Rozina Akter set out to take care of the needy family when her husband was unable to earn a living due to physical illness. Now she is the only female among the drivers of nearly 10,000 battery-run auto rickshaws plying in Tangail town every day.

The thirty-year-old is seen transporting passengers by a rented auto-rickshaw from one end of the town to the other.

Where a male driver struggles to drive an auto rickshaw in the busy town with traffic jam, Rozina has been doing this job for the last three years.

Nizam Uddin, a passenger, said that he got into the auto-rickshaw despite of its driver is a woman as Rozina drives the vehicle very well.

Praising Rozina's bravery, Kamrunnahar Munni, a local woman organiser, said, "I salute Rozina as she has proved that a woman is in no way inferior to a man."

In 2010, Rozina, the eldest of three daughters and two sons of a day labourer, was married off to one eyed Rafiqul Islam, an orphan youth of Golora village in Tangail's Kalihati upazila. One of Rafiqul's eyes was completely damaged in an accident during his boyhood.

After marriage, two daughters were born. Husband Rafiqul was running the family by his daily wage. But with time, Rafiqul's another eye was damaged partially. As the only bread earner of the family became disabled, the family came to a standstill.

Bewildered Rozina then started working to other houses as housemaid and also borrowed money from NGOs to manage livelihood of her four-member family. But it was not enough against the needs.

In such a situation, Rafiqul rented an auto-rickshaw from a villager to drive it. But at one stage, the work became risky due to his poor eyesight.

Rozina then expressed her interest in driving the auto-rickshaw and learnt driving from her husband.

While driving the vehicle on the road, she suffers from a problem and that is the lack of toilets for women in the town, said Rozina.

Shahadat Hossain, a neighbour of Rozina, said seeing her driving the auto, earlier some villagers used to laugh at her but they now fell silent seeing her determination.

Last year, Rozina bought a piece of land at Aishora village in adjacent Basail upazila taking loan from an NGO to cut the cost of living in a rented house. Later, the government gave her a house under the Prime Minister's Ashrayan Project.

Rozina's two daughters now read in a local government primary school.

"I want to get my daughters educated. So I know no fatigue or obstacle. I know I have to earn to keep everything going," Rozina went on.