Demand for Female Truck Drivers Still Strong
The trucking industry continues to be predominately male, with women holding down fewer than ten percent of all truck driver positions. For many reasons, recruiting females to the industry continues to be difficult, but more and more carriers are making it a focus of hiring.
Truck driving is a profession that pays well and offers a rewarding long-term career for women with the right training and skills.
The current truck driver shortage is projected to continue into the next decade. Many fleets have begun to acknowledge that they’ve largely been overlooking a valuable portion of the workforce. Forty percent of all the nation’s workers are female, and that number is not predicted to decline. Cultural and social issues, however, have stood in the way of women being able to make headway in the truck driving field. Family and children issues were a major factor in keeping women away. Women traditionally have chosen to stick with jobs which better allow them to balance home and work life, while driver recruiters used that same reason as an excuse for not recruiting more females.
Over time, though, cultural norms have changed, and more women now see that commercial trucking can be a good fit for their lifestyle. Women are no longer always the primary stay-at-home parent, instead sharing duties more equally with a partner or other caregivers. In addition, there are more truck driving jobs that don’t require an OTR driver to be away from home as long. Local trucking jobs that allow drivers to be home every few days can be well suited for women who have family and social commitments.Commercial truck driving can also be a good fit for older women who are free of those obligations.
Truck driver recruiters have come to acknowledge the advantages of recruitingwomen asCDL truck drivers. Statistics show that female truck drivers get into fewer preventable accidents than men, and generally drive more cautiously. Women are also less likely to quit driving. This is particularly critical as turnover rates among CDL drivers continue to grow. Women truck drivers also tend to rack up more over the road driver miles than men. That's likely due to the number of female team drivers.
Trucking fleets are now taking a second look at their efforts to recruit more female truck drivers, offering targeted incentives and training and examining their workplace culture. The trucking industry needs, and wants, more women to fill the role of truck driver. With employers offering better pay, more flexible scheduling, and job security for skilled, reliable drivers, now is a good time for women to consider trucking.