... Today, roughly four percent of all truck drivers in New Zealand are women, says Jackie Carroll, chair of the Women in Road Transport group. The licence statistics suggest it could be even lower: there are 3513 women with a class five licence, meaning they can drive vehicles weighing more than 25,000kg. Compare that to the 126,340 men who hold the same licence and you get a sense of the industry's gender weighting. At the first three companies de Thierry worked for, she was the first female driver they had ever hired... Those figures prompted Carroll, and others in the industry, to start Women in Road Transport two years ago. In July, then women's affairs minister Jo Goodhew launched the group's action plan, with the goals of increasing diversity, and making truck driving an appealing career for young women...
... The rumble of idling engines drowns out the chirping birds early on a Monday morning at the Carr and Haslam depot in Auckland's Otahuhu. As the sun rises, a crumbling factory building casts long shadows over the stationary trucks and cars that fill the yard. Nailed to a wall in the yard is a sign: "ALL GOOD THINGS COME BY TRUCK" ... Maureen Paurini arrives for her 7.30am shift wearing steel-cap boots with clean white socks, tight bike shorts and a yellow high-vis vest. She heads towards her truck, climbs the two steps to the cabin and sets up a cushion for her sore back. She slipped and fell off the 15m-long trailer earlier this year... For the past nine years, Paurini has driven for Carr and Haslam. Five or six days a week, she heads downtown to the Auckland wharf, loads up her trailer with cars and drives them to their destinations, whether that's somewhere around the city or down to Wellington. She keeps a bag of clothes in her car, just in case...
... Paurini grew up near Lake Waikaremoana, "in the middle of the frigging bush", one of six children to a power-station maintenance manager father and a hostel manager mother. After heading to Australia in her 20s, she joined a touring carnival, working at the canteen. There were always trucks around. "When I left the showgrounds, I had all those trucks in my memory, and I thought, I'm sure I can drive one" ... Paurini pulls up at the first dealership, climbs down from her steering wheel and begins to unload the cars. As she works, a car salesman says: "I've got to tell you, she's the friendliest driver we get. She really is" ... Even after two decades of driving trucks, de Thierry still spots the double-take... If the double-takes can be amusing, the overt sexism is what really jars... Marissa Urquhart doesn't recall how long she was on the dole before she became a truck driver. Two years ago, she was a jobless, diabetic, solo mum of four, weighing 136kgs. The 39-year-old can't explain what happened exactly, but something switched inside her. She had always liked trucks, and knew the only way to get her licence was to get healthy. So she underwent bariatric surgery, lost the weight quickly (60 kgs in five months), and did a six-month driving course paid for by WINZ – which she feels guilty about, since other drivers paid their own way, but knows that at least she's now doing something with her life. She has found her place in the world behind the wheel of a truck... Urquhart says the men treat her with respect, and she hasn't seen any sexism, only support. As Urquhart merges onto the Auckland motorway, a rubbish truck drives past and toots. "Look at that," she says, smiling. "Another chick" ...
Auckland, NZ - Stuff.co.nz - 21 Dec 2014
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