Finding the right job, or the right candidate, takes longer when the search happens across a dozen scattered listings and generic boards that were never built with either side in mind. WomenAtWork.ca exists to close that gap: a dedicated Canadian platform where women at work in Canada can find real opportunities, and where employers can reach a qualified, engaged talent pool.
This guide explains what WomenAtWork.ca actually does, who it serves, and how both job seekers and employers can put it to use.
Quick Takeaways
- WomenAtWork.ca is a Canada-focused job board built specifically around women at work: job seekers, career changers, and the employers who want to hire them.
- The platform covers federally regulated employers, return-to-work roles, and trades and STEM pipelines, three areas where targeted recruiting matters most.
- Employers can use the site to meet Employment Equity Act reporting and workforce goals through direct access to a self-identified candidate pool.
- Job seekers get postings organized by province, industry, and role type, including re-entry-friendly positions after a career break.
- Both sides start from the same homepage, with dedicated paths for WomenAtWork.ca for employers and WomenAtWork.ca for job seekers.
What Is WomenAtWork.ca?
WomenAtWork.ca is a national job board built around a simple premise: women searching for work in Canada, and the employers who want to hire them, both do better with a platform designed for that specific match. General job boards are not wrong, but they are not built for this. Search filters do not surface women-focused return-to-work programs. Employer branding tools do not highlight diversity commitments the way a dedicated audience expects. WomenAtWork.ca fills that specific space.
The site is not a community forum or a networking app. It is a working job board: postings, applications, employer profiles, and search tools, organized around the realities of the Canadian labour market for women at every career stage, from someone applying for a first postgraduate role to someone returning to the workforce after eight years raising children.
A Platform for Two Audiences
Most job boards default to one side of the market and treat the other as an afterthought. WomenAtWork.ca is deliberately built for both. Job seekers browsing the site see postings, company profiles, and career resources. Employers see a recruiting tool with reporting features, posting packages, and access to a self-identified candidate base. Neither audience is a secondary feature of the other.
Who WomenAtWork.ca Serves
For Job Seekers
Women using WomenAtWork.ca range widely: recent graduates entering the labour market, mid-career professionals looking for advancement, tradeswomen searching for apprenticeship or journeyperson roles, and women returning to paid work after time away for caregiving, illness, or relocation. The common thread is a preference for postings from employers who have already signaled, through their presence on the site, that they are actively recruiting women into their workforce.
Job seekers can search by province, industry, and role type, and can create a profile that employers browse directly. This matters most in fields where women remain underrepresented, since a visible, searchable profile can surface a candidate to employers who might not have seen a resume buried in a generic applicant pool. Full details on setting up a profile and browsing current postings are on WomenAtWork.ca for job seekers.
For Employers
Employers come to WomenAtWork.ca with a specific hiring goal: increasing the representation of women in their workforce, whether to meet internal diversity targets, satisfy Employment Equity Act obligations, or simply reach candidates a general posting would not surface. This includes federally regulated employers, provincially regulated companies with their own equity commitments, and smaller businesses building out a more balanced team for the first time.
Posting on the platform puts a role in front of an audience that is already searching with intent, rather than relying on a general board's algorithm to surface it to the right candidates. Pricing, posting packages, and account setup are covered on WomenAtWork.ca for employers.
Federally Regulated Employers and the Employment Equity Act
What the Employment Equity Act Requires
Canada's Employment Equity Act applies to federally regulated private-sector employers with 100 or more employees, as well as federal public service organizations and some Crown corporations. The law requires covered employers to identify and remove barriers to employment for four designated groups: women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities. Covered employers must file annual workforce reports and demonstrate progress toward representation that reflects the labour market they draw from.
This is not a voluntary diversity initiative for the employers it covers. It is a legal reporting obligation with real compliance stakes, which is why recruiting tools that help meet those obligations carry practical weight, not just reputational value.
How This Shapes Hiring on WomenAtWork.ca
Federally regulated employers, and many provincially regulated ones that voluntarily track similar metrics, use WomenAtWork.ca as one channel in a broader equity hiring strategy. Posting here does not replace a compliant internal hiring process, but it does put open roles in front of a candidate pool that has opted into a women-focused job search, which supports representation goals that a general posting board does not directly serve.
Employers evaluating whether the platform fits their compliance and recruiting strategy can review the specifics at WomenAtWork.ca for employers.
Return-to-Work Roles and Career Re-Entry
One of the more persistent gaps in the Canadian job market is the lack of structured paths back into paid work after a career break. Women who step away for caregiving, health reasons, or relocation often find that a resume gap gets treated as a red flag rather than a normal part of a working life. Some employers have built formal return-to-work or returnship programs specifically to address this, offering paid transitional roles, refresher training, and mentorship for people re-entering the workforce.
WomenAtWork.ca surfaces these postings distinctly from standard job listings, so a returning candidate can search specifically for roles designed around re-entry rather than sorting through postings that assume no gap in employment history. This benefits both sides: candidates find employers who have already built a process for evaluating re-entry candidates fairly, and employers reach a pool of experienced professionals who are actively looking for exactly that kind of opportunity.
Trades and STEM Pipelines for Women
Skilled Trades
Women remain a small share of registered apprentices in most Red Seal trades across Canada, despite steady demand for electricians, welders, plumbers, and heavy equipment operators in every province. Apprenticeship postings on WomenAtWork.ca connect candidates with employers and training providers who are actively recruiting women into these programs, along with postings for journeyperson roles once certification is complete.
This is a pipeline issue as much as a hiring issue. Getting more women into apprenticeship programs in the first place is the bottleneck, and a job board that specifically surfaces those entry points does real work that a general listings site does not.
STEM Careers
The same underrepresentation shows up in engineering, computer science, data, and applied science roles. WomenAtWork.ca lists postings from technology companies, engineering firms, research institutions, and public-sector science roles that are actively building more balanced technical teams. For a candidate weighing whether a STEM employer takes representation seriously, a posting on a platform built around that goal is itself a useful signal.
Browsing by Province
The Canadian labour market varies significantly by region: Alberta's energy and trades sector, Ontario's manufacturing and technology base, British Columbia's resource and services economy, Quebec's distinct regulatory and language environment, and the Atlantic provinces' growing health care and public sector demand all shape what roles are available and how they are structured. WomenAtWork.ca organizes postings by province so job seekers can narrow a search to their region without wading through listings from across the country, and employers can target their postings to the labour markets where they actually operate.
How to Get Started on WomenAtWork.ca
For Job Seekers
Creating a profile takes a few minutes: work history, skills, preferred role types, and province. From there, search and save postings, and set up alerts for new listings in a specific field. A complete profile also makes a candidate visible to employers browsing the platform directly, not just to postings they have applied to. Start at WomenAtWork.ca for job seekers.
For Employers
Setting up an employer account involves creating a company profile, choosing a posting package, and publishing the first role. Support is available for employers building out their first equity-focused recruiting campaign, as well as for larger organizations integrating the platform into an existing Employment Equity Act reporting process. Full pricing and setup details are at WomenAtWork.ca for employers.
FAQ
Is WomenAtWork.ca only for entry-level jobs?
No. Postings span entry-level, mid-career, and senior roles, along with apprenticeship and returnship positions. The platform is organized around who the roles are recruiting for, not a single seniority level.
Do employers need to be federally regulated to post on WomenAtWork.ca?
No. While many federally regulated employers use the platform as part of Employment Equity Act compliance, provincially regulated companies and smaller businesses without formal reporting obligations post roles here too, usually as part of a broader diversity hiring goal.
Can men apply to jobs posted on WomenAtWork.ca?
Job postings on the platform are shared publicly and employers set their own eligibility criteria within Canadian human rights law. The platform's audience and design are focused on connecting women with employers actively recruiting for representation, but individual posting policies are set by each employer.
How is WomenAtWork.ca different from a general job board?
General job boards serve every industry and demographic with the same generic tools. WomenAtWork.ca is built specifically around women at work in Canada, with search filters, employer profiles, and program categories, such as return-to-work roles and trades pipelines, that a general board does not surface distinctly.
What does it cost for job seekers to use the site?
Job seekers search postings and create profiles at no cost. Employers pay for posting packages, with details available on the employer page.
Does WomenAtWork.ca cover all provinces?
Postings are organized by province and span the country, though the volume of listings in a given region reflects the employers actively recruiting there at any given time.
Whether you are hiring or job hunting, WomenAtWork.ca serves both sides of the market. Employers can review pricing and post a role at WomenAtWork.ca for employers. Job seekers can browse openings and create a profile at WomenAtWork.ca for job seekers.