Online taxi booking apps, which recently have been widespread across Syria, helped launch a phenomenon of women-only taxi with services provided by women for women.
The idea has recently reached the central city of Homs, despite the poverty that overcame its residents for years.
A taxi firm launched last week a women-only service, with female drivers and passengers, which drives women around in their daily trips or during wedding nights. The Facebook advertisement reassured its customers about the fare, which is fixed and predetermined and about forgetting anything in their taxis, which are guaranteed to be returned. The taxis will be booked like any other taxi service in Syria, via the internet, but customers can request a taxi by phone or the firm’s website. The name of the driver and the car’s number and type are then sent to the customer as a safety precaution.
While some supported the initiative in a country that lost too many of its men, the news aroused the mockery of people on social media, who considered it a joke. Others justified their rejection of the idea by explicitly sexist comments, from saying that women are unable to face the difficult conditions of the profession, such as breakdowns, stopping at gas stations and other situations to generalized stereotypes.
By Faris Rifai
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