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The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced the new Women of Trucking Advisory Board to recruit and support female commercial motor vehicle drivers, as well as the general trucking industry.
The board includes 16 founding members, all women, with various backgrounds and experiences to provide unique and balanced perspectives on issues facing women in the industry, according to an Aug. 29 news release.
"America needs truck drivers like never before, yet women—half the American people—have long been underestimated and underrepresented behind the wheel and in jobs across this sector. Getting to know women in trucking, I have heard about their passion for the job as well as the challenges they face, and this experienced Women in Trucking Advisory Board will help us address these issues directly," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in the release. "We thank the members for serving and look forward to working together to bring more women into trucking and to enhance job quality in this important career.”
Five members of the new board are current commercial motor vehicle drivers, four are former drivers and others are trainers, executives and authors, the release reported. In total, WOTAB members have a collective 80 years of driving experience with trucks, motorcoaches and ports, as well as more than 275 years in trucking and other modes of transportation.
“Women are significantly underrepresented in the trucking industry, holding only 24% of all transportation jobs,” FMCSA Deputy Administrator Robin Hutcheson said in the release. “We anticipate many great ideas from the advisory board that will help expand equity and safely provide access to careers in trucking for women across the industry.”
WOTAB will work with trucking companies and associations, as well as nonprofit organizations, to support female truckers, the release reported. The board will also provide recommendations to Hutcheson and Buttigieg regarding issues such as supporting women pursuing trucking careers and identifying ways to increases the number of women in the trucking industry.
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