Nairobi, March 28 -- Sheila Mpala never imagined driving a haulage truck growing up. She wanted to be a nurse or a mortician. But her husband, whom she married when she was 23, shot down her dreams. Nursing paid too little, and he earned enough for the family, she recalls him saying. He didn't want her to be a mortician either.

"He didn't like the idea of me touching the children with hands that would have spent the day touching dead people," the mother of two says.

But her husband couldn't pay for their basic needs, so she pushed him to let her work. She suggested truck driving. Surprisingly, he agreed.

Now, Mpala, 32, is one of the few women in Zimbabwe in this male-dominated field. While there is no data available for how many women...