Car insurance news
31/07/2009

Women drivers are not the norm on African buses

In the UK we take the fact that we require women's car insurance for granted and that, if we so wished, we could drive just about any vehicle we want to in order to make a living.

But other women across the globe do not enjoy the same freedom and equality that we do and recent news blog post by Reuters tells of a small band of pioneering female workers in Abidjan, the commercial capital of Ivory Coast, one of the biggest, busiest cities in West Africa.

Until 2002, buses owned by the city's public transport company, SOTRA, were driven solely by men, yet today there are 19 women among the 1900 strong bus driving workforce.

A human resources manager for SOTRA told the blog author he hoped that driving would soon not be perceived as solely a male career choice. He said the goal was to increase the number of female bus drivers working for the company from one per cent to at least 30 per cent.

He said, "They drive very well and our customers like them because they are friendly."

One female bus driver said of her family's reaction to her choice of career, "They're proud of me. They have a daughter in a man's job and it makes them proud."

A spokesperson for CoverGirl, specialist providers of women's car insurance, said "This is an inspirational story, but shows just how far some countries have got to go before women achieve full equality."