There are not many Federal government grants for women that are restricted to women applicants only. The grant funding usually targets women as the intended beneficiaries of the funds, but the grant funds are initially awarded to states, municipalities, educators or non-profits and occasionally small businesses or other for-profit concerns. Government grants for women fall within the context of providing fair representation of women in awarding of funds.
Programs such as WIC’s (Women, Infants and Children) nutritional assistance for mothers and infants are funded through awards to states, and women directly benefit upon application for assistance through state agencies. There are government grants for women, or rather, to benefit women, in the U.S. and even for assistance in other countries, but again, these grants are not targeted to individual women at the Federal level.
States may often have set-asides within community block grants they have received for government grants for women. Domestic violence programs, nutrition supplementation, business development, community development-based funding, education, health, and agricultural grant funding may fall under minority or low-income provisions within the grants that are more readily accessed by women.
Writing successful applications for these major focus areas relies on being able to show that more women than men would naturally benefit from the grant funds. For instance, women are statistically far more likely than men to suffer from domestic violence. The applicant organization would apply for funds to provide clothing, food or shelter for domestic violence victims in general, knowing that the vast majority of the beneficiaries will be women.
Another strategy might be to establish an educational program to teach women how to apply for Federal or state low-interest business or housing loans that do have gender-specific eligibility.
Government grants for women, while far more difficult to access than their private foundation counterparts, do provide funding sources to benefit women directly, although obtaining the funds often involves resourcing several layers or angles to achieve success.
