Uber’s new women-only feature, Uber Ellas, has been launched in Mexico. The new feature allows users to be filtered by gender on both the passenger and driver side to improve safety and the situation for women in the workforce.
According to Gretta Gonzalez, CEO of Mexico’s Uber, the new option is also meant to encourage women to enter the workforce more confidently and take care of their own financial situation.
These changes are primarily a response to alarming statistics about violence against women, which often occurs during rides. Mexican women experience sexual violence, are assaulted and even murdered. On average, as many as 10 women a day are killed by murder in Mexico.
During the test version as many as 90% of users were in favor of leaving the new functionality, which shows the high demand for this type of change.