Women’s History: The first woman Cabinet member lived in Maine [Video]

NEWCASTLE, Maine — Maine leaders want to honor Frances Perkins — the first woman to serve in a presidential Cabinet-level position and a driving force behind the New Deal — by encouraging the president to make her home a national monument.

Perkins served as labor secretary under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and played a key role in shaping his programs that helped Americans recover from the Great Depression, including advocating for Social Security, a 40-hour work week and the minimum wage. She died in 1965.

“She was a trailblazer, the first female presidential Cabinet member, the mother of the modern labor movement, and a pioneering advocate for social justice, economic security, and workers’ rights,” Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree said.

The initiative announced by a group of leaders on Thursday came months after President Joe Biden signed …