CAREERS ARE NOT GENDER BASED!

By: Tshegofatso Ramaphoko

Caption: Toyota HiAce taxi Photo by: South African taxi

South Africa, a country that is said to be “liberated”. However, the legacy of the old and oppressive ideologies still continues today, particularly in career fields. Back in the days, some careers were strictly for certain genders, for instance, nurses were strictly women, taxi drivers were strictly men, but in this day and time things changed, didn’t they?

Well, the taxi industry is one of many totally black owned career fields that still carry the legacy of the old ideologies.

This industry remains a growing industry in the economy despite the tough economic times, according to the National Taxi Alliance which tells us that approximately 69% of the South African public utilize taxi services daily and it manages to make the net worth of taxis to be around 50Billion Rands yearly out of plus minus 200 000 employees. Now, the question is where are women in this lucrative industry?

It has come to many people`s attention that in this industry that dominates 70% of the South African public transport sector market as by the National Taxi Alliance, there is a smaller number of females who make a living from this milk and honey industry, and the chances of you being driven by women in a taxi, are very few.

A lot of you may ask, but why because most women these days have driving licenses and with unemployment being rife in this country, well this might have been caused by the culture and ideologies of the past, that left a legacy, or rather a gate that women cannot go through. However, despite all these challenges, there are still some women who are brave enough to step into this industry.

Caption: Setabola standing next to her taxi. Photo by: Alies Setabola

Meet a 31-year-old, Ms. Alies Setabola. Her love for driving started in the year 2020 when she was attending a Women’s conference at Soshanguve for a Women’s Day celebration. Today she enjoys a daily job of being a taxi driver regardless of a plethora of challenges she faces daily. “Being a woman in this male dominated industry you get bullied, disrespected, attitude from passengers, undermined, even being sexually harassed” Says Setabola.

Society also is a challenge at some point, ‘‘at times when I drive around searching for commuters, they raise comments that they do not want to be driven by a woman what if she makes an accident’’ Setabola said.

Being sexually harassed by some other taxi owners has been Setabola’s challenge that some taxi owners would want sex in exchange of a taxi, and some denied her opportunities all because she is a woman. Apart from what we see, the heart-breaking images, of minibus taxis being on accidents, we need to acknowledge that the South African public transport system presents itself as a symbol of black excellence since it is a black owned industry producing a number of 20 000 owners and 150 000 minibuses.

A few of the students from Rosebank college were asked if whether they can ever consider taxi driving as a career and if they see it as a career and here’s what some of the students said, “I think the taxi industry is an industry that forever makes business like the essential workers.

Caption: Setabola in her taxi. Photo by: Alies Setabola

Even though we have ideologies that people who drive taxis are not educated because of how they conduct themselves, which is not always the case so yes, I would not mind provided if I do not get the job I want or the career I am studying towards now”.

The Communications Executive at SA Taxi, Maroba Maduma said in an SA Taxi article that “it is therefore a significant sector for job creation and the lifeblood of thousands of South Africans”. Maduma continued to say “we currently have 1,9 billion invested with 4,382 female taxi owners, who collectively operate 5,656 SA Taxi-finance vehicles.

At least the South African taxi industry supports the idea of having women in the riff-rough industry and I do not see why women are not supposed to use the opportunity presented to them, is it because they see it as a downgrade when people eat and live out of a simple profit of driving commuters to their destination? There is no career industry that does not have challenges.