**Looming Culture War**

The introduction of the new program in the U.S. has already sparked backlash from conservative groups, most notably the Heritage Foundation, the right-wing think tank behind Project 2025. In early August, the think tank released a commentary arguing that the preference model violated sex discrimination laws.

“Uber will be empowering its drivers to ignore, that is, discriminate against, male riders,” wrote Heritage Foundation Legal Fellows Hans A. von Spakovsky and Sarah Parshall Perry. They also drew parallels between the new feature and instances of individual racial discrimination by taxi drivers against Black riders.

Back when Lyft announced its Women Connect program, other alt-right personalities, including influencer Tomi Lahren, voiced strong criticism of the initiative.

Despite the backlash, Uber and Lyft have maintained that the program was “highly requested” by women and non-binary users of their applications. Both companies emphasize that the goal is to increase feelings of safety for these users.
https://time.com/7332356/uber-lawsuit-sex-discrimination-lyft/