9.6: U.S. Department of Labor, Women's Bureau

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The Women’s Bureau has outlined three major strategies to create more equity between sexes in the workforce:

Improve Workplace Practices and Supports:
The Women’s Bureau identifies, fosters, and promotes policies and efforts that enable women to succeed in their work and personal lives. Today’s labor force comprises an increasing number of working mothers and women who care for disabled or elderly family members. Many low-paying occupations that tend to employ large shares of women lack adequate flexibility, benefits, and supports.
Promote Greater Access to and Preparation for Better Jobs for Women:
The Women’s Bureau aims to help women prepare for, participate and advance in, and retain non-traditional, high-growth, and higher-paying jobs. Female-dominated occupations have been found to pay less than male-dominated occupations with the same skill levels, and women have relatively low shares of employment in high-paying jobs such as those in transportation, construction, and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.
Promote Fair Compensation and Equal Pay:
The Women’s Bureau seeks to educate workers on their rights and employers on their legal obligations to ensure fair compensation. Although women earn less than men for reasons such as the lower-paying jobs they traditionally perform, around 40% of the difference in wages remains unexplained. The Bureau conducts research to identify additional factors that contribute to the wage gap and how to overcome them, as well as look for ways to improve compensation for lower-wage jobs that employ large numbers of women.300

³⁰⁰ U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau. Updated 2016. https://www.dol.gov/wb/overview_14.htm. Retrieved 10 October 2016.