What percent of rideshare drivers are women? This will surprise you.

The taxi and limousine industry has been an overwhelmingly male-dominated workforce. With new transportation models Lyft, Uber, and Sidecar becoming more mainstream, there has been a lot of anecdotal evidence that women have felt more safe and welcome behind the wheel. We ran the numbers and we were surprised:

Based on our study of several thousand drivers, currently 1/5th of Lyft, Uber, and Sidecar drivers are women, and the number points to increasing even further.

Compare that to 2%. That was the percent of females driving taxis in the US according to a 2006 study by Sandra Lowitt. And in New York City around the same time? Only 170 of 46,000 taxi drivers were women, about 1%.

Here’s how the distribution looks by rideshare company:

Of course there are female only fleets out there now, but these are still relatively small by comparison to the big three rideshare competitors.

It’s incredible to see these percentages, calculated based on existing Sherpa users actively using Lyft, Uber, and/or Sidecar. Sherpa allows drivers to integrate their earnings, expenses, and trip information on one dashboard to help drivers maximize their income.

Data from Sherpa's thousands of drivers allows us to provide deeper insight into the growing independent contractor workforce, their earnings, challenges, and more. We'll be continuing to share our findings and insight. Data questions? Get in touch with us. Interested in seeing more? Join Sherpa for free.

rideshare, lyft, uber, driver, gender, female, male

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