Women involvement in the transportation industry is not something new. Luella Bates drove a Class B truck from 1918 to 1922. Lillie Elizabeth McGee Drennan is credited as the first commercial licensed female truck driver in 1929. Elizabeth Dole became the first woman to hold the U.S. Secretary of Transportation in 1983. Mary Barra became the first woman to lead a major auto manufacturer (GM) in 2014. At Trinity, 61 percent of our employees are women, with 11 percent of those women in management roles. Even though it’s not something new, women in certain sectors of the transportation industry is considered “non-traditional”.
Right now, women comprise about 7 percent of the overall trucking population. This number is on the rise and so are the organizations that focus on women in the trucking industry. REAL Women in Trucking and the Women in Trucking Association have taken initiatives of encouraging the employment of more women in the trucking industry, promoting accomplishments, helping to overcome obstacles, and serve as a mentor and support network. In this blog we’ll be looking at what is motivating more women to get into trucking, some challenges that they are faced with, and how women truck drivers may play a role in driver retention.

Attraction to the trucking industry

Attraction to the trucking industry varies widely for both men and women. Over 80 percent of women truck drivers came into the industry because of a family member or friend, finding employment as part of a team. Other aspiring women truckers are driven to the industry by the salary that can aid in overcoming personal struggles and the want to become more self-sufficient.
We reached out to some of our female carriers to see what attracted them to the trucking industry. One of our owner-operators said that she was attracted to the freedom that being a truck driver brought while another said that being able to be her own boss was a huge motivator. And let’s not forget, the opportunity to see much of the country. While money, freedom, and travel are great motivators, challenges for women in the industry exist.

Challenges and Safety

Safety is a major concern among many female truck drivers. According to a Women in Trucking’s Best Practices Survey, women truck drivers rated how safe they felt in their job a 4.4 on a scale of 1 to 10. This included all aspects of safety on the job; personal, while driving and stopped, weather, equipment, infrastructure, and other drivers on the road.
To help lessen some equipment concerns and challenges, some companies are beginning to offer vehicle packages that include ergonomic details such as adjusted height, better placement of cab grab handles and dash cluster gauges, a cab security system and more accessible oil and coolant checks.
Others are tackling personal safety concerns head on. Real Women in Trucking will be hosting a self-defense course for women drivers that attend the Queen of the Road on the High Seas cruise this year. The course is intended to bring awareness to the dangers female drivers face while on the road and educate attendees on effective defense techniques.
These and many other advances in the industry are helping to retain women drivers.

Retention and recruiting

Two main factors come into play when trying to battle the increasing driver shortage; retention and recruiting. One study found that women and men truck drivers leave the industry for different reasons and carriers who understand the differences will be more successful in driver retention.
Women tend to be more concerned about the quality of their equipment and relationships with dispatchers, and are more likely to part ways with a carrier if they feel their equipment is unsafe and dispatcher relationships go south. Based on data from Omnitracs’, women drivers are more likely to stay at the same job longer, drive more miles, and have fewer severe accidents than the average truck driver.
On the recruiting side, many companies are pushing for more out of the box solutions that include “non-traditional” truck driver recruits, such as women. To attract more women drivers, carriers that shift recruiting efforts and address women driver concerns are more likely to have a competitive edge over companies that are resistant to change. Women make up half of the American workforce and it’s time to bring that force further into the trucking world.