Uber to make huge change for riders to avoid being paired with men
As the most popular ride-hailing service around, Uber is still holding off stiff competition from the likes of Lyft and Bolt. With some 170 million users estimated to use Uber every month, its user base has climbed by an additional 14% in 2025.
Still, it's far from perfect. While Elon Musk tries to promote the validity of his automated robotaxi technology, Uber is trying to keep innovating in the world of actual human drivers.
Away from ideas like pet-friendly Ubers for exotic animals and the 'dangerous' trip radar features proving divisive, Uber is now being praised for the introduction of a new safety option for female passengers and riders alike.
Announced in a new press release, Uber confirmed that women will now be able to select if they want to be paired with male drivers or passengers.
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Being piloted in the USA in August 2025, the new feature will initially launch in Detroit, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. It's also been successfully tested in countries including France, Germany, and Argentina.
As the likes of Uber and Lyft address safety concerns, the former now offers a setting where women can set preferences not to be paired with male drivers. The option also extends to female drivers being able to opt against male passengers.
A 2022 article from The Verge claimed that around 21% of Uber drivers were women, although we expect this is a figure that's continued to rise.
Camiel Irving, Uber’s vice president of U.S. and Canada operations, explained: "It’s about giving women more choice, more control, and more comfort when they ride and drive."
Although the release reiterates that it's not a guarantee, it increases a woman's chances of not having to ride with men.
Back in 2019, Uber in Saudi Arabia gave women drivers an option to only accept female passengers after they won the right to drive in 2018.
The Verge's article suggested that female drivers were being left to 'fend for themselves' against male passengers, sharing horror stories from over two dozen women who reported sexual harassment and assault while behind the wheel.
Uber is following Lyft's example, which launched its own option to be paired with women and non-binary drivers or riders in late 2023.
Over on Reddit, the idea of female preferences caused a stir. One person wrote: "I don’t really care who delivers my food but for Uber if I were to request a ride and it’s a women on the profile and a man shows up I cancel and contact uber to complain. I’m absolutely not getting in a car with a strange man even if the number plates match."
Another added: "This feels like a band aid that they'll use to avoid more effective measures of ensuring passanger safety all to save a dime. They're shifting responsibility to the consumer and in a way that even if it helps a little is ultimately theater."
When someone questioned how many female Uber drivers there actually are, a third concluded: "The women that I know who’ve tried to drive for Uber/Lyft have all been sexually harassed by passengers so they quit."
As you can imagine, there was a vocal male minority annoyed that they couldn't have their own option only to select male drivers or passengers. Either way, most are praising Uber for doing something to address these safety concerns.