By Mubasher Al-Bukhari
LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) – Lipa Rashid, a 22-year-old Pakistani student, hopes her life will change once she learns how to ride a motorcycle after undergoing a training program that teaches women how to operate two-wheelers in the bustling eastern city of Lahore.
Although the program is 7 years old, it is rare to see women riding motorcycles. Women driving cars or riding on two-wheelers driven by a male relative is socially acceptable in the conservative Islamic country.
“I hope this will change my life because I depend on my brother to pick me up and drive me to college,” Rashid told Reuters on her first day in the Women on Wheels (WOW) driving program offered by the Lahore Traffic Police for free. .
She said she wanted to buy a motorcycle to go to college, adding that previously there were no female drivers in her family. She said: “Everyone is now convinced that women should be independent in their movement to schools, jobs and markets.”
Bushra Iqbal Hussain, a social activist and director of Safe Childhood, an organization that advocates for the safety of female children, said women driving two-wheelers was a cultural and religious taboo.
But more women are changing the culture now, as they did in the 1980s with regular cars, in an attempt to reduce their dependence on men for transportation.
WOW has been running since 2017, but has become increasingly popular in recent months as car prices rise and motorcycles offer a cheaper alternative.
“Stagnant wage growth and rising inflation have eroded the purchasing power of the middle class, making motorcycles the only viable option for many households,” said auto sector analyst Mohammad Abrar Bolani of investment house Arif Habib Ltd.
The cheapest four-wheeler in Pakistan, where annual per capita GDP is $1,590, costs about 2.3 million rupees ($8,265) compared with about 115,000 rupees for a more affordable Chinese two-wheeler.
The WOW program has trained at least 6,600 women, and Rasheed's batch was the 86th since its inception, said Suhail Mudassar, traffic controller.
“Women of different ages and segments of society are joining our camp,” said trainer Humaira Rifqat, a senior traffic officer who has trained about 1,000 women. “Young women learn quickly because they are motivated and take risks.”
One of them, Ghania Reda, 23, who is pursuing a doctorate in criminology, said learning to drive a motorcycle gave her a deep sense of accomplishment and empowerment: “It was like breaking the glass ceiling.”
Shamila Shafiq, 36, a mother of three and a part-time fashion designer, said she used to ride her husband’s motorcycle to the market and other places after he graduated from the program.
She designed a special short-length abaya, the dress used by conservative Muslim women, to wear while riding a motorcycle.
“Wearing a long, loose abaya poses risks because it may get tangled in the wheels,” she said, adding that she intends to market the design to fellow female cyclists.
