According to Women in Trucking’s WIT Index, the number of women in leadership positions is increasing across the industry. This index gathered data from January through April of 2022, and includes responses from 180 participating companies. This information was gathered confidentially, and the group only releases aggregate totals that don’t reveal information about specific companies.
For the latest survey, WIT expanded the roles it covers to get a better overall picture of the trucking industry. This including counts of women in operations, human resources, talent management, marketing and technical roles. The results of this survey were reported in a recent article by Heavy Duty Trucking.
According to this new WIT Index, 33.8% of C-suite executives in surveyed trucking countries are women, up 1.5% from the last Index, released in 2019. 39.6% of company leader positions, defined by WIT as anyone with supervisory duties, including C-suite executives, are held by women.
Across all industries, 32% of people serving on boards of directors are female. The ratio of male to female board members in trucking is lower, but increasing. The boards at the top 14 publicly-traded carriers are 23% female, up from 22% in 2020 and 18% in 2019. Despite this growth, 21% of respondents still have no women on their boards.
In a press release, WIT President and CEO Ellen Voie said every large carrier today began with “a man and a truck.” With women increasingly participating in the industry, she says WIT is looking forward to a time when the industry has women-owned and led companies.
The WIT Index, which started in 2016, looks at the average percentages of women in roles covering all facets of transportation, including for-hire trucking, private fleets, railroads and ocean carriers. It also studies companies that provide equipment and technology services to the transportation industry..
