Women Ridesharing Drivers' Responses to Sexual Violence on the Job: The Role of Confrontation.

This article examines sexual violence against women drivers in the U.S. ridesharing industry, focusing on their informal coping responses during incidents of abuse. Using qualitative content analysis of survey data from 32 drivers (31 women and 1 nonbinary individual) reporting 69 cases of sexual violence, the study found that confrontational strategies—such as verbal opposition, stopping or canceling rides, and threatening or using physical defense—were more common than nonconfrontational methods like emotional coping, ignoring, joking, or changing the subject. The research highlights the limited formal protections available to these independent contractors and underscores the need for enhanced safety measures, passenger education, and corporate reforms within app-based transportation platforms. It also situates technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) in ridesharing as a continuation of broader patterns of workplace sexual violence, emphasizing that digital platforms are not gender-neutral environments.