There is a definite discrepancy in pay between male and female Uber drivers.
Based on data covering almost 1.9 million Uber drivers who provided more than 740 million Uber trips over 2 years, we know that male drivers earn about 7 percent more than Uber’s female drivers. Uber has given us an almost perfect experiment. Unlike comparing wages for lumberjacks to salaries of kindergarten teachers, it is precisely controlled for job description and execution.
With only that information, feminists might be momentarily overjoyed that their “wage gap” claims have been justified. However, no fair-minded person could claim this discrepancy results from misogynistic discrimination. The pay is solely determined by a sex-agnostic algorithm. Can you imagine what would happen to Uber if there was code saying, “If sex = “male” then wages = wages * 1.07?”
I’m sure (because I’ve written about the academiots who promote the idea, notably here and here), that radical feminists will claim the algorithm is nonetheless biased because math and science are racist, sexist creations of the heteronormative patriarchy. Really. That’s no exaggeration.
The rest of us will wonder what the bona fide reasons are. Turns out that they are the same reasons discovered by studies going back decades: There is no wage gap when differences in industry, occupation, continuous years in the workforce, level of education, field of study, experience, and number of hours worked are considered.
In Uber’s case, on average:
Men take higher risks (they drive 2.2 percent faster).
Men have more driving experience; which they develop by driving longer hours over a longer Uber tenure.
Finally, men drive in more lucrative locations.
That last may be a result of more experience (better location value awareness), and lower risk aversion (driving in less safe locations at less convenient times).
In any case, the Uber “wage gap” is unequivocally a result of different choices made by male and female Uber drivers, and it is a confirmation of Jordan Peterson’s point to Cathy Newman: “You have to ask why there’s a gap.”
As noted, this isn’t new information, but the Uber experimental data is as pristine as it can get. One could reasonably call it definitive confirmation of those earlier studies mentioned above.
Equality of outcome feminists will likely insist on changing the Uber algorithm: “If sex = “female” then wages = wages * 1.07.” Just so it’s “fair.”