Grab fortifies commitment to economic empowerment of women

GRAB PHILIPPINES recently announced the launch of its Women Program under its social upliftment campaign The Women Program aims to support women in the country to become driver-partners on its platform.

The Women Program is a key pillar of GrabAsenso, a multi-faceted initiative that is geared towards enhancing the lives of Grab driver-, delivery-, and merchant-partners. Leveraging its strong and expansive presence in the country, technology, and robust partner ecosystem, Grab has rolled out GrabAsenso to create a tangible impact on livelihood creation, upskilling, and gender equality and inclusivity.

Specific to the Women Program, Grab Philippines aims to lower the barriers for women to gain equitable access to earning opportunities as a Grab driver-partner. This is in line with Grab’s mission to drive Southeast Asia forward by creating economic empowerment for everyone. Through initiatives designed to address women’s unique concerns about driving, the Women Program seeks to improve gender equality and enable more women to join and benefit on the Grab platform.

Based on surveys and discussions done with Grab’s existing women driver-partners, it is found that women are usually deterred from joining the platform due to a mindset that driving is not suitable for women, that they have sociocultural roles at home they need to fulfill, and a general lack of confidence.

To support women to overcome these barriers and equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to thrive on the Grab platform, the Women Program for driver-partners will feature tailored training programs and a wide range of community activities to empower women to support one another on this journey.

As part of its Women program, Grab is testing a new “Women Passengers Preferred BETA’’ feature. Available on the Grab driver-app to women driverpartners only, the feature enables women partners to indicate their preference for women passengers. When the feature is toggled on, it increases the chances of matching a woman driver-partner with a woman passenger, if there is a woman passenger in the vicinity.

Grab’s Women Program will be rolled out in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia in the first half of 2024.