Female cabbies in Toronto up by 200 per cent
Posted January 2, 2010 10:24 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The city’s taxi licensing board says out of the 10-thousand licensed cab drivers in Toronto, only 74 are women.
Shirley is a legal secretary-turned cabbie after a dare from her husband who said she could never do it.
She says being a woman allows her to break down the wall of silence with female passengers.
She says she can talk to female customer about hair and make-up and male passengers will ask her questions as to what to get their wives on Valentine’s Day.
She does face challenges however.
“People do give cabbies a bad rap. They think of us as second class citizens or something.” She says.
Many women are afraid to drive at night but Shirley feels safe because she never lets her guard down.
“We don’t have to pick somebody on the side of the road being belligerent. SO if they’re swearing or cursing or carrying on, we don’t have to pick them up.” She explains.
She says that low pay is a factor however and that she needs to work ten hours a day, five days a week to make an annual income in the range of $30,000.
Despite the small number of female drivers it represents a 200 per cent increase from five years ago.
