Women of Trucking Advisory Board Ensures Future of Female Drivers

WOTAB is designed to recruit, retain, support and ensure the safety of women commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers and strengthen the trucking industry as a whole.

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The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) developed the Women of Trucking Advisory Board (WOTAB) as part of President Biden’s Trucking Action Plan.

WOTAB includes 16 founding members, all women, with diverse backgrounds and experiences to provide balanced points of view on addressing the challenges facing women in the industry.

"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," says U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. "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.”

From the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA):

  • WOTAB is designed to recruit, retain, support and ensure the safety of women commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers and strengthen the trucking industry as a whole. 
  • Of these members, five are current CMV drivers, four are former CMV drivers and others are trainers, executives and authors. WOTAB’s members hail from 11 states and work for small, medium and large trucking companies and as independent owner-operators, non-profit organizations, trucking business associations and institutions of higher education.
  • Collectively, WOTAB members have more than 80 years of driving experience with trucks, motorcoaches and ports and more than 275 years in trucking and other modes of transportation. 

“Women are significantly under-represented in the trucking industry, holding only 24% of all transportation jobs,” says FMCSA Deputy Administrator Robin Hutcheson. “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.” In March, Hutcheson discussed truck driver challenges firsthand in a ride along with an experienced driver. 

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