June 16th, 2010

More and more women are become professional drivers in India. According to an article in the Guardian UK, some of the women are being trained by NGOs to become taxi drivers or professional chauffeurs. One such NGO, the Azad Foundation, has already trained 32 women as professional drivers. It takes one year to get a commercial license so some women have taken to becoming a chauffeur for wealthy families.

One women, Mamta, 26, who has gone through the program was even encouraged by an unlikely person—her mother-in-law. Another woman, Ekta Yadav, who one of the first drivers trained by the Azad Foundation, was married at 15 and illiterate said the program made her feel “empowered.”

The women are trained through Indian car company Maruti Suzuki, which also teaches them self-defense. In addition, Azad teaches the women English and provides classes in gender and legal rights.

Meenu Vadera, executive director of Azad had this to say about the training program: “The transformation during the course is so significant. You can see it in their body language, in their speech, their ability to negotiate. I think it’s partly stepping into a very different world. Learning to drive is like learning to swim or ride a bicycle: once you have got over the initial hesitation, it makes you feel powerful.”