https://reasonstobecheerful.world/pink-city-rickshaw-women-drivers/
"Every morning, 33-year-old Poonam Devi sends her teenage daughters off to
school in Jaipur, exchanges her sari for her uniform of
salwar kameez, a more
practical outfit consisting of a long shirt with baggy pants, and begins her
day’s work in a bright pink electric auto rickshaw.
Even today, people in this city joke that it is easier to spot a leopard in the
nearby jungle than it is to see a woman driving one of the three-wheeled beasts
so ubiquitous on its crowded roads, so she attracts more than her fair share of
attention. “I’ve been driving this auto since 2018,” Poonam says. “People still
stare at me.” But it is worth it, she says: “A woman in a traditional
Rajasthani home is usually just confined to her home and neighborhood. Driving
a rickshaw and chatting with tourists from different countries has made me
realize that the world is vast, full of interesting people, places and
experiences.”
Poonam is one of the 200 or so women who have been trained by the Indian
nonprofit ACCESS Development Services to drive electric auto rickshaws (locally
called e-autos) in Jaipur. ACCESS was established in 2006 with the aim of
incubating innovative businesses and providing livelihoods for the poor. In
2016, when the nonprofit came to Jaipur, women made up barely one-third of the
state’s workforce, according to the 2011 census. And over 75 percent of those
working were in the agricultural sector, where earnings are low and the working
conditions harsh.
“This was really what we wanted to change,” Vipin Sharma, CEO of ACCESS,
recalls. “We wanted not just to empower women with a marketable skill, but to
develop a business that gave them an aspirational income, flexible work hours
and also a bit of excitement!” At that time, there were no female e-auto
drivers in the city. But the nonprofit decided that an all-women company that
offered sustainable and authentic tours, on which visitors could glimpse the
Pink City through the eyes of women, was exactly what Jaipur — and its women —
needed."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
