U.S. Department of Labor Blog
In 2020, I was pregnant and filled with questions most new working moms in America face: What will my baby need? How soon will I have to go back to work after I deliver? And what will childcare look like after I return to work?
Now, I find myself reflecting on the progress of the Biden-Harris administration and my colleagues at the Department of Labor when it comes to supporting women like me in the workforce.
There are more women working than ever before. Women make up 47% of the workforce, with 74.6 million women in the civilian labor force and 70% of mothers with children under the age of 18 participating in our workforce. Women own close to 10 million businesses. They compose 77.6% of the health care and social assistance industry, and in hospitals they account for 75% of total employment nationwide. Women are indispensable to our workforce, our economy and our families.
In 2020, a study by the Commonwealth Fund of data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other sources found the U.S. has the highest rate of maternal mortality of any industrialized country. Extensive research has shown that women's maternal health can directly be correlated to their recovery time, bonding time with their baby and workplace stressors.
At the Wage and Hour Division, by fulfilling our mission to promote and achieve compliance with labor standards, we are proud to play an active role in protecting the rights of working women and mothers. Our enforcement of the Family and Medical Leave Act, specifically the protections for new parents, is an essential protection for women and mothers in our workforce.
In 2022, the Wage and Hour Division and the department’s Women’s Bureau launched the Maternal Health Series, a series of webinars curated specifically for current and expecting mothers with a focus on federal workplace protections. During this series, Wage and Hour marked Black Maternal Health Week by hosting a webinar titled Black Mothers at Work: A Discussion on Workplace Challenges and Supports. The webinar focused on workplace conditions that impact black maternal health and the legal protections that can support black mothers during pregnancy, after giving birth, and when returning to work.
The series was supplemented by a Maternal Health webpage that provides ongoing access to resources for expecting and new parents. On Dec. 29, 2022, in another historic win for women and mothers in the workforce, President Biden signed the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) into law as part of a larger appropriations bill, which extends to more nursing employees the rights to receive break time to pump and a private place to pump at work. And in 2023, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Family Medical Leave Act by recommitting ourselves to ensuring working parents know their rights and have access to job-protected parental leave for the birth or adoption of a child.
There are also dedicated staff all over the department working tirelessly to support women in the workforce. This includes impactful grant programs by the Women Bureau, such as the Fostering Access, Rights and Equity (FARE) grant program, which supports organizations to prevent and respond to gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work, and the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) grant program, which ensures women are trained, hired, and retained in high-paying jobs.
The department also offers valuable resources to help women navigate workplace benefits, while spearheading inter-agency efforts such as the Federal Partners’ Committee on Women and Trauma. Co-chaired by the Office of Disability Employment Policy, this initiative supports women with disabilities, trauma and health challenges. These are just a few examples of the department's commitment to advancing women's rights and opportunities in the workplace.
While there is so much more we need to do to ensure working women in America have the protections they need, the programs and resources created under the Biden-Harris administration improve the lives of millions of working moms like me; I am grateful for the opportunity to have played a small role in that work.
Anisha Singh is chief of staff for the Wage and Hour Division.
