Eleanor Roosevelt Quotes
My second tea this afternoon was for the women in executive positions in the Departments of State, Treasury and War, and certain Commissions. Many of these women do really important work and are all indispensable parts of their offices. …. They are valuable public servants and it is most interesting to me and to the Cabinet women to have an opportunity to see them and talk to them about their work.
The FDR administration was the first that allowed women to serve in executive and high level management positions of the government. Frances Perkins, the Secretary of Labor, was the first American female cabinet minister. Most people in America had not known that there were female executives in the government until Mrs. Roosevelt wrote this column. While the majority of Americans seemed to support this idea, there were religious and cultural conservatives who were much opposed, and pointed to this as another way in which the Roosevelts were “undermining the traditions of America.”
Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962, First Lady (Franklin Delano Roosevelt), U. S. Delegate to the United Nations, Column, My Day, January 18, 1936
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Nixon did however make some minor appointments of females. One irony of this statement is of all the Presidents in American history, he was probably the most erratic and emotional.
Prior to WWII there were few women in the labor force, and the traditional “values” of American society relegated women to be homemakers. However with so many men under arms, there were not enough workers to achieve the war production that was necessary. So changes had to be made in public attitudes, not only towards women working, but the nature of the work that they are capable of and ought to be doing. So the government took a proactive role in changing public attitudes towards women in the workforce. It was a successful effort, and the sociological and psychological effects are still felt, half a century later. See {584781}.
She was also Australia’s First Woman Cabinet Minister.
This was a virtually unheard of idea at the time.
This quotation is classic administrative Johnson where he was probably the best administrative President in history. In 2 weeks there were many more women in high level administrative positions in the Civil Service. There were many divisions and branches who had all kinds of objections to upsetting their ongoing plans and programs of promotions, but the Cabinet Secretaries just pushed the substance of the President’s statement down through their organizations. There were no papers to write, studies to be conducted, attorneys to be consulted, open public meetings to be held, etc. – the only action to be taken was compliance.
Weistein was a very prominent Hollywood producer who was outed that year for sexually harassing many women who were involved or being considered for one of his many productions. There were then 23 female senators, a relativly high number historically but woefully low compared to reasonable parity where we would expect 50.
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was an American political figure, diplomat and activist. She served as the First Lady of the United States from March 4, 1933, to April 12, 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office, making her the longest-serving First Lady of the United States. Roosevelt served as United States Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1945 to 1952. President Harry S. Truman later called her the "First Lady of the World" in tribute to her human rights achievements.
