Left: The Uber app is seen on a smartphone past cabs passing on Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona, on December 9, 2014. (Courtesy: QUIQUE GARCIA/AFP/Getty Images) Right: Orthodox Jews gather on Water Street in lower Manhattan March 9, 2014 to pray and protest. (Courtesy: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)
(Eric Lieberman, The Daily Caller News Foundation) – Uber apparently refers to Jewish employees as ‘Jewbers’ after the company released its first ever official diversity report.
The ride-sharing tech giant’s diversity webpage made available Tuesday shows the gender and ethnic internal makeup of its company, including statistics for tech roles and customer support roles.
There are also nine employee resource groups (or ERGs) which are designed to improve workplace culture and “ensure that Uber better serves riders, drivers and cities.”
Oddly enough, some of the groups are subjectively inappropriate (or somewhat humorous, depends on personal perspective) including categories like “Shalom” in which Uber aims to connect employees with “Jewbers from all backgrounds, encouraging collaboration and closeness from all corners of the globe.”
Jewber, presumably, is a portmanteau of “Jew” and “Uber.”
Naturally, the Twittersphere reacted with perplexity and displeasure.
@NoahShachtman Just so I’m clear, @Uber, am I a “Jewber” if I jump in one of your cabs? Or can I only be a Jewber if I’m on the payroll?
— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) March 28, 2017
not sure using terms like “Jewber” and “UberHUE” really help make the point that Uber is welcoming diversity: https://t.co/5IJqavIz7g pic.twitter.com/4RTRZvU4RY
— Lisa Fischer (@HeyLisaMichelle) March 28, 2017
I’m giving @Uber a yellow card for “Jewber”: https://t.co/YgbBwFZKM2 pic.twitter.com/fLObbQVRqG
— Watchmanteau (@watchmanteau) March 29, 2017
Some, though, cracked jokes.
Can’t decide whether to use Jewber or Yidlyft.
— Nathan Wurtzel (@NathanWurtzel) March 28, 2017
There is also “Los Ubers,” a resource for “Hispanic and Latino” employees, and “UberHUE,” which has a goal of providing “a channel that promotes Black diversity, culture, and inclusion for all employees”
Most importantly for the company, there is “Women of Uber” which wants to foster women’s inclusion.
Uber founder Travis Kalanick felt the need to share its internal data after accusations of systemic sexism and a number of debacles and missteps transpired in recent months.
Allegations of sexism first arose after a former female engineer wrote a lengthy and highly creepy account of her time at Uber.
Along with the disturbing details and an alleged lack of a response from leadership, Fowler detailed how the larger engineering group she was part of was over 25 percent female when she started, but soon “dropped down to less than 6%” and then 3 percent on her final day of work.
The diversity report reveals that Fowler’s claims were not unfounded, since it shows that roughly 85 percent of its tech workforce is male and approximately 94 percent are either white or Asian.
who thought “Jewber” was okay? probably the same person who thought “Boober” was okay https://t.co/r9LJDuSP9e
— amy nguyen (@amyngyn) March 28, 2017
Quite famously, Kalanick jokingly called his company “Boob-er” in a GQ interview, specifically in reference to the amount of women he was able to lay after making millions from his enterprise.
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