Pakistani women take back the wheel, break stereotypes and reclaim their public space by participating in an all-women motorcycle drivers rally in Lahore
LAHORE – The Lahore city witnessed one of its most historic moments when women got on their bikes to break stereotypes, reclaim public space for women and put an end to gender-based street harassment.
Around 60 women participated in the Women-on-Wheels (WoW) initiative organized by Chief Minister’s Special Monitoring Unit in collaboration with City Traffic Police and UN Women to empower girls & women by providing the necessary skills and means to increase their mobility and independence through the provision of free motorcycle lessons and subsidized scooters.
A briefing of Women-on-Wheels initiative by Chief Minister’s Special Monitoring Unit (Law & Order) was held before the motorcycle rally.
Ms. Helle Nielsen, Charge d’Affaires at the Embassy of Denmark joined the enthusiastic participants at the commencing of the rally on the Kashmir Road. Ms. Helle also participated in the briefing session and gave a motivational speech to uplift the moral of the women motorcycle drivers, distributed certificates to the participants.
For many years, Denmark has actively supported and promoted gender equality in its international work. Denmark helps partner countries to develop legislative frameworks to tackle violence against women, aim to promote security, social reconstruction and focus on improving women’s access to fundamental rights, to resources and to influence.
Ms. Zakaia Shahnawaz, Minister for Population & Welfare, Ms. Hameeda Shahnawaz, Minister for Women Development graced the occasion among other distinguished guests.
Women-on-Wheels (WoW) is an initiative of Chief Minister’s Special Monitoring Unit (CM’s SMU) to empower women by imparting them with the requisite skill-set needed to increase their mobility and secure their independence through the provision of subsidised scooters and free driving lessons.
“WoW aims to eradicate street harassment by raising public awareness,” CM’s SMU Senior Member Salman Sufi said. It was high time that Pakistani women were emancipated in the real sense and afforded mobility to enable them to contribute towards national development, Sufi said.
WoW was officially launched with a public briefing on November 19, 2014. Around 150 women signed up for training in the city since then. Of these, 70 had taken daily training. 60 of them had passed a driving test organised on December 2.
Photos: AFP and Facebook page of Denmark embassy