"Even the simple act of a woman standing up and speaking to a crowd is relatively new. Think about it: we know of only a handful of speeches by women before the latter half of the twentieth century, and those tend to be by women in extreme and desperate situations. Joan of Arc said a lot of interesting things before they burned her at the stake."- Hillary Clinton
In related news, on this Labor Day, tell your kids about Frances Perkins, the first woman in American history to serve in a presidential cabinet. She was the U.S. Department of Labor Secretary and instrumental in defining and implementing so many of FDR's policies. How effective were their policies? When FDR and Frances Perkins came into office, the unemployment rate was 24.9%. By the time FDR died, the unemployment rate had fallen to 1.9%.
She really was remarkable - the kind of figure who quietly but profoundly shaped the country. From Social Security to minimum wage laws to workplace safety, so much of what we take for granted in the American social contract has her fingerprints on it. And she carried all that while navigating a cabinet full of men who often dismissed or resisted her.
You might think that with that kind of success, presidents would have been smart enough to make all their cabinet members women but after FDR died, Perkins' role as Labor Secretary ended and it was 8 years before the next woman was appointed to a presidential cabinet.
Happy Labor Day!
