Felicity is often asked if she gets scared at work. Women ask not because she's working with toxic chemicals, or hazardous equipment, but because she's working with men. Often drunk men. And they think it's dangerous.
As a driver for a ride-share company in Melbourne, Felicity said, "It's funny, lots of women ask me about that."
![George McEnroe is starting a new ride share business for woman and children.](/web/20170310213755im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/o/d/y/p/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gutdlr.png/1489120852169.jpg)
"I don't often get scared at work, but I am wary."
And she is not alone. Twenty-five cases of sexual assault committed by taxi drivers were reported to police over three years in Melbourne. There's no information on reports against ride share drivers, or how many times it happened and was never reported, but two male Uber drivers were up on sexual assault charges in Sydney late last year.
Too many women have had uncomfortable experiences with male drivers, not just being assaulted, but intrusive questions that can feel threatening when they're in a car with a man they don't know. "Who's waiting for you at home?" "Do you have a boyfriend?" "I like your skirt." "I'll turn the app off; we can just talk."
One young girl told Daily Life about a driver who didn't say anything the entire trip, but every time he looked at her, he licked his lips, then he started rubbing his crotch. "I didn't want to make a complaint" she said, "he knows where I live".
The flexibility of ride share should make it an ideal job for women, but with more than 85 per cent of taxi and ride share drivers being men, it is one of the most male-dominated industries in Australia.
This is something George McEncroe is hoping to change with Shebah, an app-based ride-share service catering exclusively to women and employing only female drivers, which she just launched in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
But changing this is going to be an uphill battle for McEncroe. While Shebah has a couple of hundred drivers ready to go in the major cities, it's unlikely to be enough to meet demand.
The perception that it's a dangerous job is probably the main reason so few women do it, but the barriers to entry can also be high. Taxi licences are expensive, and most ride share services require the drivers to have a fairly new car.
One woman who drives for a ride share service in Sydney told Daily Life she is infuriated that her work is considered unsafe for women. She wants more pressure on services to look after women, rather than giving in to the idea that this is an impossible task and creating a women's only service.
Other critics have said that a women's only service could create more victim blaming, that women assaulted in general services could be asked why they didn't choose the women's service if they wanted to be safe.
McEncroe says this is a nonsensical argument. "Of course our whole community needs to address harassment and violence against women. Maybe if Shebah is successful, it will force other services to think more about how their female drivers and passengers feel."
"If a woman is assaulted, it's because a person has chosen to behave criminally against her. That individual knows what assault and rape is. Blaming Shebah for an assault of a woman in another service would be an extraordinarily desperate attempt to separate a sexual predator's actions from the consequences."
Shebah is not just about getting vulnerable women home safely at night. McEncroe says there is demand from women with disabilities and parents of young children.
"Women with disabilities in Australia have a 90 per cent chance of being sexually assaulted or abused. Their parents are, quite frankly, desperate. That's a huge need to be met."
While Shebah will have an age limit of 12 for boys travelling without parents, they are giving exceptions to vulnerable male passengers, such as boys with disabilities and older boys travelling with younger siblings.
"We've got a lot of interest from separated parents, where being together can create hostility and anxiety. They need to safely transfer kids between houses, and if they don't have someone who can step in the line of fire, that can be really difficult."
That Shebah will take children travelling alone could be a huge boon to parents struggling to cope with the demands of work and various appointments and after school activities, but McEncroe says the service goes beyond the needs of parents.
"Women who attend day oncology units, if they've had chemo or radiation for breast, cervical or uterine cancer, they really would like the option of having a female driver, they feel so raw, and they want to be in a space that feels safe."
"The other one is aged care, where some elderly women feel their drivers can get impatient, they find it very upsetting and they'd feel safer with a woman."
Shebah is also trans friendly. "Shebah is unapologetically a female service. That means all women are welcome."
Shebah will also donate 1 per cent of every fare, split between three different charities.
"I think a lot of people who use our service will want to know they're also contributing to addressing the problems women face in a systemic way," said McEncroe. "Newborns, teenagers, older women, supporting those people benefits everyone, and I wanted to address that in this business."
Shebah has experienced some pushback from men, angry with the implication that women aren't safe with male drivers, and claiming a women-only service is discriminatory. McEncroe disagrees.
"This isn't taking anything away from anyone. We're not denying men the ability to use a ride sharing service. Their freedom of movement isn't limited and it doesn't reduce safety for men, it just offers an extra service for women".
"I'm sure most men value women feeling safe".
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