A Female Driver

by Trucker Barbie
(OTR)

First, women don't refer to men as "Man Drivers", and personally, I find terms like "Woman Driver" or "Woman Doctor" insulting. One's profession does not designate gender, and so it makes it sound as though to be a female in that profession is somehow inferior.

As a female who is a truck driver, it is my experience that we are treated differently. We are often expected to prove ourselves in order to be accepted and respected by our male peers, or we are gleefully assisted because we simply must be delicate little flowers that are incapable of physical labor.

It makes me sick.

Ladies, if you want equal rights, you need to get off your butts and do equal work! Don't expect special treatment, and PLEASE stop using sexual innuendo, flirting, and manipulation to connive men into doing things for you!

Seeking help is one thing, but get out there with the one that's helping you. Learn! Insist upon seeing what's being done so that the next time it happens, you can fix it yourself!

Now, that said, you DON'T have to sacrifice being a feminine woman to be a trucker AT ALL! I wouldn't wear anything revealing if I were you-to avoid being mistaken for a truck stop whore (aka "Lot Lizard")-but you can wear dresses, cute blouses, get your nails done, etc....

It might be a male dominated industry, but this little feminist isn't in the least intimidated.

Trucker Barbie

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May 12, 2012
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by: Hervy

Trucker Barbie, Well said.

yes women are making their mark, that's for sure.

Your post nailed everything right on the head.

However I do want to point out something. when I say female or woman driver it is not with the mindset of which you describe.

However, it is related and there is no way around it and do what I call myself doing.

Which is, letting others who are looking for a co driver know that this is a lady driver.

The reason I want to make it easy for them to know that upfront is so a person looking of r a lady driver will know without scrolling and opening every submission.

I am sure there are women who prefer lady co drivers. I am also sure since we have established that women driver safer than men, that some owner operators or trucking companies would prefer to hire a woman.

So when I point out that it is a woman/female trucker, it has nothing to do with disrespect or or otherwise negative intentions.

See we live in an interesting world. Often issues can be looked at from more than one perspective and it's very easy to get all caught up in a label/term/name and mission that helps in one way but causes problems that affect us in other ways. But we focus miss the bigger picture.

(so the feminist movement was to bring about equality and fair treatment, but when some are too sensitive it counteracts what others are doing in an effort to achieve the same results, by overreacting)

We all would like things to be equal. They are not in all ways. In order to try and artificially balance things out we must intentionally favor that which we point out as being under attack (strongly worded, lol, but you get the point)

But I get your point too, just wanted to make sure you didn't think I fit what you describe.

Like I said great email, good points. Thanks for sharing it with us because a lot of people could stand to read it a few times. (I have met them.)

However, I will continue to point out women who are trucking from time to time in hopes that it will help them be noticed for the right reasons and show other women who doubt themselves what is possible for them as well.

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