Driving a cab (or just “driving cab,” as the drivers themselves call it) is one of those jobs that remains overwhelmingly dominated by men. There are women in the business, but they’re rare — I got a ride from one a few weeks ago and interviewed her on the spot about her job, as I do almost every driver I meet, and she claimed to be the only female cab driver she personally knew.
It’s also one of those unglamourous positions, like, say, front-line combat soldiers, men’s room attendants and restaurant dishwashers, about which almost no one discusses the patriarchal glass floor that women are having trouble descending below. It’s a shitty job, and a dangerous one, and I get the impression very few women are interested in taking it up.
But it does have its charms, especially ones that appeal to the conventional male imagination: you set your own hours, no one tells you when you can take a break, you can hustle if you want to get a little more, take a few hours to head to the track if you’re feeling lazy, and then of course you’ve got four wheels, an engine and the road in front of you, which seems to be where many men feel most at home.
My father-in-law is a University Professor and internationally successful author, but he drove cab while he was working on his Ph. D. and still says that, in many ways, it was the best job he ever had. One cab driver I used to sort of know (I worked with his brother), an immigrant from India who lived in an apartment stuffed with prep cooks and factory workers who took shifts in their shared beds while they saved money to bring the family over from home, quit his job as a T.A. at York University to return to taxi driving. He called it his “freedom job.”
But not many people choose it. I recently wrote a story for Canadian Immigrant magazine about the conversational cliche of immigrant cab drivers who appear to be overqualified but whose foreign credentials and experience are not recognized in Canada. It was an interesting and heartbreaking story to research. (I kept waiting for one of them to tell me he wished a real rain would come and wash all the scum off the streets, but the ones I spoke to were universally even-keeled and relatively cheerful.)
No big revelation here, but a minor, interesting note: the phenomenon of self-absorbed avoidance of responsibility doesn’t seem to afflict the immigrant communities who make up today’s cab driving employment pool. Almost all the drivers told me they got into the business because the work was available and they had families to support. So they work 70 or 80 hours a week to make a better life for their kids, dealing with drunks and fare-skippers and rush hour traffic, and though a great many of them are qualified doctors or engineers or whatever, they’re mostly stunningly unbitter about it. Disappointed, yes, but not angry. Their response is more of a shrug: It’s not what I planned, but hey — a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.
best seo forums: Thanks for sharing such an brilliant post. I make sure to visit this post regularly. keep sharing more and more..
Seenloitering: The “gender analysis” in this article is upside down. Marie Calloway is a threat to the status quo because she threatens the myth that women are morally superior, above...
Jefry: I do not really like to read a story like a novel or a real story but I think this is very interesting and need to be read
Legong: I know I am replying to this pathetic, racist statement a little late and the whole ignorant rant probably doesn’t even deserve a reply. Wanhenglo, if we were all to generalise about...
Legong: I know I am replying to this pathetic, racist statement a little late and the whole ignorant rant probably doesn’t even deserve a reply. Wanhenglo, if we were all to generalise about...
Sky Goodden: This is startling, refreshing, overdue, and damn good. Thank you, Shary.
Mark: It’s not just in Canada, it seems all over artists don’t get the local recogtnition they should. I was in Malaga where Picasso was born and it is much different, but then he is...
Guest: I didn’t want babies or a period any more. I KNEW without a doubt I did not want children so I had been asking for a hysterectomy since I was 19. I finally got it at 39. My...
Djzklj: Pretty interesting article, despite that I don’t wanna make a voyage there
Sanyo Seiki: I love this game! Very addicted! Sanyo Seiki