List of female United States Cabinet Secretaries

The United States Cabinet has had 32 female officers. No woman held a Cabinet position before the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920, which prohibits states and the federal government from denying any citizen the right to vote because of that citizen's sex.[1]

Madeleine Albright (left), Condoleezza Rice (center), and Hillary Clinton (right) are the highest-ranking women in the history of the Cabinet, having held the post of Secretary of State, the most senior cabinet position.

Frances Perkins was the first woman to serve in the Cabinet; she was appointed Secretary of Labor in 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.[2][3] Oveta Culp Hobby became the second woman to serve in the Cabinet,[4] when she was named head of the then newly formed Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1953.[5] This department was subdivided into the departments of Education and Health and Human Services in 1979.[5] Patricia Roberts Harris, who was Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare before the department split and had earlier served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 1977, became the first female Secretary of Health and Human Services in 1979. Harris was also the first African-American woman to serve in the Cabinet.[6]

Former North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole is the first woman to have served in two different Cabinet positions in two different administrations. She was appointed by President Ronald Reagan as Secretary of Transportation in 1983, and was the Secretary of Labor during the tenure of George H. W. Bush—Reagan's successor.[7] Czechoslovakia-born Madeleine Albright became the first foreign-born woman to serve in the Cabinet when she was appointed Secretary of State in 1997.[a][8] Her appointment also made her the highest-ranking female Cabinet member at that time.[b][8] Condoleezza Rice was appointed Secretary of State in 2005, and thus became the highest-ranking woman in the United States presidential line of succession in history.[9] In 2006, Nancy Pelosi replaced Rice as the highest-ranking woman in line when she was elected Speaker of the House.[10][11]

In 2009, President Barack Obama named four women to the Cabinet—Arizona governor Janet Napolitano as Secretary of Homeland Security, former First Lady and New York Senator Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, California Representative Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor, and Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services.[12][13][14][15] Clinton became the only First Lady to serve in the Cabinet and the third female Secretary of State.[13] Napolitano became the first female Secretary of Homeland Security.[12] Barack Obama appointed eight women to Cabinet positions, the most of any Presidency, surpassing George W. Bush's record of six.

The Department of Labor has had the most female Secretaries with seven.[16] The Department of Health and Human Services has had five, the departments of State, Transportation, Commerce, and Education have had three, and the departments of Housing and Urban Development and Justice have each had two.[17][16] The defunct Department of Health, Education, and Welfare also had two female Secretaries.[16] The three departments of Defense, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs are the only existing Cabinet departments that have not had women Secretaries.[18][19][20]

Female Secretaries

Current departments
Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins was the first woman to hold a Cabinet-level position.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Patricia Roberts Harris was the first African-American woman to serve in the Cabinet.
Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao was the first Asian-American woman to serve in the Cabinet.
Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis was the first Hispanic woman to serve in the Cabinet.

Numerical order represents the seniority of the Secretaries in the United States presidential line of succession.

 *  denotes the first female secretary of that particular department
# Secretary Position Year
appointed		 Party Administration Ref.
1 Madeleine Albright*[b] Secretary of State 1997 Democratic Bill Clinton [21]
1 Condoleezza Rice Secretary of State 2005 Republican George W. Bush [9]
1 Hillary Clinton Secretary of State 2009 Democratic Barack Obama [13]
2  —[c] Secretary of the Treasury —[c] —[c] —[c] —
3  —[d] Secretary of Defense —[d] —[d] —[d] —
4 Janet Reno* Attorney General 1993 Democratic Bill Clinton [22]
4 Loretta Lynch Attorney General 2015 Democratic Barack Obama [23]
5 Gale Norton* Secretary of the Interior 2001 Republican George W. Bush [24]
5 Sally Jewell Secretary of the Interior 2013 Democratic Barack Obama [25][26]
6 Ann Veneman* Secretary of Agriculture 2001 Republican George W. Bush [27]
7 Juanita M. Kreps* Secretary of Commerce 1977 Democratic Jimmy Carter [28]
7 Barbara Franklin Secretary of Commerce 1992 Republican George H. W. Bush [29][30]
7 Penny Pritzker Secretary of Commerce 2013 Democratic Barack Obama [31]
8 Frances Perkins* Secretary of Labor 1933 Democratic Franklin D. Roosevelt [2][3]
8 Ann Dore McLaughlin Secretary of Labor 1987 Republican Ronald Reagan [32]
8 Elizabeth Dole Secretary of Labor 1989 Republican George H. W. Bush [7]
8 Lynn Morley Martin Secretary of Labor 1991 Republican George H. W. Bush [33]
8 Alexis Herman Secretary of Labor 1997 Democratic Bill Clinton [34]
8 Elaine Chao[a] Secretary of Labor 2001 Republican George W. Bush [35]
8 Hilda Solis Secretary of Labor 2009 Democratic Barack Obama [14]
9 Patricia Roberts Harris* Secretary of Health and Human Services 1979 Democratic Jimmy Carter [6]
9 Margaret Heckler Secretary of Health and Human Services 1983 Republican Ronald Reagan [36]
9 Donna Shalala Secretary of Health and Human Services 1993 Democratic Bill Clinton [37]
9 Kathleen Sebelius Secretary of Health and Human Services 2009 Democratic Barack Obama [15]
9 Sylvia Mathews Burwell Secretary of Health and Human Services 2014 Democratic Barack Obama [38]
10 Carla Anderson Hills* Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 1975 Republican Gerald Ford [39]
10 Patricia Roberts Harris Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 1977 Democratic Jimmy Carter [6]
11 Elizabeth Dole* Secretary of Transportation 1983 Republican Ronald Reagan [7]
11 Mary Peters Secretary of Transportation 2006 Republican George W. Bush [40]
11 Elaine Chao Secretary of Transportation 2017 Republican Donald Trump [41]
12 Hazel R. O'Leary* Secretary of Energy 1993 Democratic Bill Clinton [42]
13 Shirley Hufstedler* Secretary of Education 1979 Democratic Jimmy Carter [43]
13 Margaret Spellings Secretary of Education 2005 Republican George W. Bush [44]
13 Betsy DeVos Secretary of Education 2017 Republican Donald Trump [45]
14  —[e] Secretary of Veterans Affairs —[e] —[e] —[e] —
15 Janet Napolitano* Secretary of Homeland Security 2009 Democratic Barack Obama [12]
15 Kirstjen Nielsen Secretary of Homeland Security 2017 Republican Donald Trump [46]

Defunct departments

The departments are listed in order of their establishment (earliest first).

 *  denotes the first female secretary of that particular department
# Secretary Position Year
appointed		 Party Administration Ref.
1  —[f] Postmaster General —[f] —[f] —[f] —
2  —[g] Secretary of the Navy —[g] —[g] —[g] —
3  —[h] Secretary of War —[h] —[h] —[h] —
4  —[i] Secretary of Commerce and Labor —[i] —[i] —[i] —
5 Oveta Culp Hobby* Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare 1953 Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower [4]
5 Patricia Roberts Harris Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare 1979 Democratic Jimmy Carter [6]

See also
  • List of African-American United States Cabinet Secretaries
  • List of foreign-born United States Cabinet Secretaries

Notes
  • a Elaine Chao became the second foreign-born woman to serve in the Cabinet when she was appointed Secretary of Labor in 2001.[35]
  • b The Secretary of State, as the most senior Cabinet position, is the first Cabinet member in the line of succession and the fourth overall.[11] Albright was ineligible to serve in the line of succession due to her foreign birth.[11][47]
  • c The Department of the Treasury was established in 1789; no woman has served yet.[18]
  • d The Department of Defense was established in 1947; no woman has served yet.[19]
  • e The Department of Veterans Affairs was established in 1989; no woman has served yet.[20]
  • f The Postmaster General ceased to be a member of the Cabinet when the Post Office Department was re-organized into the United States Postal Service, a special agency independent of the executive branch, by the 1970 Postal Reorganization Act. No woman had ever served while it was a Cabinet post. Following the creation of the independent United States Postal Service, Megan Brennan became the first woman to serve as Postmaster General in 2015.[48][49]
  • g The Secretary of the Navy ceased to be a member of the Cabinet when the Department of the Navy was absorbed into the Department of Defense in 1947. No woman had ever served while it was a Cabinet post. Susan Livingstone was the first woman to serve in that post from 2001 to 2003 after it became a position beneath the Secretary of Defense.[50][51]
  • h The position of Secretary of War became defunct when the Department of War was split between the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force and both absorbed into the Department of Defense in 1947. No woman had ever served while it was a Cabinet post.[50]
  • i The position of Secretary of Commerce and Labor became defunct when the Department of Commerce and Labor was subdivided into two separate entities in 1913. No woman had ever served while it was a Cabinet post.[52]

References
  1. "The Constitution of the United States: Amendments 11–27". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
  2. "Frances Perkins, The First Woman In Cabinet, Is Dead". The New York Times. May 15, 1965. Retrieved November 9, 2008.
  3. Villard, Oswald G. (December 8, 2008). "Roosevelt to Appoint First-Ever Female Cabinet Member". The Nation. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
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  30. "The Honorable Barbara Hackman Franklin" (PDF). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. May 2006. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
  31. "Senate Easily Confirms Penny Pritzker as Commerce Secretary". The Washington Post. June 25, 2013. Retrieved July 12, 2013.
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  33. Lewis, Neil (December 15, 1990). "Woman in the News: Judith Lynn Morley Martin; For Labor, a Bush Loyalist". The New York Times. Retrieved January 10, 2009.
  34. Gray, Jerry (May 1, 1997). "After Impasse, Senate Confirms Clinton's Choice for Labor Post". The New York Times. Retrieved January 10, 2009.
  35. "Hall of Secretaries – Elaine L. Chao". United States Department of Labor. Archived from the original on 2014-04-07. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
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