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Global BusinessTrucking Women Behind the Big WheelTrucking women behind the big wheel

Female pioneers in the trucking world - a last bastion of a male dominated industry

  • Pakistan’s first and only female truck driver, 53 year old Shamim Akhtar, became one out of necessity
  • When Shamim first learned to drive she realised she was good at it and wanted to improve
  • “I have never faced any big problems driving trucks"
  • "My son worries about where I will be sleeping at night so he insists that I should only do this job during the daytime.”
  • “I don’t feel like a woman anymore. If women have to do this job, they should forget that they are women"
  • Natalie Tipton in the cab of her truck
  • There is a serious shortage of drivers in the UK, across Mainland Europe and in the United States.
  • Jenny Tipping from Southampton works nights driving her articulated truck across the UK

This gallery is from

  • Global Business—Trucking Women Behind the Big Wheel

    Women truck drivers working in a male dominated industry

    BBC World Service

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