Mexico’s ‘Pink Taxi’ service a safe, necessary alternative for females

November 2, 2009 —

While studying in Guadalajara, Mexico, last summer, I was constantly forced to calm my mother’s hysteric worries about my safety. As hard as I tried to believe the words I was telling her — “Mom, I will be fine” — there was always the fear in the back of my mind that I would become the victim of some sort of violent crime.

Was this my imagination? Had I simply seen one too many horror movies in which the weak and frail young woman gets kidnapped and murdered, or worse, sold into sexual slavery?

In the six year period between 1999 and 2005, more than 6,000 girls and women were victims of murder and often rape in Mexico, with over 800 murders occurring in 2004 alone.

When assuring my mother of my safety, I threw these statistics aside and often used the city of Saginaw in my defense by pointing out that it, in the past, has had one of the highest murder rates in Michigan. After all, violence occurs everywhere.

The problem with this logic is the astounding difference between the crimes in U.S. cities and those in Mexican cities, some of which have earned the nicknames of “Femicide Capitals.”

When I picked up the paper — and when I say “picked up” I mean surfed the msnbc.com news site, of course — I was ecstatic to read about the new Pink Taxi program initiated in Puebla, Mexico.

The new taxis, which are painted pink — go figure — are designed solely for women and are fully intact with an alarm system and a beauty kit. This new all-female industry was created because of Mexican women’s demand for an alternative to the potentially dangerous male taxi drivers.

This new system is receiving outcries from feminine rights organizations throughout Mexico. The Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health claims that this new program defies modernity because it implies that “women have continued worrying about beauty and nothing more,” and it therefore “doesn’t solve the problem.”

There is no doubt that the beauty kit included within the taxis sends a mixed message about the true needs of Mexican females: safety. But focusing on this aspect ignores the bigger picture. This program offers a new safe option for females when traveling.

In Mexico, I was strongly advised to avoid sitting in the front seat with the cab driver, simply because my mere presence offered a cultural invitation for promiscuity and violence. What I would have given to have climbed into a pink cab and arrive home safely without having to plan ways in which to escape the moving vehicle “just in case” I was about to become a statistic.

It is legitimately valid to say that the Pink Taxis do not solve the problem of violence against women, especially since the appeal of the service is the safety promised by the separation of males and females. But the problem is this: what should women do while they are waiting for a solution? Should they simply have to keep placing themselves in danger?

Mexican Women’s Rights organizations have obviously proven themselves useless in implementing the education and social changes required to create a long term decrease in violence against women. What is it then that gives them the right to speak out against this safe option for females?

I have been to Mexico and experienced the fear that should be felt by every Mexican woman when she climbs into a cab alone, and it is a terrible feeling that no one should have to go through. Despite the misplaced beliefs of women’s rights groups, this program is absolutely necessary for Mexican women. It is unfair to ask females to constantly put themselves in potentially violent situations simply because riding in a Pink Taxi doesn’t present a holistic solution.