No Boys Allowed: Pink Taxi Cabs Exclusively For Women

Women in Puebla, Mexico who are tired of being gawked and leered at by cab drivers have a new option - female-only taxis.

Pink Taxi is a government-backed fleet of 35 cabs driven exclusively by women, and each is equipped with a beauty kit, an alarm button and a GPS system.

"Some of the woman who have been on board tell us how male taxi drivers cross the line and try to flirt with them and make inappropriate propositions," said taxi driver Aida Santos, who drives one of the compact, four-door taxis with a tracking device and an alarm button that notifies emergency services. "In the Pink Taxi they won't have that feeling of insecurity, and they feel more relaxed."

The taxi service creates new jobs for women in a traditionally male-dominated field, but women's rights activists feel the taxis do not fully address the harassment issue.

Similar women-only taxi services have cropped up from Moscow to Lebanon, where women have expressed that the taxis are a much safer and more comfortable means of transportation.

Ladies, have you felt harassed in taxicabs or on public transportation? Share your stories with us at [e-mail].

Comments

[Polymera]

My first thought upon reading the headline: "I bet they smell nice".

[romanzick]

a bit strange,but still agood idea
http://www.fauzirohimi.com/2009/10/kerja-keras-adalah-energi-kita.html

[ObamAtomic]

JL-Sosa I'm a Fan of JL-Sosa I'm a fan of this user 10 fans permalink
photo

I have been to Mexico and other parts of Latin America, and I am Hispanic, and I will tell you this is a GREAT idea (because I know my latin people)!

Up until I read the words "beauty kit" then it became a stupid, sexist gimmick
Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:31 AM on 10/24/2009
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" (because I know my latin people)"!
How a can be a great idea?
Women want to be treated same as males,with this action they are promoting discrimination,
anyways,here on the state,will be illegal.
Discrimination is wrong!
You are stereotyping you own people,OMG,you are a Latin.

[robbyJ]

Women get into more accidents per mile than men, so they are probably doing us guys a favor by driving themselves.

[Progressiveama]

Wow, haven't heard that one in a long time......­...decades­. I thought that men had progressed a lot more than that. Maybe you are an old relic.....I HOPE SO!! I give the modern man a lot more credit than that.

[robbyJ]

I thought women progressed farther than the weak helpless stereotypes of the past.

But judging from these cabs I suppose not.

I'm 23, and a statistic is a statistic.

[WilliamL]

Some women need to start behaving as victims, learn to defend themselves, learn to use a weapon, learn to simply tell taxi drivers and other men to simply F-off.

If it makes those women who feel vulnerable, great, but it is interesting to the gov't contribute to a business becasue women are "harrassed" by taxi drivers.

I understand the dynamics, very much do, but wonder how the door wd swing if there were male only cabs?

[truthbagger]

Cab drivers of both sexes are in a hell of a lot more danger from male passengers than female passengers are from male drivers. This also creates a very safe profession for women. Women are the preferred victims of criminals who know that women are unwilling to defend themselves with deadly force and who will probably follow Mexico's laws regarding guns.

[mendori]

While I can understand the value of a taxi service that bills itself as reducing discrimination based on sex, I think there are myriad ways to do it that don't involve forcing men out (defeating the purpose in the first place), or having hot pink monstrosities driving the street. As an eighteen year old man, I feel, actually, very hated and discriminated against when I'm told that my gender makes me violent, or sexually single-minded, or less intelligent, and these are only a few things I've been called. I'm a gay, gifted teen and I can't even raise my voice without cringing, yet simply because my dangly bits are in a different place, people have thought of me like this. What's going on here? I thought we just fixed this problem!

I am all for a taxi service that eliminates sexual harassment; I think there are many non-sexist ways to implement the policy, and I think that blocking harassment while treating one gender as better than another is shortsighted and only going to cause worse problems later on.

[klbrz]

I don't think the taxi service is really intending to reduce discrimination. They saw a market that was open and they wanted to fill the niche. That market was women who are fearful of riding alone in taxis (see Takae's post below for reasons) and would utilize women only cabs.

Sad to say, but sexual discrimination, harassment and violence against women are all alive and well and usually the acts are committed by men. Try not to take generalized comments about men personally and if they are directed at you, try to find out why and certainly defend yourself. Stereotyping all men as bad or perpetrators is not productive.

[mendori]

I realize these acts are usually committed by men; that should not translate to "men usually commit these acts." This taxicab service bills itself as protecting women from sexual harassment, which is a form of discrimination. However, they've only replaced the sexual harassment with another form of discrimination, and that's not only counter-productive, but entirely unnecessary. Simply training taxi drivers not to make inappropriate conversation and eliminating gender from the hiring process altogether would be a far more appropriate method of dealing with this issue.

[Takae]

There are women-only taxi services in London, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Tokyo and Yokohama. I love, love, love those services! It really does feel safe. I do take any taxi during day in busy areas, but at night I prefer female-only taxi services.

There were some male taxi drivers who had been courteous, polite and wonderfully professional, but there were some bad eggs who questioned me about my love/sex life, told me I looked too pretty (I'm not even pretty) to be alone, which was creepy and scary, and made inappropriate remarks ("You look very sexy in that dress. Is it for your boyfriend? You got a boyfriend? Yes? No? Don't be shy! You got a boyfriend? Tell me, don't be shy, you have a boyfriend?").

My friend, who had been drinking and chose to take a taxi with a male work colleague instead of her usual journey home on train, was raped by a taxi driver soon after the work colleague left taxi for his home. The taxi driver was sentenced and had his license suspended for two years, but my friend still couldn't trust taxis since. This taxi driver did a big disservice to other trustworthy taxi drivers for violating trust between driver and his passenger.

Good for Puebla, Mexico (and the government for funding this service), but pink?! Perhaps it makes it easier to spot and hail a women-only taxi in a busy area?

[BossBabe]

Yes, pink makes the taxis easier to spot, and men know they need not bother to flag them down. Add Dubai to the list of cities with the pink taxis.

[BossBabe]

Oh, and Odessa, Ukraine.

[ObamAtomic]

Those places you named ,London, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Tokyo and Yokohama,
out necessity they implement the taxi service,crimes.

Here on the state(USA) will be illegal and counterpro­ductive,di­scriminati­on is wrong!

[amber15]

LOVE the pink! LOVE the idea!

LOVE the fact that women are making a statement to males around the world - LEAVE US ALONE!!!

[klbrz]

"[W]omen's rights activists feel the taxis do not fully address the harassment issue." That's true, but sexual harassment happens in many different ways, places, walks of life, etc, so no *one* action is going to fully address the issue. It does, however, alert cab companies, at least, to the fact that they have been losing business as women try to find other means of transportation, and will continue to lose business now that there is this service. Maybe they will put pressure on their employees about how to treat customers.

The fact that this has happened in other cities and cultures leads me to believe that this article is not a slight against Mexico and its citizens, rather, the reality of what women put up with across the planet.

Too bad about the pink thing, though. I guess we're stuck with that color.

[JL-Sosa]

I have been to Mexico and other parts of Latin America, and I am Hispanic, and I will tell you this is a GREAT idea (because I know my latin people)!

Up until I read the words "beauty kit" then it became a stupid, sexist gimmick

[ObamAtomic]

You don't your Latin people,you are stereotyping .

Tu no conoces tu Raza ,tu mismo estas discriminando,que le podemos decir
a alquien fuera de nuestra Raza ,con tu comentario.

[JL-Sosa]

Antes de nada,si me quieres insultar en otro idioma, lo meno que puedes hacer es saber como expressarte correctamente.

No conosco mi raza? Como tu sabes? Tu ni SABES de que pais viene mi familia.

Nuestra raza? Primero de todo, no soy Mexicano. Segundo, durante mis pocos años en este mundo, yo a podido viajar a muchos paises en Sudamerica, Centroamerica, Norteamerica, y el Carribe y te digo sinceramente que lo que dije no tiene nada que ver con racismo, solamente lo que yo a observado durante mis visitas.

[Silas Barnaby]

What a racist story! Who would say such a thing about Mexican cab drivers!

[empiricalWeb]

Yeah, that's not sexist or anything..... I understand the female cab driver idea, but why would you disallow men from using the service as well?

[progressivepam]

I would be it's a safety issue... on both sides.

[amber15]

TO GET THE MESSAGE OUT THAT WOMEN ARE TIRED OF THE MALE HARRASMENT TRICKS!

[robbyJ]

I would egg those cars.

I would show them how inappropriate a man could be. If they want to piss men off that is how to do it.

[justsaynosarahp]

The majority of sexual assault victims are female. So, what did they do to 'piss off men'?

[amber15]

YOUR the kind of male they are trying to protect these women from. Glad your pissed!!! better pissed than harrassed!!

[robbyJ]

I know it was a little complicated for you but my greater point was this creates harassers.

[Katie Moradi]

I'm all for women feeling safer, but does the taxi have to be pink?!