Just 6 in 100 Australian truckies are women. Here’s what would get more behind the wheel

Anton Kudryashov/Pexels , CC BY Pull up at any truck stop on the Hume or Bruce Highway and do a quick headcount.

Chances are, for every 100 truck drivers refuelling, about six are women.

And if you’re just looking at drivers of heavy vehicles – the road trains, the B-doubles, the multi-combination rigs – that figure drops to four in 100.

There has been a slight increase over the past decade, thanks to targeted industry initiatives.

Yet it remains a fraction of women’s almost equal participation ( 48.5% ) in Australia’s wider workforce.

That’s despite the National Road Transport Association estimating the sector is already short 28,000 drivers, a gap projected to reach 78,000 by 2029.

What’s stopping women from getting behind the wheel? Our new Women in Trucking report, being released at Parliament House in Canberra today, found women aren’t staying away by choice.

Instead, they’re being kept out by an industry that says it wants them, but hasn’t built the conditions for them to stay. ‘Have a thick skin’ Over the past year, we conducted a national survey of 489 truck drivers, as well as interviews with 20 drivers and industry figures, and a site visit to Geraldton, Western Australia.

Our survey, answered by 473 men (96.5%) and 16 women, revealed a contradiction.

Eighty-six percent of respondents agreed there is opportunity for women to enter trucking.

Yet only 72% agreed women drivers are welcome, and just 66% agreed the industry would benefit from more of them.

That gap between “there’s opportunity” and “they’re welcome” says a lot.

One driver we interviewed put it bluntly when asked what she would tell a young woman considering the job: “Have a thick skin.” What women bring to driving The women and men we spoke to converged on a consistent set of strengths women bring to the cab: meticulous attention to vehicle maintenance safe, more measured driving strong communication with dispatch and clients, and a moderating effect on workplace culture.

As one male interviewee told us, having women on site tends to mean “a little bit more family friendly” language and conduct.