Shifting gears: Women from Ahmedabad to take the wheel as truck drivers in Hungary

Coming from humble background, a group of 6 extraordinary women from Ahmedabad, some of them single mothers, are set to break the glass ceiling and become lorry drivers in Hungary so as to eke out livelihood for their families back home.

In a month’s time, these Ahmedabad residents, in the age group of 20-35 years, would be flying to Hungary, to work as truck drivers there. They have undergone training under the collaborative initiative Trucking For Equality.

Bharti once worked as a rag picker to pay for her education. Rekha, who lost her husband and has two children, faced financial difficulties before getting a job as a city bus driver. Rajni is a divorcee mother. Hardened by their individual struggles, they are looking forward to take on challenges as truckers in the distant European country, all six of them said.

Rigorous training

“We have been given all kind of training, like how to drive big trucks, their maintenance, basic repairing and also language skills. This will be a totally different experience and I am excited,” said Rekha Kahar.

“I decided to help my father in running the household, and as I did not have any skill, I took up driving. I learnt everything here and also completed my studies till standard 12th,” said Guljan Pathan, another driver.

Most of them come from weaker socio-economic backgrounds. Some are separated from their husbands, or widowed, said Sayani Bhatt, a program coordinator at the city-based NGO Janvikas. These six women are likely to leave for Hungary around October 23 and will work there for two years, she said.

The NGO has been training women to drive four-wheelers since 2016 as part of its ‘Driver Ben’ programme. The trained women then get jobs as cab drivers, drivers for high-networth individuals and hotels, among other things. But till now, it had not thought of training women to be truck drivers because of the lack of opportunities in India.

Glass ceiling

A few women got jobs as drivers of buses for the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), a city public transport system in Gujarat. When it came to truck-driving, women faced a glass ceiling. But an opportunity landed up six months ago.

“Baton, a European company, wanted to recruit women truck drivers in Hungary as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) project, and a consultancy agency approached the Azad Foundation (with which Janvikas is associated) which runs a country-wide initiative called Women on Wheels, training women to be drivers for livelihood,” said Bhatt.

The women were trained under a collaborative programme of Azad Foundation, Vega Group of Consultancy and Janvikas, Bhatt said. “We first shortlisted women on the basis of documentation to ensure they were eligible to secure a visa,” she said.

The shortlisted women then underwent a spoken English training programme for two months, after which they were further shortlisted through an exam conducted by the company and then sent to Bengaluru for final training as truck driver, Bhatt said.

(With agency inputs)