Zahida Kazmi
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Zahida Kazmi | |
|---|---|
| زاہدہ کاظمی | |
| Born | 1959 (age 66–67) Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Organization | All Pakistan Yellow Cab Federation |
| Known for | Being Pakistan's first female taxi driver |
| Children | 7 |
Zahida Kazmi (Urdu: زاہدہ کاظمی) is a Pakistani woman known for being the country's first female taxi driver.[1][2] Primarily operating in the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area, she has also driven customers to rocky, remote areas in the northern part of the country, such as Balakot, Chitral, Dir, Abbottabad, and Swat District. She has gained recognition for breaking gender stereotypes in the country.
Kazmi was born in Peshawar to a Pashtun family. She married at the age of 13, after which she moved from Abbottabad to Karachi in 1972 owing to her husband's job with the Pakistan Navy. Her husband was a taxi driver himself, and had taught her how to drive.[3] He became a prisoner of war during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, and was released some time later.[4]
Following the death of her husband in 1981,[4] Kazmi first worked as a domestic helper, before taking up a job at a cloth factory, to support her six children (four daughters and two sons) as a single mother.[4] However, the deteriorating law and order condition in the city forced her to relocate to Rawalpindi.[3]