#BeTheChange: Meet Bangladesh's only female rickshaw puller

45-year-old Mosammat Jasmine from Bangladesh has worked hard to gain her community'srespect. She is the only female rickshaw puller in the Muslim dominated country and is often addressed as the "Crazy Auntie".

What made her become arickshaw puller, a job that in so many ways arousesher society's ire?

Five years ago, her husband ran away with another woman and she was left to fendfor her family. A mother of three, she did not care for the gender stereotypes predominant in the society and started with a couple of jobs that didn’t suit her.

She worked as a maid but according to her, "it’s good if you only have to worry about yourself but not if you’ve got children". She also tried her handworking at afactory, but in her words, "work at the factory is back-breaking and the pay is really poor". She eventually started pulling rickshaws on the streets of Chittagong to make a living.

In aninterview withThe Hindu, she said, “I do it to make sure my sons don’t go hungry and they get a decent education at a good school. Allah has given me a pair of hands and legs to work with. I don’t beg--instead I earn a living by using his gifts.”

Mosammat, strugglingto survive and pay for her kid’s education,then rented out herneighbour’s rickshaw. Initially she faced severe criticism for doing what is traditionally considered to bea man’s job. She found it hard to find customers, and if this wasn’t enoughshe also faced the physical challengeof pulling a rickshaw in the bylanes of the subtropical country.

Many even taunted her and refused to board her rickshaw citingIslam--claimingthat it doesn’t permit women to roam around like this. Meanwhile, thosewho did boarddidn’t pay the same farethey would pay amale driver. “I stuck to my guns as who else pays my bills, who is else is going to cover the cost of educating my sons?” as per The Hindu.

From then to now, "Crazy Auntie"has come a long way-- earning a lot of respect in the community and helping her family.

(WION)