U.S. Department of Labor

Women’s Bureau

November 2016
Table of Contents

ii

Table of Contents

Table of Contents.......................................................................................................................... ii

TAB 1: AGENCY ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW .......................................................................... 3

Mission........................................................................................................................................ 3

Authorizing Legislation .............................................................................................................. 3

Organizational Structure ............................................................................................................. 3

Organizational Changes During the Past Eight Years................................................................ 7

Key Leaders................................................................................................................................ 7

TAB 2: 30/60/90 DAYS – STATE OF PLAY...................................................................................... 9

Key Meetings, Decisions and Announcements .......................................................................... 9

Key Agency Stakeholders........................................................................................................... 9

TAB 3: INITIATIVES ..................................................................................................................... 11

Policy and Regulatory Issues.................................................................................................... 11

Major Grants and Contracts...................................................................................................... 13

Enforcement.............................................................................................................................. 14

Management.............................................................................................................................. 14

Calendar.................................................................................................................................... 15

TAB 4: BUDGET ........................................................................................................................... 16

TAB 5: AGENCY PERFORMANCE................................................................................................. 20
TAB 1: Agency Organizational Overview

3

TAB 1: AGENCY ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW

Mission

The mission of the Women’s Bureau (the Bureau or WB) is to develop policies and standards and 

conduct inquiries to safeguard the interests of working women, advocate for their equality and 

economic security for themselves and their families, and promote quality work environments. 

Authorizing Legislation

Public Law 66-259 authorized the Women’s Bureau to “formulate standards and policies which 

shall promote the welfare of wage-earning women, improve their working conditions, increase their 

efficiency, and advance their opportunities for profitable employment.”

The Bureau has been conducting critical research, policy and advocacy work on behalf of working 

women since it was established in 1920. The Bureau informs and educates individuals and 

organizations at the local, state, and national levels about the issues facing women in the labor 

force, while also promoting policy and programs aimed at increasing equal economic and 

employment opportunity and advancement for working women and their families. 

Organizational Structure

The Director is appointed by the President and is supported by an SES career Deputy Director, a 

non-career Deputy Director, a Senior Advisor, and a Chief of Staff. 

The Bureau is comprised of a national office headquartered in Washington, D.C., and regional 

offices. The national office consists of the Office of Policy and Programs, the Office of 

Information and Support Services, and the Office of the Director. The Bureau’s authorized FTE is 

52. There are 53 staff on board currently. The national office currently has 35 FTE, and the 

regional offices currently have a total of 18 FTE. The Bureau continues to fill key vacancies, such 

asregional administrators and a senior researcher within the Office of Policy of Policy and 

Programs. 

Through its national and regional offices, the Bureau conducts research, advocates for policies that 

promote the interests of working women, and interfaces with key stakeholders including women’s 

and civil rights organizations, state and local governments, employers, unions, and directly with 

working women themselves. The Bureau is not an enforcement agency, but it advises the 

Secretary, the Administration, and sister DOL agencies on policy and regulatory issues.

The staff in the national office perform a variety of factual and policy research and analysis 

activities and routinely responds to requests for feedback and analysis from other DOL agencies 

and other Federal departments and entities. Deliverables include web sites and resources, policy

and white papers, issue papers, data and statistics analysis, fact sheets, guides, blogs, and other 

resources. In addition, the policy and program staff conduct reviews, clearance, and analysis of 

Departmental policy documents, reports, testimony and regulations, as well as congressional 

legislation, for accuracy in portraying the status of women in the labor force or taking them and 
TAB 1: Agency Organizational Overview

4

their needs into account and addressing those needs, as well as for projected impact on 

Departmental and WB programs and resources. As needed, the Bureau also disseminates 

information on relevant state and local statutes. The staff provide guidance and expert advice in 

response to Departmental, Congressional, or White House inquiries related to the status of working 

women. The national office’s administrative staff perform a wide-range of business operational 

support, including information management and technology, budgetary and financial requirements, 

human resource matters, and procurement and acquisition activities in support of the agency 

deliverables and requirements.

The Office of Information and Support Services (OISS) performs a wide-range of administrative 

and business operational support including records management, controlled correspondence, 

FOIA, information management and technology, website maintenance, space management, 

continuity of operations (COOP), budgetary and financial requirements and strategic planning. 

OISS advises on human resource matters, including, staffing and recruitment, performance 

management, and employee and labor relations. It also oversees procurement and acquisition 

activities in support of the policy deliverables and agency requirements. Additionally, OISS 

administrates the training, travel, safety and health in support of the national and regional staff, and 

conducts research and provide responses to constituent inquiries related to the Bureau’s priorities.

The Bureau’s regional offices are an integral component of the agency. The regional staff have 

primary responsibility for on-the-ground outreach and play a critical role in executing its strategies, 

by gathering data in the field, developing programming, and providing technical assistance geared 

toward policy and programmatic change. In addition, regional staff maintain subject matter 

expertise on local and state policy at various stages of development and work closely with local and 

national groups on the agency’s and DOL’s initiatives and help to shape the Bureau’s national 

policy and research agenda. In addition, the regional staff informs regional, state, and local 

stakeholders of new findings, policies, and promising practices relevant to women in the workforce.
TAB 1: Agency Organizational Overview

5

Organizational Chart

 

Women's Bureau Organization Chart

WB Director

Latifa Lyles

(PA)

Deputy Director

Joan Harrigan-Farrelly

(Career SES)

Deputy Director

Pronita Gupta

(Non-Career SES)

Chief of Staff

Kathleen Gaspard

(Non-Career)

Senior Advisor

Liz Wing

(Non-Career)

Chief, Information and 

Support Services

Paris Mack

Director, Office of Policy 

and Programs

Tiffany Boiman

Regional Administrators

Region 1 - Jacqueline Cooke

Region 2 - Grace Protos

Region 3 – Vacant

Region 4 - Charmaine Davis

Region 5 - Vacant 

Region 6 - Vacant

Region 7 - Vacant

Region 8 – Vacant

Region 9 - Kelly Jenkins-Pultz

Region 10 - Betty Lock
TAB 1: Agency Organizational Overview

6

Workforce At-A-Glance
TAB 1: Agency Organizational Overview

7

Organizational Changes During the Past Eight Years

Building Capacity for Policy and Research

The Bureau’s goal has been to enhance the research and policy development aspects of its work to 

ensure its role as a thought leader and consistent government source of emerging research, gender 

analyses and resources for women in the labor force. Thus, the Bureau’s organizational changes 

have primarily focused on how to efficiently meet the demands of its policy and research agenda, 

including re-establishing critical positions in its policy and program office. The Bureau has 

significantly increased the number and depth of its policy and program positions, including creating 

and reestablishing positions critical to its mission. These positions include a director of policy,

economists, senior researcher, and policy analysts. 

Additionally, the Bureau has established a communications team to design and execute its online 

outreach and communications strategies, which include new web sites, online resource catalogues 

and know-your-rights information for working women, responsive educational web content, data 

and statistics visualization tools, social media outreach, and a robust e-mail program. 

The Bureau hired a career-SES Deputy Director to serve as the agency’s chief administrator, to 

oversee the overall operations and functions of the agency, and to serve as its senior-most career 

manager and official. 

Developing New Grant Opportunities 

The Bureau requested grant authority through Budget Request, and received authority in FY 2012, 

“to serve and promote the interests of women in the workforce.” The Bureau has since instituted 

two grants programs. The Paid Leave Analysis Grants program was initiated in FY 2014, and, in 

FY 2016, it launched a research grants program on portable retirement benefits planning.

Key Leaders

Non-Career

Director (Political Appointee) – Latifa Lyles

Deputy Director (SES) – Pronita Gupta

Senior Advisor – Liz Wing

Chief of Staff – Kathleen Gaspard 

Career

Deputy Director (SES) – Joan Harrigan-Farrelly

Chief, Information and Support Services – Paris Mack

Director, Office of Policy and Programs – Tiffany Boiman

Regional Administrator, Boston – Jacqueline Cooke

Regional Administrator, New York – Grace Protos

Regional Administrator, Philadelphia – Vacant

Regional Administrator, Atlanta – Charmaine Davis
TAB 1: Agency Organizational Overview

8

Regional Administrator, Chicago – Vacant 

Regional Administrator, Dallas – Vacant

Regional Administrator, Kansas City – Vacant

Regional Administrator, Denver – Vacant

Regional Administrator, San Francisco – Kelly Jenkins-Pultz

Regional Administrator, Seattle – Betty Lock
TAB 2: 30/60/90 Days – State of Play

9

TAB 2: 30/60/90 DAYS – STATE OF PLAY

Key Meetings, Decisions and Announcements

By end of February 2017 None.

By end of March 2017 None.

By end of April 2017 None.

Key Agency Stakeholders

The Bureau plays a critical role in convening key agency stakeholders responsible for the critical 

decision- and policy-making that impact women’s work experiences, and facilitating inter-agency 

communication, thereby seeking to avoid duplication of efforts. The Bureau interacts regularly 

with the White House Council on Women and Girls and the Domestic Policy Council. Also, the 

Bureau has worked closely on various initiatives with various federal partners, including: the State 

Department Office of Global Women’s Issues; the Small Business Administration Office of 

Women’s Business Ownership; the Department of Education Office of Career, Technical, and 

Adult Education; the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; the Department of Veterans 

Affairs Center for Women Veterans; and the Department of Health and Human Services Office on 

Women’s Health.

In addition to inter- and intra- agency collaborators, the Bureau serves as a strategic coordinator of 

issue/policy experts, advocacy organizations, state and local governments, employers, unions, 

educational institutions, and others to foster dialogue on issues impacting women in the workforce

and build impactful coalitions. The regional office staff foster and maintain local and community 

partnerships. The following are some examples of key agency stakeholders, although this list is not 

exhaustive and does not include all of our regional and local partners. The agency also maintains 

relationships with several state and local women’s organizations and other foundations (not listed).

9to5

American Association of University Women

Asian Americans Advancing Justice

Business and Professional Women’s Foundation

Catalyst

Families and Work Institute

Family Values@Work

Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR)

Leadership Council on Civil and Human Rights (LCCR)

Ms. Foundation for Women

National Association of Commissions for Women (NACW)

National Council of Asian Pacific Americans

National Counil of Negro Women

National Domestic Workers Alliance

National Task Force on Tradeswomen’s Issues

National Women’s Law Center (NWLC)
TAB 2: 30/60/90 Days – State of Play

10

The Aspen Institute

The Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR)

The Labor Project for Working Families 

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)

The National Partnership for Women and Families

Women Employed

YWCA
TAB 3: Initiatives

11

TAB 3: INITIATIVES

Policy and Regulatory Issues 

The Women’s Bureau is not aware of any major policy decisions that leadership will be facing in 

first three months.

The Women’s Bureau, as the sole federal agency tasked with representing the interests of the 72 

million women in the U.S. workforce, advocates for women on a host of employment issues every 

day. The Bureau’s policy and outreach focus reflects a combination of perennial challenges (e.g., 

equal pay) and emerging issues (e.g. paid family leave). The Bureau emphasizes a three-prong 

approach to create parity for women in the workforce by conducting cutting-edge research and 

policy analysis, informing and promoting policy change, and increasing public awareness and 

education. 

Recognizing that the U.S. is one of only three countries in the world, and the only industrialized 

nation, without any form of paid family leave, since 2014, the Bureau has collaborated with DOL’s 

Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to administer a competitive Paid Leave Analysis 

Grant Program. The Bureau has awarded three rounds of grants, totaling over $3 million over three 

years. The grants are designed to carry out research and analyses activities to advance a wide array 

of work to develop, implement or expand a paid leave program. In addition to paid leave-related 

grant making, the Bureau also hosts an annual symposium in cooperation with the Chief Evaluation 

Office for researchers and policy makers and organized paid family leave roundtables in 15 cities 

for stakeholders to share challenges and best practices. In FY 2017, the Bureau is continuing the 

work it began in 2016 in partnership with 18F of producing guidance and technology resources to 

help states develop the administrative and fiscal infrastructure necessary to administer a paid leave 

insurance program. 

The Bureau hosted listening sessions across the country with older women, retiree organizations, 

researchers, and employers to learn more about the impact of the aging workforce on the labor 

market and the concerns of the individuals. This exercise resulted in the publication of two topical 

issue briefs now widely used across the country and spawned the Bureau’s ongoing research to 

quantify the lifetime opportunity cost of women’s child and elder care on their long-range financial 

security.

The Women’s Bureau has long been recognized as the federal government’s authority on workplace 

rights and equity issues, particularly equal pay. The Bureau has been an active participant in the 

National Equal Pay Task Force, established in 2010. The Women’s Bureau spearheaded the 

Department of Labor’s Equal Pay App Challenge in 2012, challenging software developers to use 

publicly available data and resources to create applications that provided greater access to pay data 

organized by gender, race, and ethnicity; provide interactive tools for early career coaching or 

online mentoring; or provide data to help inform pay negotiations. Bureau staff took the lead in 

drafting the National Equal Pay Task Force’s 2013 Report, “Fifty Years after the Equal Pay Act: 

Assessing the Past, Taking Stock of the Future”. 

The Bureau sponsors an ongoing series of virtual and live events that convene experts and thought 

leaders on a variety of equal pay topics, writes publications on equal pay and pay transparency, and
TAB 3: Initiatives

12

disseminates them to women across the country including diverse and under-served communities. 

The Bureau also developed and maintains an interactive, web-based map depicting state-level equal 

pay and pay transparency laws. In 2016, the Bureau convened a national forum of leading 

economists and sociologists to discuss the socio-economic factors that contribute to the gender 

wage gap and identify strategies that work to mitigate those barriers to equal pay. 

In keeping with an emphasis on rights-related resources and materials intended to reach working 

women directly, in the fall of 2016, the Bureau will publish an updated version of an earlier 

resource: a comprehensive catalog of women’s employment rights, and also maintains a second 

web-based map identifying state-level pregnancy discrimination, accommodation and workplace 

lactation protections. This map has received 115,000 page views since February 2015. At times, 

the Bureau’s role as an advocate for women extends to the Department’s own workforce. Last year, 

the Women’s Bureau worked closely with colleagues inside the Department to strengthen its 

nursing mother’s policy (DLMS-4 Chapter 1040) and provide guidance to supervisors requiring 

them to be supportive of the nursing mothers in their office, as well as to establish better lactation 

rooms and equipment for nursing mothers to utilize at DOL during the work day. 

As noted above, the Bureau has spearheaded a number of initiatives to promote expanded 

employment and training opportunities for women in higher-paying occupations where they have 

traditionally been under-represented, including apprenticeships in the trades and other industries. 

The Bureau capitalized on the new momentum and resources around expanding apprenticeship 

opportunities to work closely with ETA’s Office of Apprenticeship (OA) in developing new grant 

programs and resources that are more inclusive of women. For example, over the course of the past 

year, the Bureau advocated for and was granted expanded representation of women on the Advisory 

Committee on Apprenticeship; provided substantial revisions to a written resource on preapprenticeship programs for women; and helped to craft updated equal employment opportunity 

regulations that had gone unrevised since the late 1970s. In addition, the Bureau, alongside its OA 

colleagues, co-administers the Women in Non-Traditional Occupations (WANTO) grant program, a 

program that delivers technical assistance to service providers and others. The latest round of 

funding underwrites grantee activities through the end of June 2018. The Bureau maintains strong 

relationships with tradeswomen’s organizations across the country, including the national Task 

Force on Tradeswomen’s Issues. In 2015, the Women’s Bureau developed a new web portal for job 

seekers, employers and researchers, highlighting women’s contributions and opportunities in the 

construction, security, and transportation sectors.

The Bureau has also begun work to develop a guide for stakeholders detailing the key provisions 

for women within the federal workforce development system as administered by the Workforce 

Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). It will include a detailed analysis of the challenges and 

opportunities presented by the new law and key changes from the previous law, particularly as they 

affect women participating in workforce development programs. 

The Bureau has and continues to be a central repository of quantitative data on employment and 

economic indicators for women, as well as a dedicated advocate for and sponsor of nationally 

representative data collection efforts that provide critical information on women’s employment 

experiences and outcomes. In fact, the data and statistics sections of our website represent the most 

frequently-visited pages of the site, and traffic has witnessed considerable growth over the past few 

years. Plans are underway for new rounds of cyclical data collection including the American Time 
TAB 3: Initiatives

13

Use Survey (ATUS), the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) and the Family and 

Medical Leave Act Survey (FMLA). In 2016, the Bureau fielded its own nationally-representative 

survey of more than 1,000 working women, focused mainly on women’s sustained or interrupted 

labor force attachment and the factors driving women’s entrances and exits from the labor force. 

The Bureau provided financial support and substantive input for a module on access to and use of 

leave in the American Time Use Survey that will be fielded in 2017, consistent with a similar 

module it sponsored in 2011. The Bureau will also work with the U.S. Census Bureau to resurrect 

questions related to maternity leave for the 2018 SIPP that had been eliminated in 2008, but are not 

replicated elsewhere. 

In addition to delivering regularly-updated, disaggregated data on a host of economic and 

employment indicators via its website, the Women’s Bureau has also undertaken a number of indepth qualitative and quantitative analyses of particular demographics of women workers, including

women of color, women veterans and older women workers.

Major Grants and Contracts

Paid Leave Analysis Grant Program

The Bureau capitalized on state and local momentum around paid family leave to exercise its grantmaking authority in 2014 for the first time. The agency competitively awarded $500,000 to three 

states and the District of Columbia for paid leave analysis grants to study the feasibility, 

implementation or improvement of state paid family leave programs. Since that time, the Bureau 

has awarded two more rounds of grants, totaling over $3 million over three years, and expanded the 

eligibility criteria to include municipalities. The Bureau’s 2014 and 2015 Paid Leave Analysis 

grants provided over $2 million in support for 12 states and municipalities. In August 2016, the 

Women’s Bureau awarded $1.1 million in grants to the City of Madison (Wisconsin); the 

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Labor and Industry; the Indiana Commission for 

Women; the Hawaii Department of Human Services; the City and County of Denver (Colorado); 

and the Franklin County (Ohio) Board of Commissioners. These grants contribute to the body of 

knowledge about the key design features and implementation strategies that help lay the foundation 

to construct/improve paid leave programs. The research has shown that there is public support for 

paid family and medical leave, and that state and local leave programs can have many benefits for 

workers and families. In FY 2017, the Bureau will continue to award grants for research, and 

collaborate with Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to administer the paid leave grant 

program. WB will also convene a Paid Leave Symposium in September 2017 to share grantees’ 

findings and other emerging research.

Portable Retirement Benefits Planning Grants Program

In 2016, the Women’s Bureau funded a competitive Portable Retirement Benefits Planning Grants 

Program that it designed in collaboration with EBSA, ASP, and ETA. The grants support 

innovative ways to increase retirement security for workers in a changing labor market, particularly 

low-wage workers and women, by identifying viable portable program options and helping 

nonprofit organizations undertake certain types of program-planning activities needed to develop a 

portable retirement benefits program for their stakeholders or target populations. This program is 
TAB 3: Initiatives

14

especially important for women, who face a higher risk of poverty in their retirement due to 

inadequate retirement savings, lower average lifetime earnings, lower likelihood of working fulltime, greater likelihood of taking unpaid time off for caregiving, and longer lifespans. A total of 

$153,836 was awarded under this grant program in FY 2016 to the following grantees:

• Brazilian Worker Center, Inc.: To conduct research to inform the development of a 

prototype mobile platform as a vehicle for providing benefits, including retirement 

benefits, to predominantly low-wage, non-benefited domestic and direct care workers.

• Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights: To conduct a needs 

assessment of Illinois’ economically vulnerable, low-wage, and underserved workers 

without access to an employer-provided retirement savings plan. The organization will 

also conduct research to identify barriers to participation in the Illinois Secure Choice 

Savings Program faced by low-wage workers and underserved workers.

• Fair Work Center: To conduct a needs assessment among low-wage workers, employers 

and benefits providers to understand the challenges and barriers low-wage workers 

currently face to saving for retirement. 

Enforcement 

The Women’s Bureau does not have enforcement authority.

Management 

For over a decade the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) has provided Federal 

employees with the opportunity to provide feedback on their jobs, their supervisors, and their senior 

leaders. During 2016, the WB management made a concerted effort to improve staff morale, 

increase transparency, maximize promotion opportunities, recognize performance in a meaningful 

way and foster a culture in which everyone feels valued and proud of their work in executing the 

agency’s mission. In an effort to achieve our EVS goals, an EVS Work Group was established and 

the team developed an EVS Ation Plan.The Action Plan includes the following areas of focus:

1. Career progression & Promotional Opportunities

2. Transparency & Work Processes 

3. Communication, Engagement and Empowerment

4. Culture and Respect

5. Resources

The WB also created a new communications and engagement team focused on building staff 

morale, increasing staff participation and facilitating transparency efforts. This new engagement 

team has had great success over the past few months, including hosting a clothing and diaper drive 

with maximum participation from staff, a luncheon for staff, creating an internal newsletter and a 

series of staff-led initiatives.

The ultimate WB goal is to ensure the agency is a workplace that employees view as one of the 

“Best Places to Work in the Federal Government”, one which they recommend as a good place to 

work, and where senior leaders and all staff are engaged.
TAB 3: Initiatives

15

Calendar 

By December 31, 2016: 

1. Map of state level pregnancy discrimination and breastfeeding laws will be updated to 

reflect new laws passed.

2. New Data and Statistics page will be rolled out. This will include a more user-friendly 

layout and more interactive graphs. 

3. The Women’s Employment Rights Guide will be published as an e-book. 

4. The first installment of the newly updated Handbook on Working Women will be published.

5. Guidance and technology resources will be produced to help states develop the 

administrative and fiscal infrastructure necessary for a paid leave insurance program (in 

partnership with 18F).

6. Summaries of the 2014 Paid Leave Analysis Grants’ findings will be published. 

7. Issue brief that showcases key elements of the patterns of gender occupational segregation

in the United States will be developed. 

8. Issue briefs with the results of the 2016 Gallup Survey of Working Women will be 

published.

By March 31, 2017:

1. A guide for employers on accommodating pregnant and breastfeeding workers will be 

published. 

2. A set of case studies with promising practices to help women succeed in apprenticeship and 

pre-apprenticeship programs will be produced.

3. A report detailing the results of an analysis that quantifies the comprehensive opportunity 

cost to women of reducing or foregoing work for caregiving of children or elders will be 

produced.

4. A fact sheet on immigrant women workers will be produced. 

5. A short historical retrospective document prepared by the Library of Congress in 2016 that 

chronicles the working women’s history along with Bureau’s history and contributions to 

advancements for working women will be published.

6. A document for stakeholders detailing the key provisions for women within the federal 

workforce development system as administered by the Workforce Innovation and 

Opportunity Act (WIOA). 

March is National Women’s History Month. The theme for 2017 is Honoring Trailblazing Women 

in Labor and Business.

The next Equal Pay Day is April 4, 2017. This date symbolizes how far into the year women must 

work to earn what men earned in the previous year.
TAB 4: Budget

16

TAB 4: BUDGET

BUDGET AUTHORITY AND FTE SUMMARY

(Dollars in millions)

FY 2013

Enacted

FY 2014

Enacted

FY 2015

Enacted

FY 2016

Enacted

FY 2017

Request

Budget Authority $11.0 $11.5 $11.5 $11.5 $12.9

FTE 53 49 49 52 52

At-A-Glance

• The Women’s Bureau (WB) performs research and develops policy to promote the welfare 

of working women by improving their working conditions, increasing their efficiency, and 

providing them with employment opportunities.

• WB is funded in the Departmental Management appropriation. 

• The WB’s Paid Leave Analysis Grants provides resources for states and municipalities to 

analyze the feasibility of paid leave. From the beginning of the program’s implementation in

FY 2014 through FY 2016, $3.2 million has been invested in 11 states and Washington, 

D.C. for conducting paid leave research. This initiative complements requests for resources 

to implement paid leave included in the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) 

section of recent President’s Budgets. 

• The WB also launched a Portable Benefits Grant Program in FY 2016. The grants will 

provide nonprofit organizations funds for program-planning to develop a portable retirement 

benefits program for their stakeholders and/or target populations.

Budget and FTE Trends

• From FY 2009-2016, the agency’s budget authority increased from $10.4 to $11.5 million. 

The FY 2017 President’s Request is $12.9 million and includes an additional $1.0 million 

for the Paid Leave Grant program. 

• In FY 2010, WB received an increase of $1.2 million, which was $1.0 million above the FY 

2010 President’s Request. With the additional funding, WB increased its education, 

research, and advocacy, as well as its technical assistance to other Federal agencies. 

• In FY 2012, the appropriation language included additional language providing the WB 

authority to “award grants to serve and promote the interests of women in the workforce.” 

The agency has used this authority to develop their Paid Leave Analysis Grants program 

and, in FY 2016, a research grants program on portable retirement benefits planning. 
TAB 4: Budget

17

• In FY 2013, FY 2014, and FY 2015, the President’s Request included program decreases for 

the WB. None of the decreases were reflected in the enacted budget, and a program decrease 

was not included in the FY 2017 President’s Request. The WB has focused its efforts on 

building its policy, research and data and statistics program by expanding these functions in 

the national office. 

• Under the 2013 sequester order, WB reduced costs by decreasing WCF contributions, 

eliminating performance bonuses, imposing 4 furlough days for political appointees, 

reducing travel, and delaying hiring.

• The WB’s Paid Leave Analysis Grants programs began in FY 2014. Since FY 2014, WB 

invested $3.2 million in grants to 11 states and Washington, D.C. to conduct paid leave 

research. 

Upcoming Issues

• The FY 2017 President’s Request includes a program increase to expand the Paid Leave 

Analysis Grants program. The agency continues to collaborate with ETA in this policy area. 

There has been significant Congressional interest in paid leave policy, including on the 

agency’s grants program for research on state and municipality-based programs. 
TAB 4: Budget

18

FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017

PB

Request $10.2 $10.6 $12.3 $11.6 $9.1 $9.2 $9.0 $11.8 $12.9

Enacted $10.4 $11.6 $11.6 $11.6 $11.0 $11.5 $11.5 $11.5

$0

$2

$4

$6

$8

$10

$12

$14

Women's Bureau

Request vs. Enacted, FY 2009-FY 2016

(Dollars in millions)

FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016

Enacted $10.4 $11.6 $11.6 $11.6 $11.0 $11.5 $11.5 $11.5

Inflation Adjusted $10.4 $10.6 $10.9 $11.1 $11.3 $11.5 $11.5 $11.5

$8

$8

$9

$9

$10

$10

$11

$11

$12

$12

Women's Bureau

FY 2009 Inflation Adjusted BA vs. FY 2009-FY 2016 Enacted BA

(Dollars in millions)
TAB 4: Budget

19

FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017

PB

Authorized 52 58 57 56 56 56 54 52 52

Actuals 50 53 56 55 53 49 49

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

Women's Bureau

Authorized FTE vs. Actuals, FY 2009-2017
TAB 5: Agency Performance

20

TAB 5: AGENCY PERFORMANCE

The Women’s Bureau supports Performance Goal 3.1 – Reduce barriers inhibiting or preventing 

women’s access to – and retention in – better jobs, and ensure women’s fair treatment in the 

workplace. WB tracks the number of policy and research deliverables. Policy and research 

deliverables are the result of qualitative and quantitative research and policy analysis conducted by 

the Women’s Bureau – alone or in collaboration with other agencies – on issues related to women 

in the labor force. 

Since FY 2014, the Bureau has funded grants to support research and analysis on paid family and 

medical leave programs at the State and municipal levels. The Bureau also advocated for equal pay 

and fair treatment in the workplace by conducting outreach and education and providing technical 

assistance to public and private sector leaders, employers, advocacy groups, service providers, and 

community-based organizations. In FY 2016, the Bureau conducted a Working Women’s Survey in 

order to identify women’s current employment issues and how these challenges relate to job and 

career decisions. The survey provided the Bureau with information on women’s reasons for exiting 

the workforce, such as family care and household responsibilities, which will inform the Bureau’s 

efforts to promote high-quality work environments that address the realities of women and working 

families in the 21st century.

Over the past several years, the Bureau has improved its website and communication tools by using 

data analytics and adding new, quality content. Since the Women’s Bureau started tracking web 

traffic through Google analytics in the fall of 2012, visitors to the website have increased from 

166,000 in FY 2013 to over, 445,000 this past year. Over the same time period, page views have 

increased from just over 295,000 to over 850,000. The Bureau has made its website more mobile 

friendly and mobile traffic has increased from 15,000 (10%) sessions in 2012 to 147,000 (33%) 

sessions so far in 2016. The Bureau has also increased its social media presence. We received just 

1,100 page views from all social media platforms in 2012, but have driven that number up to nearly 

50,000 so far in 2016.
TAB 5: Agency Performance

21