The Women’s Bureau has been in operation since 1920, when it was founded to create policies and standards to improve conditions for women at work, helping conduct research that formed the basis of early gender-based labor laws and key legislation on fair pay and paid leave.
Today, the agency collects and analyzes data on women at work and runs several grant programs, including the Women in Apprenticeship & Nontraditional Occupations program, which last year awarded $5 million to seven organizations developing apprenticeships for women in industries where they are underrepresented. The 2023 award was the largest in the program’s history, with funds going to programs in Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington.
The bureau also supports initiatives that work to close the gender pay gap, advance paid leave policies, alleviate the child care crisis and eliminate workplace harassment. This year, it awarded $1.3 million in grants to organizations working to prevent and respond to gender-based violence and harassment against women workers, and launched the only federal database comparing child care prices at the county level.