Ammal Farhat
Meet Ammal Farhat, the first Saudi Arabian woman to get behind the wheel as a professional driver for ride hailing app Careem. Farhat is just one of more than 2,000 women who applied to drive for the popular Dubai-based app, after Saudi Arabia announced the lifting of the female driving ban as part of major social changes and economic reforms undertaken by the Kingdom under Vision 2030.
According to Wall Street Journal, Farhat obtained her driver's license at the age 18 while studying in California, USA. Two weeks before the ban was officially lifted in June 24, she converted her license into a Saudi one. The 45-year-old divorced mother of two young children explained that it was a Careem ad that got her interested in becoming a professional driver. The ad, which called upon women to “take the lead” and exclaimed that it was “their turn now,” triggered a childhood memory of Farhat watching a Syrian movie about a female taxi driver and the stigma associated with women in that profession.
“I remember admiring her for her strength […] “I thought to myself: That’s what I want to be when I grow up,” she explained.
Since the announcement that the driving ban would be rescinded, both Careem and US-based Uber have been preparing to recruit female drivers into their fleets. According to the news site, Careem bans the use of the word driver and brands them instead as “captains,” or “captainahs” for women, in order to help overcome the stigma attached to driving.
It is reported that Careem’s rival Uber has pledged more than 250 million US dollars since March this year to financing the driving-school costs of women interested in obtaining a license. However, when it comes to its fleet, female drivers have yet to take the road.
Although she has a full-time job as a quality-management consultant, Farhat said challenging social stigma and helping women with their commute are the main reasons she chose to be a Careem driver. To date, her experiences as a driver have been positive. She explained that on her first day out, one of her female customers was so excited she got out of the vehicle to give her a hug.
