Muslim Women Taxi Drivers Hit the Streets of Senegal

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

Yesterday, we reported that Saudi Arabia's blanket ban on women drivers was rooted in clerical fatwas– rather than secular or Islamic law. As if to prove the point, African Business reports that the predominantly conservative, 95 percent Muslim west African country of Senegal is training two thousand women taxi drivers. Project "Taxi Sister" is the result of a government fund to help would-be female entrepreneurs and car dealer Espace-Auto. To allay critics, the taxi drivers will only work from seven AM to seven PM, wear distinctive (and chaste) uniforms and receive martial arts training. Espace-Auto's MD claims the project it's not all about the art of the deal. "(Male-female) parity should not be just a slogan," Serigne Mboup said. "It must be applied in the economic sphere." Amen.

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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