[b]Why don't women become lorry drivers?[/b]
Via [url=http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34922131?ocid=socialflow_twitter]BBC[/url]
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[i]All over the world it's the same - a woman driving a lorry gets funny looks and has to listen to unfunny jokes. It's a career women are not expected to choose, it seems, and often one they don't even consider. But why not? The job no longer requires brute strength and some women who do it say they love it.[/i]
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"When I'm out on the road and a wagon will go past I do actually feel like I've got three heads because they do look about three or four times as if to say, 'What a young girl driving a wagon?'"
Natalie Tipton is a 28-year-old lorry driver based in north-east England, but her experience is not unique. It's one that Ellen Voie of the US-based Women in Trucking Association also recognises.
"It's interesting to see what peoples' reactions are when a female jumps out of the driver's seat. They usually get looks from people like, 'Wow I didn't know women could drive trucks, I didn't know women did drive trucks.'"
And in Pakistan, a country with only one woman lorry driver - Shamim Akhtar - some people on the street in Islamabad didn't just think it was an odd career choice, but morally wrong.
"I think that for this lady who drives a truck, this profession does not suit her being a woman," said one man. "It is a very tough and difficult job. If she wants to she can do something else. And if she wants to drive then maybe she should just drive a smaller car."
Only 1.2% of drivers of HGVs, or heavy goods vehicles, in the UK are women and it's a similar story across Europe. In the US it's a little higher at 5.8 % but women are still very much in the minority.
So while it may be that only a minority of drivers live up to the stereotype - brawny, macho and dressed in a lumberjack shirt - lorry driving is, at present, still largely a man's world. And women who venture into it often have a lot to put up with.
"You have to be quite thick-skinned. You have to be quite ballsy as well. Just because you're in such a male-orientated environment and because there is quite a lot of banter," says Natalie.[/quote]
Good on them.
[editline]27th November 2015[/editline]
While a bunch of insufferable cunts go out and protest in the name of equality and respect, these women (even if it's just a handful) go out there and take what's theirs. These women *get* it.
Any woman who can drive a lorry, while "earning her wings" and joining on the banter with the horny lardasses she runs into on her way to the truck stop, is instantly cool in my book, and definitely someone to look up to.
Lots of women semi drivers in the us, less common then men, but they're out there.
Why? Well from what I've seen they aren't really interested in it
[quote]The job no longer requires brute strength[/quote]
Usually does though
[QUOTE=opaali;49196304]Why? Well from what I've seen they aren't really interested in it[/QUOTE]
Yeah but why is that? What puts them off? That's the point.
[QUOTE=theenemy;49196373]Yeah but why is that? What puts them off? That's the point.[/QUOTE]
Perhaps society's view that it's a "men's" job and the male dominated culture also as being off-putting.
[QUOTE=theenemy;49196373]Yeah but why is that? What puts them off? That's the point.[/QUOTE]
Probably the same reason why most dudes don't consider hair dressing or manicure at a spa, as a day job.
Hell, I've never ever thought of learning manicure, I can see why any ordinary chick out there wouldn't care about how to drive a semi.
[editline]27th November 2015[/editline]
And let's be frank -- most dudes who are into hair dressing, or have a work that gravitates towards the fashion business, tend to be gay dudes, never a straight average Joe. The stereotype exists for a reason, and most straight dudes would *never* dare to get a job in that field, where one would feel labeled as the rest of the guys in that area of expertise.
Same with men though how many male secretaries do you see?Job just kind of comes with the territory. Now I pass a truck stop every day for work and I see quite a bit of women in my fair share of time driving past it.
[QUOTE=opaali;49196304]
Usually does though[/QUOTE]
And? Women can be just as physically capable as men.
[QUOTE=crazycory65;49196414]Same with men though how many male secretaries do you see?Job just kind of comes with the territory. Now I pass a truck stop every day for work and I see quite a bit of women in my fair share of time driving past it.[/QUOTE]
Yup, pretty much.
And let's not forget that every HR agency -at least in my city- only hires women for secretary jobs, never men. [I]And[/I] they have to be in their early 20s... because reasons.
So that rules out any chances of guys landing a secretary job.
[editline]27th November 2015[/editline]
[QUOTE=draugur;49196437]Women can be just as physically capable as men.[/QUOTE]
Uh, [url=www.foxnews.com/us/2015/10/07/report-finds-female-marines-cannot-meet-some-standards-for-special-forces/?intcmp=hpbt1]not always.[/url] But then again, plenty of men don't meet the required physical standards either, so there's that.
[QUOTE=draugur;49196437]And? Women can be just as physically capable as men.[/QUOTE]
He was just pointing out an error, never said women weren't capable. Sheesh
[QUOTE=opaali;49196304]
Usually does though[/QUOTE]
Power steering makes it so you can drive using your pinkies if you wanted to
[QUOTE=Stopper;49196453]Power steering makes it so you can drive using your pinkies if you wanted to[/QUOTE]
There's more to the job than just steering
[QUOTE=Stopper;49196453]Power steering makes it so you can drive using your pinkies if you wanted to[/QUOTE]
And all the cargo magically jumps in to the truck
[QUOTE=opaali;49196475]And all the cargo magically jumps in to the truck[/QUOTE]
Not sure if they handle their cargo that much, but I can definitely see truck drivers changing a tire every once in a while, and those babies weigh 130lbs (60kg) or more... it'd be quite the workout, even for a scrawny dude not used to change truck tires - can't imagine how heavy it'd feel for a chick who's not used to do any heavy lifting.
[QUOTE=opaali;49196475]And all the cargo magically jumps in to the truck[/QUOTE]
Truck drivers don't always do loading.
[QUOTE=opaali;49196475]And all the cargo magically jumps in to the truck[/QUOTE]
If by "magically" you mean the people who's job it is to load the truck, then yes.
Majority of women in this country are so privileged that all they want to do is moan about stupid shit saying that they are not equal but refuse to do the "male orientated" jobs that aren't in industry fields.
You don't hear many women using the example "We want equality, we should be miners/factory workers/labourers" all the moan about in this country is "We should be executives, CEO's, Managers" of all incredibly high paying businesses.
I remember this woman at my old job who was 100% #feminist (which was DEFINITELY more about women being higher than men and her hating men). She would moan constantly about being oppressed by the managers and that they don't treat her well because shes a "strong" woman and "they feel threatened" by her. But yet she refused to do any job that involved being outside, where typically the men would be doing it....
There was also another job that i was in temporarily where there was a group of women with a similar mindsets. About 5 -6 of them would moan that all the men in the office get the best jobs and they get all the crap jobs.... But the supervisors said that the reason they give the men in the office the good/big jobs is because they do actually work harder and complete it faster.
The time i was there, my supervisor showed me the chart over the whole year where what people have called in sick for what reasons and stuff....
Those 5 women called in sick at least 4 times a month each with quite pathetic excuses (headaches, stress, colds). Where there was only 6 guys in the office and only 2 of them have been off sick twice with actual illnesses and still came back way earlier than they should have (one guy had a broken collarbone and another guy had the actual flu and got rushed to hospital because he couldn't breath)
Obviously im not saying all women are like this. There are some hard workers out there. Its just been proven in my experience that a lot of men work harder than a lot of women.
So good on to these women that are showing up the lazy asses out there.
I've ridden with a driver and we(re: I) had to unload our trailer at our stops and sometimes load shit back on. The only time we didn't load it ourselves is at our own warehouse. We also had a lift gate and an electric pallet jack.
[editline]27th November 2015[/editline]
The hardest part is backing the trailer around corners
And the shit schedule
Being a truck driver usually isn't a particularly enticing prospect for most people in general. There's as much of an issue with men getting pulled into shitty abusive jobs because of the masculine appeal as there is with the job being unattractive to women because of the work environment.
Women barely even drive stickshift cars, why would they drive big rigs?
I've seen a massive influx of women bus drivers around my city lately, doesn't seem far fetched at all for some to be jumping to trucks.
They do. It's just rare. Most don't want to. It's like why don't we have women game developers again its another profession that women don't like to do it. Never really known why.
My Mum's actually a HGV driver in the UK. She pretty much fits the butch lesbian stereotype, but as the article says banter is a big part of the job.
One thing she told me that I found interesting though is that a lot of the rest stops don't actually have female bathrooms and showers. She's been told she can use the mens but it's not something she exactly wants to do.
[QUOTE=Del91;49196698]
The hardest part is backing the trailer around corners
And the shit schedule[/QUOTE]
Don't you pretty much 100% just drive semis? Those are easy to reverse since you have only 1 pivot point
[QUOTE=draugur;49196437]And? Women can be just as physically capable as men.[/QUOTE]
Can be, not they are.
I've seen quite a few Semi trailer drivers that are women in Canada.
Honestly, some of the least fear inducing trucks to drive next to.
[QUOTE=viper shtf;49196749]Women barely even drive stickshift cars, why would they drive big rigs?[/QUOTE]
Where are we talking here? In Europe [I]everyone[/I] drives "stickshift".
"Unfunny jokes" aren't exclusive to women, it's part of trucker culture (at least in the US, and I can't imagine it'd be much different elsewhere) and they can be hilarious if you have a sense of humor instead of a sense of entitlement
Worked a summer as a helper on a semi out in west Texas delivering furniture to people, it was hard work but a lot of fun. We met a bunch of lady truckers, half of them were independent or owner-operators with gorgeous high end custom rigs. The only barrier to entry in trucking anymore is whether or not you have a CDL.
[QUOTE=opaali;49196818]Don't you pretty much 100% just drive semis? Those are easy to reverse since you have only 1 pivot point[/QUOTE]
American semis are huge, they are not "easy" to back up with precision. :v: Simple in theory, sure, but visibility is an issue on a vehicle that's 80 feet long in total.
[QUOTE=theenemy;49196373]Yeah but why is that? What puts them off? That's the point.[/QUOTE]
Well from what I've seen, I've seen "unladylike" lady truck drivers, bus and tram drivers, or construction workers and what have u. Probably in the minority they are, but they exist, and the point is; I'm not sure if we're too emotionally invested in this whole sexism shit in Finland as much other countries worldwide may be.
I don't think the whole idyllic "Traditional/American" family trend never fully landed in Finland either, and we've had women voting for quite a bit longer too. Different countries and vibes, that's all.
[QUOTE=opaali;49196304]Why? Well from what I've seen they aren't really interested in it
Usually does though[/QUOTE]
Idk most retail trucking consists of taking sealed trailers from point a to b, they don't have to worry about securing stuff
Truck driving is a pretty broad field
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