San Francisco Women's Centers (SFWC) have helped to guide the lives of girls and women in need of safe spaces that provide advocacy for social justice, gender equality and self-determination for decades. Edificio de Mujeres (The Women's Building) is one of those facilities, and annually assists 20,000 women with needs related to the arts, education, community involvement, and social services. As the first woman-owned and operated organization in the country, they've helped to increase the economic standing of hundreds of women, encouraged the cultural development of many others, and helped to change the social climate for allies, women and girls, alike.

Edificio de Mujeres was developed in 1979 after SFWC purchased a former meeting hall and neighborhood bar, Dovre Hall. This was done as part of an expansion, to accommodate their growth as they took to hosting a community switchboard, organizing activist groups, and publishing a newsletter. Since its creation, the multi-service community center has sponsored over 170 emerging organizations and established non-profits. It also assisted with the development of La Casa de las Madres, SF's first shelter for battered women.

Bilingual programs and services are provided for free, as well as opportunities to take part of in-house organizations, which are led by activists, national/international groups and lawyers. These organizations include, Girls on the Run, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, GirlVentures, Immigration Center for Women and Children, San Francisco Women Against Rape, among many others.

The agency for female empowerment also features a spectacular mural, an effort that was done as a part of a "multicultural, multi-generational collaboration of seven women artists." "Maestrapiece" was painted in 1994, and covers two exterior walls. The mural captures the images of historically brilliant women such as Audre Lorde, Georgia O'Keefe, Rigoberta Menchu, Quan Yin, Yemeyah and Coyoxauqua. Information and merchandise is made available on the women immortalized in the mural, as well as the diverse contributors who helped to design the remarkable exterior and the welcoming interior of the Women's Building.