Why UN Women is pulling back from Uber partnership
The UN鈥檚 gender equality initiative has canceled a planned collaboration with the ride service after trade unions raised concerns over Uber鈥檚 treatment of women.
In this photo taken Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014, a taxi on Market Street goes past the headquarters of Uber in San Francisco. On Friday, March 20, UN Women executive director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka pulled out of a planned collaboration with the ride-hailing service after a coalition of global trade unions complained of the company's history with women.
Eric Risberg/AP Photo/File
It looks like Uber will have to go elsewhere to fix its troubled reputation with women.
Concerns over the ride-sharing company鈥檚 perceived inability to protect female drivers and passengers from harassment has led UN Women, a gender equality initiative, to cancel a partnership with Uber that was announced two weeks ago.
鈥淯N Women will not accept an offer to collaborate on job creation with Uber, so you can ,鈥� executive director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said Friday at the in New York City, where world leaders discussed next steps in achieving the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls.
The partnership was the main announcement at the conference鈥檚 opening March 10, .聽The plan would have had UN Women and Uber working together 鈥渢o create ,鈥� according to the company鈥檚 blog.
A coalition of trade unions responded to the proposed collaboration by pointing to the reports of harassment and assault聽that, on top of allegations of unfair pricing and breaches of privacy,聽have dogged the ride service.
鈥淎s unions and NGOs we find it astonishing that UN Women is linking to this organisation, based on a promise of a million jobs that we know are likely to be ,鈥� Brigitta Paas, vice president of the International Transport Workers鈥� Federation, a global union coalition that frequently challenges Uber, said during the conference.
鈥淲e urge the UN Women organisation to reconsider this announcement of their partnership with Uber without delay,鈥� Ms. Paas added.
Uber operates out of 55 countries, and reports of harassment related to the service have surfaced from a number of them.
In the US, female Uber drivers have complained about harassment from passengers; one incident, , involved a customer who tracked his driver to her home using the Uber app鈥檚 鈥淟ost and Found鈥� feature. On the inverse, female passengers have also reported sexual assault by Uber drivers in , , , and other cities.
In December, Indian police for allegedly raping a female passenger in New Delhi. Later that month, South African singer-songwriter Nikki Williams tweeted to complain about her Uber driver鈥檚 behavior.
Uber has time and again apologized for these allegations and responded with changes, like when it in February.
But the bad rap goes beyond customer and employee safety: In an interview with GQ magazine, top executive Travis Kalanick used the term 鈥溾�� to describe how the startup has improved his success with women. Another incident involved an Uber office in France聽pairing riders with 鈥渉ot chick鈥� drivers in a ad campaign.
As the Monitor's Schuyler Velasco聽put it when the UN partnership with Uber was first announced:
Incidents like those, combined with even after an announced of its policies, have helped paint Uber as a company that either doesn鈥檛 get it or doesn鈥檛 really care. In perhaps the most damning indictment of the company yet, the New Delhi rape victim has publicly accused Uber of only making 鈥渃osmetic鈥� changes that made women no safer, and refusing to meet with her and her lawyers to discuss safety reforms. "Until women can legitimately feel safe, we cannot obtain equality,鈥� said the woman, who has been identified only as an executive in Delhi, in a statement released on National Women鈥檚 Day. 鈥淪adly, Uber doesn't understand this."
An Uber spokesperson told Buzzfeed that the company plans to continue to聽pursue its goal of providing 1 million jobs for women worldwide by 2020, and that Uber shares UN Women's聽"鈥�