Shawdesh Desk:

No female professional drivers are yet to work as drivers under the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation and the Department of Government Transport till now despite suggestions from the road safety experts.

Roads would be safer if female drivers join the profession, especially, drive the public transports as they drive without taking risks, the experts also said.

They urged the authorities concerned to relax qualification criteria for driver recruitment and provide suitable environment and facilities to encourage them.

The issue has come forth while the country observes the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims today (Sunday).

Professor Md Hadiuzzaman, former director of the Accident Research Institute under the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said that genetically the tendency of risky behaviour on roads is less among female drivers compared with the male ones.

He gave example that the rate of crashes involving motorcycle driving by female is very low compared with the male motorcyclists in the country.

He said, ‘Public transports are the safest transports in the western countries because there a large number of female drivers work who usually don’t take risks.’ But the scenario is different here, he lamented.

Rupali Akter, a professional driving licence holder and a member of the first batch of BRAC driving training in 2011, told New Age that she never worked as a driver.

‘After getting no suitable job I came back to Manikganj,’ she said and adding, ‘my family also did not want me to work as a driver.’

Shahana Akhter, another professional driver and member of the fourth batch of BRAC driving training, said that she worked as a car driver only for five to six months in Dhaka five years ago.

She quit the job as her children’s studies were being disrupted and never applied for any government driving job.

Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation chairman Tazul Islam told New Age on Thursday that recently they had appointed seven female driving trainers, six female technicians and some female guards in the corporation.

‘Is it possible for women to drive bus now,’ he put a question and added that obstacles from the families, negative social mindset, lack of safety and low salary structures discouraged women to join this profession.

Replying to a question he said that there was no female drivers in any government institute till now.

Female drivers on long-route services are not available for lack of facilities, he added.

Road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader earlier on June 4, 2022 at a certificate-giving ceremony said that the presence of female drivers on roads was necessary to ensure road safety.

The Department of Government Transport’s director for road, ATM Kawser Hossain, said that currently no female had been appointed against 1,578 sanctioned positions for drivers under the department.

The department is designated for providing and maintaining vehicles at the offices of the deputy commissioners and upazila nirbahi officers and the ministries.

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority chairman Nur Mohammad Mazumder said that though the number of non-professional women drivers is increasing in the country, the number of female professional drivers is very small.

‘Women do not want to join this profession as it is not still a respectful profession in our country,’ he added.

BRAC road safety programme director Ahmed Najmul Hussain said that they had provided residential training to the professional women drivers at its driving schools since 2011.

‘When they complete their training here they get light driving licence, but they require heavy driving licences for driving buses,’ he said.

He said that they contacted with the DGT and the BRTC time to time to appoint the female drivers as women have 10 per cent quota in every government job.

‘Female drivers could not fulfil the requirements for driving heavy vehicles in government pool and they also don’t have any extra facilities there, while some international organisations and non-government agencies recruit them as drivers,’ he said and added that many women drivers got married and opted for other jobs against the backdrops.

He urged the authorities concerned to relax qualification requirement for the female drivers to appoint them.

‘In Bangladesh the road transport sector is still informal and the environment is not suitable at all for the female drivers,’ Professor Md Hadiuzzaman also said.

Suitable environment, turning the sector as a formal one and changing the people’s perception about this sector can increase the participation of female drivers in road transport sector in Bangladesh, he suggested.

BRTC chairman Tazul Islam said that earlier there were no women working in the army, police and administration cadre in Bangladesh while currently many women are joining the professions.

‘We have started the process and we hope that female drivers will drive BRTC buses within a year,’ he added.