inDrive Breaking Barriers, Building Futures to empower women by facilitating their access to driving as a career
inDrive - global mobility and urban services platform, announced the launch of the DrivingNaari program to empower women by providing them equal opportunities in the field of driving as a career. The programme will empower underprivileged women to become professional drivers and give them access to remunerative ‘livelihoods with dignity’.
"inDrive’s DrivingNaari programme will encourage our female driver partners to become independent and confident individuals and take charge of their lives.
Our ultimate objective is to train women drivers across India. We are launching a pilot project with women from Delhi NCR, and then plan to scale across India. We will welcome women from all over India to register for the inDrive DrivingNaari programme and take up commercial driving as a career option," said Pavit Nanda Anand, APAC Communications Lead, inDrive.
Driving is often portrayed as a hazardous profession with tough working conditions, long hours on the road, and little time for domestic life, inconsistent with societal expectations of the gender roles of women. While recent advances in road, automobile, and mapping technology have contributed to the mitigation of physical dangers, new age professional driving models that offer location and time flexibility, along with the digitisation of urban mobility through smartphones, have changed the very nature of the profession.
When it comes to taking up driving as a career however, women still face challenges. Safety concerns in particular discourage some women from entering the gig economy. To address this, inDrive has collaborated withInstitute of Driving and Traffic Research (IDTR) managed by Maruti Suzuki to provide a full 30-day driving course to all participants. The participants will also be given medical insurance, 24X7 road assistance, and a safety kit. Upon becoming a driver partner with inDrive, they will be provided a car on lease, financed by inDrive, with commission-free rides on the inDrive platform.
Some key safety features at inDrive includes:
● Driver verification - Document and photo-verification is a must for all the drivers.
● Choose your driver or passenger - With inDrive, passengers always get to pick their drivers. They can check driver rating, car model, and ride history, all before accepting the offer. This goes both ways: drivers are free to choose passengers based on their profiles, routes and price offers as well
● Safety button - The shield icon on the main screen is for quickly contacting support, calling the police or an ambulance
● Rate your driver or passenger - Remember to rate every ride, whether it’s a driver or a passenger. If they don't want to ride with that person again, give them one star and tap 'Don't Show My Requests'. They won't be able to see their ride requests/offers in the future
"We have a zero-tolerance policy against discrimination of any kind. So we encourage all passengers and driver partners to treat each other with dignity and respect. The well being of our driver partners is very important to us. We are providing a self-defence course to all participants of inDrive’s DrivingNaari program. While onboarding them as drivers on the inDrive platform, our team will provide proper training to ensure they are aware of all the safety features. The safety shield icon on the main screen in the app will help drivers to quickly connect with our support team and with police or ambulance services. " added Pavit Nanda Anand, APAC Communications Lead, inDrive.
#womenempowerment #womensday #internationalwomensday
National, 8 March, 2024
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