who was the 1st woman to serve in a president's cabinent and what position did she have
List of female United States Cabinet Secretaries 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]