Spotting female auto drivers on the road assures one that gender constraints about vehicles are finally being shunned. It may not be a pan-India sight yet, but female auto drivers have carved their niche. From India's first female autorickshaw driver, Shila Dawre, to now many salwar kameez-clad auto drivers, women are driving this male-dominated public transport for aspirational and financial reasons. Besides gender stereotypes, many, like Delhi's first female autorickshaw driver, Sunita Choudhary, ride for sustainability. However, challenges like safety and gender taboo continue to paralyse the prospects of women from lower-income families to become breadwinners. The conservative notions box women into pre-defined roles, depriving them of earning their livelihood. Despite many state programmes to uplift these women, a great deal of work needs to be done on the ground.

　　Understanding the gravity of the issue, Hyderabad-based "MOWO Social Initiatives" has been actively advocating sustainable mobility and female auto drivers. In March, the NGO culminated the second season of its flagship programme, "Moving Boundaries." The transformative 3,333+ km national campaign traversed from Kanniyakumari to Kashmir using electric vehicles to encourage women to pick up electric auto driving as a livelihood.

　　Spearheaded by MOWO founder Jai Bharathi, an avid motorcyclist herself, an eight-member all-women convoy rode across five states to identify and train 500 women to drive electric autorickshaws and encourage them to join the thriving mobility sector. One of the NGO members, Tamanna Chaudhary, spoke to OT about the journey's challenges and takeaways.

　　Excerpts from the interview:

　　QAStarting from Kanyakumari on March 8, 2024, the route spanned through key cities, including Madurai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Indore, Jaipur, and Delhi, concluding the expedition in Jammu on March 30, five days ahead of the actual schedule. The campaign featured an eight-member crew embarking, including five female auto drivers: Naseem, Bhavani, Prabha, Reena and Saritha on the journey, steering an ETO electric auto-rickshaw, a Kratos R electric motorcycle from Tork Motors, and an electric SUV. I drove the electric SUV, and Stacey (another crew member) provided logistics support.

　　QAAs a champion of women's mobility, she decided to pass on this driving skill to women in India and lead the way in making Indian streets safer by establishing Moving Women—MOWO in 2019. This not-for-profit organisation empowers women through mobility as a skill for empowerment and employment.

　　In the last five years, MOWO trained 3500+ women in India with motor driving skills and was pivotal in establishing India's first Motor Training Centre exclusively for women as technical partners to the Dept of Women & Child Welfare, Govt of Telangana. MOWO aims to transform the mobility ecosystem to make it more inclusive for women. Our initiatives are opening up sustainable and resilient livelihood avenues for women while debunking all challenges that stand in the way of making roads and public spaces safer and accessible to them.

　　QAQA

　　Since charging electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers, especially outside urban areas, isn't common, we weren't sure how to pay for the power we used at several locations. We ended up paying INR 200 to 400 to some who asked, while most offered free charging. As we covered more than 1000 km, convincing everyone that charging with simple power outlets was safe became much more accessible.

　　As for the electric SUV, navigating India's EV charging infrastructure presents many challenges, from network issues to accessibility concerns and range anxiety. Despite numerous charging stations with fixed fare charges for electric SUVs, functionality issues and compatibility constraints often obstruct seamless charging experiences. Moreover, reliance on multiple apps to locate charging stations proves unreliable due to sometimes outdated information, forcing us to undertake trial-and-error approaches across various stations. Addressing these hurdles as the EV landscape evolves is paramount to fostering a safer, more accessible, and user-friendly charging ecosystem.

　　QA

　　A few also commented that we had no male escorts on the tour. Overall, the women we met through the journey were inspired to see our women auto drivers driving the electric auto so confidently and were very motivated to sign up for auto-driving sessions. Many from the hotels, restaurants, and fuel stations came forward to help us, especially since we had to charge the vehicles on the go. Many denied taking any charges, mentioning this is a little bit of their contribution to our initiative to bring women into the driving sector.

　　QABeing a confident driver inculcates a sense of independence and self-reliance in a woman. As a result, she is more open to the educational and economic opportunities she can utilise, increasing her workforce participation and positively impacting the economy. This was widely achieved when women got to see the women electric auto drivers as we traversed through the country. After experiencing first-hand the ease of learning and operating an EV, the women learnt about the immense fuel cost savings by switching to EVs.

　　Informal conversations with the drivers helped assess their apprehensions about the safety of EVs and the range and charging of EVs. Our audiences were women and girls above 20, especially from lower-income groups. These women typically do not have access to better education and often struggle to make ends meet. Jobs in the mobility market open up a new domain of flexible jobs that do not require them to have educational qualifications.