Radar | Jun 08,2019
Oct 30 , 2021
By Carolyn Kissane
Society often puts groups along the fault lines of identity in boxes, which is not fair. I often think I am impervious to such social pressure, but I caught myself last week doing a double-take when I saw a woman driving a public transport bus. To be fair to me, it is not every day that we see a woman behind the wheel of an Anbessa bus instead of a middle-aged man.
The female driver was confident and seemed to know what she was doing as she waited behind the traffic light, looking down on the other cars as if to say, “don’t underestimate me just because I am a woman.”
I felt a sense of pride. Women rising to the top show society that we are bold and brave like men and inspire girls to aim higher.
Not everyone shared my excitement. A man inside a dark blue Toyota sedan car yelled, “don’t run us over.” Had it been a man, he would have been comfortable enough to stand next to the bus or even cut ahead of it. But because this driver was a woman, and there is a stereotype that we do not drive well, the man assumed that it would not take much for her to cause an accident.
Surprisingly, this sad set of circumstances is an improvement from any time in recorded human history. Society used to look twice at women who were driving cars and to this day, a female behind the wheel of an SUV, turns heads. There is even the widely held view that most women with a car have a benefactor, like a father or a partner that brought them one. True, there are probably more women than men that had a car bought for them, but this is only because the female segment of the population is economically disenfranchised.
There is no better way of illustrating how deep this sterotype runs than a common sales phrase secondhand car dealers use: “it’s a car that a woman owned.” It is supposed to signal that, even though the car is secondhand, it has been barely driven and only in easier to navigate streets. It is supposed to indicate that women take no risks when driving cars, and thus the vehicle is probably in tip-top shape.
I remember when one of my friends started driving at first. She used to get nervous at traffic stops, turns and pretty much felt uncomfortable when big trucks were driving behind her. The men drivers used to honk their horns to make her more nervous and she would freeze in the car while other cars went past her. Some kind drivers used to let her pass or turn while others mocked her driving skills not because she was a bad driver but because she was a female behind a wheel.
Parking was another headache, as every valet felt the need to order her around until she parked at the designated spot. Men usually do not experience these things unless they are amateur drivers, and in that case, not to the same extent female drivers are bullied.
As she started to become more confident in her driving skills, my friend started asserting her rights. She started talking back to the drivers that were mocking her and stood her ground and firmly made them accept her as a driver that could make mistakes. She earned some respect after some time but had to be tough to do that. It also changed her because the road is one of the arenas that turns one into an aggressive and selfish creature. We lose our temper as we want to get our way. It is hard to remain calm when traffic is gruesomely crowded and we are trying to get home or to work. For a woman, this means she has to be fierce and unapologetic on the road to make it in a man’s world.
PUBLISHED ON
Oct 30,2021 [ VOL
22 , NO
1122]
Radar | Jun 08,2019
Fortune News | Oct 05,2019
Commentaries | Oct 03,2020
Radar | Jul 24,2021
Radar | Jun 19,2021
Fortune News | Dec 10,2018
Sunday with Eden | May 01,2020
Radar | Dec 26,2020
Viewpoints | Feb 13,2024
Fortune News | Dec 02,2023
Photo Gallery | 174609 Views | May 06,2019
Photo Gallery | 164834 Views | Apr 26,2019
Photo Gallery | 155038 Views | Oct 06,2021
My Opinion | 136695 Views | Aug 14,2021
Editorial | Oct 11,2025
Dec 22 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Charged with transforming colossal state-owned enterprises into modern and competitiv...
Aug 18 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Although predictable Yonas Zerihun's job in the ride-hailing service is not immune to...
Jul 28 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Unhabitual, perhaps too many, Samuel Gebreyohannes, 38, used to occasionally enjoy a couple of beers at breakfast. However, he recently swit...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Investors who rely on tractors, trucks, and field vehicles for commuting, transporting commodities, and f...
Oct 11 , 2025
Ladislas Farago, a roving Associated Press (AP) correspondent, arrived in Ethiopia in...
Oct 4 , 2025
Eyob Tekalegn (PhD) had been in the Governor's chair for only weeks when, on Septembe...
Sep 27 , 2025
Four years into an experiment with “shock therapy” in education, the national moo...
Sep 20 , 2025
Getachew Reda's return to the national stage was always going to stir attention. Once...
Oct 12 , 2025
Tomato prices in Addis Abeba have surged to unprecedented levels, with retail stands charging between 85 Br and 140 Br a kilo, nearly triple...
Oct 12 , 2025 . By BEZAWIT HULUAGER
A sweeping change in the vehicle licensing system has tilted the scales in favour of electric vehicle (EV...
A simmering dispute between the legal profession and the federal government is nearing a breaking point,...
Oct 12 , 2025 . By NAHOM AYELE
A violent storm that ripped through the flower belt of Bishoftu (Debreziet), 45Km east of the capital, in...
Loading your updates...