Ukrainian initiatives for training female truck and bus drivers join global Women in Transport network

The Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine announced that Ukrainian projects for training female truck and bus drivers have joined the global network Women in Transport (WiT).

The ministry reported this on Facebook.

Projects involving women in the transport sector were presented in Istanbul during the launch of the network "Women in Transport" (WiT).

The launch of the network took place with the support of:

• The World Bank,
• The European Investment Bank,
• The Asian Development Bank,
• The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ),
• The International Transport Forum.

According to Deputy Minister of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine Serhii Derkach, the Ukrainian initiative to train female truck and bus drivers for further employment was a response to the consequences of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the increasing personnel crisis, especially in areas traditionally dominated by men.

The Ministry of Development is working to scale up relevant initiatives and ensure a sustainable training and education system for women in various transport professions.

It is emphasized that the key tasks of the Women in Transport network are to empower women in the transport sector by supporting joint initiatives, exchanging experience and information, conducting training and retraining of women, and finding partners for projects to involve women in the transport sector.

The network participants will focus their work on promoting regulatory changes for:

• training women in STEM fields,
• supporting initiatives for women's employment in the transport sector,
• scaling best practices, expanding the efforts of individual projects and countries to promote women in the transport sector.

For reference:

In partnership with the Ministry of Economy, the Reskilling Ukraine project announces a new recruitment for retraining programs. Thanks to these programs, women can, in particular, master the profession of truck and passenger transport driver free of charge.

Also, within the framework of the She Drives pilot project for training female bus drivers, the list of regions whose residents can master a new profession has been increased.

Rubryka reported on Ukraine's inaugural courses explicitly designed for women aspiring to become truck drivers, highlighting the journey of Ukrainian women who have completed the program and are navigating a new career path. The article delves into the curriculum offered by the courses, explores whether truck driving is considered a rough job, and examines the willingness of employers to hire women as truck drivers. More details can be found in our feature: "Getting into truck driving: How Ukrainian women overcome stereotypes and learn "men's" profession."