Finding the right job, or the right candidate, takes more than a generic search. WomenAtWork.ca was built specifically for the Canadian labour market, giving women a dedicated place to search for roles and giving employers a focused channel to reach qualified women candidates across the country.
This guide explains what WomenAtWork.ca is, who it serves, and how both job seekers and employers can put it to work.
Quick takeaways
- WomenAtWork.ca is a Canadian job board focused on connecting women with employers across the country, including federally regulated organizations.
- Job seekers can find return-to-work roles, trades and STEM openings, and standard professional listings in one place.
- Employers gain access to a targeted candidate pool and tools that support Employment Equity Act reporting and hiring goals.
- The platform links out to provincial pages so users can narrow results to their region.
- Both sides of the market, hiring and job hunting, are served through separate, purpose-built sections of the site.
What Is WomenAtWork.ca?
WomenAtWork.ca is a Canadian job board built around a single premise: women looking for work in Canada deserve a search experience that reflects the realities of the Canadian labour market, from federal employment equity obligations to the specific hurdles that come with re-entering the workforce after a career break.
Origins and Mission
The site was created to fill a gap left by general-purpose job boards, which tend to treat every job seeker the same way regardless of the barriers that disproportionately affect women in hiring, such as caregiving-related career gaps, underrepresentation in trades and STEM roles, and inconsistent access to employer programs designed to support women's advancement. WomenAtWork.ca organizes listings and resources around those realities instead of ignoring them.
How It Fits into the Canadian Job Market
Canada's job market includes federally regulated sectors such as banking, telecommunications, and interprovincial transportation, alongside provincially regulated employers who make up the majority of jobs. WomenAtWork.ca surfaces postings from both categories, with particular attention to federally regulated employers who operate under the Employment Equity Act and often have formal programs for hiring and advancing women.
For Job Seekers: Building Your Career Through WomenAtWork.ca
Women job seekers can use the platform to search current openings, follow employers with strong track records on gender representation, and access postings that are not always prominent on general job boards.
Federally Regulated Employer Postings
Federally regulated employers are required to track and report on the representation of women in their workforce. Many of these organizations run active recruitment programs aimed at closing representation gaps, and WomenAtWork.ca highlights postings from these employers so job seekers can identify organizations with a demonstrated commitment to hiring women.
Return-to-Work Roles
Career breaks for caregiving, health, or family reasons are common, and re-entering the workforce afterward can be one of the hardest parts of a career. WomenAtWork.ca includes a category for return-to-work roles, meaning positions posted by employers who explicitly welcome candidates with employment gaps and, in many cases, offer structured onboarding or returnship-style programs to help bridge the transition back to full-time work.
Trades and STEM Pipelines
Women remain underrepresented in skilled trades, engineering, and technology roles across Canada. WomenAtWork.ca maintains a pipeline of postings from employers actively recruiting women into apprenticeships, technical roles, and STEM career tracks, along with links to sector-specific programs that support entry and advancement in these fields.
Creating Your Profile
Setting up a profile allows job seekers to save searches, apply directly to postings, and surface opportunities matched to their skills and location. Full details on browsing openings and building a profile are available at WomenAtWork.ca for job seekers, where you can filter by province, sector, and role type.
For Employers: Hiring Women Across Canada
Employers use WomenAtWork.ca to reach a candidate pool that general job boards do not specifically serve, while also supporting internal diversity and compliance goals.
Compliance and the Employment Equity Act
Federally regulated employers, and many federal contractors, must report on the representation of designated groups, including women, under employment equity requirements. Posting on a platform with a women-focused audience is one practical step employers take to support their broader equity goals, alongside internal policy work and reporting.
Sourcing from a Targeted Talent Pool
Rather than sorting through a general applicant pool, employers using WomenAtWork.ca reach candidates who have specifically sought out a platform built around women's employment. This tends to shorten the sourcing process for roles where an employer is trying to improve gender representation in a specific department, trade, or leadership track.
Posting Pricing and Getting Started
Employers can review posting options, pricing, and account setup at WomenAtWork.ca for employers. The employer section covers job posting formats, employer branding options, and how to manage applications once a listing goes live.
Understanding the Employment Equity Act and Why It Matters
The Employment Equity Act is a federal law that applies to federally regulated private-sector employers and Crown corporations with a minimum number of employees, along with the federal public service. It requires covered employers to identify and remove barriers to employment for four designated groups, one of which is women, and to report annually on workforce representation.
Who It Covers
Coverage extends to sectors like banking, airlines, telecommunications, and interprovincial trucking and rail, as well as federal Crown corporations. Provincially regulated employers, which make up most Canadian jobs, are not directly covered by the federal Act, though many voluntarily adopt similar equity practices.
What It Means for Job Seekers
For job seekers, understanding which employers fall under the Act can help identify organizations with formal reporting obligations and, often, more structured recruitment and advancement programs for women. WomenAtWork.ca flags postings from federally regulated employers so this context is visible during a search rather than buried in fine print.
Regional Coverage: Finding Opportunities Across Provinces
Employment law, in-demand sectors, and hiring patterns vary by province, so WomenAtWork.ca organizes postings regionally in addition to by sector.
Provincial Pages
Dedicated provincial pages let job seekers narrow their search to opportunities in their region, whether that means Ontario's financial and tech sectors, Alberta's energy and skilled trades roles, or British Columbia's growing tech and resource industries. This regional view also helps employers understand where their postings will get the most relevant visibility.
Federally Regulated vs Provincially Regulated Employers
A posting from a federally regulated bank will carry different compliance context than one from a provincially regulated retailer or healthcare employer. WomenAtWork.ca distinguishes between these categories so job seekers and employers alike understand the regulatory backdrop of a given listing.
Return-to-Work Pathways
Returning to the workforce after time away is a distinct job search challenge, and WomenAtWork.ca treats it as its own category rather than folding it into general listings.
Bridging Employment Gaps
Many employers now recognize that a resume gap does not reflect a candidate's capability. WomenAtWork.ca highlights postings from employers who explicitly state openness to candidates with employment gaps, making it easier to identify a realistic shortlist rather than guessing which employers will consider a nontraditional resume.
Programs and Support
Some employers pair return-to-work postings with structured onboarding, mentorship, or phased ramp-up schedules. These details, when available, are noted directly on the posting so candidates can evaluate fit before applying.
Trades and STEM: Closing the Gap
Skilled trades and STEM fields continue to see lower participation from women relative to their share of the overall workforce, and WomenAtWork.ca treats this as a priority category.
Apprenticeship and Pipeline Programs
Apprenticeship postings and entry-level trades roles from employers actively recruiting women appear alongside information on relevant training programs, helping job seekers identify a practical entry point into a trade.
Building a STEM Career
For STEM roles, WomenAtWork.ca surfaces postings across engineering, technology, and applied sciences from employers with active recruitment or retention programs aimed at women, giving job seekers a more targeted starting point than a general search.
FAQ
What is WomenAtWork.ca?
WomenAtWork.ca is a Canadian job board that connects women job seekers with employers across the country, including federally regulated organizations, and helps employers reach a candidate pool focused on women's employment.
Is WomenAtWork.ca only for certain industries?
No. The platform includes postings across professional, trades, STEM, and return-to-work categories, spanning both federally and provincially regulated employers.
Can employers outside federally regulated sectors post jobs?
Yes. While the platform highlights federally regulated employers due to their Employment Equity Act reporting requirements, provincially regulated employers can also post roles and reach the same candidate pool.
How does WomenAtWork.ca help with return-to-work searches?
The site includes a dedicated return-to-work category featuring postings from employers who explicitly welcome candidates with employment gaps, along with details on any structured onboarding or transition support offered.
Does WomenAtWork.ca cover all Canadian provinces?
Yes. The platform organizes postings by province so job seekers can narrow results to their region and employers can target the right regional audience.
How do employers get started posting a job?
Employers can review posting formats and pricing at WomenAtWork.ca's employer section and set up an account to publish a listing.
Whether you are hiring or job hunting, WomenAtWork.ca serves both sides of the market. Employers can review pricing and post a role at https://womenatwork.ca/employers. Job seekers can browse openings and create a profile at https://womenatwork.ca/job-seekers.