Mexico See all topics Follow

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is part of ‘The Great Illusion,’ a series by CNN’s As Equals all about work: investigating which industries are most harmful for women workers, revealing the true cost of care work, and exploring how it can be improved. For information about how CNN As Equals is funded and more, check out our FAQs.

Mexico City —

Ruth Rojas got a flat tire almost as soon as she picked us up, so she slowed her little red car to a crawl. There was a tire shop four blocks away, an interminable distance at that speed with the evening heat and rush hour exhaust pouring through the open windows.

By the time we reached the tire shop, the sky was darkening and the sidewalk in front of the little shop partially blocked by a group of drunken men, one quietly vomiting between his knees.

The tire was just bad luck. After everything she’d seen on the road, Rojas was cool about it; we’d be back on route soon, she assured. A punctured tire is the least of the concerns of a female cabbie in Mexico City.

In a country where thousands of people disappear every year and mass graves keep turning up, surviving a night of work as a driver for hire can feel like a roll of the dice. A string of gory killings and assaults on both drivers and passengers in rideshare vehicles and taxis has focused national attention on the issue, with tabloid frontpages recounting women fatally jumping out of moving vehicles, abandoned on the side of the road by drivers, and raped by passengers.

Rojas let CNN ride along for an evening of driving. She tries to pick her rides as carefully as she can based on scant profile details and has an idea of high-crime “red zones” to avoid across the sprawling Mexican capital - but nevertheless she says she has already been assaulted multiple times, including at gunpoint, in seven years.

Rideshare driver Ruth Rojas works the night shift in Mexico City. CNN

“I go into neighborhoods like Chimalhuacán, Ixtapaluca, Cuautitlán Izcalli, Atizapán and see people selling drugs or robbing others on the street. It’s very complicated and scary, but I’ve learned it’s part of my job,” she said.

After two hours at the s