Women Truck Drivers Today: Numbers, Safety and Getting a CDL

How Many Truck Drivers Are Women?

The answer depends on who is counting. The Women In Trucking Association's 2026-27 WIT Index, released in August 2026 and based on roughly 210 organizations surveyed from November 2025 through April 2026, puts women at about 10% of professional CDL drivers at companies with fewer than 500 employees, about 10.5% at companies with 500 to 4,999 employees, and about 7% at the largest fleets. The previous 2024-25 index had the smallest companies at 12.5%, so that band slipped while the others held about steady.

Other methods give lower numbers. Researchers Alex Scott and Beth Davis-Sramek, using FMCSA roadside inspection records, estimated that women were 2.6% of tractor-trailer drivers in 2010 and 3.2% in 2019, and concluded that women make up somewhere between 3% and 4% of the driving workforce once every segment is counted. The same work found large for-hire truckload carriers averaging about 8.2% women, with some near 20%. The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) has cited about 3% for Class 7 and 8 drivers. The gap comes down to method: WIT surveys employers that choose to respond, while inspection data covers every kind of fleet, including private and less-than-truckload operations where women are rarer.

The index has good news in other seats. Women held about 31% of C-suite and executive roles and 45.5% of dispatcher jobs in the 2026-27 survey. Diesel technicians were the lowest category at 2.5%.

Owner-Operators and Team Driving

Owner-operators are independent contractors rather than employees, so they fall outside the company surveys, and we found no reliable count of how many women run their own trucks. They do exist in every corner of the business. CNBC profiled a driver who took a three-week trucking course, earned her CDL and went on to become an owner-operator with her own company, and who described fuel bills of $5,000 a week in a hard stretch.

Team driving, where two drivers share one truck so it keeps rolling while one sleeps, is another common path. Team runs can mean more miles and more company in the cab, but they also mean sharing a small space for weeks, which is why who you team with matters as much as the pay.

Safety, Harassment and Truck Stops

On the road, the data favors women. ATRI's crash prediction research, built on records from more than 435,000 U.S. truck drivers, found male drivers about 20% more likely to be involved in a crash, and a 2022 update found female drivers safer than their male counterparts in every statistically significant category.

Off the road is harder. ATRI's June 2024 study, Identifying and Mitigating the Challenges Faced by Women Truck Drivers, drew on 1,458 driver surveys, 82 motor carriers and interviews with training schools. About 17% of women reported harassment or discrimination every day, compared with 8.4% of men. Nearly a quarter of women, 24.7%, said they had left the industry at some point over personal safety concerns, against 11% of men. Of 12 problems drivers face daily, women reported 11 more often than men, and roughly two in five women said they struggle to find safe parking and clean restrooms.

That last point is where truck stops come in. A driver who runs out of hours has to park somewhere, and when the lit, busy lots fill up, the choices get worse. Experienced drivers plan the end of the day around parking, not just around miles.

Why Carriers Recruit Women

The plain reason is the labor pool. The American Trucking Associations reported a shortage of about 80,000 drivers in 2021 and warned it could reach 160,000 by 2030. Fleets that recruit from only half the population are fishing in a smaller pond.

Safety records are the second reason, given ATRI's findings. ATRI's recommendations for carriers include highlighting pay parity, featuring women in recruiting material, promoting company-sponsored CDL programs to lower the cost barrier, an open-door policy for reporting problems, mentorship programs and mental health support.

How to Get Started: The CDL

Most long-haul jobs need a Class A commercial driver's license. Since February 7, 2022, anyone getting a Class A or B CDL for the first time has to complete Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) from a provider listed on FMCSA's Training Provider Registry before taking the skills test. The process starts with a commercial learner's permit, and federal rules say a permit holder cannot take the CDL skills test in the first 14 days after it is issued. To drive interstate under federal driver qualification rules, you must be at least 21.

From there, the choice is between a private CDL school and a company-sponsored program, which usually trades lower upfront cost for a work commitment. Read the contract before you sign. If you are a woman joining a carrier, ask how trainers are assigned, whether women can request a female trainer, and what the company does when a driver reports harassment. A good carrier will have clear answers.

The cab is not a new place for women, but the share behind the wheel is still small. The best measure of progress will be whether the women who start this year are still driving five years from now.