Uber plans anti-rape initiative
Pledges $5 million for groups that work to prevent assaults
DETROIT— Uber is pledging $5 million over the next five years to seven organizations that work to prevent sexual assaults, a move aimed at helping the ride-hailing service combat its own problems.
The company says the money will help the organizations fund their own programs as well train 150 Uber customer service agents as part of a new team to deal with sexual assault reports.
The initiative announced Monday comes at a time when Uber is trying to polish its image, which has been tarnished by investigations that found rampant sexual harassment of employees and multiple reports of drivers assaulting passengers.
Under Uber’s stepped-up efforts, team members receive training on how to respond to sexual assault and harassment from experts in the field. In addition, drivers and passengers will get messages via Uber’s app referring them to information on how to intervene peacefully as a bystander and how to spot signs of trouble.
Raliance, a consortium of groups set up to prevent sexual violence, will get much of the money from Uber. In 2016, the National Football League made a $10 million commitment to the group after a spate of domestic violence assaults on women by players.
Kristen Houser, spokeswoman for Raliance, said it is in the early stages of its work with Uber, but it sees the company’s app as a way to get messages to millions of people about prevention.
During the past three years, dozens of women have complained to police that they were sexually assaulted by Uber drivers, according to news reports reviewed by
The Associated Press. In June, the company ousted its co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick after a female former engineer wrote a blog detailing how she was propositioned by her boss. An investigation of sexual harassment and bullying resulted in the firing of 20 employees, and the company has promised changes.
Experts say there’s little research to show that broad prevention programs like the one Uber is introducing actually work.
“No study or data shows any effectiveness of high-risk males,” said Neil Malamuth, a psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research on programs at colleges and universities, however, found that there may be benefits for lowrisk men.
Malamuth said he’s concerned that the $5 million sum is designed to boost Uber’s image.
“I suspect the motivation is not all purity of heart, for sure,” added Emily Martin, general counsel for the National Women’s Law Center. “But that doesn’t mean complicated motivations can’t result in good work.”