Frances Perkins: A Women's Rights Activist
Frances Perkins was born on April 10th, 1880 in Boston, Massachusetts. From birth, her parents wanted her to follow the role of the typical American woman. They hoped that she would get married young and have children, but Frances had other ideas. After high school, she pleaded with her father to allow her to attend a local university in Massachusetts where she would receive a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and physics. This lead her to travel to many different cities where she taught, and helped struggling poor immigrant communities. Frances had a passion for teaching but also for people. In 1907 she became the secretary of the Philadelphia Research and Protective Association. Their main goal was to assist women who were new to the city. They would help them
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stay out of trouble and make sure they didn’t get caught up with people who wanted them for prostitution. By 1910 she was in New York where she attended the university of Columbia and received a master’s degree in political science. This degree would be what ultimately led her to her biggest position ever. In 1911 while living in New York, Perkins witnessed the most horrific factory fire ever. In this fire 146 employees died with the majority of them being women. The death toll was so high due to the lack of safety protocols and limited fire exits.
This outraged Frances knowing that the majority of the women working in that factory were immigrants that had been working in harsh conditions. This led Perkins to get involved and become the executive secretary for the Committee on Safety in New York. For many years, Frances worked in this position traveling around New York with architects, fireman, and police officers working to make the conditions in factories safe. Simultaneously, she was working with the government to get the 54-hour act passed and by 1912 it was set into motion. By this time, Frances Perkins had gotten her name out there and she was well known within the City of New York. After a whole year of campaigning in 1918 for Al Smith to become governor, Perkins was appointed in 1919 to be one of the five members of the New York State Industrial commission. In 1929 when Perkins was working on campaigning for Al Smith to be in office for a third term he was beaten by his Democratic competitor Franklin Roosevelt. Frances followed Roosevelt and was a part of his committee until he took office in 1932 where she was later appointed by Roosevelt as Secretary of
Labor. She held this position for 12 years making her the first woman to ever hold a cabinet position. During these 12 years Perkins created The Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, The Bureau of Labor and Statistics, and The Social Security Act of 1935. Frances resigned in 1945 and traveled to many different states and countries writing and talking about her work. She traveled for only two years before being asked to return by President Harry Truman. She returned and in 1947 was appointed to serve on the United State Civil Service Commission. Perkins served for five years and in 1952 resigned from her duties with the service. After her resignation from the government, Frances continued to teach in New York and at Cornell University. She continued teaching and lecturing until her death on May 14t, 1965 at the age of 85. “The accusation that I am a woman is incontrovertible” Frances Perkins. This quote is incredible because it’s short but unbelievably powerful. Frances Perkins lived in a time where being a woman was one of the worst things you could be. Women were not respected nor taken seriously and she worked incredibly hard to make a name for herself. In 2017 we can learn a lot from this and use this to our advantage. Being called a woman is often used as an insult or used if you want to be rude. As a female I am often belittled or made to look insignificant amongst my male counterparts. My opinion doesn’t mean nearly as much as that of male and my voice will never be taken as seriously as theirs. Yet, if someone like Frances Perkins can live in a time where women were nothing more than procreators and house wives, than women everywhere can learn to speak up for themselves and be heard. Being a woman isn’t something that needs to be justified nor defended, it isn’t something to feel ashamed of or embarrassed about. There are approximately 7 Billion people on this planet, half of them are women. Being a woman is just as important as being a man. It pains me that in 2017 we are still fighting a battle and are still oppressed for something that we cannot inherently control. Although, reading about Frances Perkins and the remarkable life that she lived shows me that we can all work to make our lives exactly what we want it to be. We see oppression in our everyday lives, just as she saw oppression in her communities. However, when she saw something that she didn’t think was fair, she worked to transform it for the better. As we should when we come across oppression in our daily lives. It doesn’t have to be for just women in our communities, or people that are like us. If there are other people that are oppressed, we are oppressed. No one is free until we are all free. Frances Perkins shows us that if we work hard enough, strong enough, and with enough determination we will slowly make a difference.
stay out of trouble and make sure they didn’t get caught up with people who wanted them for prostitution. By 1910 she was in New York where she attended the university of Columbia and received a master’s degree in political science. This degree would be what ultimately led her to her biggest position ever. In 1911 while living in New York, Perkins witnessed the most horrific factory fire ever. In this fire 146 employees died with the majority of them being women. The death toll was so high due to the lack of safety protocols and limited fire exits.
This outraged Frances knowing that the majority of the women working in that factory were immigrants that had been working in harsh conditions. This led Perkins to get involved and become the executive secretary for the Committee on Safety in New York. For many years, Frances worked in this position traveling around New York with architects, fireman, and police officers working to make the conditions in factories safe. Simultaneously, she was working with the government to get the 54-hour act passed and by 1912 it was set into motion. By this time, Frances Perkins had gotten her name out there and she was well known within the City of New York. After a whole year of campaigning in 1918 for Al Smith to become governor, Perkins was appointed in 1919 to be one of the five members of the New York State Industrial commission. In 1929 when Perkins was working on campaigning for Al Smith to be in office for a third term he was beaten by his Democratic competitor Franklin Roosevelt. Frances followed Roosevelt and was a part of his committee until he took office in 1932 where she was later appointed by Roosevelt as Secretary of
Labor. She held this position for 12 years making her the first woman to ever hold a cabinet position. During these 12 years Perkins created The Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, The Bureau of Labor and Statistics, and The Social Security Act of 1935. Frances resigned in 1945 and traveled to many different states and countries writing and talking about her work. She traveled for only two years before being asked to return by President Harry Truman. She returned and in 1947 was appointed to serve on the United State Civil Service Commission. Perkins served for five years and in 1952 resigned from her duties with the service. After her resignation from the government, Frances continued to teach in New York and at Cornell University. She continued teaching and lecturing until her death on May 14t, 1965 at the age of 85. “The accusation that I am a woman is incontrovertible” Frances Perkins. This quote is incredible because it’s short but unbelievably powerful. Frances Perkins lived in a time where being a woman was one of the worst things you could be. Women were not respected nor taken seriously and she worked incredibly hard to make a name for herself. In 2017 we can learn a lot from this and use this to our advantage. Being called a woman is often used as an insult or used if you want to be rude. As a female I am often belittled or made to look insignificant amongst my male counterparts. My opinion doesn’t mean nearly as much as that of male and my voice will never be taken as seriously as theirs. Yet, if someone like Frances Perkins can live in a time where women were nothing more than procreators and house wives, than women everywhere can learn to speak up for themselves and be heard. Being a woman isn’t something that needs to be justified nor defended, it isn’t something to feel ashamed of or embarrassed about. There are approximately 7 Billion people on this planet, half of them are women. Being a woman is just as important as being a man. It pains me that in 2017 we are still fighting a battle and are still oppressed for something that we cannot inherently control. Although, reading about Frances Perkins and the remarkable life that she lived shows me that we can all work to make our lives exactly what we want it to be. We see oppression in our everyday lives, just as she saw oppression in her communities. However, when she saw something that she didn’t think was fair, she worked to transform it for the better. As we should when we come across oppression in our daily lives. It doesn’t have to be for just women in our communities, or people that are like us. If there are other people that are oppressed, we are oppressed. No one is free until we are all free. Frances Perkins shows us that if we work hard enough, strong enough, and with enough determination we will slowly make a difference.