Women on Wheels Motorcycle Programme Gifts 3,000 Bikes Away
3,000 women, and maybe even more, will be given a motorcycle after they complete their Women on Wheels (WOW) training.
(Image taken from The Express Tribune)
According to the Punjab Strategic Reforms Unit (SRU) Head Salman Sufi, the provincial development forum and the Planning & Development Department have funded RS80 million to this cause.
The motorcycles will be distributed in three phases. The first phase will see red Honda motorcycles given to 700 women, while the women under the second and third phase will receive 1,000 and 1,300 motorbikes respectively.
It has been reported that the motorcycles are being given to women in five districts of Punjab, such as Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Multan and Gujranwala.
Sufi also stated that the motorbikes will facilitate the women working in several departments and would boost their self-reliance apart from the sense of protection.
(Image taken from Motorcycle Daily)
The Women on Wheels project sees the government funding motorcycle training for females, so they essentially do not have to fork out a single cent.
The initiative was reportedly launched to help ensure gender equality, reclaim public spaces for women and to provide freedom of mobility to 49% of women in the province.
SRU has also introduced 30 other reforms aiding women’s development in society.
“Women are the face of progressive Pakistan and it was time they start recognizing the fact that they own the country as much as men do,” Sufi said.