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How Uber Is Changing Life For Women In Saudi Arabia
An anonymous reader writes: Being unable to legally drive is hard for many women in Saudi Arabia, especially working women. With notoriously poor mass transit options, and the stigma attached to women riding the bus alone, Uber has changed the life of many Saudi women by giving them greater mobility and independence. While there are no official statistics on how many women use the service, anecdotal evidence suggest that 70% to 90% of Saudi riders are women. "A lot of them, I would say, are young women," says Saudi Arabia general manager Majed Abukhater. "We have some data to show that these women are starting to rely on Uber a lot more for their daily commutes; the proportion of trips that we see in Saudi during the weekday is actually very high relative to other locations. That's just kind of one indicator to tell us that women are really starting to rely on Uber for their daily commutes to work, or to school, or to university."
Because as all good liberals know, Uber is an evil manifestation of capitalist Silicon Valley culture. As soon as it offers its services in any country, that nation's citizens are forced to abandon their traditional ways and start riding Uber everywhere, whether they want to or not. We must inform the Saudi muttawa at once of Uber's colonialist incursion into the folkways of ancient Saudi culture, so that they may beat women who might be tempted to use the service and, if necessary, stuff them into a burning building. Choice must be stamped out before it has a chance to take hold!