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Mothers of the road: Yangon's female taxi drivers (article)

Among the small but growing ranks of women taxi drivers in Yangon there’s at least two who are tough, fiercely independent, and doting mothers. By JARED DOWNING | FRONTIER Photos MARO VERLI

If ever she is assaulted by a client while driving her taxi at night, Ma Su Mon Kyaw has a plan: Ram her cab straight into the nearest car. “Like that!” she said, smacking her own palm. “To draw attention for help.”

Fortunately, Su Mon Kyaw has not had to enact her contingency plan in her four years as one of Yangon’s only female taxi drivers, but if she has to, she isn’t afraid. Her trade might be a man’s job, but the city, she said, belongs to her. “I know every street, every township,” she boasts. “I am not afraid.”

Find more in Frontier Myanmar Magazine

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