Kate Hawkesby: Attempt to shut down women-only taxi service is hateful bollocks

Whose fault is it that women don't feel safe riding alone in taxis late at night in the first place?

COMMENT: What a pile of hateful bollocks and BS this is - the women-only ride-sharing company DriveHer has been accused of being sexist.

An organisation called 'Unfair New Zealand' (whose name tells you all you need to know about these negative Nancys) has started a petition against the female-only driver service.

Tellingly, the petition has less than 200 signatures. That's not a petition, that's an embarrassment.

The basis for this particular insanity is that they feel an all-woman taxi service is an affront to men.
Excuse me?

A spokesperson for the group, who's clearly visiting from the Dark Ages, said "if women are afraid they are going to get raped, just don't go out."

How can you even let those words out of your mouth? They claim it's the start of a male employment crisis.
They even had the audacity to use the hashtag #HimToo.

Though it's best in life to not sink so low as to respond to this kind of madness, I feel too infuriated not to.

Where do you get off criticising a business model (which by the way is optional) - women aren't forced to take women-only taxis: where do you get off saying that's sexist?

DriveHer is similar to Uber: users hail a car using a cellphone app. The difference is its drivers - and riders - must be women.

A male came up with this. An actual man, who's not affronted by, afraid of, or intimidated by women.

A man who was hearing too often from female friends about awful experiences in Ubers and taxis late at night.

He decided to do something about it. All this app does is provide an optional service, a choice, an alternative.

Men are welcome to ride as a plus-one. What's wrong with that?

The great irony here is that those who shout inclusivity the loudest are often the ones participating in pushing exclusion.

The Pride Parade banning cops in uniform springs to mind as an obvious example.

This driving service isn't running men out of town, it's simply providing an option for women, many of whom travel alone late at night and would like to feel safe.

As a mother, I'd rather have my daughter travel in this any day of the week, but that's a choice I can now make, not all women have to.

And while we're at it, ask yourself: whose fault is it that women don't feel safe riding alone in taxis late at night in the first place?

And no, this is not presuming all men are attackers, it's simply giving women the opportunity of not taking that risk.

So take your silly little petition and naff off.