What year is it? 2014, really? Well, let me tell you that the mere sight of a woman driving a city bus will make the passengers on the next bus over gawp, point, and exclaim for a good 10 minutes. On the ride from Sarıyer to the apartment complex, there are steep narrow roads that don't always accommodate two vehicles at the same time, especially if these two vehicles happen to be city buses. This time the driver of my bus had to back up several meters to let the other bus turn the corner and go uphill. As he did so, the passengers on my bus did their best Archie / Edith Bunker impressions... I wanted to laugh soooooo much. At least some people were making approving comments; it wasn't all shock and horror.
While there have been women in management and leadership roles in white collar work for decades, the gender divide in service and manual labor has only changed a little from what we saw in 1999. In 2008, I remember it was a jolt to see women working on the garbage trucks in Greece after spending the summer in Turkey. Alex has mentioned that there are women who work as security officers at the Archives, and that's true at the entrances to malls and museums as well. Still, that was the first time I've seen a woman driving a city bus here--may there be more!
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2 comments:
How did the lady bus driver handle all the attention? Bravo for the intrepid ones!
She had her game face on, and was concentrating on not hitting our bus!
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