She always wore a hat. “I was born with my hat on,” Frances Perkins replied, when a photographer suggested she remove it for a photo.

Frances Perkins. Does her name ring a bell? Probably not. Most of us never heard of her.

But a month ago I learned she was our country’s first female cabinet member and read her biography. Frances (she would probably prefer Ms Perkins) served as Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945. Appointed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, she is now known as “the woman behind the New Deal.”

Before she left her mark, our country had no child labor laws, no social security system, no unemployment insurance and few safety laws.

As employers, we may occasionally groan at some of the regulations we must comply with (okay, we groan more than occasionally).  But imagine what working conditions were like at the turn of the century, when woman and children were forced to work 12 to 14 hour shifts in buildings so unsafe they went up in flames from spontaneous combustion. When workers were padlocked inside factories, with no means of escape during a fire. When there was absolutely no safety net for the elderly or disabled when they were no longer able to work.

When FDR called her to meet with him, to ask her to serve, she arrived with a list of programs she wanted to implement and she was prepared to turn the historic opportunity down if he didn’t share her vision to protect American workers. Imagine how much courage that took!

FDR got the credit for many of the human rights victories that Frances championed. She was not a politician and didn’t crave the limelight or the recognition. She cared about people who needed the most basic protections and had no voice, no power. She became their advocate.

I don’t know about you but I was pleased and inspired to discover that it was a woman who made such a dramatic impact on the lives of working Americans. If women in 2009 still feel the intangible pressure of a glass ceiling, still feel the unspoken discomfort of being the lone female on the executive team, still feel the loneliness of a feminine management perspective, you can only imagine what Frances Perkins endured in 1930’s.

During one of the most difficult periods in American history — a time much like now — Frances Perkins humbly and firmly carved out new leadership territory for women, opening doors that can never be closed again. At a time when it was natural to withdraw in fear or at least play it safe, Frances Perkins did just the opposite. She showed courage, took risks and pursued a higher vision to improve the lives of other.

Frances spoke about her leadership role, her place in history, when she said, “The door might not be opened to a woman again for a long, long time, and I had a kind of duty to other women to walk in and sit down on the chair that was offered, and so establish the right of others long hence and far distant in geography to sit in the high seats.”

We — you and I — are “those others long hence.”  I wonder, how can we let Frances Perkins inspire us to show courage, take risks, and pursue a higher vision during our own difficult times?