Qatar’s Central Municipal Council has asked Mowasalat, the state-backed public transportation company, to hire female taxi drivers in an effort to make the country’s female passengers and families more comfortable. 

The idea, which the services committee brought forth at CMC’s weekly meeting, was spurred by reports of “problems” faced by women who rode in taxis with male drivers, the Peninsula reports.

Over the past few years, taxi companies in Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and the UAE have begun hiring female drivers, catering to a growing demand among women in GCC countries for secure transport.

That makes Qatar one of the last countries in the GCC to not have female cab drivers, as no women in Saudi Arabia are permitted to drive.

Given that Qatar has one of the world’s highest male to female ratios (approximately three to one), and that women can tend to feel vulnerable here, the idea of female drivers doesn’t seem out of this world.

Just who would drive these Karwas is another question, as in many GCC countries, taxi driver jobs are nationalized.

Thoughts?