Madonna Naroushvili drives a city bus on one of the busiest streets of Tbilisi. One of the very few female bus drivers in Georgia, Naroushvili says she is usually assigned to the most difficult routes because she is "never too lazy to steer the wheel hard, as opposed to many other drivers."
But the biggest challenge, she says, comes from her passengers. Many of them, after finding out that the bus is driven by a woman, openly express their surprise.
"Some of them cheer me up by saying that it's so great that a woman is at man's job," Naroushvili says. "Some of them are surprised that I can steer the wheel so confidently. Sometimes I get insults too. Regardless the reaction, I learned to stay calm, friendly, and distant at the same time."
Starting from her childhood Naroushvili was passionate about public transportation. Since the age of 22 she worked as a tram conductor, until the dissolution of the city tram system at the end of 1990s. Afterwards she worked as a private taxi driver for a few years before finally switching to a bus.
Temo Bardzimashvili is a freelance photojournalist based in Tbilisi.
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