being abused does not mean that for man of being abused is 0.
I don’t understand why if something bad is more propably to happed to woman we make special exception in the rules just to exclude man of this protection.
Since most men are abused by other men, letting men choose to be matched with more male drivers would actually increase their risk of getting abused.
Generally there is an underlying concept of “being more evenly matched”. On average women do face more risk of being physically outmatched by men. If another woman became aggressive then their chances of coming out of the altercation would be more “fair” when matching like with like. If you’ve ever been in a good natured but honest wrestling match with the opposite sex you can usually see the power difference and the results can be pretty sobering to a female participant. These dynamics apply to social situations. If you are afraid of the outsized potential of harm someone has towards you then you are more or less forced to behave in an oppressed fashion if they choose to be a jerk because sticking up for yourself comes with the potential of a threat you are not equipped to come out on top of.
The chance of a woman being abused by another woman is also not zero but the level of threat is more on par with what they are physically and psychologically equipped to combat.
Yeah because only men can use knives and guns, or be physically strong, or choke someone.
I’m so sick of sexist bullshit like this. Women can be strong, too. Women can be capable of things, too. It’s insulting of you to insinuate otherwise.
Oh fuck off with this disingenuous bullshit. I’m a man and have never had to feel intimidated taking a taxi or Uber.
Sure they can be. Anyone can be a strong asshole. But history has shown men are most commonly the aggressor and disproportionately towards women than other men. Stop being a cry baby and correct men you see who are fucked up.
Why won’t anyone think of the straight white men!! What about our struggles???
Yea but for any normal dude trying to do this as a job this means he gets less rides and less money
Not proportionally though. If the service is less safe for women and non-binary people, then fewer of those people will make full use of the service. So either way, the male drivers probably aren’t getting their custom. The safety features increase the size of the rider pool even as they might exclude some riders from some drivers. Women and non-binary drivers might take over the additional riders, but those drivers might have previously been driving men who are now left for male drivers to pick up. The overall impact to male drivers isn’t as bad as just losing those opportunities.
Getting shot, stabbed, robbed, beaten, choked, ganged up on, sexually assaulted. Weird, the exact same list that women have to fear.
Oh except men also have to worry about being falsely accused of sexual misconduct, having their names put on the sex offender registry and the entire rest of their lives ruined because no one will believe them.
Getting shot, stabbed, robbed, beaten, choked, ganged up on, sexually assaulted. Weird, the exact same list that women have to fear.
Lmao this is just categorically false, and there’s so much fucking data to prove it. I’ve never once felt threatened that a woman would do any of these things to me, but I definitely have feltoke other men would.
Oh except men also have to worry about being falsely accused of sexual misconduct, having their names put on the sex offender registry and the entire rest of their lives ruined because no one will believe them.
While is sadly true, it’s so much less common than sexual misconduct happening to women. It’s so rare in fact that this has never been a fear of mine because I treat every person I meet with respect and I know for a fact that I’m not a creep. Same goes for all of my male friends. If you have a fear that this may happen to you, I think you need to reassess how you interact with women. I would be willing to bet that things you do to women you see as innocent flirting or something when in reality it makes those women extremely uncomfortable.
(numbers pulled out of my ass, but…)
99% of men don’t need it so won’t use it. 99% of the remainder will use it to find a target to harass. Whoever is left might miss out on a great feature, but they’re barely a rounding error.
Personally, I’d love a feature that let me pick a driver that would just shut up.
Maybe a gay man feels more comfortable with men driving… it’s not that crazy…
