WGSS News Digest 302: The Women on Wheels Edition


March 18, 2025

Humaira Rafaqat, a senior traffic warden, teaches women how to ride a bike while wearing an abaya, during a training session as part of the "Women on Wheels" program organised by the traffic police department in Lahore, Pakistan.

A senior traffic warden teaches women how to ride a bike while wearing an abaya. (Image Credits: REUTERS)

In this news digest, we share the amazing alum accomplishments, including an alum accepting a promotion at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc and being a nominee for the GW Bouchet Honor Society! Furthermore, we highlight  department events such as "Asian American Masculinity at the Cutting Edge," "What Heels Chicana/o/x/e Masculinity?" and the WGSS MA Student event: "Presentation and Publishing" Panel. Additionally, we want to show WGSS and WGSS-related summer courses, remind students of our upcoming Yulee Event at the end of March, and WGSS events around D.C. 

For the news piece of this digest, we wanted to feature a Pakistani program called "Women on Wheels," or "WOW." This program allows for women to learn how to ride motercycles, which is a direct challenge to societal norms in Pakistan. Furthermore, the program has been in operation since 2017, but it has gained recent popularity because of soaring car prices and being able to drive bikes gives Pakistani women a more affordable transportation option that they traditionally would not have access to.