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In the cabin of her 44 tonnes, Nathalie is a pioneer on the roads of Europe, which she has traveled for seventeen years. And she wouldn’t let go of her job for anything in the world… Extract from the magazine “1:15 p.m. on Saturday” of April 16, 2022.
Women are still exceptions in the road transport profession. In France, they are only 3% today in France. And at the start of his career, seventeen years ago, it was difficult to find a boss willing to hire a woman: “We first had to find a boss who agreed to finance the permits, because it has a cost”she remembers for the magazine “1:15 p.m. on Saturday” (replay).
“The answers we were often told that I heard at the beginning were: ‘Oh, she’s going to be sick a lot…’ says Nathalie while preparing her truck for unloading at an industrial delivery area. I just thought it was very… dumb! Why would a woman be sicker than a man? I had never understood these kinds of answers, but it was especially in relation to the fact of not succeeding…”
9,000 women out of 300,000 drivers
Does she think it’s too physical a job for a woman? : “No, no, not at all. Whoever wants to, can! Male or female.” Nathalie had to fight to be accepted in a world of men. It belongs pioneers. And today, “Nath 68” proudly displays the color on her 44 tons that she decorated herself with pink paint and stickers.
In seventeen years in the business, this 43-year-old mother, mother of a little girl, has criss-crossed Europe far and wide, completing the equivalent of 65 round the world trips. Today, Nathalie sees the number of her female colleagues increasing each year: they are now 9,000 out of 300,000 drivers.
> Replays of France Télévisions news magazines are available on the Franceinfo website and its mobile application (iOS & Android), “Magazines” section.