Women In Trucking to develop WIT Index
Plover, WI (PRWEB) February 26, 2015 -- The Women In Trucking (WIT) Association’s goal is to increase the percentage of women employed in the trucking industry. Currently there are only fourteen percent of women in leadership roles and slightly more than five percent as professional drivers. No statistics are available regarding the number of women serving as directors in carrier boardrooms.
Women In Trucking is going to start monitoring these numbers with the assistance of the University of Memphis (U of M) and Dr. Stephanie Ivey and her students in the Department of Civil Engineering. Dr. Ivey and the U of M host the Southeast Transportation Workforce Center (SETWC), which is part of the National Network for Transportation Workforce.
“Our goal is to start monitoring the percentage of women who work in the trucking industry, as drivers or managers or board level directors and track our efforts to increase the presence of women at all levels,” said Ellen Voie, WIT’s President and CEO. “There are companies who aren’t even tracking their diversity efforts to include women and minorities, so we are pleased to find a partner with Dr. Ivey and her students to help us measure the progress of our efforts.”
“The work we are undertaking in partnership with Women In Trucking is an important effort to establish baseline data regarding the number of women in the trucking industry so that we can ultimately develop an annual index tracking industry trends,” said Dr. Ivey. “This will provide insight for the Southeast Transportation Workforce Center’s work in identifying areas with the greatest needs in terms of diversity and potential strategies that may be useful in attracting more women to the transportation profession,” Ivey added. “SETWC's focus areas of women in transportation, as well as freight and logistics, make this collaborative effort to establish the index a perfect fit. We are excited about the learning opportunity this also creates for our students as we are able to engage them in this research effort,” Ivey stated.
U of M is also hosting a summit, Choosing Transportation: Attracting Women to the Profession on March 18 and 19 in Memphis. This event focuses on creating action items and deliverables with the goal of attracting, retaining, and advancing a diverse transportation workforce. Voie will be serving on an executive panel at the event. For information about the event contact Dr. Ivey at ssalyers(at)memphis(dot)edu.
Women In Trucking Association, Inc. is a nonprofit association established to encourage the employment of women in the trucking industry, promote their accomplishments and minimize obstacles faced by women working in the trucking industry. Membership is not limited to women, as 16 percent of its members are men who support the mission. Women In Trucking is supported by its members and the generosity of Gold Level Partners: Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, Daimler Trucks NA, GE Capital Transportation Finance, Great Dane Trailers, J.B. Hunt Transport, U.S. Xpress, and Walmart. Follow WIT on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. For more information, visit http://www.womenintrucking.org or call 888-464-9482.
Ellen Voie, Women In Trucking Association, Inc., http://www.womenintrucking.org, +1 920-312-1350, [email protected]
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