LebGeeks

samer

Admin

Lebanon's Pink Taxis

Now available in Beirut. It's called "Banet Taxi" and was started by the public car company Nayaghi.
The cars Peugeot 206 and are driven by females for females.

Full story: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar … cmSPYY3DRw

Sexual discrimination or good business? Discuss.

marcfarra

Member

Re: Lebanon's Pink Taxis

I think this is one of those topics that has both pros and cons. However, IMHO, seeing as lebanon is not a secular state, and a lot of religious tensions exist, this is just throwing fuel into the fire. I don't think it's sexual discrimination cause it's actually creating jobs for women.
I dunno, it might work, lebanese people always know how to maintain equilibrium, somehow.

battikh

Member

Re: Lebanon's Pink Taxis

it's a question of demand. if there was not a demand for such a service then such a company wouldn't open. enno it's not really sexist, it's on the limit of it. enno sexism is bad when it causes discrimination, but in this case you're not considering a woman as less valuable than a man, you're just giving her what SHE wants, it's a demand that exist among women themselves, so it seems fine and not really sexist. i heard so many stories from female friends that had to listen to latsheit from the taxi driver and such.
lebanese taxi drivers are usually not the best gentlemen. if i was a father, i would definitely worry less if my daughter is with a female driver rather than a male one, specially if she's going to be as hot as me...
another thing, lebanese tourism... most of tourists come from the gulf countries, and many of them do have such a demand... so it's just giving a service for a demand that already exists. no one is imposing it on everyone, the ones who like it can use it, others can keep using regular taxis.

so the question is: is it sexism if it's not discriminating?

mir

Member

Re: Lebanon's Pink Taxis

well i think business is business ... we can't judge the guys, it is a matter of demand and offer
usually if they are passing and happens that they are going, i would get in
but if i have to call prior leaving and have to wait, i prefer to go down the street and take a car , it is faster and less to do

battikh,did ur friends die if they heard a latshe ? didn't they learn to reply to the taxi guys, or did the cat swallow their tongues ? isn't part of life ? do girls want offices only girls, clients only girls, delivery girls ?

i didn't hear about high rapery levels in taxis in the streets of lebanon
and usually you can evaluate a taxi guy from looking, if other passengers are there...and this becomes a skill in ur life.

and if it is late, and you call an office that has taxi cars i am sure that all the guys that they send are decent, and if the guy isn't being so , i am sure you can complain to the company...just hinting that will make the guy stop,he needs the job.

it is intresting also when u take a taxi... you get to hear different comments about just anything in the balad, and you really get to hear weird stories and it is quite interesting if you know how to drive the talk away from politics and it is tigyir jaw 3an l girly talks or work talk and you get to become familiar/si7beh with shouferiyet l khat as we say... and they may sometimes give you a lift even if it is really far away

hala2 i think it is mainly targeted for arab women visiting lebanon and who don't know the streets or don't have a car.
i would feel more comfy in a foreign country if a dudette was driving me along at night and showing me all those nice girly places on the way where i can go shopping :)

Last edited by mir (March 14 2009)

battikh

Member

Re: Lebanon's Pink Taxis

sure you can reply back at the driver if he tells you something, but if you have the choice between a possible sammet badan and fight with the taxi driver, or, no sammet baddan guaranteed, which one do you chose?
and about checking of there is already someone in the taxi, what if there was someone and they get down before you?
and its not about that something might happen and that the rape rate done by taxi drivers is low, it's about FEELING safe. maybe taxi drivers are the best guys in town and nothing wrong will ever happen, but if you don't feel safe with them and feel safer in a female cab, then fine...
how many kids got eaten by monsters at night? i guess none, then why are they scared of monsters? if putting a night light in their room makes them FEEL safer (even though no monster will come to eat them, and you know that there is NO chance for it to happen), you do it... it's not about what will or will not happen, it's about how you FEEL.

Last edited by battikh (March 14 2009)

mir

Member

Re: Lebanon's Pink Taxis

battikh:
using the same analogy:
do u work on getting rid of your fear or on keep carrying a lamba with you to feel secure from ghosts? knowing that a lamba won't do anything if there was actually a ghost

I don't see a reason girls should need a girly taxi at least during the day
late night, usually if u call a taxi company, the guys sent are decent.. but I may feel more secure if i was coming back from a party, dressing inappropriate for a street, had lot of alcohol, had a fight with my boyfriend and all my friends to the point they were refusing to get me back home

for foreign and conservative countries, it is another story, it is just another way to make our rich female arab tourists feel more comfortable.

and well done for the girls working there, hope the night shifts are not tiring and hope they get tipped well by those rich saudi women for showing them around our shopping malls

Last edited by mir (March 14 2009)

battikh

Member

Re: Lebanon's Pink Taxis

if i was still afraid of monsters, then yeah, i would probably still sleep with the light on, and yeah, i know people who do that...
even my sister, she keeps the tv on when she's alone at home to scare away the potential robbers that never came...
taxi companies are service companies, they provide a service to you. and service companies job is not to give you a necessity, but just a service... a service's purpouse is to make your life easier. you don't NEED a bank account, you don't NEED a credit card, you don't NEED to go to the movies, ...
why do you go to the movies when you can simply rent a dvd? or vice versa? because the theater give you an extra thing, which is not a necessity. and a pink taxi can give peace of mind to some women... if YOU don't worry when you're in a taxi it doesn't mean that everyone doesn't. and it's not because nothing wrong will happen that people should not worry. it's like when people are scared in a plane and you have people who mock them and tell them that statistically a plane is safer than a car. statistics are not a reason not to be scared of something, you don't decide to be scared or not, it's something that just happens. if someone tells you that planes are safer than cars you don't magically stop being scared.

and why do some people use a taxi, others the bus, others service, other charly taxi, ... while they all do the same thing? why do some people prefer one over the other?

mir

Member

Re: Lebanon's Pink Taxis

got your point battikh
but if this becomes a main trend among the lebanese girls... i will feel unhappy

u know grown ups who still keep the light against ghosts ? :o

Last edited by mir (March 14 2009)