Souad Hadido.. the only woman to drive a taxi in Rabat
Moroccan Souad Hadido is defying social norms and breaking stereotypes behind the wheel as the only woman to drive a taxi in the capital, Rabat, and one of the country's few.
Souad, 33, says she dropped out of school and then started working as a truck driver for a fish distribution company, but switched to driving taxis to get a better return and enjoy more freedom.
"I'm the kind of person who likes challenges," she added.
She now earns enough to pay for her apartment near Rabat, support her family in the countryside and build a strong network of clients.
"Mothers usually trust me to pick up their children from school when they are busy," she said. "I also get calls to drop off women at night because they feel more comfortable with me."
Behind the wheel of her clean blue car with a scented interior, Souad is a rare model on the streets of Rabat.
"We need more female taxi drivers," says one of her clients, Nohaila Asah, adding that she can manage a conversation with Souad or talk freely on the phone while she is with her in the car, unlike the case with drivers.
There were seven women holding taxi licenses in the Moroccan capital, but all have stopped working except for Souad, who says female drivers are sometimes sexually harassed in the form of unwanted courtship attempts.
Even for men, taxi driving is a difficult field in Morocco. Most drivers do not have health care, social security, and pensions, and they are calling on the government to reform the sector.
A taxi driver's license is so expensive that some "rent" it from wealthy people with strong connections.
Souad says that the cost of renting a license and operating a car consumes up to 70% of her monthly income.
Mohamed Toiti, a union leader at the local office of the Rabat branch of the small taxi branch of the National Union of Traders and Stakeholders, says he hopes the government will grant drivers the right to participate in social insurance.
As for Souad, she took a step forward towards fulfilling her childhood dream of working in the field of international transport and said, "Now I am on my way to obtaining different types of licenses... This is Souad's life."
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