Mary Fields
A few weeks ago, I shared information presented at the TIA conference about the serious driver shortage we’ll be facing in coming years. How will we recruit a new generation of great drivers? One solution is to focus on female truckers. Recently, a local news channel highlighted increased enrollment by women in the truck driver training program at the community college. The story comes on the heels of a National Public Radio report: To Reverse Driver Shortage, Trucking Industry Steers Women To Jobs.
Currently females comprise around 5% of the professional truck driving population, which is why they are often treated as a ‘novelty’ by the media. Of course, truth is, there is nothing new about truck driving women. When the United States was being settled, women often drove wagons to the West while their husbands rode guard on the wagon trains.
Mary Fields, also known as “Stagecoach Mary” was the first African-American woman employed as a mail carrier by the United States Postal Service. An ex-slave from Tennessee, she first hauled freight for the Pony Express, and later drove a stagecoach. Fields never missed a day of work and didn’t retire until she was nearly eighty.
Lillie Drennan
Other famous freight haulers include Calamity Jane Cannary and Lillie Drennan, the first woman in the US to obtain a commercial trucking license and the first to own and operate her own trucking company. Drennan packed a pistol, wore a ten-gallon hat and never had an accident during her 24 years behind the wheel hauling oilfield equipment, explosives, soft drinks and more.
During WWI and WWII, women hauled supplies, mail and the wounded. In factories, women drove lift trucks and operated cranes, and some even piloted tug boats and planes.
Susan Hawk
It’s a proud history to live up to, and as the years progress, I predict we’ll see the percentage of female drivers rise steadily. Although an extremely diverse group, women attracted to the industry do seem to have some traits in common–they are hard-working, versatile and resourceful. Take for example, Susan Hawk, one of the finalists on the show Survivor, or Della Reese, the American singer, actress, and talk show host, best known for her role as Tess on Touched by an Angel. She hauled produce in the early days of her career, before landing her gig as an “angel”.
Male or female, all truckers face the same challenges, dangers, benefits, perks, fears and frustrations, which reminds me of a joke:
In a city park stood two statues, one female and the other male. The two statues faced each other for many years. Early one morning an angel appeared before the statues and said, “Since the two of you have been exemplary statues and have brought enjoyment to many people, I am giving you your greatest wish. I hereby give you the gift of life. “You have thirty minutes to do whatever you desire.”
Della Reese
And with that command, the statues came to life. The two statues smiled at each other, ran toward some nearby woods and dove behind a couple of bushes. The angel smiled to herself as she listened to the two statues giggling, rustling bushes and snapping twigs.
Fifteen minutes later, the two statues emerged from the bushes satisfied and smiling. Puzzled, the angel looked at her watch and asked the statues, “You still have fifteen minutes. Would you like to continue?” The male statue looked at the female and asked, “Do you want to do it again?” Smiling, the female statue said, “Sure. But this time, YOU hold the pigeon down and I’ll crap on its head!
May your Guardian Angel steer you clear of any fowl play this weekend,
~Bob
