
How Uber Is Changing Life for Women in Saudi Arabia - AnkhMorporkian
http://www.fastcompany.com/3048461/app-economy/how-uber-is-changing-life-for-women-in-saudi-arabia
======
paublyrne
_(Before Uber came to the country—it currently operates in Jeddah and Dammam,
in addition to Riyadh—women relied on private drivers (if they could afford
them) or [limo companies]_

If Saudi is anything like other Middle Eastern countries I have visited, taxis
and motor rickshaws are very common.

Of course the elephant in the room is that neither Uber, nor taxis are a real
solution to the driving prohibition. So I wouldn't go overboard patting Uber
on the back.

~~~
keerthiko
Saudi is not like other Middle Eastern countries. Taxis may exist, but the
limitations placed on women are far more extreme in Saudi. The rest of the
Middle East are varying levels of liberal around women, with the UAE not
having any legal restrictions on them, Oman having only social regulations
(somewhat strict, but only for natives) on women's outfit and segregation from
men in public, etc.

Availability of taxis is less of the issue here.

------
fblp
I feel like Uber's PR team is stepping up their game. Yesterday it was how
Uber is improving service to New York Boroughs.

~~~
trhway
less PR-ish article on the same subject:

"[http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-saudi-women-
ri...](http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-saudi-women-rideshare-
apps-20150507-story.html#page=1")

mentions an important point for the popularity of the taxi-hailing apps:

"And she didn’t want to deal with the negative comments she would face if she
tried to hail a cab in the conservative kingdom, a woman using public
transportation on her own is often seen as lacking morals."

...

"... no one can tell she isn’t using a private car."

Another interesting point :

"There is no law prohibiting women from driving in Saudi Arabia, but there are
fatwas, or religious edicts issued by conservative Muslim clerics. As a
result, the government won’t grant women licenses."

~~~
Ntrails
I thought part of the difficulty with taxis was being in a car alone with a
non-family member male?

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GauntletWizard
Is this a good thing? I'm usually the one defending Uber here, but I'm not
hugely a fan of them operating in Saudi Arabia.

Greasing one of the stickiest wheels in a tar-covered regime is hardly what I
call a humanitarian effort. Saudi Arabia's oft-brutal [1] maltreatment of
women has nasty secondary effects on their society, and this is lifting one.

[1][http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiar...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/8952641/Saudi-
Arabia-execution-of-sorcery-woman-condemned.html)

~~~
azernik
Sure, this is lifting the effects of Saudi Arabia's awful gender relations on
their society... by making out substantially better for the actual _people_
disadvantaged by that system. I find it very hard to see any downside that
compares.

~~~
rayiner
They're not making it better out of the goodness of their hearts--they're
profiting from the situation.

~~~
azernik
Oh sure. I absolutely don't attribute the good Uber does sometimes do to
altruism. They're skimming off a cut of that good and making a killing.

------
personlurking
It's definitely interesting to see how a driving service company alters
behaviors. In Brazil, almost not a day goes by that Uber isn't in the news
where it's common to read about taxi drivers threatening physical assault of
Uber drivers, forcing passengers get out of an Uber and into a taxi, and most
recently, kidnapping an Uber driver. In another instance, Rio taxis even went
on 24h strike (obviously not too well thought out).

------
jakobegger
"We're connecting expats with existing limo companies so that they can come on
the Uber platform"

Is it just me or does that sound pretty awful? Considering what I've read
about the terrible conditions of migrant workers in the middle east... (job
seekers paying huge placement fees, employers taking workers passports,
workers living in awful conditions, withheld pay, etc.)

~~~
Jacqued
I'm not familiar with the way Uber operates there but if they mediate the
worker-company relation and sponsor the drivers into the country they might
actually be helping here, at least with the placement & passport issues. The
worst offenders are probably not going to work with Uber anyway.

I'm generally not a fan of the way Uber operates but I don't think they
actually _can_ make migrant worker's treatment in the middle east any worse
than it already is.

------
lawlessone
This would only help the wealthy ones though right?

I know Saudi gives it's citizens a lot of cash to splash but supply of Taxis
would still be limited and expensive i guess?

In the long term wont this just act as release valve? There will be less
pressure for change as people with clout can simply choose not to be affected
by the unjust law.

------
venomsnake
So Uber helps the oppressed being oppressed the same and paying more ...

