Empowering women in the trucking industry

With trucks carrying more than 70% of goods throughout China, the trucking industry and its workers are critical to the Chinese economy. Professional truck drivers in China comprise nearly 17 million, which includes over 860,000 female truckers and over 13 million truckers' wives who either support their husbands by driving alongside them or stay home raising families. 

In this dramatically male-dominated industry, Cummins Powers Women (CPW) discovered a great opportunity to recognize and support the significant contributions by women in the trucking industry. In March 2022, WE (Women Empower) Trucking began its journey in China to help improve their working environment and living conditions.

Maggie Sun, Risk Insurance Manager, China, Singapore, Japan and Mongolia at Cummins, and leader of the WE Trucking working team, shares some insight: "Imagine some of the challenges women face in this industry such as limited time spent with their families, inconvenient accommodations, occupational disease and more. Our initiative provides these women with resources and education to remove visible and invisible barriers in their lives, helping them achieve career advancement, business success, and an improved sense of accomplishment, all of which contribute to a better quality of life."

Empowerment through collaboration

To create WE Trucking, CPW partnered with the China Women’s Development Foundation (CWDF), a national public foundation that raises funds to safeguard women’s rights, improve their quality of life, and promote their development and causes in China. CWDF and its industrial partners working with strong support from Cummins leadership and employees in the region have made great strides in creating and implementing a wide range of initiatives to support women in the trucking industry across the country.

"Our company's Corporate Responsibility mission is to build more prosperous communities by empowering people to thrive in their day-to-day lives," says Xiangdong Ding, Cummins Corporate Responsibility Leader in China. "With WE Trucking, we are doing just that as we address this crucial need in an industry Cummins has historically served. The passion and problem-solving skills of our employees are being leveraged in creating the appropriate resources to tackle challenges in the lives of these remarkable women. It's a fruitful collaboration, and we are making a difference."

From initiating female community groups via WeChat to online training and offline workshops, WE Trucking includes an assorted curriculum for participants to learn more about: individual development, health and wellbeing, security and safety, parenthood and family relationships, and marketing skills. 

Achieving inspiring results

In just over one year, numerous online and offline events, combined with a strong social media presence, have enhanced the influence of the project. Some impressive results include: 

• 774 female truckers have shared their personal stories online with 190,000+ views and 30,000+ followers.
• 60,000+ truckers have signed up to distribute care packages, which include emergency supplies and handy tools like first aid kits, cut-proof gloves and feminine hygiene products.
• There have been 600,000+ views of WE Trucking’s project-related videos and articles published on various social media channels.

"I'm proud to say in the short time since launching WE Trucking, we have had many successful events," says Sun. "One that truly inspired me was held at Cummins' East Asia Research & Development Center site in Wuhan last August. Through Cummins Every Employee Every Community volunteer initiative, our employees hosted a summer camp for families involved with the trucking industry. Volunteers organized a site tour for 10 families and introduced them to what is current technology in the industry. During one of the sharing sessions, a young girl around 9 years of age said that when she grows up, she wants to be a female engineer and work at Cummins. This tells me we are making an impact not only now, but into the future."

Motivating engagement

Cummins Powers Women realized the biggest challenge of implementing the project was the limited resources Cummins had to directly contact the target group, while its industrial partners were very connected to the female trucking population. Once partnered with CWDF, Cummins leveraged its employees' knowledge to develop resources like: health, safety and environment experts who provided solutions to ease truckers' pain during driving, and human resources colleagues who utilized the Cummins' Employee Assistance Program to offer free training sessions. As WE Trucking has evolved, the partnerships have expanded quickly not only to CWDF's industrial partners but even further to include Cummins' fleet customers, joint venture sites and vendors. 

"There is no question we have already witnessed very encouraging results from this project," says Nathan Stoner, Vice President, Cummins China Area Business Organization. "Through diverse programs and activities, WE Trucking provides solid support and addresses the real issues women are facing, reducing the barriers that prevent them from unleashing their full potential in work and life. Consequently, these women impact more and more people and further motivate engagement of the entire trucking industry."

With the great work already achieved and more yet to come, WE Trucking is estimated to benefit over 5,000 women in three years and bring significant impact to an even larger population!