Confronting Patriarchy: Women Drivers’ Vulnerabilities and Coping Strategies in RideHailing Industry

Abstract

Women entering the driving profession is a significant shift in the modern world of work. In Sri Lanka also, it seems that women are increasingly occupying themselves in the ride-hailing industry. This research aims to unveil how the patriarchal ideology is deeply rooted in the Sri Lankan ride-hailing industry; and how women ride-hailing drivers cope with the male-dominant nature and the practices in the Sri Lankan ride-hailing industry. The study adopts a qualitative approach and deploys a multiple case study strategy to explore the phenomenon in context by selecting three ride-hailing organisations. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with both male and female ride-hailing drivers who were selected based on the purposive sampling technique. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. This study reveals that the patriarchal ideology deeply rooted in Sri Lankan socio-cultural context, creates barriers for women ride-hailing drivers both domestically and industrially. Coping strategies, such as disguising feminine attributes through appearance and adapting to masculine traits, self-defense methods and serving only familiar clients without serving strangers are used by women ride-hailing drivers to cope with the male dominant nature and the practices in the industry.