New Delhi: Determined to be the drivers of their lives, a growing number of women are traversing a tough road to empowerment by becoming professional chauffeurs — of cars, two-wheelers and even buses.
Driven by financial need and sometimes to just look for fresh career opportunities, the women are cutting through gender barriers to ensure they steer the course of their lives, and also stay the course. And sometimes they script stories of remarkable resilience and liberation.
Like Gulesh Chauhan, a driver with ride-hailing company Uber, who found herself at the crossroads after her husband passed away in 2007.
The woman, who never stepped out in public without a veil, did not just have to cope with her loss but also the pressure of supporting herself and her then nine-year old son. She said she struggled to make ends meet for five years with menial jobs at neighbourhood departmental stores. And in 2012, her mother and son advised her to drive a car and turned her life around.
“I cannot express in words how it feels. For the longest time, I had never even sat beside a man except my husband, and now I drive young men and women around dropping them to their destinations,” the now professional driver told PTI.
She has been working with Uber for four years and drives on multiple routes between Gurgaon and Noida, managing to make nearly Rs 2,000 everyday.
“I am happy the difficult days are behind me. But, more importantly, I am extremely proud of having overcome my own fears,” the 43-year-old said.
Stories like Gulesh’s are, however, just the beginning, the first steps towards changing the scenario — one statistic at a time.
According to the Road Transport Yearbook for 2015-16 (the latest such report brought out by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways), women counted for only 1.5 crore of the over 16 crore valid drivers’ licences issued across the country as on March 31, 2016.
Of these 1.5 crore women, only 17.73 per cent drive professionally. No wonder Waled Aadnan was ‘pleasantly surprised’ when he found a woman driving him on one of his Uber rides.
This is not just a big city phenomenon. Women in smaller towns are also beginning to ‘drive’ the path towards change.
In West Bengal’s Durgapur town, Sushmita Dutta is defying convention by driving people on a Honda Activa two-wheeler. The 42-year-old has been a partner driver with Indian transportation network company Ola for the last three months.
A company spokesperson said they had witnessed a significant increase in the number of women fleet operators over the last few years across four, three and two-wheelers.
Sushmita drives for two hours every day, ferrying both male and female passengers, between 7 pm and 9 pm when her 12-year-old daughter is at tuition.
The road to becoming financially independent is never easy, especially for a woman, she said.
“Initially, my husband got very angry at the idea. But when our neighbours started appreciating my job, he came onboard,” Sushmita told PTI. (PTI)
