After Her Husband’s Death, Shanno Begum Defied Odds to Become Delhi’s First Woman Uber Driver

“My name is Shanno Begum from Delhi.”

Thus begins a video telling the story of an extraordinary woman who overcame the impossible to become the first woman Uber driver in Delhi.

Shanno’s life was never easy as she had to deal with domestic abuse at the hands of her husband who would beat her regularly. And when he passed away, the mother of three children was left with no financial means to survive.

While she herself had not completed her school, she decided she would do everything in her power to ensure her three children would not be left illiterate or wanting for anything in life.

Photo source: Facebook

Shanno started working as a vegetable vendor and then moved on to other odd jobs to make ends meet. And then she came into contact with an NGO called Azad Foundation that works on empowering underprivileged women. She enrolled in a six-month driving course that the foundation offered to women who had passed class 10. Given that she didn’t even have her class 10 certificate, the determined lady studied and took the exams at the age of 40. Studying at night and working at day, she had to study for two years before clearing her exams. And she did.

The rest, as they say, is history.

You may also like: Tabassum Bano, Allahabad’s First Woman E-Auto Rickshaw Driver, Is a Real Woman of Substance

And while Shanno notes that she still faces challenges as a female driver in a male-dominated world, she has the strength to overcome them. In a video uploaded by CNBC TV 18, she says her main message for women across the world is that they too ought to be strong.

As she puts it, “Women are strong and are no less than men.”

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