Online food delivery platform Zomato is aiming to increase the number of women in its delivery service to 10% by the end of the year, as part of its inclusive workplace initiatives.

CEO Deepinder Goyal stated in a blog, “Today, we are taking our first step towards increasing the participation of women delivery partners in our fleet. To begin with, we have set ourselves a goal of reaching 10% participation by the end of 2021 starting with Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Pune.

Goyal further added that adding more women to the delivery fleet is not as simple as just targeting more women for delivery partners. To achieve its goal of 10% women participation in the three pilot cities, the foodtech firm will be working on four key initiatives.

First,  Zomato is adding self-defense training to its onboarding process which will be mandatory for all women delivery partners to attend. In addition to first-aid kits, all women delivery partners will be equipped with a handy hygiene and safety kit.

Second, to prioritize the safety of women delivery partners, it will be making late evening deliveries contactless by default.

Third, it is setting up a 24×7 helpline – a dedicated support team for women partners – which will focus on expediting emergency requests to prioritize safety. Once triggered, the SOS button, on the delivery partner app, will automatically share live location with the on-ground teams, central rider support, and other delivery partners in the vicinity. 

Further, he added that many restaurant partners have come forward to ensure access to basic facilities such as separate washrooms for our women partners. These restaurants will be highlighted with a #GirlPower tag (tag subject to change) on the app to showcase their support towards an equitable society

Furthermore, women partners will be able to rate restaurants on “ease and safety”, which will be utilized to improve working conditions for all its delivery partners. 

At present, about 0.5% of Zomato's delivery partners are women. With this initiative, the foodtech firm not only wants to build an inclusive workplace but also make sure that in the near future, people won’t generalize this community as delivery boys, and see them for what they truly are – delivery partners.