Wonderful Woman of the Trucking

Truck driver’s wives sometimes need their own little cheering section! Most people do not know what Truck drivers wives go through on a daily basis, and also what they endure while their husbands are not around. So, here is your own little cheering section (from me) for a job well done, ladies!
What sets Truck drivers wives apart from the other women in the world who are not in this industry is they, as truck drivers’ wives, know that they can handle most any situation. Situations such as raising our kids, mowing the lawn, paying the bills, etc., while their husbands are on the road. This has taught them to be strong women–women who know that if anything (God forbid) happens to their husbands, they are able to handle life’s situations ourselves.
Truck driver’s wives are the wonderful woman of the world that most people do not see. This is especially true when they are talking to people who don’t understand our lifestyle. There are people who ask Truck drivers wives what their husbands do for a living and when they tell them, “A truck driver,” the public snoot their noses in the air. They do not know how hard Truck driver’s wives work on the home front to keep things running smoothly and how hard our husbands work on the road to keep America rolling. They do not see the wonderful women we truly are.
Have you ever noticed how stuck up non-trucking industry folks can be? When you’re standing in a grocery store line talking with others just to make time go quicker, they automatically ask what your husband does for a living. You tell them that he is a truck driver. Their attitudes automatically change. They may shun you when at first they were nice to you before finding out what your husband does for a living.
This I could not stand when I was a truck driver’s wife. I would just haul off and told them off. This is what had said to them when they had shunned me like this, “Well, lady (or sir–whoever I was talking to at the time), if it weren’t for truck drivers out there on the roads, your buggy would be empty. Who do you think brings your food, clothing, lumber, cars and the everyday things you need to live? My husband and many more like him–that is who.”
We as woman of the trucking industry have the right to fight back when people are like this. We need to set these narrow-minded people straight as to what our lifestyle is really like, how hard we really work, and how our families are the backbone of America.
We as truck drivers’ wives work hard everyday behind the scenes of this trucking industry. We are the women of the world who keep this world going smoothly without our husbands at home, without others knowing who we are, without taking recognition. We stand behind our husbands no matter what.
My hats off, to all of the truck drivers’ wives of the world.
By Debby Richardson

A Trucker’s Wife

People who are not in the trucking industry may think that being a trucker’s wife is an easy task, but they would be mistaken. A trucker’s wife not only has her house work, laundry, and other every day tasks of her own to do, she also has to be the one who pays the bills when and if she receives a check from her husband.

A truckers wife has to be the one to do the books and to figure out where the money is coming from and where it is going to go and to make sure she has a little bit to live on while her husband is away. A trucker’s wife has to mow the lawn, fix the car, and instantaneously become a plumber or an electrician. She has to be a mother and a father to the children, work a full time job, cook the meals, run her husbands errands, run her own errands, take out the trash and make sure things run as smoothly as possible while her husband is on the road. She has to keep an upper lip and a smile on her face while doing double duty for her husband and herself. A trucker’s wife has to hold her head up high no matter the situation in good times and in bad times.

A trucker’s wife gets ridiculed by those in the general public who do not understand what our way of life is all about. She spends 75% of her lifetime alone, but still married to a man who loves to drive a truck –and the trucking way of life is not easy. She has to tolerate all the lonely hours of being away from the one she loves, and not having the home life that she once dreamed of and the security of a man every day of her life. A trucker’s wife also ahs to be a defender of her husbands profession and the life she lives. She has to make sure that her husbands mail is all taken care of and make sure that the company pays her. She also has to make sure the taxes are in on time, not to mention having a strong will and doing things a man would do normally on a day to day basis. On top of all this she has to protect herself, her home, and her family from intrusion.

She has to keep a smile on her face at the family gatherings and on the holidays when her husband is unable to be home enjoying a nice Thanksgiving dinner and a Christmas holiday. She also has to celebrate her wedding anniversary, birthdays and other special events by herself, and still hold her head up high with out getting down.

A trucker’s wife has to sit back and listen to him scream about the conditions out there on the road and with the shippers and brokers, and be a brick wall for her husband to lean on when he is down or mad. She also has to listen to him while he is griping about money and how much is this is and how much that is.

When her husband comes home she has to be there to greet him, wait on him, cook him dinner, wash an extra set of clothing, make sure his rig is clean, put up with him being tired all of the time and not wanting to go out with her when she wants to go out. She has to put up with, “Baby get me this, Baby get me that. I have been out there on the road and all you do is sit home and do nothing.” She has to be the backbone of not only the home, but also the moral support for her husband who is the backbone of an industry so little people know about and respect.

She has to put full faith and trust in her mate, not accuse him of cheating round or even think such thoughts. A Truckers wife also has countless hours of worry for her husband’s safety while he is out there on the roads. Every time the phone rings, her heart skips a beat thinking the worst has happened to her husband, especially in bad weather. Her eyes are glued to the Weather Channel watching where the storms are and were they will hit.
Being a trucker’s wife has its advantages and disadvantages. If you love your mate and are willing to accept this profession and deal with the daily trials and tribulations of the trucking industry, you will make it. To this day I do not understand why so many people think life as a trucker’s wife is such an easy one. Maybe they should trade a week of their lives with the lives of a trucker’s wife to get the real grasp of what being a truck drivers life is really like.

Women in Trucking

In years past women never drove big rigs or had worked in the trucking industry. This was considered strictly a man’s industry. Women finally seriously entered in the trucking industry in 1960, where they were faced with the resistance of their male counterparts.
History does show that back in 1929 Lillie Elizabeth McGee Drennen got her commercial truck driving license and later became the sole owner of Drennen Truck Lines. According to www.ladytruckdrivers.com she was the first woman truck driver and the first woman to own a trucking company.
Back in the 60’s when the women of our nation who were serious about driving truck to later follow in Lillie Elizabeth McGee Drennen’s footsteps were taught by their fathers, brothers or male neighbors. There were no truck driver schools as there is today to teach drivers how to drive semi tractor trailers.
Back in the 60’s women had to deal with lack of facilities to take a shower, lack of respect for them being on the road, etc.
Society used to say that “Ladies have no business in a truck and aren’t made for the work. The Job is to rough and stressful on a woman and that she is better off at home.”
Those words flow from the mouths of those who are serious in their belief that the road is no place for a woman. The People who think this way was most likely taught to think this way from very young.
Women since 1960 have not only proved that they have the ability to handle big rigs, but they have earned their place on the road with male drivers. For those women in trucking, they have their own unique set of concerns. These concerns are that they are still mothers, wives, house keepers when they are home, cooks, home care professionals who still have their womanly duties when they are home, they have a unique set of dynamics in the home, as soon as they come home for time off the road.
Women in trucking also have other concerns but these concerns are when they are on the road such as safety, working conditions, pay and home time which are just a few concerns facing all drivers both male and female. Women are no more or no less than their male counterparts in an industry that used to belong to the male gender only.
There are the same responsibilities that both women drivers and male drivers both face out on the roads. The responsibility of watching out for sexual harassment in the work place, at truck stops, on the road just to name a few. Because of these safety issues, some women prefer to team with their friends, family members, spouses or male co workers to feel safer while being on out on the road.
Women share the same frustrations and hardships provided by the lifestyle on the road in a forty ton peace of steel as do their male counterparts.
All truck drivers deal with the dangers of the road and the pressures of relating with customers, fellow workers and trucking dispatchers. Its even more frustrating is when downgrading is also a factor due to gender problems comes into this industry which makes it harder on a woman to be out there.
Women truck drivers also do the same job as their male counterparts. They still have to dolly down the trailers, back up the trucks to the dock, drive according to DOT regulations etc. There is no special treatment for any women in this industry.
National Statistics show that nearly 200,000 women are truck drivers or work in the trucking industry across the USA. More and more women are choosing this industry every year. Some of the reasons why women are choosing this type of career may be the freedom of the open road, flexible schedules, pay increases from normal jobs etc