It’s not easy being a female driver in the Philippines, more so a female driver of a ride-hailing app.
Given these challenges in the landscape, Grab Philippines shared some of its technological features that ensure its women driver-partners and delivery-partners remain safe on the road.
The popular ride-hailing app said it had activated its “Women Passengers Preferred Toggle” on female GrabCar drivers last February.
The new feature gives them the option to prioritize being matched with fellow female passengers.
They will only be given male passengers if there are no female passengers in the area.
To use this feature, female GrabCar drivers only have to visit the app, click Settings and then toggle on the “Women Passengers Preferred BETA” option. It will be color green once it is turned on.
The app said that it is currently available to its driver-partners only.
Another feature for female driver-partners is the “Emergency Assistance Button” which allows them to readily access law enforcement whenever they are in distress.
There is also the “Trip Monitoring” feature in the app which lets Grab track atypical stops and routing taken by its driver-partners, encouraging them to contact law enforcement or medical teams if needed.
The feature also allows the app to make proactive calls to
drivers and passengers to check on their well-being.
Apart from that, there is also the “Share Live Location” feature in which female driver-partners can share a tracking link of their live location with their loved ones or fellow colleagues as they fulfill a ride.
The app has also produced e-learning content for its women driver-partners through Grab Academy, which is an online learning platform exclusive to Grab partners.
Courses on passenger handling, road safety and vehicle maintenance can be easily accessed by partners at their preferred time and pace.
Grab said its initiative is a key pillar of its Women Program under its social upliftment campaign, GrabAsenso.
The leading superapp has fortified its partnership with agencies and organizations like the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Philippine Red Cross, and the Philippine Commission on Women to design and implement a comprehensive capacity-building program dedicated to female drivers.
This is geared at uplifting the confidence of every current and potential female Grab drivers in plying roads daily.
The app also invited the PCW to discuss the Safe Spaces Act with the female driver-partners to raise awareness about how the law empowers and protects them as women.
“Efforts such as this lunch and learn session by Grab are critical in making sure that more Filipinas know what the Safe Spaces Act is, and how they can co-create harassment-free and discrimination-free environments as enshrined in the law,” PCW speaker Danielle Alexandria Anteola said.
“We commend Grab for joining the campaign for safe spaces for all our kababayans — a step forward to a more inclusive society,” she added.
Grab Philippines head of operations CJ Lacsican also underscored the company’s dedication to enriching the diversity, inclusivity, and equality within its Grab driver- and rider- network.
“The digital economy brings viable opportunities for everyone, intensifying the hope and capability of our kababayans to attain their aspirations,” she said.
“As a leader in ride-hailing and on-demand deliveries, we aim to lift more Filipinos to help them capitalize on these opportunities,” Lacsican added.
“Every Filipino wanting to better their life should be able to do so without doubts about their safety, skills, or even fears of gender-based discrimination. These are barriers that we relentlessly try to break down at Grab — for every Ate wishing to join our platform,” she concluded.