Tag Archives: Ellen Voie Article

JumpStart Auto Repair, a Garage for Good

While the trucking industry seeks more women to fill the roles of driver, technician and leader, the automotive industry has some of the same challenges. It’s still not common to see female mechanics working on your car. Even less common is a shop run by women for women.

That’s the goal of JumpStart Auto Repair in Appleton, Wisconsin. Their mission is to provide honest, reliable service to women, who reportedly make up 65 percent of all car repair decisions.

Their focus is even more targeted, as their partners are two domestic abuse shelters in the area, the Harbor House Domestic Abuse Programs and Christine Ann Domestic Abuse Services. The number one reason someone will return to an abusive relationship. So, JumpStart LLC, a garage for good, was created. Continue reading →

WIT Image Team Member Donates Kidney

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Plover, WI (March 1, 2017)— Women In Trucking Association (WIT) announces Carol Nixon as its March Member of the Month. Carol is a WIT Image Team member and professional driver for Walmart Private Fleet.

Carol is being recognized for giving a kidney to a total stranger.

Carol and a fellow Walmart driver, Deb Pollard both attended the first annual WIT Accelerate! Conference & Expo in 2015, where Carol learned Deb’s husband, Craig, was on dialysis and in need of a kidney. Carol immediately offered to help.

After a series of tests to find out if they were a match, Carol made the decision to donate a kidney, even if Craig couldn’t be the recipient. That way, Craig might make it to the top of the list sooner. However, after three long weeks of waiting, they learned they were a match and could proceed. Continue reading →

You can influence the regulations that affect you!

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Compliance, Rules, Regulations and Guidelines Imagine you wake up at 3 am. to a fire alarm in your hotel room on the 15^th floor. The announcement from the loudspeaker instructs everyone to exit the building immediately, without using the elevator. What do you do?

This recently happened to me, and after trudging down the flights of stairs and being guided to a parking lot across the street, I was not in a good mood. At least I had pulled on my jeans and grabbed a jacket, as some people were still in their pajamas and were shivering in the chilly morning air.

As you can imagine, we were all relieved, but irritated to learn it was a false alarm. The waiting line for the (very slow) elevators was long, so I decided to walk back up the stairs to my room. Later, I asked a companion how many stairs he had to maneuver and he told me he had just gotten into the shower and decided to take a chance that there was no fire and it was only a false alarm. Continue reading →

Nominate a Distinguished Woman in Logistics!

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WIT and Truckstop.com are seeking nominations for the 2017 Distinguished Woman in Logistics Award (DWLA). The award recognizes the achievements and leadership of outstanding individuals involved in logistics in North America.

As a director on our board, I encourage you to submit a nomination by completing the form at http://www.womenintrucking.org/DWLA by January 13, 2017.

As you know, our mission includes celebrating the success of women who are pioneers in the industry. The DWLA program is open to high-performing women in any field related to logistics, including warehousing, traffic and shipping, supply chain management, third-party logistics, trucking, rail, and maritime cargo. Continue reading →

Are you a risk taker? Ellen’s blog for January

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Imagine you wake up at 3 am. to a fire alarm in your hotel room on the 15^th floor. The announcement from the loudspeaker instructs everyone to exit the building immediately, without using the elevator. What do you do?

Never drive alone – WIT App

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The trucking industry is a close-knit community, especially for professional drivers. However, sometimes a familiar face may be hard to find when you’re out on the road.

Now you can know where your friends are through the new Women In Trucking (WIT) app by Trucker Sam. Currently available in Android version (IOS coming soon!), this app allows you to connect with your friends in real time. When you stop for the night at your favorite truck stop, you’ll be able to open the app and see which of your friends are in the area.

You determine who can see your location, so you can have family members track you as well. Your kids (or grandkids) can see where you are and your spouse will know when to expect you for dinner. Continue reading →

Does your recruiting ad attract women?

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What makes a word relate better to a male or a female? According to Kat Matfield, who created a gender decoder for job ads (http://gender-decoder.katmatfield.com), “we all use language that is subtly “gender-coded” and this affects job advertising as well.

Matfield based her web-based tool on a study by professors from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada and Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Her goal is to remove gender bias in hiring, starting with the recruiting ads.

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Before Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, many job ads were grouped under headings signifying the specific gender of the applicant. For example, stewardesses looked under the job listings for women and truck drivers could find carriers hiring under the listings for men. Continue reading →

How (NOT) to hire women by Ellen Voie

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An excerpt from a 1943 transportation magazine has circulated through out the industry. It has been verified as a true reprint by Snopes, which claims that the author is L.H. Sanders, who wrote the article for Mass Transportation Magazine’s July issue. The intent was to assist (male) managers in choosing the right women to work in jobs formerly held by men who vacated their positions for military service during WWII.

Although the author seems to be patronizing women, he (or she) was probably not intending to portray females as unmotivated, incapable and fragile as the text appears. However, the eleven “helpful tips” show us how far we have come in proving our ability to work alongside men in many occupations. Continue reading →

What do women want?

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I am often asked to explain what issues women in the trucking industry have that are different from men. The answer is, “none.” Every one of the concerns that our members have affects both men and women.

So, why do women need their own association? They don’t! Despite the name, “Women In Trucking,” our membership is not limited to women. In fact, currently, seventeen percent of our members are men. If you think about it, you don’t need to be a dog to support the humane society, do you? The Arbor Day Foundation doesn’t require that you’re a tree to fund their efforts. Continue reading →

A female driver’s experience.

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The mission of Women In Trucking Association is to increase the percentage of women employed in the trucking industry. While we represent all careers in transportation, much of our work focuses on the professional driver’s challenges. Specifically, we look at obstacles that might keep women from considering a career in transportation.

Many carrier’s representatives have bluntly stated that they don’t “care about the gender of their drivers.” They remark that they hire men and women and treat them equally. If that is true, then why are there twenty men to every woman behind the wheel? Continue reading →