The first meeting of the Women of Trucking Advisory Board (WOTAB) was held Nov. 9. The board's mandate is to ensure the safety of women commercial motor vehicle drivers and the trucking industry as a whole. Much of the policy discussed went way beyond a gender binary and into ideas that would fundamentally impact trucking generally. Panelists on a panel about sexism in the trucking industry. Panelist Brenny Munoz Smith says there weren't showers for women in truck stops when she was growing up.
She and other panelists want to help make life easier for drivers and trucking companies. WOTAB's Joyce Brenny says a safety plan would include "a few extra steps for women" aimed at warding off physical attacks, parking safely. Brenny suggests pairing up same-sex driver-trainer pairs or sending opposite-sex pairs on short-haul runs. Truck parking isn't just an issue for women, again -- when trucks relegated to roadside or ramp parking get smashed into by drowsy drivers, gender doesn't enter into it. Brenny spoke in favor of an industry-wide reporting procedure for harassment.
"My world is really boys," primarily, she said. "It's not just about making the world safe for women, but making it safe for everyone," she says.