Male drivers accuse Uber, Lyft of gender discrimination

Ride share giants Uber and Lyft are facing a handful of gender discrimination lawsuits, filed by a group of male drivers who claim that recent driver preference policies have negatively impacted their opportunities for rides and revenue.

In July, Uber announced gender-based preferences for women riders allowing them to request and reserve rides with only women drivers or set an app-wide preference for non-male drivers. Lyft has had a similar opt-in feature in place since 2023, known as Women+ Connect, which connects women and nonbinary riders with only non-male drivers.

The lawsuits — filed in a on behalf of four plaintiffs — ask for $4,000 in damages per male driver to make up for the perceived loss in revenue allegedly caused by the gender preference features. 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." They suggest hundreds of thousands of male drivers would be eligible to receive money in a class action suit.

Conservative organizations and alt-right figures have vocally denounced the safety features, too. The Heritage Foundation, authors of the Trump administration's Project 2025, said Uber's policy constituted a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Both Uber and Lyft have been sued multiple times, including class action lawsuits, for failing to address safety concerns among women riders, some of whom suffered from sexual misconduct and sexual assaults. A recent investigation by the New York Times found that Uber has a "pervasive" problem with sexual misconduct, with more than 400,000 trips reported between 2017 and 2022. Court records suggest those numbers have risen since the company stopped disclosing the data in the years since. In addition to women riders who say they have often feared for their safety when using ride shares, women drivers have additionally accused the companies of sexist workplace policies.