LAHORE – Zahida Kazmi, hailed as Pakistan’s first female taxi driver, has driven from the crowded markets of Islamabad to the remote tribal country in the north, reports the BBC. In 1992 at the age of 33, newly-widowed Zahida decided to take her fate in her own hands and become a taxi driver, although she was born into a conservative and patriarchal family but had six children to support.
She took advantage of a government scheme to buy a yellow cab on easy instalments and drove to Islamabad airport every morning to pick up passengers. Zahida at first kept a gun in the car for her own protection and she even started off by driving her passengers around wearing a burqa, but her initial fears soon dissipated.
“I realised that I would scare passengers away,” she said. “So then I only wore a hijab. Eventually I stopped covering my head because I got older and was well-established by then.” Zahida is not one of metropolitan liberal middle class – there are plenty of educational and career opportunities for privileged women in Pakistan but not for women from her background.
Pakistan has an exceptionally low number of women in work: 33.7% according to the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, says the BBC. Most women who work come under the category of ‘unpaid family workers’. Also, the legal system does little to protect women, so harassment is commonplace. But had Zahida been starting out now, the BBC says, things would be quite different as she would be entering the workforce in a country torn between the forces of liberalism and Islamic radicalism.
Pakistan in 1992 was a more moderate place: it was opening up to the world; the dish antenna had been introduced; Pakistan had won the cricket world cup. But the Taliban presence in many parts of Pakistan has intensified over the years. Zahida has had to drive long distances on treacherous routes to northern areas such as Balakot, Chitral, Dir and even the Swat valley.
“Police at checkposts would be interested in why I was driving a taxi, but they were simply curious and amazed,” she said. Passengers seek her out as well. Adnan Waseem, a businessman from Haripur, said he always books Zahida for his journeys. “I saw her and the first thought that came to my mind was that she’s my mother’s age. I liked her driving and in these days where one feels insecure in Pakistan I felt very relaxed,” he said.
Zahida still has many bitter memories of her struggles as a single mother working hard on the road. Her own mother disapproved of her career choice and only resentfully accepted it when the media gave her positive coverage. And she is estranged from her children now. “I am old now and I get tired. It’s hard for me to drive all the time but what can I do? My sons don’t help,” she said.
“If I had a chance I would have become a doctor.” Despite her travails, she is clearly a respected presence on the streets of Islamabad.
