A newly released book, Sisters of the Road, chronicles the lives of women truckers in their own words through a series of interviews. The limited-edition photobook introduces 40 truckers and the landscapes they travel, allowing readers to witness the unique experience of being a woman driver in a business dominated by men.
Author Anne-Marie Michel, now based in London, was working as a fashion photographer and knew little about trucking when she started the project. She said she soon found herself enamored with what she saw was not merely a profession but a lifestyle.
"When I actually met these women and saw that what they were doing and how there's this whole amazing culture around it, and the way these women live, their lives are so resilient and independent, and constantly on the move and always on to the next thing, always solving the next problem," Michel said, "the project really started to shape itself."
See also: Women speak up about harassment in trucking
Michel's curiosity in truckers was piqued early in her life, when her mother, after a divorce, drove Michel and her sisters across the country to start a new life.
"I had no idea what these people are gonna be like," Michel said. "I just really was impressed by the won wisdom and learned knowledge they just inherently had, like the way they moved through the world ... doing these really hard jobs and, basically, constantly having to problem solve on the move all the time."
The unique challenges of women in trucking
Women make up only about 10% of over-the-road truckers, according to a survey from advocacy group Women in Trucking. Although this number is an increase from years prior, women can still face discrimination, such as harassment or lesser pay than their male counterparts.
Michel acknowledged that, although the culture has certainly improved, there are still issues of safety that apply particularly to women truckers in places such as truck stops. "As I was photographing people, it would get dark in the parking lot and people would come out of the truck and say, 'Be careful, you probably don't want to be here right now.'"
The book's subjects, in offering their stories, also offer advice to an industry looking to increase equity among the genders in its workforce.
"Offer female driver trainers an attractive salary so that there’s enough female trainers available and then give female trainees the option of same-sex training," suggests driver Debbie Dingo, who is featured in Michel's book.
Michel also collaborated with Karen Jones, a professor at the University of Kent in the United Kingdom who works on environmental and cultural history. Jones, author of Calamity: The Many Lives of Calamity Jane, helped Michel contextualize her subjects into the history of female migration across the United States, from pioneer women to present-day female trailblazers.
