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

[stealthsquirrelnutkin]

"A proposal by Margo Welsh to start Rosy and Pink Cars, offering female drivers to female passengers and their children, was dismissed yesterday by licensing chiefs at Glasgow City Council .

Welsh was prompted to launch the service after seeing "the amount of sex attacks in this day and age," but councillors branded the plan "sexist"."

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/female-only-taxi-service-plans-15025489?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar

A I wrong in thinking they are ignoring equality law and that this should be considered a permitted exemption?

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

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

"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.

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?

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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 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.

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

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 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?

People misunderstand the power dynamics of sexism. It’s not a level playing field. Women as a class can’t be sexist, because sexism is the shorthand word we use to refer to the whole unequal power dynamics of patriarchy.

I think an all-female taxi service would be brilliant. After all, it’s not women drivers who’ve raped hundreds of female passengers. That’s a male crime statistic

A train is very different to a taxi though - in a train you’ll be surrounded by many other members of the public whereas in a taxi you will frequently be alone as a single female with a male driver. It’s a very different dynamic and there’s no end of stories about how this has led to women being assaulted and raped and in some cases even killed. A female only cab company is the perfect example of a proportionate measure in this context.

I agree Molten trains and taxis are different entirely. On a train you can move to a carriage with more people, you can't do that in a taxi. I hope they fight this decision and win!

FFS did these councillors learn nothing from John Worboys?

I would feel safer with a female driver.

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

Possibly for the reasons here- being discouraged by the licensing authority. Possibly lack of interest/ lack of sufficient drivers. It isn't a service I would use. I want a taxi when I need it. If the first taxi available is driven by a man I would not pass that up to wait for a female driver.

I don't know if there would be more female drivers if they were free to only have female passengers. Even then for it to be viable for female drivers they would need a significant number of women to want a female driver and there simply may not be the demand.

There's other practicalities in relation to a female driver picking up a mixed sex group only if the last drop off is female. That may simply be inconvenient and expensive for the passengers.

I don't see any particular reason why the service should not be offered if drivers and passengers want it but in practice not sure if it will be viable.

Where I used to live female taxi drivers were allocated in the main to female passengers, especially pregnant ones going to hospital, women with children. It was very popular at the time. I should imagine it added security for the drivers as well.

I would feel safer with a female taxi driver. NATDALT, but I find being leered at very unsettling. Plus, with just regular taxi drivers I don’t use a seatbelt in case I need to get out quickly.