Six core challenges deterring women from entering trucking

Jason Cannon: 

CCJ's 10-44 is brought to you by Chevron Delo, heavy duty diesel engine oil. Now there's even more reasons to choose Delo.

Matt Cole: 

Significant challenges exist that deter women from considering or continuing a career in trucking. How can those challenges be solved?

Jason Cannon: 

You're watching CCJ's 10-44, a weekly episode that brings you the latest trucking industry news and updates from the editors of CCJ. Don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell for notifications, so you'll never miss an installment of 10-44. Hey everybody, welcome back. I'm Jason Cannon and my co-host is Matt Cole. Despite rewarding benefits and career opportunities within the trucking industry, women have historically been underrepresented in truck driving jobs. Part of this is because a number of challenges women face in training, hiring, and in operations.

Matt Cole: 

New research released this summer by the American Transportation Research Institute identifies key challenges, proposes practical solutions and establishes best practices for women truck drivers, addressing both injury barriers and ongoing issues in the industry. Joining us this week is Atris Abigail Huffman, who walks us through the details of the report.

Abbigail Huffman: 

Back in 2023, our research advisory committee got together and identified five priorities like they do every single year. And one of those was looking into the challenges that women face actually at parking facilities and looking at that as a barrier to entry. And as we started diving into this, and it was about September when we kicked this off in 2023, we really realized that yes, of course parking is a barrier, but there's also a lot of other issues that both men and women face. And we can break those down, see what challenges are maybe a little bit more unique for women, but not just put those challenges out there, but also offer up some strategies for people in the industry to tackle to better understand these are measures that we can take to help our drivers have a better experience. We use three different tools, those being surveys, interviews, and a focus group.

We kind of staggered those throughout. We did a survey with motor carriers. We had about 80 some responses in that survey. And then we also did a truck driver survey, which we almost had 1500 drivers respond to, which it was split right down the middle. We had 50.1% of responses come from women. And the great thing about that survey as well is we got responses from women in the industry as well as both men and women out of the industry. So we really got to understand what keeps people in, but also what were the key reasons that drivers left? And of course, retirement is a factor, but that's not always the answer for everybody. And then we did some interviews. We really wanted to dive into the truck driver training school perspective. So we spoke with eight different training schools across the US of different sizes.

We talked to private and public. We also spoke with, I believe, 11 different motor carriers, all of which were women at motor carriers. And got to understand what are they doing that's really effective to really recruit women but also understand their issues out on the road and help them mitigate those, enjoy their job every single day or at least more easily overcome the challenges that they do encounter. And then of course, we did want to interview some drivers because these are the individuals that we're researching. We want to make sure we're accurately gathering the data and what we're hearing from the training schools, what we're hearing from the mother carriers is actually accurate. And then that last thing that I mentioned, the focus group in March of this year, we did a focus group in Washington DC with 11 different women truck drivers also throughout the country. So we really got to understand firsthand what some of their experiences are, really dive into what they're encountering every single day, some of the obstacles that they've overcome. But the great thing is they're 11 current drivers, so we got to see where they are today and everything that they've had to do to get to where they are today.

Jason Cannon: 

During its research ATRI asked truck drivers about 12 specific problems and how frequently they encounter those problems. From there, the list was distilled into six core challenges that researchers further explored.

Abbigail Huffman: 

When we did our driver survey, we wanted to understand how frequently they were counting 12 different problems is what we called them. And in some of those problems, we saw similarities between men and women and others, not so much. For example, restroom access. Women were accounting issues, accessing restrooms far more frequently than men were. So just understanding what are the differences here. And then from there we were able to group some of those problems together. For example, we grouped parking and restrooms together. They're not always the same thing, but oftentimes in order to access a restroom facility, you do have to park. So some of these issues do fall hand in hand. When we did our focus group, we talked about the lifestyle of being an over the road truck driver, and you don't always get the comforts that you have in your home. You have to really adapt to new lifestyle changes, whether that be health related.

You have to figure out what food you're going to eat, how you're going to obtain that food, how you're going to cook that food, and also how do you exercise? Do you have exercise facilities that you can access? If you're not in an area where the weather is cooperating, what are you going to do? And so just a lot of conversations about what those solutions are and how to find 'em. But we did, like you said, have six challenges. The first being negative industry image and perception. So just for people even get into the industry, what do they perceive that to be? And once they do get in, how do they keep a positive industry image and perception as they go forward? The second is the inability to complete truck driver training school. There's a lot of barriers, whether that be financial, whether that be just accessing the facility, it might be an hour away and that might be your closest option for education. The third is motor carrier company culture. So every company, every motor carrier operates differently. And if you can't find a culture that you mold well with, it might not be a good fit and you want to move elsewhere. The fourth is inability to acclimate to the OTR driver lifestyle, like I mentioned. The fifth is parking and restroom safety and capacity. And then the final one was gender harassment and discrimination.

Matt Cole: 

One of those six core challenges deterring women from even entering trucking is the industry's image and perception. Abigail explains what carriers and others in trucking can do to improve that image. After a quick word from 10 44 sponsor Chevron lubricants,

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Abbigail Huffman: 

The Trucking Moves America Forward initiative by a TA. Did an industry image survey. We've done it a few times to really try and understand what does the public view the trucking industry as, what are their thoughts? And frankly, the perception has really improved over the years. And so seeing that improvement is great. But there are still different efforts that motor carriers can take just by educating family, educating friends, keep putting these billboards out there and shed a really positive light on what the industry looks like. And the really great thing about this report is we focused on those three different populations, motor carrier training schools and truck drivers. And so each of these different challenges, we identify, like you said, different issues, but also strategies for these three different populations to grab at. And maybe not all apply, but at the end of the day, there might be some that you're like, oh, I didn't really think about that. Maybe that's a strategy that we could find a way to implement. Somehow that kind of goes with the negative industry image and perception.

Jason Cannon: 

Now, as Abigail mentioned, just getting to and completing truck driver training is a major hurdle for many prospective women truckers.

Abbigail Huffman: 

The first thing we heard about was pay. When we were doing our interviews with truck driver training schools, it became very clear that some schools will advertise the financial resources available, and drivers sometimes don't even either pay attention, know how to use them, know how to seek them out. So just making sure that incoming students, current students are aware of the financial resources available is super important. Whether that be through advertising, maybe you need to uptick your advertising or maybe change the way you're advertising. There's also a variety of different types of CDL training out there. And so I know the F-M-C-S-A has a great portal that you can go look at and see what training is available in my area. And of course, if you're in a more remote area, your options are going to be a little bit more limited. But just using your resources and when you first start to ask yourself, Hey, do I want to get my CDL? Do I want to be a truck driver? Using those resources that are available, just doing a few searches on Google can really increase your options.

Matt Cole: 

Motor carrier company culture was another of the six core challenges that women face with unclear and inconsistent communications. And the absence of recognition and appreciation initiatives being the top issues,

Abbigail Huffman: 

Unclear and inconsistent communications with drivers was one thing that we heard. And in our motor carrier survey, we asked, what are priorities for your carrier? And that was one thing that came up is just making sure when you set policies, when you set anything at your carrier that you're communicating that with your drivers, whether you're having an event or like I said, changing a policy, just making sure that drivers are always aware of what is going on. And this doesn't always look the same from one carrier to the next. So if you're a bigger carrier, it's probably a different model than maybe like a Facebook page or a group chat at a smaller carrier. And just finding what works for your operations is super important. And the other thing that came up was recognition and appreciation initiatives. And this can come in a lot of different forms. It could be safety based, it could be lowest idling times. Finding ways to incentivize drivers for having good operational procedures and just the way they go about their day can be super motivating. And it also kind of gives the drivers a little pat on the back a little bit more frequently. And of course, drivers have different needs, but just staying in touch with what your drivers seem to want, it seemed to be really important.

Jason Cannon: 

The one thing that rings true for all drivers, not just women, is a difficulty in adjusting to the over-the-road lifestyle, as well as limited parking and restroom facility access while out on the road.

Abbigail Huffman: 

This was probably one of the biggest talking points at our focus group, and there were two components that we heard about in our survey. We heard about in our interviews, insufficient home time. Of course, one of our surveys asked drivers what was more important to 'em. Flexible hours are the ability to get home every night. And the women drivers actually said, flexible hours are more important than getting home every night. So home time can be looked at in a handful of different ways. And again, it's important to just make sure that there is not this disconnect between what carriers think their drivers want and what drivers actually want. So just again, staying in touch with those things and just developing reasonable routes, reasonable schedules, communicating early on, this is what we expect of you, is that okay if it's not okay, what can be done to make that work?

The other component of the OTR driver lifestyle, like I said was a little bit ago, is health. How do you build that healthy lifestyle? How do you sustain it? Because truly a matter of how do you build a routine and set a routine that is truly sustainable in terms of exercise, sleep, you don't get fatigued out on the road. So just really maybe getting a mentor early on, get some advice, some firsthand experience. And drivers who've been in the industry for 5, 10, 15 plus years have so many anecdotes that they can pass along. And that's kind of where a mentor might be really helpful because it's a little different than getting to go home every night if you're an OTR driver. So oftentimes in conversations with drivers, they'd say, we've seen for drivers who've been in the industry 20 plus years, say we've seen massive improvements, but we still have a ways to go.

You're always going to, not always, you're going to encounter situations where the restroom facilities are not as clean. There have been situations anecdotally shared by drivers where they're like, I just did not use the restroom because it was not kept up. It was three in the morning, people were not attending to the facility. And it is really unfortunate that, I mean, it's a basic human need where these people want to use the restroom and they simply cannot because the facilities are not upkept. They might not even exist in the first place. So that was one thing where we had conversations about maybe apps that are available and utilizing those like Trucker Path or any other app that might be out there to use as a resource to say, okay, these are clean facilities I've used in the past. These are clean facilities that other people are rating.

Well, just staying attentive to that kind of thing. For drivers who don't always go the same routes every single day or even ever, it's a little bit harder to track those kind of things. So that's where route planning can be super, super valuable. And again, talking to other drivers who have experiences in those areas, it's a great thing. Word of mouth, it really does go far, and you can learn a lot from other people just by sharing your experiences. They can learn from you as well. And then of course, there's always the advocacy side of things. This is more for motor carriers. If you're part of associations, continue advocating for parking, for clean restroom facilities, for access at customer facilities. Unfortunately that is still an issue, but states like Washington are certainly pushing the curve and are trying to make positive change. So just again, there's a lot that can be done from the advocacy standpoint. And there has been a lot of work recently, especially on the parking front. So hopefully that continues to push forward and we can see more capacity. We can see more safety having lighting available. I mean, it sounds so simple, but unfortunately a lot of these places are not well lit. People don't always feel safe leaving their truck at night. So finding ways to maybe defend yourself unfortunately in those situations is sometimes a necessity.

Matt Cole: 

ATRI found that generally trucking is a safe job for women. But its research did find that women experience harassment or discrimination much more frequently than men do in the industry.

Abbigail Huffman: 

Yeah, in our driver survey, we gave drivers the opportunity to answer a questions like open-ended, just kind of is there anything else you want to share? And there were a few drivers that opened up about some situations where sexual harassment, sexual assault happened. I mean, it's still happening. And there are situations where this happens to women and they leave the industry. And this is probably one of the, it doesn't happen as frequently as maybe some of the other issues, but it's definitely more severe when it does happen. And in our report, we highlight a handful of issues. You see discrimination during training and how can you create policies as a motor carrier, whether that be having a vetting system in place to make sure that your trainers are going to treat your employees well. It sounds so simple, but unfortunately it's still an issue. Of course, there can be same-sex training policies, but that does not always fix the issue.

So just being aware of the different opportunities out there to try and address those training issues is certainly important. The other side of it is a conversation over personal safety. So at a truck stop, for example, improving situational awareness from the get-go, making sure that drivers are aware that maybe these are some self-defense mechanisms that you should know of. Maybe if the company policy allows carry pepper spray, maybe offer up a self-defense course. That was one thing a handful of motor carriers said, we want to make sure that our drivers are able to at least be aware of what's going on around them, and then if something does accelerate, they know how to defend themselves. So those were a handful of the things that we kept hearing. And we actually did ask drivers about, one of the problems that we asked about was harassment or discrimination, and I believe it was 17% of women encounter that daily compared to about 9% of men.

So again, one of those issues where we see a huge discrepancy between men and women. Of course, we did not ask about gender there, but that difference does make you wonder if that is somewhat gender related. The thing we heard most was, men don't think I can do what they can do. And when we asked the, what's the biggest reason it's harder for women to be truck drivers than men, that was the most frequently responded response right there. And they put it in their own words. And we heard a variation of different types of responses, but it's just a, why can't I be respected? I can do just as good of a job, but people just because I'm a woman perceived that I can't. And so there's obviously a perception barrier there that the industry still kind of has to overcome, and hopefully it can get whittled out because it's still happening.

And if that perception does disappear, who knows? There could be a lot of improvement. But I do want to say one more thing about that. It's not a very large percentage of the industry. It seems like, especially with our focus group participants, they're like, I don't encounter very much. It's maybe one in 100 or one in 20 men out there will really diss me down, but the rest are really supportive. They lift me up. And it's one of those situations where there's kind of one bad egg in the carton, and that's what seems to really ruin the reputation for the rest.

Jason Cannon: 

The biggest thing Abigail says carriers can do to improve in many of these areas is pretty simple. Just listen to the drivers.

Abbigail Huffman: 

I think it's just listening to your drivers. One thing, again, going back to the focus group is these drivers came from different companies and at the end of the day, there was some overlap. Sometimes they want similar things, but sometimes they don't. And really just understanding your driver population and listening to them so that you can always be aware of what's important is important to success as a company. Drivers do so much of the work, and it's amazing how much they dedicate to the job that they do. So finding a regular way to check in collectively as a company would be really, really valuable. And then also, we have an action plan at the end of the report that breaks down these six challenges. Maybe going through and highlighting what do we currently do, what could we do, and what steps can we take to get there?

Jason Cannon: 

That's it for this week's 10 44. You can read more on ccj digital.com. While you're there, sign up for our newsletter and stay up to date on the latest in trucking industry news and trends. If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know in the comments below. Don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell for notifications so you can catch us again next week.