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WOMEN: WHO WANTS THEM?

4th August 1988, Page 29
4th August 1988
Page 29
Page 29, 4th August 1988 — WOMEN: WHO WANTS THEM?
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

We were interested to hear the industry's attitude towards women "straight from the horse's mouth" so we called 200 transport managers from all over the country, with the promise of anonymity, and put 10 pertinent questions to them. There were mixed views.

ployed in clerical and secretarial work, and this pattern is particularly strong in the road transport industry, as we found when we asked:

In what transport jobs are your women staff involved?

Women in transport are employed in roles ranging from company directors to toilet cleaners, but clerical work accounts for an overwhelming 73% of the jobs listed.

Almost 6% of women in transport are managers; 4% are non-HGV drivers (including bus and coach drivers); 2% are company directors and 2% are cleaners. We came across a company in Worsley, Lancashire that employs a woman engineer, another in Hassocks, mid-Sussex, with a woman mechanic; and a major nationalised company which has a woman chauffeur. Once a woman is in the industry, however, what treatment can she expect? We asked:

Do your customers accept women HGV drivers?

Because there are so few women HGV drivers, most interviewees had to answered this question hypothetically.

A clear majority (67%) of those questioned said their customers would accept women HGV drivers, but 15% said that they would not. The remaining 18% were either unsure how their customers would react or, as they were council departments, had no direct customers.

Several transport managers thought that their customers would have to help women HGV drivers with unloading. One, from Edinburgh, said: "We employed one woman driver working at 7.5 tonnes. She was very capable, but men would assist her all the time. It disrupted the workforce, even though the men behaved like gentlemen."

Another, from Oldham, said his company's products were too heavy for women to move, and a large operator from Brighouse told us: "Only 10% of the work is heavy lifting, but that bars them from the job."

Not surprisingly, a woman transport manager, from Ellesmere Port, had a different view: "We have had women drivers," she said. "The work is a bit heavy physically, but not impossible."

A Merseyside-based manager was more positive about employing women drivers: "A woman driver is better than a man because people help them," he said.

Several interviewees were ready to accept that physically fit women are perfectly capable of doing heavy work. One, from Staplehurst in Kent, said: "If someone can do the job, then that's fine; it's up to the individual." Another said that women are particularly good with customers, and can sometimes jump queues. If the opportunities are there, the next question has to be:

Do you feel that there are more women coming on to the transport job market?

Very little official information is available about the number of women entering the industry. The Department of Transport, which handles HGV tests, says it does not differentiate between men and women in its statistics, nor does the Royal Society of the Arts, which is responsible for the Certificate of Professional Competence exam. Nonetheless, many industry pundits believe that more women are turning to transport and 53% of the transport mana gers we questioned agreed with them. Of the 40% who disagreed, few had received job applications from women. We asked:

Would you say you are readier to employ women in transport jobs now than five years ago?

Though the industry retains a primarily male image, no fewer than 61% of those questioned agreed that they were.

One international operator from Southampton told us: "More women are getting involved and they are fine for driving." Another transport manager, operating vans in Northwich, Cheshire, said: "Women are more careful drivers than men; that gives us a saving on tyres and


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