Two women drive the metro for the first time in Egypt

Reuters Videos
2 年前

STORY: Women are in the driving seat of Egypt’s metro for the first time ever

These two newly-qualified operators hope to inspire more women to join the field

Location: Cairo, Egypt

(Hend Omar Mahmoud, Metro driver)

"When I saw the ad for the job, I was so excited, I felt I could succeed in this position especially since it’s the first time in Egypt for women and I thought it would be great for me to be one of the first women to be in this position."

(Suzan Mohamed Ahmed, Metro driver)

"The biggest challenge, yet I see it as normal, is people’s bewilderment. I even expected worse reactions, but to the contrary, most of the reactions were positive. A lot of people were very encouraging, a lot of people came to us after the end of our shifts to wish us good luck, and a lot of women were excited and asked us how they could apply to become metro drivers like us."

Egypt’s transport authority has recently opened new metro lines in the capital

The organization currently employs 78 drivers in total

with plans to train up more women in the coming months