LAHORE: 22-year-old student Laiba Rashid hopes her life will change when she learns to ride a motorcycle after going through a training program that teaches women how to ride two-wheelers in Lahore, the capital of Punjab.
Although the program is 7 years old, it is rare to see women riding motorcycles. It is more socially acceptable for women to drive a car or ride a two-wheeler driven by a male relative.
“I hope this will change my life because I depend on my brother to pick me up and drop me off at college,” Rashid said. Reuters On your first day in the WOW Driving Program.
She said she wanted to buy a motorcycle to go to college, adding that there was no female driver in her family before. was not
“Now everyone is convinced that women should be independent in their movement in schools, jobs and markets,” said Rashid.
Bushra Iqbal Hussain, a social activist and director of Safe Childhood, an organization that advocates for the protection of female children, said that women riding two-wheelers has been a cultural taboo.
But more women are changing the culture now, he said, as they did with regular cars in the 1980s, to reduce dependence on men for travel.
The WOW program has been in operation since 2017 but has become increasingly popular in recent months as car prices have risen and motorcycles offer a cheaper alternative.
“Stagnant wage growth and high inflation have eroded the purchasing power of the middle class, making motorcycles unaffordable for many households,” said Mohammad Abrar Polani, auto sector analyst at investment house Arif Habib Ltd. remains a viable option.”
The cheapest four-wheeler in Pakistan, where the annual GDP is $1,590, costs around Rs 2.3 million, while the cheapest two-wheeler costs around Rs 115,000.
Sohail Mudassar, a traffic warden, said the WOW program has trained at least 6,600 women, and Rashid’s batch is the 86th since its inception. was
“Women of different ages and walks of life join our camp,” said female trainer Humira Raffakat, a senior traffic warden who has trained nearly 1,000 women. “Young women are quick learners because they are passionate and take risks.”
One of them, 23-year-old Sania Raza, who is pursuing a doctorate in criminology, said learning to ride a two-wheeler gave her a deep sense of achievement and empowerment.
“It was like breaking through the glass ceiling,” she said.
Shamila Shafiq, 36, a mother of three and a part-time fashion designer, said she has been riding her husband’s motorcycle to markets and other places since graduating from the program.
He has designed a special short length abaya to be worn while riding a motorcycle.
“Wearing a long abaya with a loose fit poses risks as it can get tangled in the wheels,” she said, adding that she plans to market the design to fellow women riders.