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The Role of Women in Trucking: Breaking Barriers and Inspiring Change

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The trucking industry has long been perceived as a male-dominated field, but recent years have shown a significant shift in the essential industry.  

Women have been increasingly stepping into the driver’s seat and taking on a variety of roles within the industry, as drivers, dispatchers, safety managers, and leaders. For trucking companies, this represents an immense opportunity to diversify their workforce, address driver shortages, and foster a more inclusive culture.  

Keep reading to discover more about the role of women in the trucking industry and how to create an environment that attracts and retains talented female drivers and professionals. 

 

The Growing Role of Women in Trucking 

According to the Women in Trucking Association (WIT), women made about 14% of professional truck drivers in 2022, a significant increase from just a decade ago.  

 

Yet, with women comprising nearly half of the general workforce, there is still untapped potential to engage more women in trucking roles. As companies face ongoing driver shortages, targeting women as potential hires is not only a logical solution but a strategic one.  

 

Additionally, women bring diverse perspectives, effective communication skills, and often prioritize safety, making them valuable assets on the road and in the office. 

 

Benefits of Hiring Women in Trucking 

  1. Improved Safety Records: Some studies have indicated that female truck drivers are statistically safer on the road, with fewer accidents and violations compared to their male counterparts. This focus on safety can help companies reduce costs related to accidents and insurance premiums. 
  2. Enhanced Workplace Culture: A more diverse workforce fosters creativity, innovation, and collaboration. Including women in your team can lead to improved problem-solving and a more inclusive environment that benefits all employees. 
  3. Addressing Driver Shortages: With the American Trucking Associations estimating a shortage of over 80,000 drivers, actively recruiting women can help fill these critical gaps and ensure operational continuity. 
  4. Positive Brand Image: Companies that champion diversity and inclusivity are more attractive to customers, partners, and potential employees. Showcasing your commitment to hiring women can enhance your reputation and brand. 

 

Challenges Women Face in Trucking

While opportunities are growing, women in trucking still face unique challenges that employers must address to support their success: 

  • Workplace Harassment: Creating a zero-tolerance policy for harassment and providing robust reporting mechanisms are critical steps for ensuring women feel safe and respected. 
  • Work-Life Balance: Long hours and time away from home can be particularly challenging for women with caregiving responsibilities. Flexible scheduling and home-daily routes can help mitigate these concerns. 
  • Access to Facilities: Ensuring that rest stops, terminals, and company facilities are equipped with amenities for women is an important consideration for creating a supportive environment. 

 

Strategies for Trucking Companies to Support Women

To attract and retain female talent, companies need to be proactive in addressing barriers and fostering an inclusive workplace. Here are some key strategies to consider: 

  • Tailored Recruitment Efforts: Develop targeted recruitment campaigns that highlight the benefits of a trucking career for women, such as competitive pay, opportunities for advancement, and job stability. Feature testimonials from current female employees to make your messaging relatable and inspiring. 
  • Mentorship and Training Programs: Establish mentorship programs that pair experienced female drivers or staff with new hires to provide guidance and support. Additionally, offer training that emphasizes the unique challenges women might face and how to overcome them. 
  • Family-Friendly Policies: Flexible scheduling, paid parental leave, and childcare assistance can make a significant difference in attracting women to your company. These policies demonstrate that you value work-life balance and are committed to supporting all employees. 
  • Safety and Comfort Initiatives: Invest in truck designs that prioritize comfort and safety for all drivers, including women. This might include adjustable seats, improved cab ergonomics, and enhanced security features. Ensure that your facilities, such as restrooms and sleeping quarters, are accommodating for female drivers. 
  • Promote Women to Leadership Roles: Representation matters. Elevating women into leadership positions within your company sends a strong message about your commitment to diversity and provides role models for aspiring female employees. 
  • Partner with Industry Organizations: Collaborate with groups like the Women in Trucking Association to access resources, training, and networking opportunities that support your diversity efforts. 

 

 

Ready to make real changes for women in trucking? Download the “No More Idling: From Lip Service to Real Progress for Women in Trucking” guide for free today: Packed with insights from the live Spark Change Lab held at Women in Trucking’s Accelerate! Conference in 2024, this guide helps companies move from good intentions to meaningful action. 

4 Ways Your Carrier Can Appeal to Female Truck Drivers

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female truck drivers

The trucking industry is changing, albeit slowly. While the percentage of female truck drivers is still a fraction of males, research shows that it’s rising steadily each year, with 7.8% of truck drivers being women in 2021.  

As more and more women enter the industry, carriers should be asking, “What are we doing to attract these drivers?” This is something that all carriers should be thinking about, but especially carriers that are finding it difficult to recruit and are dealing with poor retention. Here are 4 ways that your carrier can appeal to female truck drivers.  

1. Understand the Wants and Needs of Female Truck Drivers

millennial truck driver

So how can carriers appeal to female truck drivers? First, carriers need to recognize that women drivers will have different concerns than their male counterparts. Since trucking has been a male-dominated profession for so long, many of the policies, rules, and norms have developed accordingly. Making trucking a more appealing profession for women means questioning why things have always been a certain way and demonstrating a willingness to change them when needed.  

One of the biggest differences between male and female drivers is their reason for turnover. While men cite home time as the top reason, women cite a few others. Women were most concerned about the quality of equipment, the issue of safety, and poor relationships with coworkers. Let’s see how carriers can address these one at a time.

2. Equipment

The concern that female truck drivers have over equipment is two-fold. First, consider the ergonomics of a standard semi-truck cab. Generally, they’re built to fit the physical size of a larger man. It can be difficult for some women to reach the controls or get the seats adjusted into a comfortable position while keeping their feet on the pedals.  

How well the truck cab will fit an average female physique will impact whether women drivers will feel comfortable on the job. Luckily, there are manufacturers who make specialized seats for women truck drivers that fleets can invest in. 

Secondly, there’s the issue of truck maintenance. Women drivers want equipment that they can count on, so that they aren’t left on the side of the road by themselves waiting for maintenance. While no driver enjoys having that happen, it’s especially important for women drivers to avoid these situations. For them, it’s not only an inconvenience, but a dangerous situation to be in, especially at night. 

Apart from investing in newer and better equipment, carriers can also purchase fleet amenities, or make mechanical adjustments to the cabin to better accommodate female drivers. Carriers can also either provide simple mechanical training to female drivers or offer that company mechanics will always walk them through any troubleshooting in the form of real-time roadside assistance.

3. Safety

The issue of safety is one that female truck drivers of all ages and backgrounds are aware of. Safety from physical harm or the threat of sexual violence is important for all women but affects female truck drivers in unique ways.  

A truck driver’s lifestyle is in constant flux since they are always on the road. Female truck drivers may find themselves in unsafe or uncomfortable situations at truck stops, or shipper/receiver locations. Women in Trucking has been working with several truck stops to make them more friendly to women drivers. Carriers can also aid in this effort by pointing out which truck stops are safest, and which should be avoided.

4. Pro-Woman Culture

Women also tend to leave carriers for reasons related to poor company culture. For all drivers, relationships with dispatchers and management are very important, but this is especially true for female drivers. Women stay longer if they have a good relationship with their dispatcher but will leave quickly if that relationship becomes difficult or strained. Similar difficulties may arise with others such as shippers, receivers, fellow drivers, and even recruiters.  

The problem is that the culture of the workplace isn’t friendly to the wants and needs of female drivers. The good news is that carriers can lead the way in changing the culture, improving workplace relationships, and making women feel more accepted. 

But what does having a “pro-woman” culture mean? One example would be offering generous maternity leave. If the carrier you work for has historically only hired male drivers or older female drivers, maternity leave is something that you may not have thought about before. If your carrier is looking to attract younger female drivers, consider upping the amount of maternity leave your carrier offers and making that known in your job descriptions.  

Another example of creating a pro-woman culture would be pairing new female drivers with other women drivers during training. This creates a comfort level that is helpful to integrate them into the job. 

Similarly, carriers can create a social group for female drivers to share advice, feedback, and advocate for their concerns.

 Small steps like these are not just a good marketing move for carriers, but also signal to the industry and other women that you’re serious about hiring more female truck drivers, changing the culture, and making women feel welcome in trucking. 

ultimate guide to truck driver recruiting

Ultimate Guide to Truck Driver Recruiting

Current ways of recruiting truck drivers just don’t work anymore. That’s because recruiting isn’t a transaction. This ultimate guide helps carriers recruit for retention.

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How to Overcome These Trends Impacting the Truck Driver Shortage

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truck driver shortage

There’s nothing that keeps trucking recruiters up at night like the ongoing truck driver shortage. Without a doubt, it’s the biggest factor influencing the transportation industry. Truck drivers and carriers alike know that it is difficult to hire and recruit top drivers for retention when there is tremendous competition for a small pool of drivers. Overcoming the truck driver shortage requires understanding the forces causing them. Here are 4 trends impacting the driver shortage and solutions on how carriers can overcome them.

Trend 1: Not Attracting Younger Workers

As a whole, the trucking industry is currently failing to attract younger workers. Most current truck drivers are middle-aged and have worked in trucking or other industries for many years. In past generations there were more young truck drivers, but those trends have changed. In addition, the industry must comply with the federal rule which requires commercial vehicle drivers to be at least 21 years old. The regulations aren’t entirely to blame for the truck driver shortage. The labor force participation rate for ages 16 to 24 is trending downward. This means there is increased competition for a smaller pool of young drivers today than ever before.

Solution:

If the trucking industry wants to tap into a larger pool of drivers, it needs to start appealing to millennial drivers. Millennials have different priorities and attitudes than their generation X and generation Y predecessors. In order to appeal to younger drivers, recruiters need to evaluate what millennials really want and then make sure a trucking job can provide it.

Trend 2: More Workers Go Straight to College or the Trades

The percentage of high school graduates going to college has increased over the last few decades. In 1984, only 56% of students went to college after graduating from high school. The rest of them went into the labor force including trucking and trades like welding, mechanics, and work as plumbers or electricians.

Today, nearly 70% of students are going to college, which leaves fewer workers for both trucking and the trades.

Sure enough, many of the trades are also experiencing a shortage, and they directly compete with trucking industry for a smaller pool of workers. If these workers find the trades to be a more attractive as jobs, it impacts the shortage in the trucking industry.

Solution:

Recruiters need to focus on making trucking more attractive than the trades. While both of these industry paths have many things in common, there are important differences as well. The biggest factor is travel and the impact on home time. While this may seem like a disadvantage at first glance, recruiters need to turn this into a benefit. By highlighting the opportunity to travel and the independence and flexibility of the job, recruiters can make trucking more appealing. Trade industries don’t offer many of the same perks and benefits that trucking does.

Trend 3: Automation is Hurting, Not Helping

Automation has yet to make a significant impact in reducing the driver shortage. Although many industry analysts had imagined self-driving trucks to be more prevalent on the road today, it is not yet the case. Autonomous trucks are still years or decades away from being a player due to technology, legal, and safety considerations. Instead of helping the driver shortage, autonomous trucks have hurt the industry in another fashion. The looming threat of self-driving trucks is discouraging career-minded people from the trucking profession. If drivers incorrectly believe that autonomous trucks will take their jobs in a few years, they won’t invest the time and money needed to pursue a career path in trucking.

Solution:

Recruiters shouldn’t be waiting for automation to solve the driver shortage. Regardless of the future of self-driving trucks, recruiters need to focus on finding innovative ways to compete for the best drivers and retaining them. Have data and statistics available on how the hype behind self-driving trucks doesn’t stand up to reality. Drivers want to know that they are still needed and that you rely on them for labor.

Trend 4: Most Current Drivers are Men

There’s no doubt about it, there’s a driver shortage because most truck drivers are men and they comprise only 50% of the workforce. There has been a significant increase in women drivers in recent years, but this hasn’t happened fast enough to offset the driver shortage. Most older drivers are still men, while younger generations tend to be less disproportionate.

When only half the population considers trucking as a profession, there’s no wonder there’s a driver shortage.

It’s a myth that trucking isn’t a career for women or that they wouldn’t enjoy the work. Although being a woman trucker comes with its own challenges, women who are passionate about the job and the independence it brings are happy to take on the role.

Solution:

Recruiters can focus on hiring and retaining more female truck drivers. Industry stakeholders can partner with organizations like Women in Trucking to advance and advocate for women in the industry. Carriers can go the extra mile to make sure women are comfortable with their companies. As your reputation as a woman-friendly company grows, more female drivers will consider trucking with your fleet. While there is a long road ahead, growing the number of women drivers will make a serious dent in the driver shortage problem.

ultimate guide to truck driver recruiting

Ultimate Guide to Truck Driver Recruiting

Current ways of recruiting truck drivers just don’t work anymore. That’s because recruiting isn’t a transaction. This ultimate guide helps carriers recruit for retention.

Get the Ebook