FV@W Opposes Efforts to Close the Department of Labor, Especially the Women’s Bureau
Family Values @ Work (FV@W) and our Network oppose any and all efforts to close the Department of Labor, especially the Women’s Bureau. For decades, the Women’s Bureau has kept a spotlight on working women, has led innovative policy-making for more just workplaces, has been a source of knowledge and data about women workers, and has been an international leader for gender equity in the workplace. FV@W has frequently partnered with the Bureau in our work to win family-friendly work policies like paid family and medical leave and paid sick and safe days.
Together, we have shone a light on the gender pay gap and gender injustice that plague our society. The work the Women’s Bureau has done in conjunction with the Department of Labor is critical to the fight for justice and equity for women. All attacks on the Women’s Bureau are blatant efforts to push women out of the workforce.
Women are the backbone of our society and the Women’s Bureau has played a role in bringing economic justice to women workers. From slavery to modern-day work spaces, women are expected to be professionals and caretakers, all the time and all at once. And all without a safety net to support them. Yet history has taught us that care is all the more important in times of challenge and adversity. Our work, to win gender justice in and outside of the workplace, is to ensure that women have the right to choose how they will show up in the world without losing their livelihoods or the opportunity to care for loved ones.
Too often it is wealthy white men who want to dictate who women are allowed to be, when, and where. FV@W is in solidarity with the Department of Labor and the Women’s Bureau in centering women and their contributions to society as not just important, but irreplaceable in our workplaces, economy, and families. Any setback is temporary and FV@W, our Network, and our partners in the movement will continue the fight for gender justice in the workplace.
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