realwomenintrucking.com

This year we are holding our 3rd annual Queen of the Road and Trucking Industry Trailblazer Award Ceremony in Tampa, Florida on April, 12, 2019. The Award Recipients for 2019 are as follows, for Queen of the Road : Ramona Hogue has been in trucking for 18 years and currently drives for YRC Freight out of California. She has won numerous safety and driving skill awards including the California State Truck Driving Championship where she was the first women in Southern California to win that award. The following four women who tied for the 3rd spot for “Queen of the Road” will also receive a Honorable Mention recognition plaque.

When I passed my test, it was with the same guy that told me I wasn’t going to get my CDL. She is a breast Cancer survivor and drives a wrapped truck and goes to different events representing women in the trucking industry. She is the most caring women I know who has reached for the stars in trucking then shares it with the rest of the industry. When she learns about issues female drivers are having, she will get right to work to help with such things as setting up donations for a driver whose truck has broken down or reaching out to families have lost a love one in the industry.

While we read about the exponential growth of companies like Amazon and what it means for the ways we shop and consume, how we interact with businesses, one thing that remains a constant is the fact they goods are delivered by way of the trucking industry, a 9 billion dollar a year industry in the United States. When you have been out late driving at night, or needed to stop for a tank of gas in a remote place while making a road trip, that uneasiness you might have felt, those feelings of vulnerability during your family pit stops, what if that was your “normal” day at the office, a kind of perpetual feeling of wariness, mindful that the transitory nature of life on the road means yours is a life somewhat off the recognizable social grid? In 2018, we heard more than we ever imagined possible about gender justice awakenings in nearly all sectors from supreme court justices, to local and national politicians, to Hollywood actors and producers, even Papa John’s has required aggressive rebranding. A very disturbing pattern of out of court settlements suggests that the industry’s staying power far outweighs the resources most women have at their disposal to make any real legal claim or social impact, and at a certain point it makes more sense for them to walk away from the challenge and to resume their lives and look elsewhere for a safer form of employment.

Before meeting Desiree Wood, the President of REAL Women in Trucking a 501 (c) (6) trade association advocacy group that prides itself on “standing up” and speaking out for safe conditions for female commercial driver’s; I thought “truck driver’s After my heart rate settled down and my anger subsided, I decided that the best approach to helping women in trucking is to start by having the difficult conversation about sexual harassment within the trucking industry and to advocate for new regulations to provide women a safe place to work. The REAL Women in Trucking has over 9,000 Followers on Facebook, 14,000 on followers on Twitter and Desiree has another 14,000 followers on her personal Twitter account as @TruckerDesiree where she is active daily to educate the public on these critical issues. The only way to make a difference and an impact for true change for women within the trucking industry  is for Desiree Wood and her advocacy organization to make history.