The US granted women the right to vote in 1920, when Congress passed 19th Amendment, after ratifying it.
In US history, 25 women have served since 1933 in the US Cabinet, a group of the senior officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States.
The first female to serve in the US Cabinet was Frances Perkins, who was the Secretary of Labor under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1933.
Three women have held the senior most position, Secretary of State:
- Madeleine Albright, 1997, under President Bill Clinton
- Condoleezza Rice, 2005, under President George W. Bush
- Hillary Rodham Clinton, 2009 to present, under President Barack Obama
The position held by more women is the Secretary of Labor:
1933 Frances Perkins
- 1987 Ann Dore McLaughlin
- 1989 Elizabeth Dole
- 1991 Lynn Morley Martin
- 1997 Alexis Herman
- 2001 Elaine Chao
- 2009 Hilda Solis
The second position most held by women is the Secretary of Health and Human Services
- 1979 Patricia Roberts Harris
- 1983 Margaret Heckler
- 1993 Donna Shalala
- 2009 Kathleen Sebelius
A woman has yet to serve in the US Cabinet in the following positions:
The Department of the Treasury, established in 1789
The Department of Defense, established in 1947
The Department of Veterans Affairs, established in 1989
A woman also has yet to serve in the following US Cabinet positions, now absorbed by other departments:
The Secretary of the Navy (the Department of the Navy absorbed into the Department of Defense in 1947. However, while the position of the Secretary of the Navy was under the Secretary of Defense, Susan Livingstone was the first woman to serve in that post from 2001 to 2003.)
The Secretary of War (The Department of War became the Department of Defense in 1947.
The Secretary of Commerce and Labor Department were two separate positions as of 1913, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor. Before separation, no woman served in that position.