Sunday, January 3, 2010

Women Only Taxis

From the Jerusalem Post:
Taxis driven by women and exclusively serving the fairer sex are the rage in Arab capitals as women seek a safe and comfortable mode of transport.

Lebanon's Banet Taxi ('Taxi Girls'), sporting signature candy-pink taxis and well-kept uniformed drivers, began in March.

Now, following the Lebanese success, two Egyptian governors in Cairo and Alexandria have stirred controversy with proposals to service women-only taxis.

"It means isolation for women," Nehad Abul Komsan, Chairwoman of the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights told The Media Line. "It's very risky for our society. If it's an excuse to solve problems like sexual harassment or other types of violence, it's a very naïve solution for a very complicated problem."

Cairo's subway network already reserves the fourth and fifth carriages for women not wishing to sit with men.

In Damascus a similar women-only taxi initiative is being launched by Widad Kanafani, aiming to make transportation more secure for female passengers.

Dubai has had a women-only pink taxi service since 2007 and the Roads and Transport Authority will be launching a women-only bus service in April 2010 to accommodate an increasing number of female passengers.

In Jordan the Amman Municipality turned down a request to set up a taxi rank to serve women exclusively and employ female drivers with rose-colored vehicles, saying there were too many taxis in the capital already.

However, you heard it here first with: "Pink Equals Women Only" and "Mexico: Pink Only Taxis"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have traditional leanings so I think such kind of taxis for women is fine.

In the Philippines I was so grateful when the MRT admin designated the first two carriages as exclusively for women, children and the elderly.

The carriages are so crowded during rush hours that men could swap faces with the women and vice versa, and personally I don't feel at ease with that kind of packed-like-sardines-in-a-can existence inside the MRT or any public transport vehicles. ^^