Bamburi Cement in partnership with Isuzu East Africa, Kenya Transporters Association, and four other organizations have launched a women truckers program dubbed Women on Wheels. The program is a female-centered training and recruitment program seeking to encourage more women to take up truck driving as a career.
The Women on Wheels program brings together key players in the transport industry who are keen on eliminating the entrenched male culture, improving working conditions and ensuring safe workplaces. Other partners include Pioneer Road Safety Consultants Ltd, Diamond Defensive Driving Academy, and North Star Alliance.
Through the program, the women undergo a rigorous technical truck operation and defensive driving training where they are equipped with skills on how to operate heavy trucks, including simulator exercises that expose them to different truck driving techniques; road safety, and soft skills training and coaching.
Kenyan women currently make up only 10% of the public transport workforce; 85% of them work as matatu operators in the Nairobi Metropolitan area – according to a 2020 survey by Flone Initiative. Another 2020 study by World Bank and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure shows that barriers such as the dominant culture of masculinity and gender stereotypes, discrimination, unequal treatment at work, sexual harassment, exposure to violence while on the road and lack of work-life balance, and ‘the care trap’ create a working environment that fails to attract and retain women in the transport professions.
Speaking during the launch of the program, Bamburi Cement’s Country Head of Health, Safety and Environment Jane Wangari said “Beyond the training initiatives, Women on Wheels program will also ensure job placement for the women with Bamburi and its logistics partners. We are set to recruit at least 100 women annually into the program, and grow going forward.”
Bamburi Cement Managing Director Seddiq Hassani said: “This program fits quite well within our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion agenda as a company. You remember in December last year we signed the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP) as part of our commitment to promoting gender equality and inclusion in our workplace and the community. The gender gap is far from closed, however, we are determined to increase the proportion of women in every aspect of our operations. We continue to find more opportunities and partnerships to further entrench and influence equity among our customers, suppliers, and communities across markets that we serve.”
Isuzu East Africa Managing Director Rita Kavashe said “The program we are launching today will include experienced women drivers ready for employment, license holders, with no truck driving experience, as well as freshers who have not yet acquired a driving license. As Isuzu EA, we strongly believe in building relationships and partnerships for the long term because that has enabled us to grow and build Isuzu to become the market leader.”
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Kenya Transporters Association Chief Operating Officer Mercy Ireri said “The trucking industry is rife with hurdles which make the transport sector unattractive for women to work in. Fleet managers, owners, as a well as players in the logistics value chain as a whole, have a responsibility to shift stereotypes, embrace diversity, and adapt their recruiting, hiring, and training to reflect the growing presence of women in industries that have traditionally been male-dominated.”
Diamond Defensive Driving Academy’s Lydia Mwaniki said “Women have so much to offer to this industry. From our experience, not only are women less likely than men to be involved in a crash, women tend to be easier to train, and have superior customer service and paperwork skills.”
Challenges experienced by most female truck drivers go deeper than bias. Safety is a key concern that encompasses everything from poor vehicle maintenance to dangerous or poorly lit loading docks to pushing workers to drive for long hours. Lengthy hours away from family for days or weeks at a time discourages many women from joining the field as long-haul drivers. “We plan to address these concerns by ensuring that the drivers move in convoys and encouraging the transporters to allocate them shorter and safer routes. So our priorities are to ensure their wellbeing and to find ways of minimizing these obstacles,” said Ms. Wangari.
Partnerships with organizations like Pioneer Road Safety have checkpoints for drivers and North Star Alliance provide safe and secure rest areas for drivers to ensure that when in danger, the drivers can be easily located and assisted.
The Women on Wheels program is part of Bamburi Cement’s Sustainability programs – under Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), and Health, Safety and Environment pillars.
