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.
That’s a neat feature; I wonder why it’s explicitly not available to men (who would prefer a male driver for whatever reason)… I guess maybe they feel that would go against the stated goal of encouraging more women to sign up as drivers, but like… why? If nothing else, men with a preference for male drivers would ensure that more women / non-binary folks could get drivers matching their gender, since as they note there’s far more non-male riders than drivers.
I also wonder if it gives non-male drivers the option to only accept riders who match their gender, which it seems would be the more important facet to encouraging non-male drivers, if safety concerns are the reason they’re not signing up to do so.
Maybe it’s about men preferring female drivers and making it harder for other to get them. Woman may request a female driver to feel safer but men provably don’t do it so much for that reason.
It specifically says it lets riders request a driver matching their own gender, not any gender you want.
don’t I choose my gender?
If you’re non-binary, or not male, then you fall under this policy anyway; it only doesn’t apply to male-identifying males.
But couldn’t someone just claim to identify that way, and abuse the system? This is a really dumb idea.
I mean, sure, any system can be abused, but it’s a lot easier to prove intent when you now have to commit fraud to get in the situation to begin with.
Is it even legally fraud to identify as non-binary when you are not?
In the hypothetical provided, where someone intentionally misrepresents themselves in order to qualify for a service from a business that they otherwise would not have? For the express purpose of easier access to victims?
Not a lawyer but I’d certainly think so.
Does that mean that non-binary riders are only paired up with non-binary drivers, or are non-binary people and women grouped together?
All we have to go by is what’s in the article, which says:
That’s kind of open to interpretation; either they’re calling non-binary a separate gender and matches people accordingly, or they’re really saying “Woman - biological and trans - can choose a preference to match with woman drivers”.
Really? Seems like a bit of a stretch.
Never heard any of my male friends ever comment on the sex of a driver or even have a preference.
I mean all my evidence on this is anecdotal, and yours seems like it’s just conjecture.
Edit: How do men not caring about the gender of their driver reduce the amount of woman drivers for the women who ask for them?
Whereas a lot of women do not feel safe getting into the car of a man they don’t know. While most of the time, it’s safe, but it only takes one time for a woman to end up assaulted or dead. Lyft has already been sued by women who were raped or sexually assaulted by a Lyft driver.
Okay. But how does that point to men wanting women drivers? Which was what I was commenting on.
I was going by how you were saying men don’t seem to ever have a preference. Men may not, but women do.
That’s my point. Men aren’t asking for this, so how would it reduce the amount of women drivers for women who wish to be passengers?
Men can’t anyway because you can only request your own gender? I’m feeling very confused rn.
This is what I was trying to understand. Your confusion is at the same place mine is. This doesn’t really make sense to me.
If men and “not men” can ask for woman drivers they are “competing” for some drivers and making it harder for each other to get them. If only “not men” can ask for women it is easier for them to get the driver they want. So if men don’t have a strong preference it’s easier for other to get what they are asking for.
I’m not agreeing with them, just trying to make sense of it.
It’s not about men asking for women drivers, it’s about everyone requesting their own gender - that’s what the policy allows. If a woman explicitly wants a male driver, this doesn’t help them, same as if a man wanted a woman driver, or a non-binary driver.
So, just making shit up. Cool.