An extraordinary ending to the Sisters of the Road USA tour.
Updated: Oct 18, 2024
The final Sisters of the Road Tour stop took place at the US Department of Transportation headquarters in Washington, D.C., September 20, 2024.
We were honored to have been able to participate in-person and give a speech to officials at US DOT that not only celebrated the often-overlooked contributions of women who work as truck drivers but highlight equity and inclusion concerns. We published this "Transportation Equity Initiative Challege" to provide some food for thought about the challenges truck drivers face performing their jobs and obstacles that prevent women entering the industry from being retained.
We wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Anne-Marie Hutton-Michel for her vision in creating the "Sisters of the Road." coffee table book and art gallery tour. A recap of the event with video clips can be found on the "Sisters of the Road" website. If you would like more information on how to purchase the coffee table book, click HERE.
Since the book was published, two of the featured "Sisters of the Road" have left us.
Donna Brackbill who hauled Broadway show freight passed away from cancer and Cheryl Lynn Ibana-Bean, driver and Founder of the Ladies of Hawaii Truckin' lost her battle with Lupus. Donna, Cheryl-Lynn and others we have lost in recent years, like Alta Jones, and Adriesue "Bitzy" Gomez were subjects in our coloring book that we recently made available for FREE download . They were also past Queen of the Road, and Trucking Industry Trailblazer award recipients and notable nominees. In attendance at the event was Sandi Talbott who recently retired from truck driving at the age of 83.
Through these recognition events we have honored women who are authentic representations of women who work as truck drivers. This has built upon work we began in 2012 to re-establish Trucking HERStory ,rather than re-write it as we have seen done elsewhere. The purpose was to highlight remarkable women in the trucking industry who devoted themselves to the work but had either been erased or overlooked because they did not "fit the image" in the "pay to play" big trucking association recognition events.
In our speech at USDOT we talked about the incredible diversity in trucking but the lack of inclusiveness. The intent of our message is to express that in order to attract and retain quality and qualified women as truck drivers, the trucking industry must take a long look at who they lift up, and who they have let down.
"Queen bee syndrome" hinders the progress of all women. Discrimination is on the rise. Women in trucking who are in positions of power, or "perceived power" too often treat women truck drivers poorly. They are rude and disrespectful, and this must be addressed. Women who are dispatchers, who work in human resources, who work on loading docks and in shipping offices, women in trucking who have been put on a pedestal over women drivers because they "fit the image". These are sometimes the only women that women truck drivers have to rely on when they are seeking assistance for discriminatory practices and sexual misconduct on the job. Women truck drivers in the trenches who perform their job without recognition are too often not treated with common courtesy and they deserve better.
The "Queen Bee" environment in trucking drives wedges, it excludes, it shames. Queen Bee Behavior is gender bias, and it is everywhere in trucking. We cannot expect to attract more "Sisters of the Road" type women in the current unsustainable truck driver training environment. We cannot expect women to want to train other women in the fast-track unsafe, underpaid way that trucking companies expect them to. Lifting up female trucking executives year after year and a few token women truck drivers for marketing purposes is not going to fix anything.
During the USDOT event, RWIT President Desiree Wood and RWIT Board Member Debbie Desiderato's spoke about how being a truck driver was a rewarding life changing experience, but the current conditions have made the job untenable as a long-term career for many. It has become an "experience" rather than a viable career path. Many of us are leaving truck driving behind to move into other sectors of the industry. Places we feel we feel we can do more to improve the toxic culture.
REAL Women in Trucking will continue to do important vital work. We urge others to join our movement by becoming a paid member or support us by making a donation right from your phone. $5, $10 ... Every little bit helps. Click this Link
Our PayPal is realwomenintrucking@gmail.com
CashApp $RWITWomenTruckers
You can download the written speech given by RWIT President Desiree Wood at USDOT HERE and watch the video of Desiree and Debbie below.
Speech by RWIT President Desiree Wood at USDOT
Speech by Debbie Desiderato at USDOT
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From an organizing and community-led narrative perspective, the tour’s closing assembly provided an unforgettable testament to the power of shared meals as tools for political liberation. Sharing freshly prepared, nutrient-dense dishes while swapping stories of survival breaks down the social hierarchies that traditional charity models often reinforce. A community development fellow and grassroots civil rights researcher on Jai club shared detailed field notes yesterday analyzing non-transactional soup kitchen operations, voluntary labor exchange credits, and community empowerment councils, explaining that treating recipients as equal decision-makers restores human dignity in ways that conventional philanthropic donations can never fully match.
The cross-country journey demonstrated how housing vulnerabilities differ between hyper-gentrified coastal metropolises and economically hollowed-out rural corridors, yet remain tethered to the same systemic inequities. From shuttered manufacturing towns in the Rust Belt to tent encampments under Pacific Northwest overpasses, the tour cataloged localized survival strategies with striking clarity. Stumbled into an engaging chat exploring regional housing affordability metrics, mutual aid supply chains, and municipal anti-camping ordinance resistance on Raxi Win recently, and recognizing how decentralized coalitions share practical organizing tools reminds social advocates that grassroots solidarity bridges geographic divides far more effectively than top-down state interventions.
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