#Cairo #Metro #employs #Egypts #women #drivers
As it prepares to serve a population now in excess of 20 million, the Cairo Metro has hired Egypt’s first female train drivers, a first in a country where few women have formal jobs.
Since April, commuters on the network’s newest line have seen women take the controls in the driver’s cab, with reactions ranging from raised eyebrows to outright disapproval, the two pioneers said.
Egyptian women have had the right to vote and vote since 1956, but patriarchal legislation and a male-dominated culture have severely curtailed personality rights.
The Cairo Metro itself offers reserved carriages for women who don’t want to ride with men to protect themselves from sexual harassment.
Business graduate and mother of two, Hind Omar said she rushed to apply to be a train driver, eager to be a pioneer in a country where just 14.3 percent of women have a formal job, according to 2020 figures have employment.
“I have several thousand lives in my hands every day,” the 30-year-old told AFP, proudly sporting a fluorescent jacket bearing the RATP Dev logo of the Paris Metro’s foreign department under her black and white headscarf.
Omar admitted she was lucky to have her family’s support.
“My parents thought it was weird at first, but they ended up supporting me,” she said.
“My husband was enthusiastic from the beginning and always encouraged me.”
A key factor has been the exemption from night shifts for female drivers, she said.
Omar said the tests for would-be drivers had been grueling and required candidates to demonstrate their “attention span” and “stamina”.
She said drivers must remain “extremely alert for many hours” during a six-day work week.
– ‘Some passengers were scared’ –
Omar was one of two women admitted to the Egyptian Tunnel Authority’s training program in partnership with RATP-Dev.
The other, Suzanne Mohamed, 32, recalled the first time commuters on the platform saw her in the cab.
She said she could understand “they were surprised” in a country where women have limited access to many careers.
“Some passengers were afraid,” she told the AFP news agency. “They doubted my abilities and said they didn’t feel safe with a woman at the wheel.”
The Cairo Metro, which began operating in 1987, is the oldest in the Arab world but has fallen behind other Arab countries in providing employment opportunities for women.
Moroccan Saida Abad became the first female train driver in Africa and the Arab world in 1999.
Even in Saudi Arabia, where women were banned from driving until recently, a first group of women are currently being trained to become train drivers.
As the Cairo Metro plans to add three new lines, as well as Egypt’s first monorail system, Omar said she hopes her example will help “pave the way for other women” to become train drivers and ensure “that there’s… there are many of us”.
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