Frances Perkins' Disappearance from American Public Administration: A Genealogy of Marginalization

Abstract

Given Frances Perkins' many years in public service, it is puzzling that she left so little imprint upon American public administration. She was a historic "first" woman public executive at both the state and federal levels of government, whose tangible policy accomplishments (e.g., minimum wage and Social Security) people depend on still today. She led the Department of Labor during the whole of the New Deal, which was a defining moment in the development of the administrative state. Describing how and in what ways Perkins became a marginalized other in public administration is this paper's specific purpose. Drawing on Michel Foucault's genealogical approach to history, this paper illustrates how Perkins was constructed as a marginal historical subject. This paper's more general purpose is to argue that Perkins' marginalization is a representative anecdote for the marginalization of gender, care, and the female body that continues today within American public administration.

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