At the Truckload Carriers Association annual convention in Las Vegas, Mar. 8, a panel of fleet executives discussed strategies to attract more women drivers into the trucking industry. The panel was organized by Women in Trucking.
“I think for women (driving) is a great job. It is a great opportunity to have a good paying job with benefits. Those are few and far between out there,” said Sherri Garner Brumbaugh, president of Garner Trucking, Inc., a 100-truck carrier based in Ohio.
Amber Edmondson, president of Trailiner Corporation, a family-owned truckload carrier based in Springfield, Mo., emphasized the low barrier of entry and the level playing field for income.
“You can go to most training programs for free or paid for by a company so you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on an education to come into an equal pay position,” she said.
Women make up 57 percent of the workforce in the United States, but the trucking industry is much different; only six percent of drivers are women. Why does there appear to be a lack of interest in a career that pays between $60,000 and $80,000 a year?
“I’m not sure the issue is that young women feel like they can’t drive a truck,” said Lisa Pate, chief administration officer of U.S. Xpress. “I think the issue is that young women and young men really don’t want to drive a truck. How do we change the aspects of the job to make it more attractive? This is not a short term problem.”
More work needs to be done with scheduling and routing to get drivers home on time and remove the variability from their workday, the panelists agreed.
