Many countries around the world provide taxis driven by women for women, including England, India and Malaysia. The service is not available in the US, but that is about to change.
In New York City, an all female fleet of drivers wearing pink scarves will be working for a company called She Rides, which was founded by Stella Mateo.
"I wanted to create a service that would empower women financially and personally while creating a safer and more reliable option for women, female passengers," Mateo said.
The taxi industry in New York is almost entirely male dominated. Only two percent of drivers are women. She Rides wants to change that by linking female drivers with mainly women riders.
The service will link the two through a car-sharing app. Civil rights lawyer Andrew Celli says the service is not discriminatory and is protected under rules of what is permissible on the Internet.
"I mean people can complain, I suppose. I think they would be very wrong headed to complain about this. This is a positive good for civil rights and something that is very important that has to happen," Celli said.
One of the first female recruits is Ahlam Jaoui. She has just graduated school with a master’s degree and is looking to make some extra cash.
"We all have loans that we have to pay off and we always like to have something on the side, flexible, but at the same time that will make good money and respect our religious beliefs," Jaoui said.
Mateo says demand for the service far outpaces the supply of drivers. She Rides has 100 female drivers ready to hit the road.
But that is not enough. It says it needs 500 of them before it can launch the app. To bridge the gap, it is hosting a job fair to get more women in the driver’s seat.