Sworn in as U.S. Secretary of Commerce, becoming the first woman and first economist to hold the post and one of the earliest women in a U.S. Cabinet.
On January 23, 1977, Juanita M. Kreps was sworn in as United States Secretary of Commerce, becoming the first woman and the first professional economist to hold the post, and one of the earliest women to serve in any U.S. Cabinet position. Her appointment by President Jimmy Carter marked a transformative moment for women in economic policy and federal governance.
Kreps arrived at Commerce after a distinguished academic career as a James B. Duke Professor of Economics, dean of Duke’s Woman’s College, and the university’s first female vice president. Her research on labor markets, aging, and the changing workforce gave her an empirical lens on issues such as productivity, trade, and employment that were central to the department’s mission in the late 1970s.
The department she inherited was often regarded as bureaucratic and underpowered. Kreps sought to reposition Commerce as an active promoter of international trade and economic competitiveness, and during her tenure she played a key role in expanding commercial ties with China and other emerging markets. Her cabinet role placed a woman trained in quantitative economics at the heart of national economic strategy at a time when few women held senior government posts.
Historically, January 23, 1977 stands as a sentinel date: it signaled growing recognition that women could lead major economic agencies and that academic economists could translate scholarship into high‑level public policy. Kreps’s appointment helped pave the way for later female cabinet members in economic portfolios and broadened the perceived pipeline from universities to top government positions.