List of female United States Cabinet members

The Cabinet of the United States, which is the principal advisory body to the President of the United States, has had 72 female members altogether, with eight of them serving in multiple positions for a total of 80 cabinet appointments. Of that number, 43 different women held a total of 46 permanent cabinet posts, having served as the Vice President or heads of the federal executive departments; 34 more women held cabinet-level positions, which can differ under each president; and five 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,^[a] 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 making her, at the time, the highest-ranking woman in the history of the federal government.^[4][b]

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. That record was equaled by President Donald Trump in his second administration.

The Department of Labor has had the most female secretaries, with eight.^[12] The Department of Health and Human Services has had five; the Departments of Commerce and Education has had four; the Departments of Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, State, and Transportation have had three; the Departments of Agriculture and Energy have had two; and the Department of 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 U.S. Senate to cabinet or cabinet-level positions and taking their oath of office; they do not include acting officials or nominees awaiting confirmation.