Driving school program empowers Pakistani women Via Reuters

Written by Mubasher Bukhari

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani student Laiba Rashid, 22, hopes her life will change once she learns to ride a motorcycle after joining a training program that teaches women to use two wheels in a village Lahore’s eastern conurbation.

Although this program is 7 years old, it is rare to see women driving motorcycles. Women driving cars or riding pillion on a two-wheeler driven by a male relative is socially acceptable in Islamic society.

“I hope this will change my life because I depend on my brother to pick me up and drop me off at college,” Rashid told Reuters on her first day at the Women on Wheels (WOW) driving program. which is provided free of charge by the Lahore traffic police. .

He said he wanted to buy a motorcycle to go to college, saying that before, there were no female drivers in his family. “Now everyone is convinced that women should be independent in their ability to go to schools, jobs and markets,” he said.

Women driving two-wheelers has become a cultural and religious taboo, said Bushra Iqbal Hussain, a social activist and director of Safe Childhood, an organization that advocates for the safety of female children.

But many women are now changing the tradition, he said, as they did in the 1980s with regular cars, in order to reduce their dependence on men to travel.

The WOW program has been running since 2017, but has become more popular in recent months as car prices continue to rise and motorcycles provide a cheaper alternative.

“Continuous income growth and high inflation have eroded the purchasing power of the middle class, leaving motorcycles as the only viable option for many families,” said automotive sector analyst Muhammad Abrar. Investment house plan of Arif Habib Limited.

The cheapest four-wheeler in Pakistan, where the annual GDP is $1,590, costs about 2.3 million rupees ($8,265) compared to about 115,000 rupees for a two-wheeler. The highest price made in China.

Sohail Mudassar, a traffic warden, said the WOW program has trained at least 6,600 women, and Rashid’s group was the 86th since it began.

“Women of different ages and social classes join our camp,” said women’s trainer Humaira Rafaqat, a senior traffic warden who has trained nearly 1,000 women. “Young women learn quickly because they are passionate and take risks.”

One of them, Ghania Raza, 23, who is pursuing a doctorate in criminology, says learning to drive two-wheelers gave her a deep sense of accomplishment and strength: “It was like breaking through the ceiling of glass,” he said.

Ms Shumaila Shafiq, 36, a mother of three and a part-time fashion researcher, said she has been driving her husband’s motorcycle to the market and other places after finishing the show.

She designed a special short baya, a dress used by conservative Muslim women, to wear while riding a motorcycle.

“Wearing a long abaya with a loose decoration causes accidents as it can get caught in the wheels,” she said, adding that she intends to market this design to her fellow women who ride in the car.