Haaland, Granholm, and Other Women Make History in Presidential Cabinet
Kamala Harris. Janet Yellen. Deb Haaland. Gina Raimondo. Marcia Fudge. Jennifer Granholm.
They’re making history as members of the largest group of women ever to serve on a presidential Cabinet. Haaland and Yellen are the first women in their positions, and Haaland is also the first Native American Cabinet secretary.
President Biden has appointed five additional women to Cabinet-level positions, including Cecilia Rouse as chair of the Council of Economic Advisors and Isabel Guzman as Small Business Administrator. Four of these five are Black, Asian American, or Latina. In total, women comprise nearly half of Biden’s Cabinet.
Women have been fighting for equality in this country for over a century — from the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, to the Women’s Strike of 1970, to the Women’s March in 2017. For women who are Black American, Asian American, or Native American, the fight has been even harder.
Today, the women of President Biden’s Cabinet stand on the shoulders of these moments and the trailblazing women who have come before, including Patricia Roberts Harris, the first Black woman to hold a position as Cabinet secretary (1977); Elaine Chao, the first Asian American woman to earn the distinction …
- 1 (current)
