Afghanistan's First Female Taxi Driver Encourages Women to Drive

But Sara Bahayi is out to change that. Bahayi, 40, is reportedly the country's first female taxi driver, and she makes it a point to teach other Afghani women to drive as well – counting 15 women among her pupils so far.

"I am proud that I am a taxi driver. I am serving my Afghanistan and my people," Bahayi told Tolo News, as conveyed by Pangea Today. "If [there were] other female drivers, it would create a safer and comfortable environment."

It hasn't always been easy for Bahayi, though: she only makes between 500 and 1,000 Afghanis ($8.70-$17.50) per day, and in the two years since she started driving a cab in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, she's received repeated death threats from those evidently threatened by her actions in a traditionally paternalistic society.

Judging by her name, though, the clash between Bahayi's proactive feminist stance and the values of those around her could stem from a cultural difference. Members of the Baha'i faith have historically been persecuted by the predominantly Sunni Islamic majority in Afghanistan. A local Supreme Court ruling in Afghanistan eight years ago declared the Baha'i faith blasphemy and its practitioners infidels. Estimates place the number of Baha'i still in Afghanistan between 400 and 2,000, though their exact numbers are difficult to calculate since many Afghani Baha'i are forced to practice in secrecy, while others have converted to a more mainstream branch of Islam.

Meanwhile, a more concerted driving campaign is being undertaken in nearby Saudi Arabia, though, where women have been fighting to overturn a law banning them from driving altogether.