[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 10270-10271]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            WOMEN WORKING IN NON TRADITIONAL (WIN) JOBS ACT

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I strongly support the Women Working in 
Non Traditional Jobs Act, introduced by Senators Gillibrand and myself 
late last week. This legislation would encourage local and State 
workforce systems to think differently about how they train and prepare 
women for jobs in which they are not well-represented. Women currently 
represent half of our Nation's workforce, but two-thirds of these women 
are concentrated in 21 of 500 occupational jobs. Nontraditional jobs, 
in which women make up 25 percent or less of employees, pay 20-30 
percent more than traditionally female jobs. Because of this 
discrepancy, it is important to establish a program that will aid women 
in moving away from occupations they have traditionally held, which are 
by and large lower paying than occupations where men are concentrated. 
I have always been a strong advocate for equal opportunity in the 
workforce. This bill would create a new Federal grant program designed 
to help women find these high-wage nontraditional jobs.
  Currently, there is only one Federal grant program designed to train 
women for nontraditional jobs: the Women in Apprenticeship and 
Nontraditional Occupations, WANTO, but this program is under-resourced 
and overly narrow in scope. WANTO is 17 years old, has been funded at 
only $1 million for years, and is specifically designed to increase 
women's participation in the construction industry. The Women WIN Jobs 
Act would expand the work of WANTO by authorizing up to

[[Page 10271]]

$100 million for recruiting, training, placing, and retaining women in 
nontraditional occupations that are high-demand, and high-growth.
  Women have difficulty entering nontraditional fields because they 
lack sufficient information about career opportunities and pathways. 
Without sufficient training, preparation, or information, women will 
not be able to fully participate in the Nation's workforce and will 
continue to be underrepresented in high-earning and in-demand fields. 
This bill would address that problem by encouraging workforce systems 
to give women the support and preparation they need to compete for 
nontraditional jobs. Preparing women for work in nontraditional fields 
is crucial to success in the workforce and general economic success for 
our country.

                          ____________________