On April 14, the Feminist Majority Foundation signed onto a letter led by the National Partnership for Women and Families and the Democratic Women’s Caucus, which emphasized the importance of the Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau. Organizations that signed the letter also asked Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer not to close the agency or reduce its size.
This action comes a few weeks after Chavez-DeRemer reopened programs allowing employees from various Department of Labor agencies to retire early or resign on a deferred timeline. Employees had to opt into these programs by April 14 to be considered. As such, Equal Rights Advocates and other gender justice organizations are concerned that the Department of Labor may be preparing to close the Women’s Bureau as early as this week.
Over the past few months, the Trump administration’s federal workforce cuts have already affected the Women’s Bureau, as agency employees were part of the group targeted by Elon Musk’s confusing and illegal demand to share what they had accomplished in the past week or be fired. Furthermore, the anticipated staffing cuts to the Department of Labor have the potential to impact more vital programs, like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), as well as initiatives to prevent wage theft, protect healthcare and retirement, and strengthen the job opportunity infrastructure.
This research agency collects data on workplace disparities and makes policy recommendations to address them, providing valuable information to legislators nationwide. The Women’s Bureau has successfully handled issues of physical workplace safety, fair pay, pregnancy discrimination, and many gender gaps in the labor market.
The Century Foundation points out that the work of the Women’s Bureau created the basis for legislation such as the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). The agency also administers grants to help women enter fields traditionally dominated by men through the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) program, which has historically been supported on both sides of the aisle.
From 1920 to 2022, the proportion of women in the labor force rose by almost 30 percent thanks to the efforts of the Women’s Bureau to improve gender equity. However, job growth for women has been slowing since last year, and the gender wage gap has widened. These economic metrics demonstrate a greater need for the Women’s Bureau, not a lesser one.
The Women’s Bureau is not an extreme initiative to prioritize women over people of other genders. The agency was established over a century ago for the safety of working women, and its research makes labor safer and more equitable for all people. Department of Labor: Don’t cut the Women’s Bureau!