Very few women choose trucking as a career, but an Irishtown woman would like to see more consider it.
Jo-Anne Phillips developed an interest in truck driving when she was just 19 years old.
She was encouraged by her father to help out a good family friend who needed a driver to move a truck and trailer across the country to summer fairs. She is now the COO of Jeramand Trucking Ltd operating a fleet of 22 trucks.
“There are a lot of women involved in the industry in facets including dispatching, management or in the warehouse, but only around three per cent of female truck drivers are long haul carriers in North America,” Phillips says.
She adds there are also some incorrect perceptions about truck drivers, “There is that understanding that it is such a big truck. But we don’t have to pick it up, we just have to drive it. Certainly it has been a male dominated industry and there are perceptions that for females entering the industry there will be some challenges.”
Phillips says it’s always a little bit scary getting into new adventures. but the trucking industry is a friendly place to be, and it is a lot of fun, “Definitely there will be a lot of people who are going to be there to help and support.”
In the past, women were home looking after the family, and driving truck didn’t fit with their lifestyle, “Being in a transport truck for up to five days, or for some carriers for up to a month, it is not conducive to raising kids. That perhaps in the past was one of the reason females were involved. ”
This weekend at the Moncton Coliseum, is the Atlantic Trucking Show. On Saturday, a special feature that will send a special salute to women behind the wheel.
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