Editor’s note: This is part of the third article in a three-month series examining the driver shortage, measuring its impact on trucking operations and exploring methods to mitigate the crisis.
Efforts to increase women’s share of the driving workforce have earned less-than-stellar results, barely increasing to 7 percent from 5 percent 10 years ago, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
That number seemed low to many in the industry, prompting the Women In Trucking association to partner with the National Transportation Institute to develop the Women In Trucking Index, which they say offers a more accurate accounting of the percentage of female drivers. NTI added gender questions to its surveys and in 2016, after a year of data collection, reported the percentage of female drivers at 7.13 percent, which since has climbed to 7.89 percent in the most recent report.
Large carriers that focus on recruiting and retaining women report higher shares, often more than 12 percent and even as much as 30 percent. But in an industry plagued by negative stereotypes of what it means to be a trucker and the challenges many women face in being their family’s primary caretakers, attracting them to driving jobs is an uphill battle.
Best practices from carriers with a high number of female drivers include emphasizing pay and benefits but also spotlighting female trainers, safe equipment and more home time.
Joanne Fatta, a driver and trainer for Ephrata, Pa.-based Sunrise Transport for 18 years, trains female drivers out of CDL school. Many come from retail, food service or other low-paying fields and are searching for financial security. Most heard about trucking through friends and family or through social media hobby and interest groups.
