Saudi Women May Soon Work As Female Cab Drivers Once The Ban Is Lifted In Five Months

New job opportunities for women might have come up for women in the Kingdom as soon as the ban on women driving is lifted. According to Saudi Gazette, Saudi women might soon be able to drive taxicabs from June, as announced by the chairman of Public Transport Authority (PTA) Rumaih Al- Rumaih. 

The PTA is drafting the regulations and laws that will pass this initiative 

Allowing women to work jobs as drivers to transport other female passengers only.

Car hailing apps like Uber and Careem both want to hire female Saudi drivers

Careem announced as soon as the ban was lifted that they planned to hire 10,000 female drivers by June 2018. A CNN interview even quoted Careem’s CEO saying “Female captains will help us provide a better service to many women who want to travel but refuse to be driven by men.”

The company’s co-founder said that Careem already received thousands of job applications from women who want to drive.

Uber, similarly, wants to launch a go-to spot facility to hire female drivers or ‘partners’. 

Quite a different tactic but similar outcome, which means more jobs for women. Uber plants to have ‘listening sessions’ in Riyadh to help shape the company’s priorities and future plans for women in Saudi.