The Women's Bureau was originally a government office organized in 1918 as a war agency of the Department of Labor and named the Women in Industry Service. As part of its initial mission the Women's Bureau developed the first U.S. standards for the employment of women workers during World War I. After the war, women's organizations successfully lobbied Congress to establish the bureau permanently, and Congress established the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor on June 5, 1920.

See also Harvard University Library's Open Collections Program Women Working, 1800-1930, Women's Bureau.