Female truckers in the UK are a growing group. With more than 2,000 female drivers and rising, it is about time that female truck drivers get some of the attention they deserve! Female truckers are not discriminated against within the industry, but there is still much work to be done to ensure equality and opportunity for all women.
Why is the Percentage of Female Truck Drivers So Low?
There are currently 315,000 registered truck drivers in the UK of which only 2,200 of them are female truck drivers. Most of the lady truck drivers are aged between 21 and 25 years old. A major reason for this is that women are much less likely to apply for a driving job than their male counterparts.
The percentage of female truck drivers in the UK is low, but it’s not because they’re discriminated against within the industry. It might be difficult, or even impossible at times, for females to find work as a long-distance truck driver but determining why this is the case is very difficult.
Spending long periods away from home can be tough for many drivers but is gender a factor to employers when looking for new drivers coming into the industry.
For many years the concept that men are stronger than women, men are less sensitive than women, and many other discriminatory thoughts that the workplace mindset curtailed should be a thing of the past, but is it? Some say older managers are set in their ways and can’t change their mindset and they could well be right.
As younger more vibrant management is introduced to the trucking industry this mindset will hopefully change enabling the percentages of equality to even out.
Transport management is certainly male-dominated but women are starting to catch up with 23% of transport management roles within the trucking sector being taken by females.
Are Business Premises Set Up For Female Truck Drivers?
Many businesses are slowly changing the structure of the haulage yard to accommodate male and female workers, but it is not so long ago things like toilet facilities, changing rooms, and showers were set up for male workers only. With the introduction of the equal rights act in 2010 companies have had to make changes but many are far too slow in carrying out this work and some possibly avoid employing females to avoid the situation altogether!
Female Truckers Inspired To Take Up Trucking
Female truck driver percentages have slowly begun to increase since the equal rights act was introduced, but was that the main factor, years ago if someone was asked to describe a truck driver they would probably have said, “a large built man grumpy and with his trousers showing more than they should beyond his lower back”!
But the haulage industry is certainly changing and it is refreshingly nice to see female truck drivers with happy smiling faces, girl power decals on their trucks, and conversation at the truck stop that doesn’t involve beer or football.
It has been said many female truckers were inspired to get into the trucking industry when they watched Nessa driving her truck on the TV show Gavin and Stacy with her strong woman approach making a statement that females can do jobs that were male-dominated at the time.
Female Truck Drivers on YouTube
A female truck driver is a term that would have been unheard of just 30 years ago. But now, the haulage industry in the UK has changed and it’s refreshing to see more women getting into this traditionally male-dominated profession. There are even channels on YouTube where female truckers post videos about their experiences behind the wheel – Below are some of British Truckings favorite UK female trucking videos.
Truck Driver Hayley
Lena Trucker
Jess Britains Youngest Female Trucker
Do Female Truckers Really Like Pink?
Many female truck drivers make a statement by introducing the old cliche’ Pink for Girls and Blue for Boys within their working day, I don’t think those female truck drivers necessarily prefer pink to any other colour but girl power rules so if you can do it why not flaunt it!
Last update on 2024-11-24 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Thank you for reading this British Trucking article “Female truckers in the UK percentages in the haulage industry 2021” if you are a UK-based female truck driver leave a comment below about your experiences driving trucks in the UK.