Milia Khanam, from Narail, has set an example for women by proving her dexterity to become a professional driver.
She has bagged a government job at the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) as a driver, after being in the profession for eight years.
The double cabin pick-up used by officials in DNCRP’s Dhaka office to conduct their drives has Milia, who competed with 75 others for the job in May, behind the wheel.
She has already proved herself in her new job with her skills and got assurance from high-ups to be allowed to drive SUVs when she is posted to the central office of DNCRP in future.
DNCRP Deputy Director Manzur Mohammed Shahriar said, "Milia has been applauded as a driver for the last 20 days she joined. She has a good grip on driving and can handle small technical glitches in the car,"
However, it's not easy for women to get jobs as drivers in Bangladesh. As Milia says, it is hard to get a job and harder to endure the 'stare' by common people when they see a woman behind the wheel.
"I have faced interviews in many places but they never gave me the job of a driver even after I excelled in the interview, just for being a woman. I worked as a personal driver in a household for a few days but couldn’t continue. Now I am happy to get a government job,” she said.
Milia had worked for eight years as a driver at CARE Bangladesh in the northern part of the country before she came to Dhaka to work.
She started her job in 2010 with a monthly salary of Tk 13,000 which turned to a sum of Tk 33,000 per month by the time she gained an experience of eight years in driving. Milia had no option but to look for a job when the project she was working for came to an end.
However, she succeeded to prove herself and continued her work.
There were 24,225 licensed women drivers in the country as of March 2018. Only 703 among them got driving licences as ‘professional’ while 23,522 as amateurs.
Among the professional women drivers, only 14 have licences to drive heavy vehicles while 18 have been licensed to drive medium-sized vehicles. At least 613 women got licences to drive light vehicles while 58 took for two-wheelers.
Among the government offices, Bangladesh Post and Telecommunication Division appointed 10 women drivers last year.
“Women should be given the opportunity to join this profession which will bring qualitative changes to society and workplace,” Shahriar said.
Milia’s struggle
Milia has been the only bread-winner to her family of six siblings while she got the job with CARE Bangladesh. Her younger brother is studying in Government BL College in Khulna and sisters have been married off.
Milia, who hails from Lohagara Upazila in Narail, said she dropped out of school due to poverty. Later she passed SSC in 2005 and HSC in 2013 from Open University while working as a driver in CARE Bangladesh.
She is the only woman among those seven who got jobs in DNCRP and joined office on May 20.
Another woman from her village received training from CARE Bangladesh and joined CARE in 2003 for a job. Following her suggestion, Milia learned how to drive in 2008, bdnews24 reported.
However, Milia said she struggled for about two years to get a job and finally secured a job in one of the projects of CARE Bangladesh.
“Women in professional driving confront a lot of challenges and it is hard to maintain the job.”