WIFLE HISTORY

Curious about WIFLE History? The brief background below gives a peek into WIFLE.

WIFLE, Inc.'s predecessor was ICWIFLE (I C WIFLE) which is the acronym for the Interagency Committee on Women in Federal Law Enforcement hosted by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Treasury. ICWIFLE was originally formed as a task force created by the Office of Personnel Management in 1978. It was charged with studying reasons for the low numbers of women entering federal law enforcement - fields that opened to women only after President Richard Nixon signed Executive Order 11478 (EO 11478) on August 8, 1969. EO11478 provided equal opportunity in Federal employment for all persons; prohibited discrimination in employment because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, or age; and, promoted equal employment opportunity through a continuing affirmative program in each executive department and agency. WIFLE was established as a nonprofit organization June 28, 1999, as an outgrowth of ICWIFLE to carry forward the ICWIFLE mission and vision.

In 1971 and 1972, the first women were hired by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, into positions from which they had been previously barred based solely on their gender. These women carried firearms, executed search warrants and made arrests as had the men for all years prior to the EO.

From the ICWIFLE period in the 70's to the current-day WIFLE organizations (WIFLE, Inc. and the WIFLE Foundation, Inc.), we work together with the federal law enforcement community to recruit, promote and retain women in law enforcement careers, embrace and value diversity, provide empowerment, seek inclusiveness, expect integrity, advocate and strive for gender equity in federal law enforcement.

In 1991, ICWIFLE celebrated its 20th year anniversary. The program book for that year's conference is available to
read at https://wifle.org/icwifle/.

In June 2019, WIFLE celebrated its 20th year anniversary. A video produced for that event is available to watch at
https://vimeo.com/345604660.

•   Download PDF version here