OTA Dispatch Issue 4 2017

19 www.ortrucking.org Issue 4 | 2017 Women in the Trucking Industry In the 1970’s, Bitzy Gomez formed a Coalition of Women Truck Drivers to fight discrimination in the industry. The Real Women in Trucking Association, formed in 2010 by seasoned female commercial motor vehicle drivers to be an informational resource and improve working conditions for in the trucking industry is the first to offer a trucking radio program hosted by women. Women comprise approximately 5.1 percent of the driver population and 21.1 percent of transportation management positions. Lillie McGee Drennan was the first woman truck driver to earn a commercial driver’s license (CDL) and drive a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) in 1929. She also was the first female trucking firm owner in the US—Drennan Truck Lines. 1 st Luella Bates from WI who is known to be the first woman to get her license. 1 st Bonnie Greenwood, a student from WyoTech in Laramie, Wyoming, became the first woman to win ATA’s TMC FutureTech National Student Technician Competition, 2017. 1 st Women in Trucking (WIT) worked with Girl Scouts for the first ever “Women in Trucking” patch in 2014. WIT is celebrating their ten-year anniversary this year! 1 st 2010, ATA Inducted First Woman Chair—Barbara Windsor, President and CEO of Hahn Transportation, New Market, MD. 1 st Elizabeth Dole was first woman to serve as US Secretary of Transportation. 1 st In the 1940’s, Rusty Dow was the first woman to drive the Alaska Highway. She drove a Studebaker 6x6 with 10 wheels with bald tires, broken gauges, and a 40-gallon tank. 1 st