Help Women in India Become Professional Drivers

Working together with passionate people like you, we’re creating a world where women can fulfil their dreams, whatever they are.

Together, we have enabled a cohort of more than 1,000 underprivileged women in India to become employable as professional drivers, to earn with dignity and regain control over their own lives.

Over the years of helping resource-poor women deal with the numerous challenges they face on their journey to become drivers, we’ve learnt that involving men is crucial. Fathers, brothers, husbands, fathers-in-law, uncles…they more often than not make decisions about the lives of the women.

In many cases, male relatives of our trainees do not like the idea of them being ‘different’, entering ‘men’s world of driving’, spending so much time working away from home and their community… Sadly, very often, our trainees suffer at the hands of men in their families. And not just our trainees; so many women face these challenges.

Men for Gender Justice

For women to succeed to live independently, with dignity and without violence, Azad teams in Delhi and Jaipur have been working with 232 men from the communities of our women trainees. The goal is to transform thinking and behaviour of the men regarding the roles of women and men and violence against women.

Over the last year, we provided numerous training and community engagement opportunities for these men. We set up support groups where they regularly meet to discuss various topics, their thoughts and actions, and plan what can be done to make their neighbourhoods better places for women and girls.

The men took part in numerous public campaigns and community events, spreading the word about gender equality and Women on Wheels programme. They have put up posters with messages about rights of women around their neighbourhoods. They have created a map of unsafe areas of girls in their communities, where men often harass women.

Some have tried to convince their neighbours to treat their wives with more respect, and stop abusing them. Some have stopped harassing girls and intervened if someone near them was doing so. In many cases, they started sharing household work, giving the women in their lives time to pursue their ambitions.

Rahul from Jhalana in Jaipur confessed ‘I was initially against my sister joining the WOW programme. After becoming part of this group and taking training, I think differently. I now support her home and do not let anybody else harass her.

Also in Jhalana, members of the programme went and negotiated with a brother of a trained driver who was opposing to her being getting employed. After discussion with the men, the brother agreed and the chauffeur was able to join her new job.

Rahul from East Delhi shared that ‘From childhood I have been told that boys are stronger than women and more hardworking too. But these trainings have made me understand that girls and boys have equal capacities for things. They both have the same rights.’

Ajit from East Delhi shared ‘My friends were telling me that these NGO people are useless. Society does not change like that. I told them that you need to change your own attitude. Small changes will lead to big changes.’

As well as providing the training to women to become professional drivers, your generous support also enables us to work creatively with communities in this way. You are co-creating environments in numerous families and communities that respect women and support them to be who they want to be. Thank you for supporting women on their drive towards dignity.

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