Women couriers redefining Ghana's streets

DW (English)

Women delivery drivers in Ghana are helping to power a green energy transition, weaving through the traffic on electric scooters. They're also breaking stereotypes in a male-dominated profession.

Transcript

00:00These queens in Tamale in northern Ghana rule silently.

00:11Rahamatu Syed is one of some 20 women couriers weaving through the traffic on electric scooters.

00:18Not only can she travel her routes without a noisy, smelly engine on board, the job also

00:23gives her a new sense of freedom.

00:29After graduating from nursing training, we came out and we realised that there is nothing

00:35to do.

00:36Every day we are just in the house.

00:37So I came in search of a job and I found delivery.

00:44And me particularly, I like bikes.

00:47The wheels of Rahamatu Syed's scooter turn quietly but constantly, up to 16 deliveries

00:53on a busy day.

00:55Ever more companies in Ghana are employing women in previously male-dominated jobs.

01:01That and the green mobility aspect have been lauded by women's organisations.

01:07Companies are running services that are destroying the earth, so they make profits while making

01:12the earth cry.

01:13And when the earth cries, we all suffer.

01:17These bikes, electronic bikes, are safer for the environment and also safer for the earth.

01:28Ghana's carbon emissions are expected to quadruple by 2050 unless it can electrify

01:33its transport.

01:35Combustion motorbikes are still the norm in Ghana, as in many parts of the world.

01:40Rahamatu Syed's delivery company switched to electric through a grant from the Ghana

01:44Climate Innovation Fund.

01:47The company has an electric fleet of 20 bikes that are easy to use and require little maintenance.

01:53The business model is not only empowering women and challenging stereotypes with its

01:58confident female couriers like Rahamatu Syed, it's also a pioneering example of how Ghana

02:03can drive forward its country's energy transition.

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