The trucking industry has long complained about the so-called truck driver shortage. One way leading trucking companies sought to alleviate the labor shortage was through reaching out to new demographics.
As the majority of Americans of both sexes found themselves living paycheck-to-paycheck, truck driving remained one of the few careers that can pay relatively well without a four-year degree. So women workers began to take notice.
Women Truck Drivers Surge
For the longest time, it seemed as if the proportion of women truck drivers remained stagnant at 6% of the total industry.
According to a report on numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the total number of women in the trucking industry reached 1.6 million workers. The majority of these women are truck drivers, and the total now makes up 18% of the trucking industry.
This is an all-time high for this sector of the US economy.
Reasons for the Surge
As mentioned, the trucking industry has talked a lot of talk about women truck drivers, but getting women behind the wheel takes real action and real change.
One reason for the surge is the continued work of organizations such as Women in Trucking (WIT). Women in Trucking not only promotes the hiring and advancement of women drivers, but it also seeks to remove obstacles for women to join the predominantly male industry.
For example, in interviews, Ellen Voie, a CDL holder and founder of WIT, has listed several issues such as the lack of washrooms for women, potential harassment and abuse, no uniforms for women, truck designed specifically for the needs of men, and more.
Her organization now boasts over 7,000 members which seeks to mitigate these issues. Women in Trucking was founded in 2007.
Another possible reason for the rise in women drivers is government intervention. The Biden Administration has recently formed the Women In Trucking Advisory Board, which seeks to address the barriers for women entering this line of work.
The advisory board was created as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law. It consists of 16 members representing the trucking and transportation industry.