SANGHAR, Sindh: Irum Jatt鈥檚 hands gripped the steering wheel tightly as the ambulance she was driving zipped through the roads of the southern Pakistani city of Sanghar earlier this month, sirens blaring to warn other cars and pedestrians to move out of the way. 

While a woman driving an ambulance is no anomaly in cities like London or New York, in this remote, conservative town in Sindh province, Jatt, 21 and another colleague Shereen Shah, 22, made history in June when they were hired as the first women ambulance drivers for the Sindh Integrated Emergency & Health Services (SIEHS), a non-profit organization operating around 460 鈥淗OPE鈥� ambulances across the province. 

Established in 2021, SIEHS employs 750 Emergency Vehicle Operators (EVOs) and launched operations in Sanghar in October 2023 with three ambulances.

In conservative and patriarchal Pakistan, where the right to education, employment and even voting is sometimes not extended to women, employing female ambulance drivers was a bold move by SIEHS and one that has not even been experimented with in large urban centers of the province such as Karachi and Hyderabad. Women in Sindh in general also face many challenges such as discrimination, violence, and limited access to health, education and job opportunities.

鈥淢any people believed that it wasn鈥檛 possible,鈥� Jatt told Arab News in an interview as she drove on a road in main Sanghar city. 

鈥淏ut there鈥檚 something within a person, a passion that drives them to do something. I felt the same, I wanted to do it, I wanted to drive an ambulance.鈥�

Jatt, an intermediate degree graduate, saw the job opening for an ambulance driver on social media and applied, having to go through several rounds of tests before her selection. 

鈥淥n the road, it鈥檚 common for people to stare when they see a woman driving,鈥� Jatt said. 

鈥淢any people don鈥檛 give way. While leaving our Sanghar city, motorcyclists don鈥檛 give way, and we have to face all of that.鈥�

Negative stereotypes and biases, including that women were bad drivers or drove slowly, also made the job harder, she said. 

鈥淪ome good people get it but there are communities that don鈥檛 understand and say things like, 鈥榊ou arrived late,鈥� or 鈥榊ou deliberately delayed鈥�. Some might even think, 鈥楤ecause it was a woman driving, it took longer鈥�.鈥�

Mumtaz Ali Pirzada, the district manager at the SIEHS, acknowledged the initial resistance by the community to the women ambulance drivers.

鈥淲hen we first inducted female drivers in Sanghar, and we did and in the future also we will do it, there was significant backlash on social media, most people asked how can a woman drive an ambulance,鈥� he said. 

鈥淏ut we have broken that stereotype. These women have broken it because they are doing all these things and doing them with a lot of hard work.鈥�

According to Pirzada, Shah and Jatt often outperformed their male counterparts. 

鈥淏ut their success isn鈥檛 due to sympathy or special treatment, it鈥檚 purely their hard work and skills,鈥� he added. 鈥淭hey even handle tasks like changing tires, including the heavy tires of ambulances, which challenges the traditional mindset that only men can manage such tasks.鈥�

Shereen Shah, another women ambulance driver from Sanghar, said the response from the community was improving. 

鈥淲hen we first started working here, people were shocked to see women driving ambulances, they thought we wouldn鈥檛 be able to handle it, that we might hit something,鈥� she told Arab News as she stood by her vehicle. 

鈥淏ut now, wherever we go, if the traffic police sees us, they salute us and the Sindh police also salute us. They feel proud of us.鈥�

She said it was 鈥渟o fulfilling鈥� to be able to rescue people from road accidents and other emergencies and deliver them to medical facilities in a timely manner. 

鈥淎 few years ago, women rarely stepped out of their homes in this city,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut today, women are driving vehicles here and that鈥檚 a matter of pride for Sanghar.鈥�