Who were the first female taxi drivers in Paris?

Mrs Decourcelle.

Paris is a city with many stories, Olympic and otherwise, including the legacy of some of the first female taxi drivers in the early 20th century. Even today, the taxi is still a ubiquitous sight in the city. While women have always been a minority in the field of taxi drivers, they have been in the game since the dawn of driving cars for hire. In 1908, the same year that the Ford Model T would roll off the assembly line and make history in America, two exceptional Parisian women paved the way for female taxi drivers. Mademoiselle Gaby Pohlen and Madame Inès Decourcelle defied gender stereotypes to establish themselves in a world dominated by men.

Gaby Pohlen was a daredevil who loved traveling, cycling and driving. According to The Auto Journal in 1908, she began driving in 1902. In order to drive a taxi, when motorized automobiles began to take over this formerly horse-drawn role, she had to both obtain a license and be hired by a taxi company. Pohlen obtained her license to drive a motor taxi in 1908, but as she told the magazine reporter, the problem was getting hired. After repeated rejections, she was finally hired by a taxi company. She became one of the first female motor taxi drivers in history, joined by Madame Inès Decourcelle also in 1908. There seems to be some debate as to which woman technically took to the streets first, but certainly they were both pioneers.

In 1908, Pohlen expressed a desire to enter a “speed race.” Whether or not she ever achieved this, female drivers were increasingly entering a man’s world as more and more people bought automobiles. In 1909, Dorothy Levitt published a “talking” manual for women drivers. Levitt was a champion car and boat racer, and she became a champion of women drivers.

Her work and the pioneering female taxi drivers of Paris were aware of the bold new frontiers that lay open to women with the skill and courage to drive their own cars. While cars remain a stereotypically male passion today, a long history of women who love the freedom and speed of the open road or make a living on wheels makes the history of the automobile as much a women’s story.

Paris is a city full of stories, both Olympic and otherwise, including the legacy of some of the first female taxi drivers in the early 20th century.

Mrs Decourcelle and her taxi.

h/t: (Open Culture)

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