In a world where historically, many professions were seemingly reserved for men, women are now demonstrating that those lines are becoming more and more blurred. As is the case with female driver-partners operating on the Uber app, who have shown that in a predominantly male-dominated industry, they too can rise above the gender stereotypes.

Results taken from the recent and extensive Driving Toward Equality report, produced by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), explored the relationship between women and ride sharing in six countries, including South Africa. The results showed clear benefits ridesharing has provided female drivers. This includes ‘flexibility’ and ‘hidden benefits’, such as the additional security of an emergency in-app button and GPS-tracking of every trip.

Female riders cited benefits too, with the study showing that due to ridesharing, female riders felt more independent and have increased freedom of movement. Uber looks at five female driver-partners, giving South Africans a glimpse into their lives and showing what inspires them, what they enjoy most about their work, and what the future holds for them.

Babalwa Jama

Babalwa Jama is a 37-year-old woman who was born and raised in the Eastern Cape. She currently lives in Phillipi, Cape Town, and works as a Financial Literacy Trainer when she’s not busy driving with Uber. Babalwa is a hard-working mother of two boys who is inspired by meeting and socialising with other individuals that are like-minded as she believes that it inspires creativity.

In her leisure time, she enjoys providing financial literacy training to the youth in her community so that she can educate them on how to better manage their finances. As the main breadwinner in her household, Uber has given her the opportunity to provide for her children and to continue diligently working towards growing her transport business so that she can leave her children a legacy to be proud of.

Babalwa says that the location tracking features and the in-app emergency button have helped her feel a lot more comfortable and safer when she is driving. Being someone who is an achiever by nature, Babalwa says, “Uber has allowed me to start my own business on training and development in financial literacy, which has provided me with the means to support myself, and has given me the opportunity to set and achieve my own goals of being a successful businesswoman.”

Bongiswa Maqina

Bongiswa Maqina is from Queenstown, Eastern Cape and currently lives in Mfuleni, Cape Town. She is 36 years old and is a very passionate and dedicated woman who draws inspiration from her supportive family. The one thing she loves the most about being a driver-partner is that she is afforded the ability to juggle many things at once, which enables her to prioritise and focus on the things in life that she deems to be important. Working for Uber has allowed Bongiswa to meet many remarkable people. “I once met a lady who left a lasting impression on me as we had a wonderful conversation about life which inspired me to look at things differently and motivated me to work harder,” says Bongiswa.

The flexibility that ride-hailing provides is acknowledged by the 67% of South African women who were surveyed and believe that this is the most valuable benefit of driving with Uber. Because of this flexibility, Bongiswa who also works as a network marketer for a company called Forever Living, has been able to work two jobs and attend a lot of business seminars in her free time to broaden her knowledge and equip herself with the necessary tools that will aid her in her dream of offering diversity within the transportation industry.

Zola Mayekiso 

Zola Mayekiso is 37 years old and hails from Eastern Cape. She currently lives in Cape Town and works solely as a driver-partner. She is a committed young woman who has met many different people from all walks of life in the last four years that she has been a driver-partner. The best part about Uber for Zola, is the freedom it allows, as well as the opportunity it grants her to meet other dedicated and industrious people in the industry. This enables her to gain valuable industry insight which she is able to use to better herself in her career.

Zola is also a mother and the primary breadwinner in her household and she believes in doing everything she possibly can to provide for her child. Zola says that, “Uber has helped me with the means to take care of my child’s needs and my hope for the future is to continue spreading my wings and challenging myself by expanding my various business ventures.” In her free time, Zola loves participating in activities at her church and often entertains her friends for tea and snacks at her house during the week.

Zola says that as a female driver-partner, she really appreciates the safety features Uber has provided on the app as it has helped her feel a lot more at ease when it comes to transporting people around.  She says that she feels a lot more comfortable knowing that her trips are being tracked and that she can always call for assistance if she needs any help.

Siyamthanda Mahlasela

Siyamthanda Mahlasela is from Keiskammahoek in the Eastern Cape. She is 33 years of age and currently lives in Blue Downs, Cape Town. She is a loving mother who is motivated to keep going and achieve her dreams by watching her daughter grow up. She, as many of those featured in the IFC report, really appreciates the freedom and independence driving with Uber provides. As a mother who has a child to look after, independence and freedom are what she loves most about Uber, as well as the opportunity to share ideas with other business owners.

During her free time, she loves playing netball, swimming and doing anything that keeps her fit. As the primary breadwinner in her family, she says that Uber has not only provided her with an income to look after her family, it has also helped shape her as a person which has helped her grow a lot since becoming a driver-partner. Her most memorable rider was a 72-year-old man who taught her an important lesson about always giving back to others. Siyamthanda says that the man told her how he was unable to retire until he was 68 years old as he had used a large sum of his pension money to pay his employees’ salaries after the business he had started began to suffer from financial constraints. Instead of firing his employees he chose to pay them out of his own pocket.

The funniest trip she has ever been on happened on her birthday when she picked up two ladies and two men. She says that upon realising that it was her birthday through small talk, they all proceeded to sing happy birthday to her until they reached their destination. Aside from being a driver-partner, Siyamthanda also delivers food for Uber Eats and she is also a beauty technician who specialises in doing nails and massages. “My goal in life is to mentor other women in the industry so that they can be equipped with the necessary knowledge and tools that come with owning a business, so that one day they can also achieve their own dreams and aspirations.” says Siyamthanda.

 Diana Dube

Meet Diana Dube from New Castle in KwaZulu-Natal. Diana is 48 years of age and currently resides in Johannesburg.  She is a single mother of two boys and has been driving for Uber for four years now. Diana decided to join Uber as she was in search of something that would help her to sustain a good standard of living but also provide her with the flexibility to be there for her children if and whenever they needed her. As the primary breadwinner in her household, Diana says that driving for Uber has provided her with means to renovate her mother’s house and look after her son.

The most memorable thing that has ever happened to her was being named the top female Uber driver-partner in Johannesburg. Diana says that because of this, she was surprised with access to limited exclusive spots for a VIP meet and greet with Barack Obama at the Nelson Mandela Lecture which took place on 17^th July 2018 at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. Her encounter with Obama was nothing short of amazing and was a dream come true. “As an Uber driver-partner myself, I never thought I would ever be in the same country, let alone the same room as such an iconic man. The surprise was so unexpected and I truly felt so honoured to be given such a life changing experience,” says Diana. DM

About Uber

Uber’s mission is to help people get a ride at the push of a button – everywhere and for everyone. We started in 2009 to solve a simple problem – how do you get a ride at the touch of a button? 10 years and over ten billion trips later, we’ve started tackling an even greater challenge: reducing congestion and pollution in our cities by getting more people into fewer cars.

Uber is available in fourteen cities in Sub-Saharan Africa (Cape Town, Durban, Joburg, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, Nairobi, Mombasa, Lagos, Abuja, Kampala, Accra, Kumasi and Dar es Salaam). Overall, the Uber network is available in over 600 cities in over 65 countries. To request a ride, users must download the free application for Android, iPhone, Blackberry 7, or register for Uber atwww.uber.com/go. For questions visit www.uber.com

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