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It turns out that some of the male taxi drivers in Puebla, Mexico are pigs. It might even be the case that most have boundary issues when it comes to their female passengers, indulging in constant leering, harassing, and propositioning. So the city invested some money and, following the lead of other municipalities all over the world, created a fleet of women-only Pink Taxis. Naturally this has engendered vociferous objections from some quarters:
“Some of the woman who have been on board tell us how male taxi drivers cross the line and try to flirt with them and make inappropriate propositions,” said taxi driver Aida Santos… “In the Pink Taxi they won’t have that feeling of insecurity, and they feel more relaxed.”… Women’s rights activists are aghast at the cars’ sugary presentation and said the service does not address the root of the harassment problem. “We are in the 21st century, and they are saying women have continued worrying about beauty and nothing more,” said Vianeth Rojas, of the Network for Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Puebla. “They are absolutely not helping eradicate violence against women.”
They’ve already got Pink Taxis in Bangkok, which is where the picture above comes from. In Moscow – where the problems go way beyond harassment, up to and including semi-regular rapes and murders – a private entrepreneur launched a Pink Taxi all the way back in late 2006. The critics who attacked that initiative were a lot more vulgar, throwing around exactly the kind of “you’re all a bunch of lesbians” nonsense you’d expect.
Back in the Mexican context, we find ourselves deeply unsympathetic to the critics. The new Pink Taxi fleet might not be doing much to “eradicate violence against women.” It’s also not doing anything to, say, resolve the EU3’s concerns about how Iran’s undeclared nuclear facilities undercut the efficacy of Tehran’s agreement with the P5+1. That’s not what it’s supposed to do.
What it’s supposed to do – and what it has the potential of doing – is lift a nagging, grinding worry from the lives of Mexican women who dread having to get into a cab to go about their daily affairs. It removes an implicit sexist blackmail: “withdraw yourself from public life or volunteer yourself to suffer harassment.” That’s a fine start. Let’s not hold the good hostage to the perfect.