Ride share giants Uber and Lyft are facing a pair of gender discrimination lawsuits, filed by a group of male drivers who claim recent driver preference policies have negatively impacted their opportunities for rides and revenue.
In July, Uber announced gender-based preferences for female riders, allowing them to request and reserve rides only with female drivers or set app-wide preferences for non-male drivers. Lyft has had a similar opt-in feature in place since 2023, known as Women+Connect, which connects women and non-binary riders with non-male drivers only.
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The lawsuit filed by four plaintiffs seeks $4,000 in damages per male driver to compensate for the alleged loss of revenue caused by the gender-biased facilities. It claims the companies, which are headquartered in California, violated the state’s Unruh Act, a civil rights law that “prohibits sex discrimination by business enterprises.” He suggests that thousands of male drivers would be eligible to receive money in class action suits.
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Conservative organizations and alt-right figures have also vocally condemned the security features. The Heritage Foundation, authors of the Trump administration’s Project 2025, said Uber’s policy violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Both Uber and Lyft have been sued multiple times, including class action lawsuits, for failing to address safety concerns among female riders, some of whom were victims of sexual misconduct and sexual assaults. A recent investigation by new York Times found that there is a “widespread” problem of sexual misconduct at Uber, with more than 400,000 trips recorded between 2017 and 2022. That number has increased since the company stopped disclosing the data over the past few years, court records show. In addition to female riders who say they often fear for their safety when using ride shares, female drivers have additionally accused companies of gender discriminatory policies in the workplace.