Women Take Handlebar, Reclaiming Freedom On Pakistan’s Roads

ISLAMABAD (Staff Reporter): As morning traffic begins to build, a growing number of women are taking their place behind the handlebars of scooters and motorcycles, turning everyday journeys into powerful expressions of independence.

For women who once depended on fathers, brothers, husbands or hired drivers, riding their own scooter means deciding when to leave, which route to take and when to return.

For Alia from Sialkot, however, the experience also comes with unwanted attention.

“You constantly feel watched and stared at. It honestly feels like you are being observed and judged everywhere you go,” she said.

For many women, moving from the passenger seat to the handlebar represents more than a change in transportation. It is a shift from dependence to self-reliance and from waiting for mobility to creating it themselves.

Two Wheels Open New Opportunities

For years, women travelling to schools, colleges, workplaces, markets and hospitals have often had to arrange transport around someone else’s availability. A missed ride could mean missing a class, arriving late at work or cancelling an important appointment.

The growing presence of women on scooters and motorcycles is gradually changing that routine.

A female student can travel to class without waiting for a family member. A working woman can reach her workplace according to her own schedule, while a daughter can accompany her mother to a hospital or market without first having to arrange a driver.

In this way, a scooter can become much more than a means of transport. For many women, it is a practical tool that expands access to education, employment, healthcare and everyday activities.

Harassment Remains A Major Challenge

Greater mobility, however, does not automatically mean greater freedom.

Women riders continue to face unwanted staring, unnecessary honking, inappropriate comments, deliberate following and reckless overtaking. Experiences that some may dismiss as minor can leave women feeling vulnerable and reluctant to travel alone.

This creates a contradiction: women are increasingly encouraged to study, work and participate fully in public life, yet some continue to face social resistance simply because they choose to travel independently.

The challenge, therefore, is not only teaching women how to ride. It is ensuring that they can use public roads without being treated as unusual or vulnerable targets.

Government Schemes Help Address Affordability

Government initiatives offering free, subsidised or interest-free scooters and electric bikes are helping tackle one of the biggest barriers to independent mobility: affordability.

For students and working women, such programmes can turn the goal of owning a vehicle into practical access to education, employment and essential services.

Police Support For Women Riders

ASI Azra of Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) told APP that the safety of women on the capital’s roads remains a priority for Islamabad Police under the leadership of the Inspector General of Police.

She said support from the Interior Ministry for women-focused policing, along with female police patrols, increased road presence and Safe City cameras, was helping strengthen security and giving women greater confidence to travel.

Azra urged women facing harassment or feeling unsafe during their journeys to seek police assistance rather than remain silent.

“No woman should feel alone or helpless on the road,” she said, adding that women can contact police at 15 or 1815 for assistance. Safe City surveillance can also help authorities monitor incidents and respond more effectively.

She said the helpline operates around the clock and that its integration with the AI-supported Women Police Station-on-Wheels, Safe City monitoring and field response was strengthening the protection network.

Family Encouragement Builds Confidence

For women learning to ride, encouragement from family members can make a significant difference.

Rehana and Nighat, beauty professionals, told APP that their father and husband were among their strongest supporters when they decided to learn riding.

They said independent mobility had become increasingly important in modern life and believed women should have the opportunity to acquire the skill.

Nighat said riding had made her daily routine considerably easier. She no longer has to wait for buses or depend entirely on her husband for transportation. She can travel independently and take her mother along when necessary.

For many families, concerns about traffic and personal safety initially create hesitation. Confidence usually develops through training, supervised practice and gradually becoming familiar with local roads.

Fear Can Create Invisible Boundaries

Rabia Sajid, another scooter rider, described the less visible difficulties that can accompany independent mobility.

She recalled being stared at when she and other women first began riding. Although they initially ignored the attention, she said some incidents later became more aggressive.

According to Rabia, some men followed women riders, accelerated deliberately alongside them, honked without reason or attempted to intimidate them. In some cases, inappropriate remarks and abusive language turned routine journeys into distressing experiences.

The problem becomes particularly serious when harassment begins influencing the routes women choose.

Rabia said she and other riders generally remain within familiar areas because unfamiliar roads can create additional anxiety. On occasions when they believed someone was following them, they changed their route and subsequently avoided that road.

Such experiences demonstrate that physical access to a road does not necessarily translate into freedom of movement. Although roads are open to everyone, fear can create invisible boundaries around where women feel safe travelling.

Safer Roads Require Collective Responsibility

Laher Mirza, Victim Support Officer at the Tahaffuz Center, Rawalpindi, Punjab Police, said coordinated law-enforcement efforts had helped create a safer environment for women and girls travelling on the roads.

She said many women now felt safer and appreciated efforts by traffic police.

According to Mirza, senior police officials had issued strict directions concerning women’s safety, while CPO Hassan Mushtaq Sukhera had also instructed officers to ensure effective responses to related complaints.

She said Chief Traffic Officer Farhan Aslam personally monitored the situation and received daily updates on patrols, areas covered and issues reported by women and other road users.

“By the grace of Allah, there has been considerable improvement,” she said, adding that continued monitoring and patrols had strengthened women’s confidence.

However, safety cannot depend solely on police presence. Every road user has a responsibility to behave respectfully. A woman riding a scooter is not an invitation for unwanted attention, and travelling alone should never be interpreted as permission to harass her.

Mobility Is About More Than Transportation

For Alishba Noor, a university student from Rawalpindi, independent mobility is part of a broader reality facing young women.

The ability to travel without constantly depending on someone else can influence access to universities, internships, workplaces and everyday responsibilities.

A social expert told APP that women’s mobility should be viewed not simply as a transportation issue but as part of their wider participation in social and economic life.

Traditional expectations have often normalised women’s dependence on male family members. The growing number of women riders is gradually challenging those assumptions.

The deeper question, therefore, is not whether women should ride, but why their decision to do so still requires explanation.

A man travelling alone is generally viewed as simply going somewhere. A woman doing the same can still attract questions, stares and unsolicited opinions.

The difference lies not in the road, vehicle or destination, but in longstanding attitudes about women’s movement.

The Handlebar Becomes A Symbol Of Choice

Every woman who starts an engine and takes to the road challenges those assumptions a little further.

She is not simply covering a distance. She is managing her time, making her own decisions and reaching destinations without waiting for someone else to make the journey possible.

The transformation will be complete only when society stops treating an independent woman rider as an exception.

Scooters can provide mobility, families can offer encouragement, police can provide protection and government programmes can help with affordability. But lasting acceptance must come from society itself.

Women do not need special roads. They need the same roads, the same respect and the same sense of security as every other road user.

For a woman who once had to wait for a driver, the sound of an engine starting can represent the beginning of something much bigger.

The handlebar is no longer merely a place to steer a scooter. It is becoming a symbol of choice, confidence and independence.

The wheels are already turning. The next step is for society to move beyond outdated assumptions and ensure that every woman who takes the handlebar can travel with dignity, confidence and freedom.

A woman rides her scooter through city traffic, symbolising growing independence and mobility among female riders in Pakistan.