French Muslim mother of five drives Uber, ignores Islamophobia

PARIS, FRANCE – A 39-year-old French Muslim mother of five earns a living by driving an Uber taxi.

 Türkiye’s Anadolu news agency documented the daily life of Abilene Belkaid, a former Catholic who converted to Islam in 2005 in Morocco.

Choosing a career of driving has helped Belkaid to continue wearing her cultural and religious symbols, otherwise prohibited in France.

She said she can wear a headscarf and can set her own working hours. There is none to dictate, whether I should wear or not wear the headscarf.

Belkaid said that is why she chose this job. She said ever since she started wearing a headscarf, she felt she was facing racism.

 But she herself questions, was it racism? Since she is herself a French national, it could not be about the race. She called this discriminative attitude Islamophobia.

“Ever since I started wearing the headscarf, I have been feeling something, I mean, can we call it racism, I don’t know, because race is not the issue, I am French. I would rather say it’s more Islamophobia,” she said.

Belkaid, mentioning that 70% of her female customers express satisfaction traveling with a female driver.

There are not enough female drivers in the country.

 She also mentioned that female customers request the option to choose between female or male drivers in private transportation applications.

Many women prefer to select their own driver.