Truckers Girls: Non-Invented Stories

23.04.2019

Alisa, 30 years old, St. Petersburg:

As a child, I dreamed of becoming a surgeon, but I learned to be a social worker, and I became a truck driver by accident, and now, when I poke around in my car, I feel that my dream has come true.

I used to often help my stepfather fix cars. When I received the inheritance, I decided to open my own business and bought a tow truck. I then lived with a common-law husband, he is a very good driver and mechanic. In our family firm, I was a logistician and an accountant, and he traveled and repaired. When my husband was deprived of his license, we started looking for a driver. The search did not lead to anything, and I myself decided to get the "C" category. I thought that all this was temporary, but then my husband and I parted ways, and the profession remained. It is almost impossible for a woman to get a job as a truck driver. When I sold my car and decided to go to work as a hired driver, I was not even hired for a gazelle: “We need a man”. As a result, my friend, the driver, helped with the work.

Photo from personal archive

I have been driving trucks for 7 years. Driving I feel in my element. However, it strains the excessive attention from men. There were several cases when men, after staring at me, almost got into an accident. My height is 164 cm, I weigh 48 kilograms. People often ask me how I, being so fragile, cope with the truck? Physically, this work is very hard, especially when you drive old cars, like mine, and at any moment something can break down. But in fact, women are very strong and hardy creatures. I did not give birth, but from the stories of my friends I understand that it is much harder than my job.

I have met "teachers" who are sure that a woman's place is in the kitchen. In such cases, I recall the words of one wise man: "I have already proved everything to everyone."

Male colleagues and traffic police officers treat me very well. They always help, although I try to rely only on myself. Once in the North I met local bandits. They charged a fee to enter the city, but they did not take money from me. They behaved like true gentlemen. They even offered help when my car broke down. In general, I am lucky in life to have good people.

I also met "teachers" who are sure that a woman's place is exclusively in the kitchen. In such cases, I recall the words of one wise man: "I have already proved everything to everyone." So it is with me: the main thing is that I have proved everything to myself, therefore I do not argue.

Our salary does not depend on gender, only on the amount of work performed. Before, I even took part in loading and unloading the car, but I was lucky with the boss, he forbade me to help the loaders.

I used to go twice a week to Murmansk, Moscow. The work was very intense. I hadn't been home for months; I practically lived in a cockpit. For the last year I have been traveling only in St. Petersburg and the region. The salary is good, but less than that of those who travel long-distance. But I spend the night at home. With the previous schedule, I had no time to think about my personal life, but now there is hope.

I'm still waiting for that one. Honestly, men are afraid of me, they don't like independent ones. So I am ready for the fact that I will raise a child alone, although I do not strive for this. I need a very patient and morally strong man. I really want a family and many children, but so far my family is my mother. She is very worried about me. However, we need money, and working as a truck driver is the only way to get it so far.

"Customers do not care who the driver is - Yura or Galya"

Julia, 35 years old, St. Petersburg:

Photo from personal archive

Fifteen years ago, I met a trucker, fell in love and got married. The first time was everywhere with him. From here it started: turn it up there, bring it there, turn it up here. So I ended up in the driver's seat, and for about 12 years I have been driving a truck. But this is just a hobby. I have a higher education in economics and now I work in an office. Now I rarely go on flights, once or twice a month.

Relatives relate to this hobby completely calmly. My sister even boasts that I am doing something so unusual for a woman. The husband, of course, is worried and often calls. We have a son, he is now 14 years old. When I leave for a flight, we constantly call on Skype or Viber. The child is proud of me!

It is very difficult for a woman to get a job as a truck driver. I know of such a case: two girls came to a rather large office, and there the chief mechanic is a man of age, for whom "a woman driving" is wildness. Even when the girls passed a special exam, he refused them. Just "no, that's all." But I have a different situation. My husband has several cars, he took me as a driver without question.

In one thing, we are equal with men: our labor is paid equally. Customers absolutely do not care who the driver is - Yura, Misha or Galya.

Some of my male colleagues, when he hears me on the general radio or sees me while driving, says: “Wow, girl! Cool!" And someone: “Ah, woman! Why don't you cook borscht? " A lot of people. Someone calls for marriage, someone kicks into the kitchen. There was also such that I even had to leave the night parking because of my drunk colleagues. They saw the girl, began to pester, beat on the car.

On the road, I like to think about problems, to put everything on the shelves. When I feel bad, I drive.

"The driver has no gender"

Svetlana, 43 years old, Perm:

I came into the profession when I was on maternity leave with my daughter. My husband died, and I have four children, so I had to earn money myself. At first, we went with my mother and a small child in a family car. First, they delivered groceries around the city, and then I began to go on longer flights myself. We have a big family, and every penny counts.

At the wheel, I feel in my place. Warehouse, road, loading, unloading are mine. Long-range also gives the opportunity to see the country, change the environment, get to know new people - although people come across different.

I think that today professions are not divided into male and female. There is only what you get and like. I manage to drive a truck, I don't feel any discomfort. My male colleagues respect me for this, I have never met with disdain on their part. If I stop somewhere on the track, they will definitely ask if I need help. But it is important to behave yourself correctly - not to turn up your nose. In long-range, everything is in the same conditions. As a mechanic friend of mine used to say: "The driver has no gender." Therefore, everyone has the same salaries, and there is always a job. There would be a desire!

Now I again do not have the opportunity to leave for a long time, so I only distribute groceries to local stores. My youngest son is one and a half years old and needs a lot of attention. In addition to him, there are three more children: two sons and a daughter. They also love to travel with me. At any opportunity, we go somewhere to rest by car.

"I am a big girl, I can fight back"

Alexandra, 25 years old, Nizhny Novgorod:

Photo from personal archive

I love cars since childhood. At the age of 12, my dad taught me how to drive, and at 18 I got a category “B” license. We had an old "gazelle", and when it was necessary to transport something, and my dad couldn't, I got behind the wheel. I liked the truck right away: it is spacious, and the big cars are just very beautiful! Of course, it can be difficult with them, but over time I got used to it.

I started thinking about working in trucking when I was working in a pawnshop. I weighed all the pros and cons, bought a gazelle and for the third year I have been working as a truck driver. I have never regretted my decision.

Of course, at first my mother discouraged me, but I am a stubborn person. If you decide something - do not convince. But my father supported me. Now my relatives are proud of me, although they are very worried. They often call, several times a day. But I feel in my place and do not want to change anything.

It seems to me that without a road I will never be able to. Trucking is not just a profession, it is a way of life. To keep up with our rhythm, you need to be a very hardy person. Sometimes you have to spend the whole day in one position, and very little time is left for rest. It also happens that you leave on a flight for several days, weeks, you literally live in a car. There are difficulties with repairs or loading, sometimes you need a man's strength. But there is no shortage of it: male colleagues will always help and prompt.

I want to buy another car, a bigger one, and hire a second driver. I will open my own business, because it is very difficult for a girl to get a job in trucking

In general, male drivers generally treat me well. “Well done,” they say, “brave! And he will enter the burning hut and stop the galloping horse. " It happens that we go on a flight together - in a convoy of several cars. And getting lost is not scary, and it is not boring on the way. They never hurt me. Although I am a big girl in myself, I can fight back, if anything.

Now I go on flights about twice a week, but it happens that I leave for a long time. Two weeks at the helm - I rest for a week. In the morning I wake up with a desire to go to work, I make plans for the future. I want to buy another car, a bigger one, and hire a second driver. I will open my own business, because it is very difficult for a girl to get a job in trucking.

I don't have a young man yet, but I don't think that work can interfere with my personal life. If I am dear to a man, he will support and understand me.

In Russia, it is accepted that a good driver is a man, and a truck driver is 100% a man. But in fact, the weaker sex is also found in our craft. Today we will touch on the topic of girls and women driving trucks, wagons, tractors and other multi-ton vehicles. Take a look video below, and then we will try to figure out why truckers are good and why they are bad.

Before you dive into this topic, we invite you to vote and see if your opinion changes later!

After reading this article, you must decide for yourself how you feel about such a phenomenon as a trucker girl. Someone sees this as good, while others see it as bad.

Personally, I believe that it is necessary at the legislative level to prohibit women from being truckers in Russia. Why? In my opinion, everything is obvious, a woman should be, first of all, a mother, and what kind of mother can be from a truck driver? None!

At first, long range means being almost always away from home. How will a woman raise children and keep the comfort of her home if she is not found in this very house?

Secondly, working as a truck driver actually undermines health. I think that the work of a truck driver, although interesting, is very harmful, there are a lot of occupational diseases. Men, for health reasons, do not always withstand this work, let alone women. And a woman needs health to have children.

Thirdly, a woman working as truckers loses all femininity. Why take care of yourself, put on your make-up, do your hair, if you still sit in the cab of the truck all day? And a woman immediately begins to grow fat from such work. Look at women driving trolleybuses or trams. Are many of them skinny? In general, I would rather look at these girls and women around the trucks.

Fourth As a trucker, you must know the basics of the technical part of your truck. Minor repairs on the way are quite common for truckers. It is unlikely that a woman will be able to master this. And what will a woman do if she punctures a wheel on a wagon? Physically, it will be difficult for a representative of the fairer sex to replace a wheel.

Summarizing my thoughts, I will say that I am not against women engineers or women in politics or in other traditionally male industries. But any work should leave all maternal qualities in a woman. Trucking will kill all females in the weak field. To be honest, it seems to me that women truckers have some mental disabilities. A woman-trucker is not interested in normal men, a woman-trucker cannot have a normal family, a woman-trucker cannot raise children normally. By the way, I believe that a woman can drive a truck no worse than a man, but many aspects of work and the harmfulness of such work should not give a woman the opportunity to become a truck driver.

If someone has a different opinion, then you can write in the comments... I am ready to discuss this topic.

This woman's name is Nadezhda. Someone filmed her fixing the wiring on her truck.

A television story about how a woman wants to change her job as an accountant for that of a trucker.

This video has amassed over a million views on YouTube. The girl is driving a truck and sings beautifully.

And this girl with her image needs to work as a librarian, not a truck driver.

And in this video you will see many Italian women truckers.

A fragile girl drives a yellow DAF on the roads of Europe.

It turns out that in Europe a girl who drives a truck is not such an exotic phenomenon.

This girl is driving a truck in San Francisco.

A very beautiful dark-skinned Spanish-speaking girl at the wheel of a bonneted truck gives an interview.

A sweet fragile girl rides a Dutch DAF.

But usually women truckers look something like this. They do not cause sexual attraction.

If you, dear readers, are not difficult, then I ask you to unsubscribe in the comments, what do you think about women who have chosen long-range as their vocation.

The profession of a truck driver is not always desirable, often work for heavy trucks comes from a hopelessness. It seems that the only plus of this job is income, but this is not entirely true, some come for pleasure, and more and more women are on this list.

“It's easy to be a trucker”
28-year-old Yulia Lazareva from Evpatoria is one of the most popular girls on the track. She has been working as a heavy truck driver for several years and leads a block in which she describes everyday life behind the wheel of a truck - everything that happens on the road is filmed with a DVR camera.

In Crimea, she is known as the owner of an equestrian club, it was this hobby that led her to the wheel of a wagon.
It was costly for her to deliver horses to various competitions: first she bought a five-ton truck, and after two years of experience moved to a heavy truck.
She admits that she was delighted: her car has 16 gears.

A familiar trucker taught how to drive a truck for 7 thousand dollars.
The one-to-one and expensive training did not pay off immediately. Yulia Lazareva could not find a job for a long time, but one day she was lucky - her employer was in Europe and saw women drivers. Now he earns about 30-40 thousand a month. Changing wheels is easier than caring for horses, she said.
One of the main difficulties with work is relationships with colleagues: he hears insults and experiences harassment.

The main thing in the profession is to keep track of time.
Yulia Sheshukova from Yekaterinburg has always had a passion for big cars. Somehow I decided to ride a KAMAZ and realized that this was her vocation. The former call center operator passed the exams and started looking for a job, one day, she was still allowed to drive. First, they entrusted the KAMAZ, later the lady got a dream car: a foreign car with an automatic transmission and a power steering.

What to do if a wheel breaks down? Sometimes just asking for help. They always help, but sometimes you have to wait - many colleagues have no time, just like Julia, they rush to unload, because even an hour late can threaten with problems with the customer.

High road romance
Anna Obukhova from Naberezhnye chelny changed her department to "steering wheel". Work at the university did not bring any income. At first she worked on a small "Gazelle", then on a trolleybus, a bus, and finally - a girl with two higher educations at the wheel of a road train. An unusual story, but money is not everything. According to Anna Obukhova, you won't last long here without love for the road.
Another fact from the life of a truck driver that goes beyond the idea of women on the track: married, two children.

The longest route of Anna Obukhova: Moscow-Chita. In the event of an emergency on the road, men help, and if they are not there - an electric wrench and a hand winch.

Svetlana Novikova, a blonde truck driver, sometimes also asks for help from her colleagues.
And now I had to: an oil leak was found in the parking lot

A woman is not a trucker
Nina Bychuk lives in Belarus, but works for a Russian company; in her country, a woman cannot be a driver of a car exceeding 5 tons. The former employee of the kindergarten received her first rights 30 years ago, but she had to work behind the wheel after the death of her relatives: her son and husband, a truck driver. The woman believes that girls have no place on the track, just life forced her.

Another road: truckers from the USA and Europe
Driving a heavy truck on the roads of Europe and America is, of course, a completely different matter. To begin with, a salary of 40 to 200 thousand dollars a year, and, of course, the roads themselves, by Russian standards, are not work, but pleasure. But, nevertheless, the industry lacks from 30 to 45 thousand people - there is a shortage in the freight market and women are replacing men.
Employers say they are not opposed to women driving 40-ton vehicles, and there are reasons for this.
First, discrimination is expensive today. Secondly, the work is nervous, and women are distinguished by special patience and resistance to stress.
Women accounted for 6 percent of the 3.5 million truck drivers working in 2016, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Dirty job
Cania Eubanks admits that driving a truck is a dirty job, but she loves it: "I have complete control over what I do - how I make my money."
Before Kania Eubanks started earning money on the road, she worked for 10 years in the government. She earns less as a truck driver - up to 6,000 thousand dollars a month, but she does not regret her choice.
A mother of two daughters says she hates being away from her family, but "life must go on."

"Pink Lady"
Dagmar Klink works on a truck with her husband. Their road train is known on the road as the "Pink Lady".
Dagmar Klink used to hate the pink color, because it is associated with girls. But when she became a truck driver, she wanted everyone to know that a woman was driving this truck.
Everything in this car is pink: the bed, the upholstery, and even the floor.
Dagmar Klink says this is her second home. When he gets tired, he turns on his laptop or watches TV.
The woman is sure that the truck is no longer a man's toy.

Stable income
Carol Nixon of St. James, Missouri has been on the road since 1990. Earning money and the ability to travel is why she works as a driver for so long. On the road for about a week, after such a "shift" another 7-8 days of rest.

Eastern history: the main thing is that children do not cry
“We need sugar and rice ... I don’t want children to cry,” says Shamim Akhtar, the first woman driving a truck in Pakistan. She got behind the wheel to feed the children.
For a long time she worked as a teacher and when she lost her position she decided to earn money by "man's labor".

"... Today is the eighth of March", as Alexander Laertsky sang. I was sitting now and racked my head, well, what kind of eyeliner to make to this material, a stupid holiday, but the topic is very interesting, in the eyes of the majority it, this topic, of course, looks exotic, but to me it seems completely normal and ordinary.

In general, on the eve of Tulip Day and short male memory, Volvo Trucks held a press club meeting on the topic "Woman in the Trucker Profession" and introduced the journalists to a very interesting person, Anna Obukhova, a trucker from Naberezhnye Chelny.

All details under the cut.

2. At the beginning of the meeting, the head of the Volvo Trucks press service, Oleg Vasilchenko, introduced us to interesting statistics. Nobody knows how many women drivers work behind the wheel of heavy trucks around the world, but in 2011, the EU Freight Forwarders' Association conducted a survey of 1,500 transport companies from some European countries. It turned out that only 6% of women drivers work in the states of these firms, and what is remarkable - the further north the country, the more truckers.

3. Let's get to know Anna. She was born and raised in Naberezhnye Chelny, where she received her first higher education in economics. After her marriage, Anna left for Ufa, working at the university, received a second higher education, already technical, as a mechanical engineer-technologist.

4. Anna came to the profession of a driver in a roundabout way, the first money from the wheels was earned by a private driver. It was not without his Majesty's case in this matter - once Anna agreed to replace the sick Gazelle driver. Anna liked driving a commercial truck, but at that time she immediately realized that she wanted to conquer and rein in a larger vehicle and more agility.

5. In my opinion, in our country there are two ways for a woman who wants to become a truck driver. One of them is completely light, and the second is thorny. An easy way is just to buy yourself a truck, but going the second way, you first have to become a trolleybus driver, a bus, then you have to master a lone truck. And only then can you start looking for a sane employer who will agree to hire a woman as a truck driver. The ease of the first path was inaccessible to Anna, so she went through all the stages of the second path.

6. Anna is already the third year on intercity routes, her work is dominated by flights to the east of the country: Ural, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, she takes business trips for Irkutsk very seriously, those reliefs and weather conditions are not easy for any drivers, but she will never refuse a similar flight. While the farthest point on the map of Russia that Anna "flew" is Chita, she plans to get to Vladivostok as well. Anna loves long flights, the so-called "round the world", as in the slang of truckers, flights are not indicated in the usual line-up of house - unloading - home, but business trips with a large number of loading and unloading, with a completely unpredictable geography, where there is an order, for example Chelny - Yekaterinburg - Omsk - Tagil - Moscow - Voronezh - Saratov - and only then the house (Chelny in Anya's case).

7. And what do men think about the fact that girls now claim to be their "big toys"? According to Anna's observations, the camp of fellow drivers is divided into three equal parts: who is indifferent to this, who supports such an infusion and who is categorically against, and often against colleagues already at an age who have gone through the Soviet long-range school, they will not get used to what is now in this area much has changed and some previously difficult things and situations have become elementary. I have also repeatedly heard versatile judgments on this issue and agree with the observations of the trucker. After listening to some conversations in the channel, one gets the impression that there are not many women (namely, wailing women) in this industry than it seems.

8. Our communication was based on the question-answer form, I suspect that Anna has already had to answer most of the journalistic questions, and more than once, in the minds of our society it is difficult to get along with the concept of a woman truck driver, the interlocutors are often interested in the same thing. From my experience of communicating with Anna's colleagues, I know that if not the second question, then the third will necessarily be this: "if a wheel explodes on the flight, then how will you change it", it was not without it this time. Thank God, we do not live in a forest, according to Anna, in any emergency, help will always come, and you can ask for it “in the channel” (by radio from colleagues), however, the closer you are to the capital, the less willing colleagues are to help.

In the photo: Oleg Vasilchenko (Volvo Trucks), Nikolay Kushnirenko (Highways) and Alexander Eremtsov (Truck Press).

9. Anna's management always goes to meet her and if the planned work on her truck is approaching, they almost always do them in advance so that the deadline for their completion does not fall on the flight. Over the years of work as a driver, Anna has already learned to distinguish between good and bad knocks in a car by ear, she can do some small work herself. In her opinion, there are two types of drivers, who are allowed to drive and who are not, to my surprise she said that she was rather suspicious of female drivers in the neighborhood on the road, she considered them less predictable than their male colleagues. This statement that evening pleased me most of all, not because I agree with him (I do not divide drivers on this basis at all), but because of my honesty.

10. Another life postulate of Anna - you need to do what you love, make it your job, with this I completely agree with her. In general, in the conversation, Anna showed herself to be a rather interesting interlocutor, diplomatically marking the pitfalls, she nevertheless demonstrated her firm position on issues, without any half-tones and equivocations.

Anna came to meet us with her eldest daughter Yunna (Anna is married and has two children), she is now studying in the cadet corps, mastering the profession of a lifeguard.

11. The very next day, Anna tested a Volvo FH 500 truck in the luxury Ocean Race configuration, her first impression of this handsome man resulted in one phrase - "So that I work like this!" At the moment, Anna is working on a Volvo FM 400 tractor, I-Shift automatic transmission, but on her previous tractor there was a mechanic, which, to my surprise, she misses a little.

12. In the park of the "Seven Hundred Roads" company, in which Anna works, there are already Volvo trucks of a new generation, I would like to contact the company's management to expedite the provision of a new working horse to Obukhova's driver, she is already quite dashing with this model, which demonstrated on this test drive more than a dozen Russian freight journalists. In addition, at this meeting, representatives of Volvo Trucks promised that in the near future Anna will undergo training at the company's training center in the areas of Safe and Efficient Driving.

Alisa, 30 years old, St. Petersburg:

As a child, I dreamed of becoming a surgeon, but I learned to be a social worker, and I became a truck driver by accident, and now, when I poke around in my car, I feel that my dream has come true.

Photo from personal archive

I have met "teachers" who are sure that a woman's place is in the kitchen. In such cases, I recall the words of one wise man: "I have already proved everything to everyone."

"Customers do not care who the driver is - Yura or Galya"

Julia, 35 years old, St. Petersburg:

Photo from personal archive

In one thing, we are equal with men: our labor is paid equally. Customers absolutely do not care who the driver is - Yura, Misha or Galya.

On the road, I like to think about problems, to put everything on the shelves. When I feel bad, I drive.

"The driver has no gender"

Svetlana, 43 years old, Perm:

"I am a big girl, I can fight back"

Alexandra, 25 years old, Nizhny Novgorod:

Photo from personal archive

I want to buy another car, a bigger one, and hire a second driver. I will open my own business, because it is very difficult for a girl to get a job in trucking

I don't have a young man yet, but I don't think that work can interfere with my personal life. If I am dear to a man, he will support and understand me.