Who was the first woman in the U.S. cabinet?

Advocate. Reformer. Cabinet member. Who was Frances Perkins? Frances Perkins was born on April 10, 1882, in Boston, Massachusetts. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1902. She would go on to attend the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance and Commerce and obtain a master’s degree in social economics at Columbia University in 1910. As the executive secretary of the Consumers’ League of New York, Perkins successfully lobbied for improved wages and working conditions, especially for women and children. In 1911 Perkins witnessed the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire, a disaster worsened by unsafe working conditions that resulted in the deaths of 129 women and 17 men. The tragedy drove her to be a fierce advocate for workers, and she used her positions of power to work for workers’ rights. In 1919 Perkins was appointed to New York’s State Industrial Commission and in 1923 was named to the State Industrial Board, of which she would become chair three years later. In 1933 Perkins was named the United States Secretary of Labor by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As the first woman to ever hold a cabinet seat, she helped guide the country out of the Great Depression and helped establish measures such as a minimum wage, a maximum workweek, and unemployment compensation. Most notably, she helped draft the Social Security Act, a landmark piece of social legislation. After 12 years, Perkins left the cabinet post in 1945 and served on the U.S. Civil Service Commission until 1953. She gave lectures on labor and industry problems until her death on May 14, 1965.