The Indian woman who claims she was raped in an Uber is suing the company. Yesterday, she filed the lawsuit which calls the San Francisco based company a ‘modern day equivalent of electronic hitchhiking’ and demands they overhaul their safety practices.
According to reports, she’s going big with the trial too – and has hired the same lawyer who represented Nafissatou Diallo, the New York City hotel maid who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former International Monetary Fund managing director, of sexual assault.
Since the rape allegations surfaced in India, there have been widespread protests and calls for the increased safety of women using public transport. Women-only train cars got criticism for victim-blaming, with critics stating that women shouldn’t need to be segregated from men in order to travel peacefully. The men should be able to leave women alone.
‘Do we really want to send the message that it’s women who need special spaces to avoid harrassers, rather than men who need to leave women in peace regardless of where we are?’ wrote Jessica Valenti in The Guardian.
Hopefully, the fact that there’s been some action taken against Uber will send a clear message to drivers – and men – everywhere; a message that should be painfully obvious but, according to the horrific violence reported against women in India, still isn’t – that it is not OK to sexually harrass women.
And thankfully, the women themselves are starting to stand up and speak out, too.
The trial continues, watch this space to see if she wins the case.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.