Gender stereotypes rooted in deeply traditional Swazi society are being challenged by a new initiative that is putting women drivers behind the wheels of big rig trucks. “I’ve never seen a woman truck driver on the road before. We put out an advert recruiting female drivers. It said, ‘Women, where are you?’” Simphiwe LaNgwenya, human resources officer at UNITRANS Swaziland, told FTW. Five women aged between 25 and 40 qualified for the two-week on-site training course to complement the company’s all-male driving staff of 75. “What motivated us to do this was a desire to enlighten other companies that the working sector is not gender inclined, it is about capabilities,” LaNgwenya said. The new drivers are raking up mileage on short-haul trips within Swaziland, in preparation for the eight-hour drives to Durban, where after offloading cargo they will stay overnight at a company depot before a return trip the next day. “We are assessing the new drivers like all drivers on their performances. But we’ve noticed something about the women drivers. They are very composed on the job. They have a multi-tasking capability. They also follow procedures well. They do everything by the book,” said LaNgwenya. As for the women drivers’ work ethic, he said they take their jobs seriously. “Knowing we are amongst the first, we want to show other women that even if they thought a certain job was for a man that is not necessarily so,” said Sandra Dlamini, one of the drivers. The new recruits operate the gamut of UNITRANS’s fleet, including the large MAN TGA and the Mercedes Benz Actros. Hazardous material handling is part of their training, because fuel haulage is a core business for the firm, along with bulk agricultural products and other commodities. “We want to call ourselves trend setters, and this initiative also helps expand the pool of potential employees for the company,” said LaNgwenya.
