The Cabinet of the United States, which is the principal advisory body to the president of the United States, has had 65 female members altogether, with seven of them serving in multiple positions for a total of 72 cabinet appointments. Of that number, 38 different women held a total of 41 permanent cabinet posts, having served as the vice president or heads of the federal executive departments; 31 more women held cabinet-level positions, which can differ under each president; and four officeholders served in both cabinet and cabinet-rank roles. No woman held a presidential cabinet position before the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, which prohibits the federal government or any state from denying citizens the right to vote on the basis of sex.^[1]

Kamala Harris is the highest-ranking woman to serve in a Cabinet as Vice President of the United States.

Madeleine Albright (left), Condoleezza Rice (center), and Hillary Clinton (right) are the highest-ranking women to lead a federal executive department; each held the post of Secretary of State.

Frances Perkins became the first woman to serve in a president's cabinet when she was appointed secretary of labor by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933.^[2] Patricia Roberts Harris was the first African-American woman and the first woman of color to serve in a presidential cabinet when she was named secretary of housing and urban development by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.^[3] Two years later, Carter tapped her for secretary of health and human services,^{[lower-alpha 1]} therefore making her the first woman to hold two different cabinet positions.^[3] Madeleine Albright, who was born in Czechoslovakia, became the first foreign-born woman to serve in a president's cabinet when she was picked by President Bill Clinton for United States ambassador to the United Nations, a cabinet-rank position, in 1993. She was elevated to secretary of state four years later, during Clinton's second term, thus becoming the highest-ranking woman in the federal government's history at the time.^{[4][lower-alpha 2]}

On January 26, 2005, Condoleezza Rice assumed the post of secretary of state under President George W. Bush, which made her the highest-ranked woman among cabinet secretaries to enter the presidential line of succession, standing fourth.^[7][5] Nancy Pelosi surpassed Rice on January 4, 2007, when her election as the first female speaker of the House put her second in line to the presidency.^[8][5] Kamala Harris replaced Pelosi to become the highest-ranking woman ever to be in the line of succession upon being inaugurated as the first female vice president on January 20, 2021, alongside President Joe Biden.^[9][10]

President Joe Biden named the most women as secretaries to his first-term Cabinet, with five: former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen as secretary of the treasury; U.S. representative Deb Haaland (D-NM) as secretary of the interior; Rhode Island governor Gina Raimondo as secretary of commerce; U.S. representative Marcia Fudge (D-OH) as secretary of housing and urban development; and Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm as secretary of energy, exceeding by one the record set by President Barack Obama.^[11] However, including cabinet reshuffles during his second term in office, Obama still holds the record for most women appointed to permanent cabinet positions with eight, the most of any presidency, therefore surpassing George W. Bush's previous record of six appointees.

The Department of Labor has had the most female secretaries, with seven.^[12] The Department of Health and Human Services has had five; the Department of Commerce has had four; the departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, State, and Transportation have had three; the departments of Energy, Homeland Security, and Justice have had two; and the departments of Agriculture and Treasury have had one.^[12] The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are the only existing executive departments that do not have female secretaries yet.^[13][14]

The totals for this list include only women presidential appointees confirmed (if necessary) by the United States Senate to cabinet or cabinet-level positions and taking their oath of office; they do not include acting officials or nominees awaiting confirmation.

The following list includes women who have held permanent Cabinet positions, all of whom are in the line of succession to the Presidency. The table below is organized based on the beginning of their terms in office. Officeholders whose terms begin the same day are listed according to the presidential order of succession.

 *  denotes the first female holder of that particular office

More information No., Portrait ...

No.	Portrait	Name	Office	Succession[10]	Term start	Term end	Party		Administration(s)	Ref.
1		Frances Perkins*	Secretary of Labor	11	March 4, 1933	June 30, 1945		Democratic	Roosevelt	[2]
									Truman
2		Oveta Hobby*	Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare[lower-alpha 1]	12	April 11, 1953	July 31, 1955		Republican	Eisenhower	[16]
3		Carla Hills*	Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	13	March 10, 1975	January 20, 1977			Ford	[17]
4		Juanita M. Kreps*	Secretary of Commerce	10	January 23, 1977	October 31, 1979		Democratic	Carter	[18]
4		Patricia Harris	Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	13	January 23, 1977	September 10, 1979				[3]
			Secretary of Health and Human Services[lower-alpha 1]	12	August 3, 1979	January 20, 1981				[3]
6		Shirley Hufstedler*	Secretary of Education	16	November 30, 1979	January 20, 1981				[19]
7		Elizabeth Dole*	Secretary of Transportation	14	February 7, 1983	September 30, 1987		Republican	Reagan	[20]
8		Margaret Heckler	Secretary of Health and Human Services	12	March 10, 1983	December 13, 1985				[21]
9		Ann McLaughlin	Secretary of Labor	11	December 14, 1987	January 20, 1989				[22]
(7)		Elizabeth Dole	Secretary of Labor	11	January 25, 1989	November 23, 1990			Bush Sr.	[23]
10		Lynn Martin	Secretary of Labor	11	February 7, 1991	January 20, 1993				[24]
11		Barbara Franklin	Secretary of Commerce	10	February 27, 1992	January 20, 1993				[25]
12		Donna Shalala	Secretary of Health and Human Services	12	January 22, 1993	January 20, 2001		Democratic	Clinton	[26]
12		Hazel R. O'Leary*	Secretary of Energy	15	January 22, 1993	January 20, 1997				[27]
14		Janet Reno*	Attorney General	7	March 12, 1993	January 20, 2001				[28]
15		Madeleine Albright*	Secretary of State	4[lower-alpha 2]	January 23, 1997	January 20, 2001				[4]
16		Alexis Herman	Secretary of Labor	11	May 1, 1997	January 20, 2001				[29]
17		Ann Veneman*	Secretary of Agriculture	9	January 20, 2001	January 20, 2005		Republican	Bush Jr.	[30]
18		Elaine Chao	Secretary of Labor	11[lower-alpha 2]	January 29, 2001	January 20, 2009				[31]
19		Gale Norton*	Secretary of the Interior	8	January 31, 2001	March 31, 2006				[32]
20		Margaret Spellings	Secretary of Education	16	January 20, 2005	January 20, 2009				[33]
21		Condoleezza Rice	Secretary of State	4	January 26, 2005	January 20, 2009				[7]
22		Mary E. Peters	Secretary of Transportation	14	October 17, 2006	January 20, 2009				[34]
23		Hillary Clinton	Secretary of State	4	January 21, 2009	February 1, 2013		Democratic	Obama	[35]
23		Janet Napolitano*	Secretary of Homeland Security	18	January 21, 2009	September 6, 2013				[36]
25		Hilda Solis	Secretary of Labor	11	February 24, 2009	January 22, 2013				[37]
26		Kathleen Sebelius	Secretary of Health and Human Services	12	April 28, 2009	June 9, 2014				[38]
27		Sally Jewell	Secretary of the Interior	8[lower-alpha 2]	April 12, 2013	January 20, 2017				[39]
28		Penny Pritzker	Secretary of Commerce	10	June 26, 2013	January 20, 2017				[40]
29		Sylvia Burwell	Secretary of Health and Human Services	12	June 9, 2014	January 20, 2017				[41]
30		Loretta Lynch	Attorney General	7	April 27, 2015	January 20, 2017				[42]
(18)		Elaine Chao	Secretary of Transportation	14[lower-alpha 2]	January 31, 2017	January 11, 2021		Republican	Trump	[43]
31		Betsy DeVos	Secretary of Education	16	February 7, 2017	January 8, 2021				[44]
32		Kirstjen Nielsen	Secretary of Homeland Security	18	December 6, 2017	April 10, 2019				[45]
33		Kamala Harris*	Vice President	1	January 20, 2021	Incumbent		Democratic	Biden	[9]
34		Janet Yellen*	Secretary of the Treasury	5	January 26, 2021	Incumbent				[46]
35		Jennifer Granholm	Secretary of Energy	15[lower-alpha 2]	February 25, 2021	Incumbent				[47]
36		Gina Raimondo	Secretary of Commerce	10	March 3, 2021	Incumbent				[48]
37		Marcia Fudge	Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	13	March 10, 2021	March 22, 2024				[49]
38		Deb Haaland	Secretary of the Interior	8	March 16, 2021	Incumbent				[50]

Close

The president may designate or remove additional officials as members of the Cabinet. These positions have not always been in the Cabinet, so some female officeholders may not be listed.

The following list includes women who have held Cabinet-level positions, which can vary under each president. They are not in the line of succession and are not necessarily officers of the United States. The table below is organized based on the beginning of their terms in office while it was raised to cabinet-level status. Officeholders whose terms begin the same day are listed alphabetically by last name.

 *  denotes the first female holder of that particular office

• List of African-American United States Cabinet members
• List of foreign-born United States Cabinet members
• List of Hispanic and Latino American United States Cabinet members