Women In Trucking Association (WIT) has earned a 2019 American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Power of A Silver Award for its innovative approach to increase the number of women in the trucking industry.
ASAE honored the program launched by WIT to generate positive awareness of the trucking industry and plant the seed for the next generation of female drivers. The program has three components: the WIT truck driving doll named Clare, the Girl Scout/WIT Transportation Patch program, and the “Scouting for Cookies” activity book, where the reader follows a young girl through the supply chain to understand where Girl Scout cookies come from. This creative approach gives young women positive exposure to the industry before they even enter the workforce.
“We applaud Women In Trucking for creating and implementing such a collaborative initiative that strengthens society,” said Sharon J. Swan, FASAE, CAE, chief executive officer of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and chair of the Power of A Awards Judging Committee. “Their initiative exemplifies how no other sector helps improve lives as comprehensively as the association community.”
The objective of the program is to expose young girls to the trucking industry in a positive way and educate them about career opportunities as well as safety around big trucks. The goal is to reach as many children as possible, so this is an ongoing program within the WIT association.
The short-term outcome is that more than 1,500 young girls have earned their Girl Scout transportation patch and 1,500 have a truck-driving doll named Clare. They are now more aware that their gender doesn’t define their profession and they can be anything they want to be. They are cognizant of the positive impact the trucking industry has on the economy and how to be safe around tractor-trailers.
“The long-term outcome will be for these young girls to be engaged in the trucking industry. Their natural talents can serve the industry in a wide variety of roles. We hope to see these young girls grow up to be drivers, engineers, business owners, technicians, trainers, etc., because of the positive view they have of a respected industry,” said Ellen Voie, president and CEO, Women In Trucking.
ASAE’s Power of A Awards, the industry’s highest honor, recognize the association community’s valuable contributions on the local, national and global levels. The Power of A Awards reward the outstanding accomplishments of associations and industry professionals who work tirelessly to solve problems, and strengthen lives, the workforce, the economy, and the world.
