150 women motorcyclists took to the streets in the Eastern city of Lahore for the inauguration of the program called Women on Wheels (WOW).

The idea of women straddling motorcycles, clambering into the cabs of Pakistan's iconic heavy trucks, or driving rickshaws for money is still taboo in the deeply conservative Muslim country of some 200 million, where gender discrimination is routine.

There has been a slew of recent campaigns by women for greater access to public spaces to which they are often denied, such as roadside eateries -- and the roads themselves.

The importance of the issue is underscored by the fact that three quarters of Pakistani women do not participate in the labour market, mainly due to a lack of safe transportation, according to a study by the International Labour Organisation.

The government of Punjab province has also realised the importance of getting women on to motorcycles, launching an awareness campaign in titled "Women on Wheels" that highlighted gender-based violence and street harassment.

The campaign saw 150 women, who had completed a police-run motorbike training programme, ride through the streets of Lahore on in a rally attended by diplomats and human rights lawyers, as it was revealed that 1,000 subsidised pink scooters would be given to working women and students under the scheme.