Female-only taxi service plans blocked by Glasgow City Council for being 'sexist'

I don't think it's sexist, but I do wonder if this division helps the actual problem. Police can already take a phone to check history after an attack- they could now ask why a female only taxi wasn't used. Remember the outcry to Jeremy Corbin supporting women only train carriages?

The report also highlights the power difference between a woman starting her own business and the big companies - eg Uber got their licence back from Transport for London but can Glasgow City Council allow one woman to set up what would be a small business? Oh no.

Over the years, I have seen adverts for various mini cab firms for women but they never seem to have taken off. I don’t know why. When I googled this now, I saw that one firm seems to have got round an insistence they took male passengers by becoming a membership company:

www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/may/09/women-cab-firm-pink-ladies-court-case

www.pinkladies.co.uk/

The Pink Ladies website seems to be live still. I really hope they still exist. I don’t like the name but I guess it works in terms of recognition.

I would have thought female taxi drivers would be safer taking female-only passengers too.

Yes, there is a lack of taxis in Glasgow.
There is nothing wrong with someone phoning and specifying they want a female driver. (Wouldn't stop someone else jumping your taxi though)

I was sexually assaulted in a cab and so I pretty much never get in one now. This service (if it was in my home town) would be great for me and would mean I would feel safe in a cab instead of either taking my chances on the street or just not going somewhere.

Wasn't it also Glasgow where CIN refused to fund a women's refuge because they didn't allow males? Not MTF trans- I'm sure they were inclusive, but other ones?

I didn’t think of it that way Fallinggirl. You’re absolutely right.

Are men struggling to find taxi drivers of their own sex?

No? Then shut up, and let women have the same option.

This decision seems really wrong to me. Is there a lack of taxis in Glasgow? Are men struggling to get taxis? I cannot think of any logical reason why these plans have been blocked. It fits right into the Scottish government’s trans-agenda though.

Scotland used to have a special place in my heart but I really hate what is happening over there. I know most ordinary Scots haven’t been hoodwinked but I think something is seriously wrong when we can’t seem to get our elected representatives to listen to our views. We either aren’t trying hard enough to get our views across or they have decided to ignore us for whatever reason.

I think any ‘women only’ service will be a magnet for TRAs anyway.

I’d love that. But I don’t suppose it actually matters what I want, because I’m only a woman.

That’s what fucks me off about this. Having a service for women will in absolutely no way cause problems for men. It’s not as if they don’t have taxi providers already in the area. It would be different if it was causing men to lose out. The only men that would lose out would be the creeps, perverts, misogynists and rapist, but I suppose we have to worry about the poor menz.

They won’t permit it because then they’ll have to admit that women need spaces away from men and that will effect the rights of the none men who want to enter female spaces. It’s not hard to join the dots.

"Sexist" is always trotted out when men don't want a women to have something just for them.

Women know why these kinds of services are needed and use them . When are the problems of women ever taken seriously these days? I think they would be covered by the exemption rules. Why is Scotland so bad on this?

"If it was the other way round we would be looking at discrimination against females"

Classic MRA argument. They want uniform access to services, we want equal access.

Trouble is anyone can declare they are female these days.

I would definitely use that service. It should be a permitted exemption

We can only think that Glasgow City Council is doing everything in its power to suppress upstart female entrepreneurs.

It's a fantastic idea. In fact it's so good that it is a threat to private hire taxis.

There is nothing to stop other taxi businesses providing a female-only service with female drivers for female clients, alongside their normal service to the general population. I bet that if a man came up with that idea then the Council would applaud him.

I think it could/should be argued as a permitted exemption buy I'm not a lawyer.