Trump looks to close 105-year-old department that supports women workers despite insinuating it would stay

The Department of Labor said it would “eliminate” the Women’s Bureau, a century-old department that focuses on advocating for economic equality and safe working environments for women, despite the Labor Secretary acknowledging only Congress can do so.

When pressed with questions about the Department of Government Efficiency cutting grants administered by the Women’s Bureau at a House Appropriations Committee meeting on May 15, Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer responded by emphasizing its history.

“Statutorily, the Women’s Bureau is in statute,” Chavez-DeRemer said in response to Representative Rosa DeLauro’s concerns.

While Chavez-DeRemer’s comment stopped short of a promise and she did not elaborate on the future of Women’s Bureau, her comment may have insinuated the 105-year-old department was here to stay.

Yet the Department of Labor’s 2026 fiscal year budget in brief anticipates eliminating the Women’s Bureau, calling it a “relic of the past” and “an ineffective policy.”

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“The Department will work with Congress to craft a repeal package of WB’s organic statutes, including the Women in Apprenticeship in Non-Traditional Occupations grant authorization. Apprenticeship work will be handled by the Employment and Training Administration,” the Bureau of Labor wrote.

By giving it the Women’s Bureau no funding and getting rid of staff in 2026, the department is essentially eliminating the agency now. It’s the latest effort by the Trump administration to swiftly decommission agencies it believes are unnecessary or do not align with the president’s policies.

A spokesperson for the Department of Labor told The Independent, “The Secretary is committed to working with Congress to ensure taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently and effectively to better serve American Workers.”

During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to be women’s “protector” and insisted they would be “happy, healthy, confident and free” under his administration.

However, the Trump administration believes the Women’s Bureau “has struggled to find a role” in advancing the interests of women in the workforce, according to the budget brief.

“The Bureau works on a wide range of issues and its work is not always closely coordinated with, or informed by, the agencies that actually have the resources to address the issues at hand,” the Department of Labor wrote.

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Established by Congress in 1920, the Women’s Bureau is the only federal agency mandated to represent the needs of wage-earning women.

It conducts research and policy analysis to advocate for policies that improve working conditions and increase profitable opportunities for women in the workforce. That includes getting more women to high-paying jobs, expanding access to paid leave and affordable child care, eliminating pay inequality, as well as harassment in the workplace.

Part of its role includes grant-making and managing the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) grant program.

The Women’s Bureau also has the authority to investigate and report on matters about the welfare of women in industry to the Department of Labor.

Nine current or former Department of Labor staffers told Mother Jones they believe shuttering the Women’s Bureau aligns with the administration’s desire to have women stop working and stay home to raise children.

“It really feels like a specific [effort] to get women out of the workplace,” Gayle Goldin, the former deputy director of the Women’s Bureau under the Biden administration, told Mother Jones. “We really still need the Women’s Bureau, because we need to be able to identify what the problems are, see where the barriers are for women in the workplace, and ensure that women have full capacity to enter the workplace in whatever job they want.”

Should Congress agree to repeal the Women’s Bureau and it’s grant program, the department could move WANTO grants under a separate agency such as the Employment and Training Administration.