Question: Why do we rarely see female taxi drivers?
Today’s question is a very brief one. How come it is very hard to find a woman taxi driver?
A female taxi driver in Alabama
You may have already read about the 5 ways taxicab drivers can give you stress. Last month Ronald and I took a taxi to downtown Tuscaloosa while I was in Alabama. The taxi driver was a nice, yet fierce lady. There was no doubt that if anyone upset her, she could easily beat that person up. She almost got out of her car to take on some drunk students who started tapping on her car while crossing the street. That made me realize how being a female did not matter to this person: she saw herself as a taxi driver, and not as a female taxi driver. It was so awesome, I wish it was common and normal everywhere else.
Female taxi drivers: California vs. Alabama
Seeing a female taxi driver in Alabama was nice and surprising at the same time, since in California you rarely see a female driving a taxi. The last two times I told someone about probably seeing a female taxi driver at Los Angeles International Airport and how that was a good thing, I was asked “You sure?” repeatedly as if I had imagined something horrible. And they say California is ahead of Alabama in every manner. Maybe it is ahead in terms of women being expected to take a more feminine role here in many places. Of course, in Alabama, you also have to consider that many females have to earn a living for the whole family and driving a taxi may be a good solution, compared to California where for females who want to support their families there are more opportunities other than driving.
Why do you think there are not that many woman taxi drivers out there, in America and in other parts of the world? Is safety, the reason that most people cite as the answer to such a question, the main or the only reason for such a trend?
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( October 16th, 2007 at 8:59 pm )
I think female cab drivers are reasonably common.
( October 22nd, 2007 at 5:23 am )
Here in madrid don´t work female´s as cab drivers, but they work as bus drivers for the gov.
( October 22nd, 2007 at 7:35 am )
It’s true that I don’t see much female taxi drivers where I live too. I think it’s just because most females do not dream of a career as a taxi driver, and it does not suit them. In my opinion, females are don’t like driving as much as the boys, although they love showing off fancy cars etcetera. And they like to be ‘fashionable’ too. Unfortunately, being a taxi driver does not sound very ‘fashionable’, so I guess that’s mainly why.
( October 22nd, 2007 at 10:57 pm )
in my country either maybe afraid of abuse or being victimized by bad people
( October 24th, 2007 at 1:49 pm )
omg…SPAM is driving me insane! Or should I say spammers?? They keep on ‘reseting’ my password.. my gosh.. get like 5 e-mails a day because of that.. sheesh! They sure roam on people’s site so long.. i just want to kill them -_- lol.. ok, that’s so harsh XD
( October 27th, 2007 at 2:22 pm )
WHERE I LIVE THERE ARE SOME WOMEN CAB DRIVERS . THEY ARE GENERALLY TOUGHER THAN A LOT OF WOMEN.
I WAS A CAB DRIVER FOR A TIME.
I THINK CAB DRIVING HAS BECOME A BUSINESS THAT HAS BECOME A DANGEROUS OCCUPATION DUE TO THE SCUM THAT WILL NOT HESITATE TO KILL YOU FOR A TEN DOLLAR BILL.
TODD
( October 29th, 2007 at 2:06 pm )
Thanks everyone for answering, and for waiting for my response.
Patrick, thanks for the comment. Which city/area do you live in, if I may ask [is it Las Vegas]? Your location may be a reason why you see many female cab drivers there.
Madrid Vivienda, thanks for the comment too. That is very interesting, I see; does the government support more females in their driving systems or do women there themselves prefer government jobs? There are a lot of female bus drivers here in California too.
Eunice, thanks for the comment. That is interesting. What area do you live in? Do you mean that in your view most females in your area have that mentality? What about females working in non-main-office jobs?
Panama beaches, thanks for the comment [I am assuming you are in Panama].
That is one of the main reasons that many places in the past did not even consider female applicants for taxi or bus drivers. What about buses in your country?
Vera, thanks for the, hmmm, comment, umm. :p Wow, the spammers must be running for cover! I deleted a lot of spam comments, and unfortunately [sorry] many times any new comment gets e-mailed as a subscription to the commentors who have subscribed to updates here.
So if a public self-proclaimed spammer goes missing in your area, we know who to suspect, right? :p
Todd Harrison, thanks for the comment.
Are you referring to LA? How was your cab driving experience? Yes, it can indeed be an extremely dangerous job in cities like Los Angeles. The lady in Tuscaloosa was very tough, so there is a possibility that either the job makes some people tough or the tough people look for such jobs.
I wonder if anyone knows the number of female cab drivers in LA.
Thanks again.
( October 31st, 2007 at 12:27 pm )
I think it is a generally dangerous job for both men and women, but I think many women may perceive it as more dangerous. Is it hard to get your foot in the door of many cab companies, epecially in major cities like NYC and DC? If it is, and men have been there for a while, it may just be a function of time.
( November 4th, 2007 at 1:04 pm )
Jessica, thanks for the comment.
I think it may be hard for many women to get a taxi cab job in certain cities. By “function of time“, do you mean that slowly people will get used to the idea of having female taxi drivers?
( November 4th, 2007 at 5:31 pm )
Sorry for the confusion. By function of time, I mean that over time, as men who are in these job either move on (or pass away) more openings will come up for women and men.
If these jobs are primarilly held by men, and there is no turnover, then over time that will change because no one lives forever.
Hope that makes sense!
Jessica
( November 5th, 2007 at 9:56 pm )
Thanks for the explanation Jessica; it makes sense. I hope that such a thing happens quickly. Not the passing away of men [lol], but the jobs being more approachable by females. The turnover rate is indeed one of the things that is resulting in such a trend; I think referrals are a big reason why most taxi cab drivers are men. Men keep referring their male buddies.
Thanks.
( November 7th, 2007 at 10:42 am )
I’ve actually had two separate female cab drivers here in phoenix and i’ll take a cab quite often on the weekends to or from the bars. Both of the female drivers fit the exact description in your post. I think it is the nature of the profession that calls for cab drivers, male or female, to be a little rugged; afterall you are constantly in the presence of strangers, often intoxicated. that is probably not a good profession for the faint of heart.
( November 12th, 2007 at 7:16 pm )
GT, thanks for the example. I think that’s a very important observation, that such a profession usually requires such a character. Otherwise it can be easy to even tell someone that you have a knife or something and get their money or a free ride. I’m sure saying you have a knife in many places like New York or Los Angeles to a taxi driver while not having one can mean a lot of beating and pain for the person pretending to have a knife.
( December 18th, 2007 at 2:56 pm )
i think its because its never really been seen as a womans occupation and it could be dangerous for them to a certain degree, with muggings, etc, especially since the customers could have you drive them to the middle of nowhere. i did see some when i went on vacation to the cayman islands; there were quite a few female taxi drivers.
( March 19th, 2008 at 10:46 am )
good point, i never do see that
( March 27th, 2008 at 5:10 pm )
very interesting comments. you’ve helped me for my anthropology project about taxi drivers!. thank u.
( July 4th, 2008 at 4:10 am )
Hi I am a female british Taxi driver and proud of my business. The other guys call me glamour cabs as I am a proper girly female . I use this too my advantage and have no aggression toward me, I live by a naval base everyone is polite and well behaved, mostly they like a chat . love the job no problems .
( July 4th, 2008 at 3:24 pm )
Arizona Vacation Rental, thanks for the comment. That could be one of the reasons, though Jacki in her comment below tells about her being a British Taxi Driver and loving it. So Cayman islands is another place with this happening. Did you notice any difference between male and female taxi drivers there when it comes to attitude or related elements?
Jeff Gordon, thanks for the comment. Which area or continent do you live in, if I may ask? That will help me in figuring out the areas where this is or is not common.
Giovanna, thanks for letting me know. I am happy that this helped your project and thankful that you considered this important enough to be used for your project. I hope you did very good on it.
Jacki, thank you for sharing and for letting me know. I really appreciate it. So it seems that your job has no stereotypical problems of a large level. It is good to hear from you on this topic, as that shows that the issues like safety or the male-vs-female mentality in different professions can be and is proven wrong in different situations. You said you live by a naval base: are your customers usually from the naval base also? What made you get into the business, if I may ask?
Thanks for taking the time to share with us all. I can feel a bit that you love your job indeed.
( August 25th, 2008 at 8:00 am )
Your article is great and does make good sense. But in my country, it is not possible to have female drivers to prevent any harassment to occur! Wish we had the same issue here!
( August 29th, 2008 at 1:30 am )
Ok i agree your your point .But its not possible in each and every time .Think about that.