Uber to create 50, 000 jobs for women cabbies

As many cab companies in India prepare to train women cabbies to ensure better safety measures for women, US-based mobile cab-booking company, Uber has decided to follow suit. The Uber Rape case, where a young woman was raped by her cab driver in December last year, had the whole country outraged and led to the banning of Uber in Delhi.

Yesterday Uber announced that the company is committed to creating 50,000 jobs for women in India by 2020, as a part of its global tie-up with UN Women to create safe job opportunities for women. A Singapore-based social enterprise, iCare Life has tied up with the cab company to train women drivers through a four month-long course. A batch of 15 women has already been chosen for the same. These women will not be charged for the course as Uber is bearing their expenses.

According to a report by ABP Live, Deval Delivala, India safety leader for Uber, said at the launch of the project: "We (Uber) are deeply committed to bring more economic opportunities to women across all communities in India. This partnership will empower women with the skill set and knowledge to provide a safe and high quality service in an industry traditionally dominated by their male counterparts.”

Uber has been in trouble in other parts of the world as well. The company’s drivers, on different occasions, have been accused of sexually assaulting passengers. This coupled with the lack of security measures taken to ensure the clean criminal records of their cabbies led to people losing trust in the company’s services previously. This step, however, along with empowering 50, 000 women, might change this.

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