Jai Bharti is riding her bike across 20 cities to encourage more women to learn driving, become self-reliant and use this skill to earn a living.
100 women auto drivers, proudly wearing khaki shirts, some with their saris and the rest with salwar kameez, POTUS and jasmine strings. The scene at Chennai’s EA Hotel left a lasting impression on Jai Bharti, who is riding across the country on a Jawa 42.
An architect and an avid biker, Jay launched the Moving Boundaries campaign on October 11 with a simple objective: to create awareness and encourage women to learn driving to increase their employability.
She started the MOWO Foundation (Moving Women Social Initiative Foundation). With this goal in Hyderabad in 2019 and since then 1,500 women from self-help groups and government degree colleges in their city have been trained to drive bikes and autos, some of whom have used it to earn their livelihood.
Chalti Seema Abhiyan is being implemented by Jai along with Srishti Bakshi, who ran from Kanyakumari to Kashmir a few years ago to raise awareness about violence against women. Jay met during Srishti’s walk and both shared similar views about empowering women.
In 2020, Srishti became part of MOWO, where she leads the fundraising and collaboration and handles the back-end work while Jai is on the road.
The ride started in Hyderabad, from where Jai left for Chennai, Kochi, Udupi, Goa. He is currently in Mumbai.
The 11,111 km journey, in 40 days, will cover Surat, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Jaipur, Amritsar, Srinagar, Chandigarh, New Delhi, Lucknow, Allahabad, Patna, Guwahati, Kolkata, Ranchi and Bhubaneswar.
At her quick stop in Chennai, she was pleasantly surprised to see a large number of not only women auto drivers, but also a few women forklift operators and a COVID-ambulance driver.
“Their stories are amazing. Their families are supportive,” says Jay. Some women mentioned that when they go for family functions, they don their uniforms and people look at them in wonder. Working so well, Jai believes it can and should be replicated in other cities as well. Jai says, “Through MOWO we are working on ANEW in Chennai and Azad Foundation in Kolkata. Demonstrate the work of organizations such as those working with women in mobility.”
She adds, “There are women who have had to leave their jobs because they didn’t know how to go to work.” It is important to create awareness about why women need mobility and how it will help them, says Jai. It can be anything: going to work, dropping your kids off to school, driving a cab or delivering a package. Having this skill gives them many more job opportunities.
She recounts an incident in Erode, Tamil Nadu. Jai and his team were passing through the small town during Ayudha Puja, when they found a woman doing puja in a shop. “I saw two TVS XL Champ bikes parked outside the shop. One of the woman and the other of her husband. The woman, a tailor, said she wanted her own two-wheeler so that she could go out and buy raw material whenever needed instead of relying on her husband,” says Jai, delighting at the woman’s self-reliance. At the same time, another woman, in a nightie, approaches Jay. She was so excited to see Jai and his motorcycle that she climbed on the bike and clicked pictures, while requesting Jai to take her along for the rest of the expedition.
“When you see a woman on a motorcycle, it’s inspiring,” says Jay. She adds, “When more women take to the streets and are self-reliant, they feel safe.”
For details, log on to movingboundaries.mowo.in
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