Uber Pledges to Hire One Million Female Drivers by 2020

"We look forward to a partnership where UN Women and Uber will drive more access to these types of opportunities around the world," said a statement signed by both Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of UN Women.

The ride-sharing company didn't say how many women already work as drivers worldwide, but did tell Reuters that 14 percent of its 160,000 drivers in the US are female.

The blog post notes the initiative is in honor of the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, but recent public relations difficulties may also have something to do with the push for more women behind the wheel at Uber. The company may be trying to rehab their image after high profile attacks on female customers by male drivers in Chicago, Boston and India and an exec suggesting the company should consider digging up personal information about a female reporter critical of the company.