The gig economy has opened up sources of income and job flexibility for many, but when it comes to ride-sharing, those opportunities primarily benefit men.
The main reason for that is safety: Many women drivers - as well as passengers - have been subject to sexual assault or harassment in ride-share services such as Uber and Lyft, as has been extensively reported in the news as well as in lawsuits.
As a result, there are fewer women drivers on the road, but one Australian company has set out to address the issue by offering a ride-share service exclusively for and by women.
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Shebah, founded by George McEncroe, is an all-women ride-share service designed to provide safe transport for passengers, flexible and safe working environments for drivers and accessible transport for children, which the company ensures via Australia’s Working with Children Check.
McEncroe, who comes from a background in human rights and philosophy, says the company was built out of her own experience of wanting to drive but feeling too scared, as well as of hearing stories of harassment from young women she knows.
“So much of women’s creativity and energy is devoted to safety,” she says. “I just thought, it’s so tiring, and I’m so sick of this. Wouldn’t it be great if there was an app we could use that was just for women?”
Identifying the need was easy, but getting the money to get a woman-founded and -focused product off the ground was a different story.
Are women “niche”? Of course not
McEncroe says Shebah began to take form in April 2016, officially launching on International Women’s Day in 2017. Since then, there have been 120,000 app downloads, and nearly 3,000 women drivers have signed on.
Over the past year, McEncroe says the company has seen 190% growth.
To support the bourgeoning business, McEncroe says she pitched the service to a number of male venture capitalists, who were interested in the idea but had “anxiety’ around the product because many viewed the women-only angle as niche.
There’s a reason women aren’t driving for ride-share companies. We’re all scared of the same thing: It’s the dude who’s going to get in your car where the doors lock.
George McEncroe - Shebah
“I kept saying, ‘Women are not a niche market.’ The [ride-share industry] is huge, and women need to be a part of it,” she says.
“I want to say to male investors that safety for women is like Viagra for men: It is that key. It’s so potent. … We can provide it, but we need capital.”
Men, she says, often don’t want to consider the fact that they’ve historically been at an advantage and that they enjoy a certain level of privilege in their day-to-day lives. They also have taken the approach of: If it’s such a good idea, why hasn’t Uber done it?
“Uber is there for the churn,” McEncroe continues. “It would disenfranchise 90% of their male driver base by offering a female service. They’ve known this problem for a long time, and they’re not going to get their drivers extra safety checks or Working with Children Checks. They’re not going to put in car seats.” (As of press time, neither Uber nor Lyft had responded to request for comment.)
“Men empathize, but I don’t think they’ve ever left work and thought about if they were going to be raped on the way home. It’s as simple as that.”
Says Gillian Morris, founder and CEO of Hitlist: “Investors like putting money in things they can relate to. This is one of the reasons Uber did so well: High-net-worth individuals in the Bay Area really wanted black cars on-demand, and weren't very sensitive to price, so they were active users of the product and thus became more likely to invest.”
In her own experience of fundraising for the flight-search app, Morris says she’s encountered a difference in how the process works for women versus men.
“Women are more likely to raise on traction/experience, whereas men try to raise on vision. In other words: A woman will pitch a business plan that is solidly rooted in her experience and that she can support with numbers that indicate the likelihood of success, and a man will pitch a business idea that captures the imagination - regardless of whether it is remotely realistic,” she says.
“I've had to learn to sell my story and my vision in terms that at times make me uncomfortable. I want to show that I've done my research and am aware of potential downsides, but that is often interpreted as negativity/lack of confidence. I don't think that's fair, but until I succeed in proving everyone wrong, I've learned to play along with how the market works.”
Enter crowdfunding
As a means to raise capital - as well as a way to empower Shebah’s community of drivers - McEncroe turned to crowdfunding.
Shebah launched the campaign with the goal of raising $3 million. So far, it has hit the $2.3 million mark and 95% of investors have been women, with the investment offer closing on March 31.
Drivers who contribute to the fund in turn own a piece of the company - a benefit drivers with other ride-share companies don’t enjoy.
Women are more likely to raise on traction/experience, whereas men try to raise on vision.
Gillian Morris - Hitlist
“For $100, they can become a shareholder. Suddenly women are saying, ‘I’m just checking my share portfolio,’ and they’re loving it,” says McEncroe, who, as CEO, still drives Shebah shifts.
“Financial empowerment is what we want to do and to say to women, ‘You have choices. You can drive. You can even drive with your kids in the car.’”
Shebah will use the funds to remove bugs from the onboarding process and take it mobile, as well as invest in training as the company expands.
Currently, the service is national across Australia, but McEncroe has ambitions to grow to New Zealand and then tackle Asia, Malaysia in particular.
No matter where Shebah goes next, the message McEncroe is spreading affects travelers across the globe.
“Pretending [ride-share assault and harassment] is not a ‘thing,’ pretending it’s not a shared fear, is bullshit,” she says. “There’s a reason women aren’t driving for ride-share companies. We’re all scared of the same thing: It’s the dude who’s going to get in your car where the doors lock.”
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