Uber’s Gender Gap Reveals Men Drive Faster, and Women Drop Out Earlier
A study of the gender pay gap at Uber has found that male drivers earn 7 percent more than women at the ride-sharing service. Researchers at Uber and Stanford University ascribe the gap to different preferences over when and where to drive; to men, on average, driving faster than women; and to women being likely to quit the service sooner.
The study’s authors point out that Uber presents a unique opportunity to assess the gender pay gap, because it assigns rides and calculates fares via a gender-blind algorithm. The gig economy does not allow for individual salary negotiations or tenure-based pay bonuses, which often disadvantage women.
Yet a study of more than a million rides showed men were able to accumulate more hours on the road than women through taking more trips each week, and women were more likely to quit Uber within the first six months than men. This experience deficit, combined with a general tendency for men to drive faster, meant that they were able to cycle through rides more efficiently, earning more money overall.
Not every part of Uber is gender-blind: Former CEO Travis Kalanick quit last year after a report found widespread sexual harassment and gender discrimination within the company’s corporate structure.
Indian Women Get Equal Inheritance Rights
The Indian Supreme Court has ruled that women have the same rights to inherit ancestral property as men, regardless of when they were born.
While men and women have had equal inheritance rights since the amendment of the Hindu Succession Act in 2005, the court has now established that this applies to women who were born before the act was amended, or indeed before its original passing in 1956.
The case related to a land dispute in which a man tried to prevent his aunts from inheriting their father’s (his grandfather’s) land. But the court ruled that the women were “coparceners,” or equal inheritors, of the property. The ruling has set a legal precedent in establishing that all Indian women and girls have the right to inherit, in a country where only 13 percent of land is owned by women.
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