New program creates a practical pathway for more women in transport

Volvo Trucks Australia, WomenCan Australia, Wodonga TAFE and Transport Women Australia have launched a joint training, licensing and job placement program aimed at bringing more women into transport careers while helping strengthen the industry’s future workforce.

Following a successful pilot under the Iron Women banner, the partnership was formally launched at CMV Truck & Bus in Derrimut and is focused on removing barriers, building confidence and creating clear pathways into work.

It is the kind of practical initiative the heavy vehicle industry needs more of — identifying a challenge and getting on with the job of solving it.

Women remain significantly under-represented in truck driving roles, making up just 4.4 per cent of the national driver pool.

Research commissioned by Volvo Group Australia identified key barriers including access to the right licences (36 per cent), concerns about physical strength (34 per cent), and perceptions of a blokey culture (33 per cent).

Most telling of all, 76 per cent of women surveyed said they had never even considered the industry as a career option.

That presents both a challenge and an opportunity.

For an industry needing more skilled people and stronger pipelines into the future, there is little sense drawing from the same narrow talent pool if capable people are being overlooked simply because no clear pathway exists.

This new partnership aims to address that directly by providing targeted training and licensing pathways, wraparound support, mentoring and job placement opportunities.

It has also been designed as a scalable model that can be used by regional and metropolitan employers across freight and logistics.

WomenCan Australia supports women into new career pathways, including those who have been out of the workforce due to caring responsibilities, family violence, migration and settlement, or other barriers to education and training.

Those women bring experience, resilience and potential that any industry would value.

Through the program, participants will have access to accredited training through Wodonga TAFE, along with industry connections, support and mentoring through Transport Women Australia and Volvo Trucks.

“Right now, Australia simply does not have enough qualified drivers to keep our freight moving, and we cannot solve that challenge if we keep drawing from the same small talent pool,” said Jane Humphreys, Vice President, People and Culture, Volvo Trucks Australia.

“By partnering with WomenCan Australia, Wodonga TAFE and Transport Women Australia, we are opening the road to secure, skilled transport careers for more women and building a stronger, more sustainable driver workforce for the long term.”

Programs like this matter because they are grounded in real outcomes.

They help people into work, give employers access to new talent, and show that transport can offer genuine careers for those prepared to step forward.

They also reflect the broader spirit of Truck Week — an industry prepared to back itself, invest in people and create its own future.

No single initiative solves every workforce challenge, but practical pathways like this are exactly how progress is made.