She was called a disgrace to the entire family. Close relatives turned away from her. Casual passersby sent threatening messages. And all this because she took the wheel as a taxi driver in India. Today, there are one hundred thousand such women. And this is not just numerical data. This is essentially a social revolution unfolding right now on the streets of Indian metropolises. This is a story about how one technology player provided jobs for one hundred thousand women, ensured a sense of security for millions of female passengers, and proved: sometimes the transformation of the world happens more easily than one can imagine. We are happy to welcome you to this change, which started with a single steering wheel. When Desire Costs a Life Imagine: you live in a country where 93% of women will never get behind the wheel. And the reason is not a lack of skills. But because “that is the social order.” Where the phrase “lady driver” sounds like a contradiction, akin to “warm snow” or “loud silence.” It was in such an environment that Sharada Ganapathi from Bangalore existed. An ordinary housewife, a mother of two. The situation escalated when her husband fell ill, and rising bills began to outpace the speed at which family savings were depleting. Sharada was an excellent driver. Her father secretly taught her—against the active disapproval of her mother and grandmother. In 2014, when Ola—a local alternative to Uber—appeared in India, Sharada made a decision that drastically changed her fate. She applied for the position of a driver. When Reality Hurts More Than Movie Scripts What followed seemed unbelievable even to me, although I have been studying India for seven years. Relatives held a family council. In Sharada’s absence. They decreed: she brings dishonor to the lineage. A neighbor stopped letting her children play with Sharada’s children—”lest they pick up wrong views.” But the real horror began when Sharada took her first ride. The city at midnight, a phone full of threats, and an unsolvable question: continue the journey or give up? Anonymous calls in the middle of the night. SMS messages hinting at rape. Photos of her car with the inscription, “It will burn soon.” One male passenger demonstratively left the salon: “I will not ride with a woman.” Sharada shared that she cried in the evenings for the first first three months. However, she got back behind the wheel in the morning. The reason? “Because on the very first day, I earned more than I did in a month doing tailoring at home. And for the first time in many years, I felt like an independent person, not an appendage to someone else’s life.” How One Startup Solved a Nation’s Problem Now imagine you are the founder of Ola. A young corporation battling giants, needing to stand out from the crowd. And you realize: in a country where half the population is female, there lies enormous potential. Both here and there. Millions of female passengers feel unsafe in a taxi driven by a man. Especially at night, especially alone. And thousands of women are capable of earning money with flexible hours (working while the children are at school!), but there is absolutely no place for them in this industry. In 2015, Ola launched the “Ola Women” program. Taxis where both the driver and the passenger are women. It sounds absurd against Indian norms. However, they implemented it very thoughtfully, like a surgeon operating on the living heart of a conservative society. Three Steps to Changing the Unshakeable First stage: Training. Ola established free driving courses specifically for women. With female instructors. In an environment where one can ask “silly” questions without embarrassment. Fifteen thousand women were trained in a year, many of whom sat behind the wheel for the first time. Fifteen thousand women were trained in a year. Many sat behind the wheel for the first time. Second aspect: Reliability. Personal customer support available 24/7. An SOS function in the app, instantly connecting to an operator and transmitting coordinates to the police. GPS tracking of every trip. And most importantly—community. Thematic chats where women mutually support each other. Third element: Mentality transformation. Ola began sharing stories. Real stories from the lives of real women. Videos where Sharada shows how she sent her daughter to a prestigious university—the first in their family for three generations. A message from a young mother managing to drop her children off at school and work. An article about a widow who kept her home thanks to working with Ola. These stories garnered millions of views. But the main thing is that they initiated public dialogue. Passengers Vote With Their Wallets Rakhna works as an IT analyst. She often stays late into the night. Every time she called a car, she felt tension. “I would get in and immediately call a friend. Loudly state the address so the driver could hear—someone knows where I am. I pretended to type an SMS, but in reality, I was photographing the car number.” Familiar? Millions of women perform this vigilance ritual daily. When Rakhna first used “Ola Women,” she described her feelings in one word: “A sigh of relief.” “I got in and just relaxed. We talked about children, careers, a new TV series. I wasn’t afraid to doze off. I wasn’t nervous when the driver turned somewhere—I just clarified the route.” “I got into the car and just relaxed. For the first time in a long time.” For many women, this became a feeling of freedom. The ability to work late without bothering their husbands to pick them up. A chance to meet friends in the evening. The right to move freely around the city. Numbers That Speak Louder Than Any Words 2015: 200 female drivers in three cities. 2017: 5,000 drivers across India. 2020: 30,000 ladies behind the wheel. 2024: Over 100,000 female drivers in more than 200 localities. From two hundred to a hundred thousand in nine years. This is not just growth. It is a real avalanche of change. But the numbers are only the visible part of the picture. 72% of Ola female drivers are the sole providers in their families. The average income is 2.3 times higher than those of housewives engaged in home tailoring. 89% report a significant improvement in financial status within the first year. 64% were able to provide their children with education in more prestigious schools. 43% opened their first bank account. And the most touching statistic: 91% state that the job gave them not only a livelihood but also a sense of their own worth. Revolution in a Sari: How Society is Changing But the most curious metamorphoses occur within the family circle, in people’s minds. Priyanka has been driving an Ola car for four years. She shares: “My mother-in-law didn’t speak to me for three months. She thought I was shaming our lineage. But then my son got sick, and surgery was required. I brought the necessary funds—I earned them myself in two months. My mother-in-law burst into tears. She said, ‘Forgive me, I didn’t understand everything.’ Now she brags about me to her neighbors.” Or Anjali from Delhi. Her fifteen-year-old daughter wrote in an essay: “I want to be like my mom—an Ola driver. Because Mom is a free person.” “I want to be like Mom—a driver. Because Mom is free.” In fact, this is about how the perception of the limits of female capabilities is changing for an entire generation. In families where mothers drive Ola, daughters are 2.7 times more likely to express career aspirations. sons are 3.1 times more willing to participate in household chores. Sociologists call this the “backlash effect”—when transformation in one area triggers a chain reaction in others. What’s Left Unsaid in Commercials Let’s be honest. This is not a fairy tale. One hundred thousand female drivers out of a population of 1.4 billion is a drop in the ocean. The program is actively working in large cities. But try to imagine yourself as a female driver in a conservative provincial town. Undue attention has not disappeared. It just manifests in a different way. Women speak of passengers condescendingly lecturing “how to maneuver correctly.” Of men who order Ola Women “just to see the novelty.” Technological support helped. But it is not a magic wand. True societal change is a marathon, not a sprint. And yet… From zero to one hundred thousand in nine years. This is truly an avalanche of transformations. What This Means for All of Us Do you know what strikes me the most? Not the numbers themselves. Not the scale of events. Not even the fact that a corporation changed accepted norms. But the fact that it all started with a simple question: “What would happen if…?” What if women were given a chance? What if a safe space was created? What if we stopped saying “that’s how it’s done”? Ola demonstrated that innovation can be a tool for social restructuring. And this is applicable not only to India. In Saudi Arabia, where women were allowed to drive only in 2018, similar initiatives help overcome cultural resistance. In Latin American countries, “taxi for women” services are becoming commonplace. Even in Russia, many admit: at night they feel more comfortable using a taxi with a woman behind the wheel. Because a sense of security is a basic need, not a sign of excessive anxiety. Sharada Today Remember Sharada, with whom we started the story? Today she is a mentor for newcomers. She participates in a program where experienced female drivers help in mastering the profession. Her eldest daughter is studying to be an engineer at the Bangalore Institute of Technology. When asked who inspired her, she replies: “Mom. She showed that a woman can do anything.” “I just wanted to provide for my family.” Sharada does not consider herself a heroic figure. But she is one. Her younger son dreams of creating an app “even more advanced than Ola.” And her mother-in-law shows articles to her neighbors: “Look, they are writing about my Sharada!”
The most surprising thing? Sharada doesn’t see herself as a heroine. “My goal was to feed my family. The car is a working tool, like a cooking pot. I don’t understand why this was considered something out of the ordinary.” And there you have the entire revolution. It doesn’t start with loud declarations. It begins when an ordinary woman takes control and asks, “Why shouldn’t I drive?” And that transforms the world. Trip after trip. What this story teaches us Change is achievable. Even where it seems that “things have always been this way.” Technology is just a tool. It can either exacerbate inequality or, conversely, dismantle it. It all depends on who uses it and how. Safety is a legitimate right, not a privilege. And a business that realizes this gains not only profit but also deep loyalty. Stories lead to change. Sharada, Priyanka, Anjali are not just statistics, but living people. It is their narratives that inspire others. And lastly: never underestimate the power of the question, “Why not?” Sometimes this question initiates the most powerful cascade of transformations. Viktoria Capri, creator of the “Victoria’s Urban India Canvas” project P.S. Next time you get into a taxi, pay attention to the person behind the wheel. It’s quite possible it will be a woman. And it’s quite possible she has a story capable of turning your worldview upside down.
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