Sexual violence is a widespread societal issue that affects all of us, individuals, communities, businesses and industries – including transportation and rideshare. Crimes against women and girls, especially in public spaces, have seen a steady rise in recent years.  According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) report of 2018, nearly 3.78 lakh cases of crime against women were reported across the country. It can happen anywhere – in our homes, our schools, our workplaces, our transportation and even our public spaces.

Gender-based violence doesn’t belong anywhere in our communities. Which is why we are committed to stopping incidents before they happen—by partnering with and learning from women’s safety groups, building tools and policies, promoting awareness, and empowering our community of users.  

To commemorate International Women’s Day, we announced a partnership with Breakthrough, a non-profit organization which works to reduce violence against women and girls in India as part of our global Driving Change campaign.

As part of the collaboration, Breakthrough is launching a campaign, #IgnoreNoMore, which encourages bystander intervention and supports collective action to end gender-based violence in public spaces. The #IgnoreNoMore campaign aims to raise awareness on how bystanders can become agents of change rather than just spectators. The approach will empower bystanders to recognize unhealthy and problematic behaviours and intervene before abuse or assault takes place.

Sohini Bhattacharya, President & CEO, Breakthrough  – “Breakthrough is dedicated to creating an environment in which violence and discrimination against women becomes unacceptable. #IgnoreNoMore is designed to drive awareness, inspire action and encourage more Indians to say “no more” to gender-based violence and bystander apathy. The campaign will push people to understand their own role as changemakers for building safer public spaces. We are pleased that Uber is committed to becoming an industry leader on this issue.”

We take our responsibility to keep people safe from violence, both on and off the app, very seriously. We are committing to use Uber’s scale and visibility to help drive awareness and education against gender-based violence to millions nationally.

We’re committing major funding for awareness and prevention programs with members of courageous, thought-leading organizations like Breakthrough and we will continue to seek advice from them on how we can do more to prevent violence and to help keep women safe.