Uber Teams Up With NGO Manas Foundation To Conduct Gender Sensitisation Workshops For Partner Drivers

24-year-old Sneha works at Data Analytics Company in Gurugram and takes a cab back home from work every day. Mobility in cities like Delhi may not be a cause of concern anymore but for Sneha and her parents, her safety still remains an issue. Being the only girl child in the house makes her parents concerned about her office timings, the people she travels with as well as the kind of cab services she uses to commute around the city. Her parents insist that she calls them every time she leaves work and reaches home. Sneha shares,

It's a package of both, yes mobility is a concern but safety is a bigger concern. My parents obviously worry.

She further explained how their association with Uber take place. She shared,

Our association with public transport drivers is through the Delhi Transport Department. We got Corporate Sector Responsibility or CSR funding from Indraprastha Gas Limited and that's how the partnership on a Public-Private Partnership model started. We got a mandate from the Delhi government, so in order to get the licence renewed for auto and taxi drivers, they need to undergo a gender sensitisation program. Once the government owns it up and the private aggregator readily joins in, it's a win-win situation.

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The gender sensitisation program uses short skits, visual aids and discussions to teach Uber drivers the do's and don'ts of dealing with the passengers, especially the women.

Driver Sunderpal attended one of these workshop and feels that such steps are important in changing people's mentality and Uber is taking great steps towards educating the drivers.

While technology is changing the way women safety is being addressed, there is also the human dimension to the problem and this attempt by Uber and Manas is trying to do just that.