Things have changed within my lifetime. My sister, a teacher, was asked to fill in at a junior high track meet. She filled in for a male teacher. Her job was to hold a stopwatch and time a few events. There was a protest.
It was against the rules for a female to time a race. I remember seeing the back of a book that listed career choices for boys and girls. Boys could grow up to be doctors. Girls could grow up to be nurses. Professional truck driver was not on the girls' list.
When I was 8, the longest sanctioned female races were less than a mile. Yet, on a cool April morning in 1967 K.V. Switzer was a registered entrant for the Boston Marathon. She wore baggy grey sweats like many of the other runners that morning. She wore her lipstick against the advice of her mentor, because that is what she always did. Early in the race a rumor was spreading that there was a woman in the race. The press was on it. The race director was not pleased. She was "ruining" his race. He tried to physically remove her.
He failed. She succeeded. Kathrine Switzer went on to fight for women's distance running.
In 1984 Joan Benoit Samuelson became the first woman to finish an olympic marathon. That same year Geraldine Ferraro was nominated for Vice President. In 2008 Sarah Palin, a marathon finisher, was nominated for the Vice Presidency. "Runners World" magazine did an article on Palin. The article included photos of Palin in her running gear. It was no big deal. Most of the photos in RW are of runners dressed to run. When I did a photo shoot for RW they took over 700 shots. Everyone of them had me in running clothing. Then a news magazine published the photos. Palin was photographed in a "sexy" outfit. NO-Palin was wearing apropriate running gear. No one compalined about my "sexy" photos in my running clothes.
This year at MATS, I noticed a few booths using scantily clad women wearing high heels to attract men into their booths. These women would put their arms around the men for photos. Not, only was it embarrassing I can't remember what product they were selling. The industry is attracticting qualified women to drive trucks. Using these sales tactics is at best counter productive.
We had 4 women from ATBS working the booth alongside the pros. They were dressed the same way we were, plus everytime "Mr. Technologically Challenged" needed help with the computers they fixed it. One of the trucking magazines is doing a retro layouy. The first layout featured attractive female models next to trucks. The current one features female truckers. Switzer, Ferraro, Palin and these women are trail blazers and have my respect. Their stories are remarkable.
Women drive trucks. Attractive women drive trucks. As professionals, we need to behave professionally.
These women are our equals. They are our colleagues. It is OK to spot them into a tight dock. We should always be willing to do that for all drivers. It is not OK to jump up on their trucks and offer to back the truck in for them. These drivers deserve our respect just like any other professional driver. Treat them that way.