MotherTruckers? The Gendered Work of Freight and Logistics

Abstract

Freight and logistics are central to everyday life. These sectors depend on a variety of workers, and the types of work have changed rapidly with shifts towards e-commerce and changes to urban logistics. Yet a particular form of masculinity dominates imaginaries of the sector, especially freight transport. Such imaginaries rest on ideas of freight drivers requiring (physical) strength, toughness, flexibility, mobility and driving competencies, as well as being unencumbered by caring responsibilities. In the UK, and elsewhere, the freight sector, and particularly driving-related freight jobs, are heavily reliant on male workers. The freight driver shortage crisis in the UK has been referred to as a ‘ticking timebomb’, emerging from a reliance on white male workers, the majority of whom are over the age of 50. A ‘diversifying’ agenda has been the primary response to this crisis, which has largely focussed on increasing the number of female drivers. At the same time, however, little has been done to address issues associated with pay and conditions for freight workers. In this chapter, the authors examine gendered freight work across three themes: changing mobilities of work, ‘flexibilisation’ of freight working practice and automation of freight vehicles.

Citation

Hopkins, D. and Akyelken, N. (2022), "MotherTruckers? The Gendered Work of Freight and Logistics", Wright, T., Budd, L. and Ison, S. (Ed.) Women, Work and Transport (Transport and Sustainability, Vol. 16), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 71-86. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2044-994120220000016006