The Women in Trucking Accelerate 2022 event held in Dallas at the Anatole Hilton was inspiring, and this year’s event had a record setting 1,750 attendees.
Ellen Voie, president and CEO of WIT, went on to clarify that while the U.S. Department of Labor states that the participation of women as truck drivers of all classes of commercial vehicles is approximately 7%, the number of Class 8 women drivers is 13.6%. This shows great progress in our traditionally male-dominated industry, but still well below a 50% value that demographics would expect.
WIT Accelerate attendees had to walk by a piece of the Berlin Wall that the Anatole has on display. The piece has graffiti by German artist Jurden Grope. A plaque near the wall translates “Wir Längst” to “We” and “a long length of time.”
I know of two particularly good presidential speeches about the Berlin Wall that I would like to adapt in this thought leadership piece to WIT’s stated mission, “to encourage the employment of women in the industry, promote their accomplishments, and minimize obstacles faced by women working in trucking.” So with the help of John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, let me adjust their Berlin Wall and Brandenburg Gate speeches in context of WIT’s mission.
There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between women and the trucking industry. Let them come to WIT. There are some who say that males will always dominate trucking. Let them come to WIT. And there are some who say in the U.S. and elsewhere we can work with the status quo. Let them come to WIT. And there are even a few who say that it is true that a male-dominated industry is not optimum, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass' sic nach WIT kommen. Let them come to WIT.
