New Sunday Times - 4 June 2006, Page 47 - KABUL: Everyone she passes - each taxi driver, every man and every burqa-clad woman - is looking at Sofia, 14, and driving a car!! Women drivers are so rare in Afghanistan that it's a shock for most people who see one. Her father (Abdul Shokoor Ziaee) taught her mother and two other sisters to drive. She can't legally drive yet until she is 19.
Ziaee opened the Bakhtan Technical and Driving Course school after the fall of the Taliban, which had banned women from driving. Ziaee said that, although many more women might like to drive, husbands, fathers and brothers had the final say, and invariably accompanied learners to their first class to give their approval of the school. Hmmm ... sounds reasonable .. at least their daughters can drive in case they have a heart attack and need to be driven to the hospital ..
Now, here is the irony of the whole situation ... another women driver, Wafa said she would never drive outside the capital. Even here, she had to contend with MEN who'll drive staraight at her. Why? They may enjoy disturbing the women. Maybe they don't like women drivers. Hmmm ... this is really strange .. especially when MEN are supposed to PROTECT the women ... aiyaa, tak tau lah ...
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All I can say is that Malaysian women are really lucky to be living in Malaysia.