Rupali Bahule, a 36-year-old Lalbaug resident, would often get into fights with men when she saw them evetease girls or get irritated when women were shown disrespect. Today, after a three-month rigorous training in self-defence, etiquette and behavourial skills, she is proud to have got a job which will involve “protecting the girl child”.
She was among the 50 women, in Mumbai, who got certificates on Thursday for completing their training to be cab and school van drivers. Rupali has chosen to drive the school minibus. “I will treat students like my own children and protect them, especially the girls,” said the mother of two, expressing concern over recent cases of child abuse in school buses.
Most of her colleagues have, however, chosen to ply cabs. One of them, Aarti Mohite (33), is raring to start her duty as a fleet cab driver. “Women feel extremely unsafe while travelling alone in taxis. Also, some of the men driving taxis are reckless and rude.
“With women cabbies around, commuters will feel safe taveling from airports and stations to their homes without having to press the SOS button on a mobile app,” she stated.
The women drivers were felicitated by mayor Snehal Ambekar and also offered jobs by Priyadarshini Cabs, Meru and other taxi and school bus operators. “This is a great example of women empowerment. We are not only providing women with an income opportunity, but also ensuring security for women and the girl child. The project aims at training 300 women in Mumbai, Thane and Pune soon. For Malad resident Sunita Palwe (30), driving was a dream since childhood. “It was always a male-dominated profession and I knew this dream would never come true,” she recalled. But she joined the Mahila Bachat Gat a few years back where she was encouraged to take up driving as a profession. Sandhya Uduta (32) said she was elated when her sons Deepak (12) and Manish (8) encouraged her saying, ‘Mummy, all the very best. Drive well’. “Most families would object to women being cab drivers. It is high time they break this taboo,” she added.
“It is heartening to see more women join as cabbies. We have 30 in our fleet, and will expand to 100 drivers by the year-end,” said Susieben Shah of Priyadarshini Taxi Services. Neeraj Gupta, managing director of Meru Cabs, said his company plans to launch women-exclusive cabs and has recruited two women drivers already.
Image courtesy: BCCL
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