WUNRN
Associated Press
Oct. 19, 2009
MEXICO - WOMEN-ONLY PINK TAXIS IN
PUEBLA - RESPECT & SAFETY
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Lidia Hernandez, 40, drives her pink taxi in
the city of
The new fleet of 35 cabs in
"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."
Women's rights
activists are aghast at the cars' sugary presentation and said the service does
not address the root of the harassment problem.
"We are in the
21st century, and they are saying women have continued worrying about beauty
and nothing more," said Vianeth Rojas, of the Network for Sexual and
Reproductive Rights in Puebla. "They are absolutely not helping eradicate
violence against women."
Nice
ride
The new taxis, however, undeniably open up to Mexican women what has been an
overwhelmingly male profession.
Forty-year-old taxi
driver Lidia Hernandez, who previously worked at a gas station, called the pink
Chevy compacts "a new and attractive source of employment."
Women-only taxis have
been catching on in cities from Moscow to Dubai.
In Puebla, privately
financed Pink Taxi de Puebla invested 5.8 million pesos (about $440,000) to
start the service and the Puebla state government provided licensing and
training.
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