Pretty soon you’ll be able to see women driving ‘Pink Rickshaws’ out and about!

In an attempt to empower the women of Pakistan, NGO Environment Protection Fund has started the Pink Rickshaw initiative to help eradicate gender inequality in the country to some extent.


The Pink Rickshaws are shaped like the regular rickshaws but are bright pink and white in color, enclosed from both sides with small windows and fans for ventilation. The rickshaws stand out not only for their aesthetic color scheme but also for the fact that they are women driven and for females only.

With the capacity to hold 3 passengers at a time, for now Pink Rickshaws are being provided by the NGO itself, with hope from the government to fund and proceed the project in the future.

The project will not only help women provide some level of security from harassment while commuting in the country but will also provide job opportunities for lower and middle class women. In a country, where job opportunities are limited for females the initiative is just the thing needed.

The NGO Environment Protection Fund is providing the first 25 pink rickshaws for the city of Lahore on easy installments as well as giving training to women to drive them and deal with any related problem on the road.

The only problem with the idea is the attitude of men towards women driving vehicles. There is a long held belief that women are not good drivers and are always held in contempt and ridiculed on the road.

However, statistics prove otherwise. Not only have there been an increase in the number of driving licenses issued to women in Pakistan recently but it has also been researched that as compared to women, men are more reckless and overconfident on the wheel.

Here is to hoping the initiative actually empowers women rather than create more problems for them.

Ladies-only-Pink Rickshaw in Lahore-26 Mar 2015- by GeoNews