DriveHer’s purpose is to help decrease accounts of sexual assault and harassment that women are constantly facing
The creator, Aisha Addo, launched DriveHer after experiencing an uncomfortable experience with a taxi driver. She was going home from a friend’s house when the cab driver began to ask her uncomfortable questions.
“He was asking me if I lived alone, and for me that was a bit triggering, because I happened to,” she said. “Then he started asking if I had a boyfriend, and then [there] just started to be some really weird sexual innuendos. I became a bit guarded.”
“It sort of got me thinking later on, ‘What about the people whose phones are off, or they don’t really have anyone to call?'” Addo added.
Addo asked a friend to remain on the line for the rest of the ride. This incident occurred among many highlighted incidents of women being harassed and assaulted on the news. Unfortunately, she realized that many women can relate to this experience and this motivated her to create her service.
Addo recognizes that other services give the option to request female drivers but Addo says that DriveHer goes beyond that.
“There’s so many ride-sharing services, let’s not get that wrong, and that’s amazing, but then there was never really any option for women and people that identify as women. What DriveHer is, is providing an option and creating an equitable space where women and people who identify as women have that option.”
This app is unique because men are not allowed to be drivers or passengers. Similar to other services, drivers must go through background checks and training specific to this service.
Uber spokesperson Jean-Christophe de le Rue has acknowledged DriveHer saying Uber welcomes the competition. They reassure that Uber already emphasizes safety for both its drivers and users.
More than a 100 drivers have signed up for this service since its launch, and the company hopes to expand across Canada within the coming months.
Working before 10 AM is actually bad for you? Read more here !
