• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
LeadershipMost Powerful Women

This Is the New Uber CEO’s Track Record on Gender Equality

By
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 28, 2017, 3:29 PM ET

Though it had been widely reported that Uber sought a woman as its next chief—HPE (HPE) CEO Meg Whitman was in the running for the top job as recently as this weekend—the company’s board ultimately settled on a man.

Regardless of gender, the ride-hailing startup’s new chief Dara Khosrowshahi is tasked with turning around the company’s culture, which has been called hostile to women: Over the last few months, more than 20 employees were terminated as a result of an internal investigation that resulted from the blog post of former Uber engineer Susan Fowler. Sexual harassment, bullying, and retaliation were given as reasons for many of the firings.

Subscribe to The Broadsheet, Fortune‘s daily newsletter about the most powerful women.

Khosrowshahi most recently led travel bookings website Expedia (EXPE), which has a fairly clean public record when it comes to treatment of female employees (one caveat: thanks to arbitration clauses in many employment contracts, it’s very possible that female employees have brought private complaints against the company).

The company did get some criticism earlier this year when it opted not to pull its ads from The O’Reilly Factor after a New York Times report revealed previously unknown sexual harassment allegations against host Bill O’Reilly.

When it comes to gender diversity of its overall workforce, the company is roughly on par with the rest of the country: 50% of its employees and 25% of its tech group is female. For context: 47% of the workforce of the U.S. is female while about 24% of tech workers are female, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology, respectively.

The company is outpacing its tech company peers when it comes to leadership: 35% of its leadership team is female, whereas the number is closer to a quarter for most Silicon Valley companies, according to a February 2017 analysis by statistics portal Statista. At 33%, PayPal (PYPL) is on the higher end of the range, while Microsoft is on the lower end at 18%.

Expedia’s board is about 21% female as of March of this year (the average on Fortune 500 company boards is roughly 20%), when it added Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation.

Last summer, the company released the results of an internal compensation analysis, reporting that it does not have a gender pay gap; women in its workforce earn $1 for every $1 paid to men in equivalent roles.

About the Author
By Valentina Zarya
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Leadership

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Leadership

The $665 billion question: Will Big Tech’s AI gamble pay off?
NewslettersCEO Daily
The $665 billion question: Will Big Tech’s AI gamble pay off?
By Diane BradyApril 30, 2026
34 minutes ago
Aerie built a $2 billion brand by rejecting Victoria’s Secret’s old playbook. Now it wants to win the AI backlash.
C-SuiteRetail
Aerie built a $2 billion brand by rejecting Victoria’s Secret’s old playbook. Now it wants to win the AI backlash.
By Phil WahbaApril 30, 2026
3 hours ago
Google Cloud revenue is now 18% of Alphabet’s business. Is this the beginning of the end of Google’s search identity?
Big TechGoogle
Google Cloud revenue is now 18% of Alphabet’s business. Is this the beginning of the end of Google’s search identity?
By Alexei OreskovicApril 29, 2026
8 hours ago
A man in a suit and tie
InvestingMeta
Meta just bumped its 2026 capex forecast up to as much as $145 billion for the AI boom—and investors flinched
By Amanda GerutApril 29, 2026
11 hours ago
teri
BankingBanks
Exclusive: America’s largest Black-owned bank launches podcast with mission to unlock hidden shame holding back generational wealth
By Nick LichtenbergApril 29, 2026
11 hours ago
pete hegseth
PoliticsIran
‘A strategic blunder’: Democrats confront Hegseth as the Iran war’s price tag hits $25 billion
By The Associated Press, Ben Finley, Stephen Groves, David Klepper and Konstantin ToropinApril 29, 2026
13 hours ago

Most Popular

Apple cofounder Ronald Wayne—whose stake would be worth up to $400 billion had he not sold it in 1976—says that at 91, he has no regrets
Success
Apple cofounder Ronald Wayne—whose stake would be worth up to $400 billion had he not sold it in 1976—says that at 91, he has no regrets
By Preston ForeApril 27, 2026
3 days ago
‘Take the money and run’: Johns Hopkins economist Steve Hanke on why the UAE quit OPEC
Energy
‘Take the money and run’: Johns Hopkins economist Steve Hanke on why the UAE quit OPEC
By Shawn TullyApril 29, 2026
1 day ago
‘The cost of compute is far beyond the costs of the employees’: Nvidia executive says right now AI is more expensive than paying human workers
AI
‘The cost of compute is far beyond the costs of the employees’: Nvidia executive says right now AI is more expensive than paying human workers
By Sasha RogelbergApril 28, 2026
2 days ago
Jamie Dimon gets candid about national debt: ‘There will be a bond crisis, and then we’ll have to deal with it’
Economy
Jamie Dimon gets candid about national debt: ‘There will be a bond crisis, and then we’ll have to deal with it’
By Eleanor PringleApril 29, 2026
23 hours ago
‘They left me no choice’: Powell isn’t going anywhere—blocking Trump from another Fed appointee
Banking
‘They left me no choice’: Powell isn’t going anywhere—blocking Trump from another Fed appointee
By Eva RoytburgApril 29, 2026
15 hours ago
More than two-thirds of U.S. schools say they’re unable to afford the cost of student free lunch—and MAHA’s dietary guidelines may make it worse
Economy
More than two-thirds of U.S. schools say they’re unable to afford the cost of student free lunch—and MAHA’s dietary guidelines may make it worse
By Sasha RogelbergApril 29, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.