Uber, which is trying to revolutionize driving, is taking a new round of funding from Saudi Arabia, which bans women from getting behind the wheel and has said it has no intention of loosening those laws.
The ride-sharing service, which is massively popular in the U.S. and is trying to expand internationally, announced on Wednesday that it had secured $3 billion from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which directs government money into improvement projects that create a more efficient urban environment. The Saudis hope that Uber will help diversify their employment market—currently most of the jobs are related somehow to the oil industry—and create new transportation options in some of Saudi Arabia’s major cities.
There’s just one problem: The increase in Saudi employment will be exclusively male, since Saudi Arabia, which abides by strict Islamic codes, doesn’t allow women to drive, and doesn’t plan on liberalizing those laws any time soon.
Uber claims that it’s ride-sharing service will help women who wouldn’t otherwise have mobility, because now they can call rides to take them from place to place, even if they can’t drive themselves. Company spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker told global media, “In the absence of [women being allowed to drive], we have been able to provide extraordinary mobility that didn’t exist before—and we’re incredibly proud of that.” Uber, which has already had a limited rollout in Saudi Arabia, claims that 80% of its customers there are women.
But the deep restrictions on women aren’t limited to their ability to get behind the wheel. The vast majority of Saudi women cannot hold money or own a credit card, don’t have access to a smartphone, and, worst of all, aren’t literate, making using the Uber app difficult.
Most Saudi women are also under “male guardianship,” which means their husbands or fathers would have to allow them to use the service in the first place— and likely ride with a strange man.
According to one Saudi women’s rights activist, the Saudis have no interest in allowing Uber to “hack” their patriarchal restrictions. “It is an additional service that facilitates the lifestyles of one sector of Saudi women, who are the minority,” activist Hatoon al-Fassi told Al Jazeera. “It is not this [Uber] that will make the difference … there are people that have an interest in keeping women the way they are.”
Uber is also likely to navigate a host of other problematic Saudi policies, from strong restrictions on the freedom of speech, to archaic criminal penalties. Saudi officials have been known to jail people they consider to be undermining Islamic authority or “sewing the seeds of discord.” Punishments for bad behavior range from imprisonment to flogging to death by stoning.
Uber says that it will help to improve conditions in Saudi Arabia, even if it won’t be hiring women drivers any time soon. It says it’s committed to the country’s Vision 2030 plan, which aims to double the percentage of women in the workforce—to 30%.
