Women in trucking face many obstacles. Along with the trucker stereotype comes the gender stereotype– unfair but true. There are an estimated 3.5 million truck drivers on the road and of those, more than 200,000 are women.
Many estimate there will soon be a driver shortage. Â Now is the perfect time for women to enter the field of commercial trucking.
Driving a truck can be a hard but very rewarding job. Women should not shy away from the challenge.
With the 5-year anniversary of Women in Trucking, we thought we would try to de-bunk some of the gender stereotypes of female drivers.
Myth: Women are bad drivers.
“Contrary to the conventional wisdom of men, women are much safer drivers. Significantly safer,” said Russ Rader, a spokesman with the The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “They’re much less likely to get into the risk-taking actions that lead to crashes.”
Women are less likely to speed, less likely to drink and drive and more likely to wear seat belts, he said.
Women are 3 times less likely to get in an accident and 5 times less likely to violate safety regulations.
Myth: Men Earn More than Women.
While this may be true in corporate America, the trucking industry offers a more fair pay system. Â In trucking, wages are earned, rather than given.
In the corporate world, U.S. women still earn only 77 cents on the male dollar.
Myth: Women are more sustible to violent crime, making it unsafe for women to be out on the road alone.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 21.4% of men are involved in some sort of violent crime per year and only 16.7% of women report being the victim of violent crime.
According to an ABC News report, “the Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, found that men are more aggressive than women, because the part of the brain that modulates aggression is smaller in men than it is in women. Both genders have about the same ability to produce emotions, but when it comes to keeping those emotions in check, men have been shortchanged.”
The repot goes on to say that women are better at deescalating a situation and are more aware of their surroundings, keeping them safer.
Myth: Women aren’t as smart as men.
Men got this one. While men are statistically smarter than women, by about 3-5 IQ points, women’s brains are more complicated and think faster than mens.
According to The American Trucker, female drivers are 4 times more likely to pass their CDL certification on their first attempt than men.
Long gone are the days of Ward and June Cleaver. Â According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 1/3 of fathers are stay-at-home dads and more women than ever have entered the work force.
Perhaps in today’s time, Ward would be staying home with Wally and Beaver, while June was out on the road.
To all drivers, male or female: we appreciate what you do. You humble and inspire us daily. Â We just thought we should give women the credit they’re due. It’s time for female truckers to shatter the glass ceiling and demand some respect.