24/03/2021
Celebrating Women's Month: Women in trucking
The trucking and logistics industry has been a male-dominated one for a long time. It is still quite unusual for women to be found in the trucking industry such that one can name them as they are only a handful. A few years ago the spotlight was on Rutendo Barna who went on to conquer the aviation industry. A true example of grit.
However, this is the reaction that women get when they enter unusual territory- they are singled out as having achieved a huge feat. , the 2021 message from encourages women to challenge and normalise being in such industries. Molly Manatse, one lady who has also had the spotlight on her as one of very few truck drivers has had her fair share of being referred to as a “female truck driver” and not just a driver.
Granted, some women have stumbled upon these careers as a result of their fight against poverty eradication, but clearly have shown resilience and that they can do it as well as the men. However, it seems like they have to work extra-hard to prove their worth as highlighted by Memory Mukabeta, in an interview that she had based on her vocation as a motor mechanic. Criticism from male counterparts is an added challenge.
The heavy-lifting in the trucking industry creates an illusion that women cannot handle it. The weeks away from one’s family, perhaps children, while charting distances of over 500kms per day across the region. Well, if we can take it from Debrah Zingoni, another regional truck driver, it seems improbable but definitely not impossible. She is an advocate for women taking up space in this industry.
Regionally,women seem to be shaking things up in the trucking industry across the continent as truck drivers. Across East Africa, women like Veronica Wanjiru and Mercy Chepkirui show that women are capable of covering distance across countries like Kenya and Uganda in control of these beasts of the road.
In countries like America and Canada though,women in trucking are now more common. Women even have Youtube channels on their experiences in truck driving like Niesha K.
In celebration of Women’s month, Tsoka Haulage pays homage to women in trucking who are changing the narrative and choosing to challenge social constructs when it comes to career paths.