Will Cairo's women-only taxis keep transportation safe for women, asks Omneya Yousry "Segregation" or "tranquility"? "Satisfactory solution" or "triumph"? These are some of the words that could come to mind when the subject of Cairo's women-only taxis is mentioned. Introduced in Alexandria some two years ago by the city's governor, Major-General Adel Labib, in order to meet a request for women-only taxis from an entrepreneur who had organised a fleet of 10 women-only taxis, the idea came to Cairo a year or so ago. According to Emadeddin Abdel-Rahman, manager of the Cairo International Taxi Company (CITC), the idea appealed because "60 per cent of our customers are women, and when we asked whether these customers would prefer a man or women driver, we found that they would prefer a woman driving a women-only car." "We received some 120 letters from parents and spouses approving of the idea as a safe way of transporting wives and daughters, especially if they were travelling over long distances or going to a remote area." One of the first women taxi drivers to apply for a job at CITC was Inas, one of eight applicants under the project's first phase. She saw an advertisement in a newspaper that was written in striking and attractive language, and when she applied she quickly passed "all the required tests, including language skills, a personal interview, and knowledge of the city, as well of course as a strict driving test." "I hadn't thought about becoming a woman taxi driver before, but then I found that it was a suitable job for me, given my qualifications and the market demand." Asked whether she would consider giving up the job and looking for an alternative career, Inas is quick to reply that she would not. "I like what I'm doing, and we treat each other more like brothers and sisters here than as colleagues. I am also now a full member of the Drivers' Syndicate and have my own ID." Has she felt discriminated against as a woman in what is often seen as a men-only career? "I have never felt any inequality," she replies, "whether regarding vacations or salary. I am treated exactly the same as my male colleagues, except that I finish my work at 8pm in accordance with the law." Describing what she likes best about the all-women taxis, Inas says that many foreign customers have now started to ask for her as a driver, "as they find it easy to deal with me in English." The women-only taxi service will not lead to problems, she feels, since it is an additional service and is not obligatory. "You can use it, or you can ignore it," she says. "There is no agenda behind the service, and it is not there for religious reasons, for example." "Of course, everything has its downside, and I prefer it if I am treated with respect as a women taxi driver, rather than being treated like some kind of comic turn. Last week, I was driving a passenger to 6 October governorate, and we stopped at the lights by a bus full of students. Suddenly, they were all yelling and pointing at me as a woman taxi driver." The original Alexandria taxis were red, and CITC decided to follow the Mediterranean city's lead by introducing pink taxis in Cairo, supposedly referring to the feminine nature of the service. Abdel-Rahman explained that the idea had received the support of Cairo Governor Abdel-Azim Wazir, especially as the company had found that women drivers earned up to 80 per cent more than men and that they had fewer accidents and reports of traffic violations. Women taxi-drivers employed by the company now drive more than 240 customers a month, a figure that outstrips that of their male colleagues. "The service will also undoubtedly attract female Arab tourists in Cairo, who find it embarrassing to stay with a male stranger in the same car alone for a long time. However, it may not succeed outside large cities like Cairo and Alexandria," Abdel-Rahman says. However, Major-General Fouad El-Danaf, director of Cairo's traffic department, does not necessarily agree that women taxi-drivers are such a good idea. The Egyptian mentality values freedom and everyone's participation, he says, and providing women-only taxis is not the same as providing women-only public transport, like on the Cairo underground system. Whatever a taxi's colour might be, it is always a private space and is always supposed to be comfortable, whatever the sex of the driver. From the religious angle, Al-Azhar has given its approval for women to work as taxi-drivers, and it has not signalled any religious objection to women-only taxis, though it has said that women working as drivers should be protected by appropriate regulations. Soad Saleh, a professor of jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University, said that the idea could be an "important step forward in protecting women from harassment. It does not draw attention to women; what it does is protect them, which is what God and Islam call for." However, Amina Naseer, a professor of philosophy and Islamic religion at Al-Azhar, takes an opposing view. "It is a clumsy idea," she says, "and it contradicts the ethos of our society, which has always valued women dealing with men in a respectable way without any trouble happening." If there have been problems in recent years, then these have been due to bad manners or mentalities, she explained. Mushira Khattab, minister of state for family and population, agrees, saying in a statement that this was an idea that did not necessarily respect women, rather seeing them "as prey that could easily be eaten". Nehad Abul-Qomsan, chair of the Egyptian Centre for Women's Rights, also does not like the idea of women-only taxis. "Let's stop this farce of women's taxis, which is taking Egyptian society back 100 years. We have to stop isolating women," she said. However, observers such as Marwa Salah from Alexandria feel that "women's driving is more quiet and rational than men's," and that this could reassure some female passengers. Similarly, Ghada Maged points out that the idea could be useful "for girls who stay at college late, especially given the incidents of sexual harassment we hear about." "Studies have shown that there has been an increase in sexual harassment in Egypt, and some foreign embassies have even warned their nationals about it," she said. However, Mohamed Moheb disagrees. "The idea is based on the concept that women defend women. But what if the woman taxi driver does not behave in the way expected of her," he asked.
