Saida Abad was the first woman in Morocco to become a train driver

How did you get to be Morocco’s first woman train driver?

I joined the Moroccan railway office in 1992, as an administrator in the technical department. I enjoyed that work, but my father was a train driver and I had always had big dreams that one day I too would drive a train.

Then, some years after I joined, the company launched a scheme to help women get into higher positions or different fields of work. Four women began the training, but I was the only one to pass the test to become a driver.

It was an experiment, but it has since been tried again, and now we have eight women drivers in the country. But when I first graduated I was in the newspapers and I was quite famous for a while. I even met our King, and I drove his train.

How did the male drivers take to having a woman among them?

I was surprised to find that they were happy to have a woman among them, and to accept that there are new openings for women, not just in trains but also in taxis and buses and other sectors. Only a few of the older drivers were negative at first.

During my first few months of driving, when the train would stop en route, just for technical reasons, the passengers would look down the carriage to the drivers’ compartment and see a woman driver and exclaim “Ah! That’s the problem.”
But whenever I got the chance I would say to them: “You should be glad I am driving, because as a woman I am safe, and I stop the train more smoothly than the men!”

Can you describe a typical day?

I wake up at 6.30. I wake my two children, get them showered, dressed and ready for school. Every day before they leave they say “God be with you mummy” because they want me to be safe. I like to take that blessing to work with me every day. I cook lunch for them before setting off for work, where I arrive at around 11.30.

I work more or less continuously all day, on three different local routes, until 18:00. I have no lunch break, but I do have a 15 minute break between routes, when I am waiting for my next train.

I come home from work tired, but I help the children with their homework, then cook dinner and we sit and eat together.

I love my job, but sometimes I get upset, because I have no time for myself or for my children.

What else have you found difficult about the job?

In general nothing – it is just a case of applying what you have learned. But of course there are challenges sometimes.

One time a young man committed suicide – he threw himself in front of the train and he died. It was beyond my control to do anything. You can stop, but the speed of the train means you need some distance to stop.

There was no counselling or psychological assistance provided by the company. But I had a day off work. I cried a lot.

What does your work mean to you?

It means I am a strong woman, who competes with men. I get respect from people for that. And my children are proud of me.

At the same time I am defending the rights of other working drivers, both men and women. I have always been in the union, but now I am acting for it.

Interview by Kay Parris.