Frances Perkins
A woman unafraid: the achievements of Frances Perkins
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During her term as Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins championed many aspects of the New Deal, including the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Public Works Administration and its successor the Federal Works Agency, and the labor portion of the National Industrial Recovery Act.
With The Social Security Act she established unemployment benefits, pensions for the many uncovered elderly Americans, and welfare for the poorest Americans.
Through the Fair Labor Standards Act, she established the first minimum wage and overtime laws for American workers, and defined the standard 40-hour work week.
She formed governmental policy for working with labor unions and helped to alleviate strikes by way of the United States Conciliation Service and resisted having American women be drafted to serve the military in World War II so that they could enter the civilian workforce in greatly expanded numbers.
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