www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06r885t
Quite an interexting, if rather patronisong programme last night
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I expect they carry spare wing mirrors...
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Somewhere on my bookshelf is a copy of the most badly written and patronising book for the women motorist I've ever seen. Written in the early 30's and even with the attitudes of the time, very close unacceptable. But today? You'd get lynched!
And to be honest, not only would much of the contents be news to most men, quite a lot of so called understanding was not needed then, let alone now.
But as a cheap book from a second-hand book seller, I just had to have it. It has generated quite a few laughs when I've showed it around.
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I mustn't be impatient, but I am anticipating a comment on why women don't drive lorries from our (cough) most appropriately qualified regular poster.
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Probably out earning a Christmas crust AC
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OK, you asked for this Lud!
For a woman to go into lorry driving and stick it, you have to have the right mindset.
So many go into it as Lady Truckers thinking they're something special....they're not, and it isn't long before their fellow (male) lorry drivers despise them and make life hard for them.
The few who have all succeeded have gone into it with the same attitude as I did.
I want to be a lorry driver, just the same as the blokes, not better than, but every bit as good as.
They get respect and a welcome from all their colleagues both male and female and succeed.
There's only one difference between me and a male lorry driver....my two bumps are a bit higher up my body, and that's how it should be!
Pat
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I know what you're like really Pat.
But I did ask for it, so thank you for a calm rational answer.
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I think I did really well.......I'm far from calm at the moment:)
See my post in concert tickets!
Pat
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>> For a woman to go into lorry driving and stick it, you have to have
>> the right mindset.
>>
Slight correction; that comment is not gender specific. Too many blokes also go into the job thinking it makes them something they ain't. My godfather said to me many years ago, "You're never owt more than a glorified barrow boy" and he drove a removals van for forty years. In a way he was right, but it's also a truism that you have to be "born to the wheel" to get the best out of it; it's more a way of life than a job.
As for sexism and misogyny; I only encountered it once as a manager about 20 years ago. We'd been sent a 16-tonne box van to replace one of the puddle-jumpers and the only driver with an HGV licence was off sick, so the agency sent me a very attractive but rather horsey-type girl to cover. This provoked mutterings from the other drivers (we were based in Stevenage so the whole lot were ex-pat Cockneys, great lads but very old-fashioned) so I collared the ring-leader.
"Can you drive that lorry?"
"No".
"Well she can, so shut up till you can".
Within a week she was very much" one of the boys" especially when they discovered she could out-curse the lot of them.
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Women Behind the Big Wheel - Runfer D'Hills
