Ten years ago, when I would stand in front of trucking company executives to talk about Women In Trucking (WIT), their comments were typically dispassionate. “We don’t care if the driver is male or female,” was the usual response. “We just want good drivers.”
I would try to make them understand that women wanted different things in a carrier as well as the industry as a whole. Women often had the same challenges but would prioritize their significance differently.
Safety was always an issue. Women looked for a carrier that was concerned about their personal safety on the road as well as how well they maintained the tractor and trailer. We knew that women are more risk averse than men. Even the World Health Organization called “masculinity” hazardous to health due to risky driving.