Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) is a national nonprofit organization in the United States established in 1962 by Jane Fleming and Mary Janney in Washington, D.C.
The District of Columbia Department of Employment Services, led by Fred Hetzel, provided WOW with initial office space and supplies.
In the late 1960s WOW created, produced, and sold 10,000 copies of a guidebook for women specializing in part-time work and education opportunities in the Washington Metro Area.
WOW's work was encouraged in 1967 by an amendment to Executive Order 11246 which specified affirmative action requirements in regard to women that federal contractors had to comply with.
In the 1980s WOW focused even more on equal access for women to the nation's employment and training systems to desegregate the job market.
The project was created in response to what WOW thought of as the erosion of power on issues related to low-income families from the federal to state and local level.
The DCWA is a local advocacy and policy coalition that promotes the advancement of equality and well-being of all women and girls in DC.