Women empowerment has continued to gain ground in the 21st century, and two African women are breaking stereotypes against women, by training them to ride motorcycles in Egypt.
OYOGist.com came across DosyBikes on Instagram and immediately fell in love with the idea behind the initiative. Most women are not encouraged to get familiar with powered machinery such as motorcycles and are certainly not often encouraged to ride one.
This is where DosyBikes comes into the picture. DosyBikes was founded by two Egyptian sisters, Menna and Nouran Farouk.
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“DosyBikes is an online platform that teaches women and girls how to ride scooters and bicycles with the aim of eliminating social stereotypes about women scooter and bicycle riders, reducing traffic and lowering pollution rates,” the company said in an Instagram chat.
DosyBikes has trained 3,000 women to ride scooters and bicycles in Egypt and is aiming to train more women, while empowering them.
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When the question “how is training women to ride scooters and bicycles empowering them?” comes up, a quick reminder that women in Africa and the middle-east are not expected to have a know-how of motored vehicles will explain why.
While in Nigeria, this battle has since been conquered with women’s rights activist Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, in Abeokuta, being the first Nigerian to drive a car between 1935 and 1936, Saudi Arabia only started allowing women to drive as recent as 26 September 2017.
While women are not prohibited from riding scooters in most African countries, there’s a stereotype that prevents them from pursuing that interest. This is what Dosy aims to fight.
The next time you’re behind the wheels of your car or riding a scooter or motorcycle, think about how much it means for women to be able to enjoy similar freedom without glares.
Dosy is also on YouTube and Twitter, sharing videos of women taking scooter training sessions to encourage others to join.
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