Hyderabad: No easy ride for women drivers in transport wing

Hyderabad: The experiment of hiring women to work in the transport sector as drivers has not met with great success. There is only one woman in the MMTS and none driving buses and regular cabs any more. The Metro train is the exception with 30 women loco pilots. Despite all the talk of getting women into these jobs, it still continues to be a male dominated sector.

Women drivers have limited themselves to She Cab; there is no one driving regular cabs. She Cab offers services only to women and children. D. Manjula, who drives a She Cab in the city, says that “with She Cabs, we feel safe. The same kind of safety is not assured in regular services.”

The Railways claim that the recruitment process allows both men and women into the profession, “but mostly it's considered a man’s job and we do not receive competition from women,” a Railway official said.

However, with increa-sed awareness on the part of women they are coming forward for jobs as loco pilots in the metro. There has been a rise in the number of women becoming assistant loco pilots — 20 in the Secunderabad division — who will become loco pilots in future.

Women loco pilots on the metro staff are happy with their jobs.  “We are being encouraged and are given mostly morning shifts, which is for eight hours. Taking passengers safely and without delays is a major challenge that we take up happily,” said metro rail loco pilot D. Ramya Sree.

S. Satyavathi, the first women loco pilot in the Telugu states, says that conditions have impro-ved now that more women are coming forward to take up the job.
“The job is a little tough, but not impossible. Women have strong will power, are basically good at multitasking, and if they are confident, they can do anything,” says Satyavathi.