Shebah founder Georgina McEncroe said the Melbourne-based company had nine drivers between Heathcote and Bendigo who were “dead keen to get started”.

Ms McEncroe said the approval process for drivers took longer than with other ride-sharing services as they had to have working with children checks in order to be able to carry unaccompanied minors, but she expected the service to be available for bookings within about two weeks.

Ms McEncroe said while she had not canvassed demand from passengers in Bendigo, she believed there was room in the market for three commercial driver services in the city.

“I think there is because no one else offers car seats, so what we find is that a lot of women like to travel around with their babies and no one’s really factored that in,” she said.

“If you’ve had a cesarean – and about half of women end up having to have a cesarean birth – you can’t drive for six weeks, that means for six weeks you’re stuck at home really and for a lot of people who have only got one car there’s a lot of social isolation that comes with that.”

Shebah caters for women and girls, primary school-aged children and boys up to the age of 18 as long as they’re travelling with their mother or female guardian, and Ms McEncroe said while the service was not quite as quick or cheap as Uber, it was still an affordable option given the service it offered.

“The wait times are obviously not as fast as Uber because we don’t have the same number of drivers on the road yet, but the cost is less than a taxi and a little bit more than Uber because we charge GST to our passengers and our drivers keep 85 per cent of their earnings,” she said.

“But the baby seat’s only $11 for passengers so we’ve tried to keep the cost really affordable so most people can afford to have a day out with their baby and not break the bank.”

And while Ms McEncroe admitted the service did discriminate against men, she said the sector had historically been “heavily weighted towards men” who constitute up to 90 per cent of drivers, and the company had an exemption from equal opportunity laws because there were similar services available for men and “no man will be less safe because Shebah exists”.

“Providing a safe work space for women is what we’re all about and sexual assault discriminates fairly heavily against women, and not that every sexual assault occurs in a taxi or an Uber, but for women who have been sexually assaulted how they get around certainly has an impact on their lives,” she said.

“We grow up all our lives being told not to get into a car with a man you don’t know and then get to an age where you have no choice so we’re just trying to provide another choice in the market.”