Uber announces to create 50,000 jobs for women in India by 2020

While the company is smarting from bad press after a case of sexual assault of a woman traveller by one of the Uber drivers in the national capital New Delhi in December last year, the company said as a first step towards this goal, "we are embarking on a pilot partnership with iCare Life to train, certify and create hundreds of jobs for women in India on the Uber platform in 2015."

It said: "Uber is deeply committed to bring more economic opportunities to women across all communities in India. This partnership with iCare Life, the first of many, will empower women with the skill set and knowledge to provide a safe and high quality service in an industry traditionally dominated by their male counterparts"

It said drawing from global best practices, iCare Life will provide content and training material based on clearly-defined service standards formulated by its Singapore headquarters. The training content is deployed locally using advanced blended learning techniques across 6-Indian languages through individual tablet computers that allows each trainee to learn at their own pace, passing various assessment levels and finally attaining certification.

"We are so thrilled to partner with Uber on this initiative, because we believe in creating sustainable economic and employment opportunities for women from resource-poor communities in India. This goes a long way in motivating and empowering more women to receive training so they can embark on a rewarding career and become financially independent,” said Revathi Roy, Sr. Associate Vice President of iCare and an industry pioneer in this sector.

"A July 2014 report by Ofxam showed that in India, women’s wages are only 64% of male wages. With Uber, women now have direct access to a flexible, equitable earning platform, helping them cultivate skills and become small business owners while providing safe and reliable transportation for the community. The earning potential of a driver on the Uber platform is unmatched in the industry and with a driver-training, driver-upskilling and our vehicle financing programme creating car-owning entrepreneurs, more woman are recognising the opportunities," Uber said.

“Uber’s program will help empower and bring unrivalled economic opportunities and entrepreneurship to women from socially excluded backgrounds and communities,” said  Deval Delivala, India Safety Lead for Uber. “This pilot initiative with iCare Life is an important part of our mission to achieve equality and economic viability for tens of thousands of women in India.”

Sharing how the opportunity to become a driver partner with Uber has changed her life,  Harpreet Kaur, said, “Along with being a driver, I’m also a mother, wife and daughter-in-law. I’ve been able to fulfil all my roles very well with balance since I started driving on Uber.”

“I’ve always wanted to drive my own car and be independent. I am so excited to be a part of the first batch of women drivers to go through this training and soon become a fully certified and licensed driver partner with Uber,” said Mrs. Madhu Johnson, trainee in 1st cohort.