Mexico Promotes Beauty, Fights Discrimination with Pink Taxi

Mexico is joining the likes of Moscow and Dubai in having an entire fleet of taxis that cater to women and women only. Not only this, but Pink Taxi, the firm offering – of course – pink taxis driven by women, also comes equipped with beauty kits that are meant to offer ladies on the run just the solution they’re looking for: a ride from point A to point B and some time alone to redo their makeup, the New York Daily News says.

The idea is simple and started off from the fact that cab drivers admittedly always ogled women when they got in the car, which, understandably, made the very idea of taking out the compact for some retouching of the makeup downright impossible. With a woman behind the wheel, female passengers would practically have complete liberty in this respect. Moreover, the taxis also come complete with beauty kits that the drivers provide upon request.

“Catering to female passengers sick of being ogled by lecherous cabbies, the Mexican city of Puebla has launched a fleet of 35 pink cabs driven by women solely for women passengers. The privately financed Pink Taxi de Puebla invested about $440,000 to start the service, and the Puebla state government provided licensing and training. If the program succeeds, officials plan to expand it to other cities.” the NY Daily News says of the initiative.

All in all, a wonderful idea, the Pink Taxi company believes. Women who’ve already tried one of these rides also feel the same. Women’s rights activists, though, are not as convinced that this is a good idea, especially since, aside from promoting positive discrimination, it also implies that all that women are about is makeup and an obsession for all things beauty. Instead of preventing discrimination, as Pink Taxi claims, the fleet of pink vehicles actually works towards encouraging it by enforcing stereotypes that women have been struggling with for years, critics say.

“We are in the 21st century, and they are saying women have continued worrying about beauty and nothing more.” Vianeth Rojas, one such activist, tells the media. The problem of discrimination and women having to deal with rude male drivers must be tackled differently than by ignoring it, which is what Pink Taxi does with its pink cars and beauty kits.