After college , she held a variety of teaching positions including a position teaching chemistry from 1904 to 1906 at Ferry Hall School ( now Lake Forest Academy ) , an all girls school in Lake Forest , Illinois . In Chicago , she volunteered at settlement houses , including Hull House where she worked with Jane Addams . She changed her name from Fannie to Frances when she joined the Episcopal church in 1905 . In 1907 , she moved to Philadelphia and enrolled at University of Pennsylvania 's Wharton School to learn economics . After two years in Philadelphia , Perkins moved to Greenwich Village , where she attended Columbia University and became active in the suffrage movement . In support of the suffrage movement , Perkins attending protests , meetings , advocated for the cause on street corners . She obtained a master 's degree in political science from Columbia in 1910 . She achieved statewide prominence as head of the New York Consumers League in 1910 and lobbied with vigor for better working hours and conditions . Perkins also taught as a professor of sociology at Adelphi College . The next year , she witnessed the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire , a pivotal event in her life . The factory employed hundreds of workers , mostly young women , but lacked fire escapes . When the building caught fire , many workers tried unsuccessfully to escape through the windows.Just a year before these same women and girls had fought for and won the 54 hour work week and other benefits that Perkins had championed . One hundred forty-six workers died . It was because of this fire Frances Perkins would leave her office at the New York Consumers League and , on the recommendation of Theodore Roosevelt , become the executive secretary for the Committee on Safety of the City of New York . In 1913 , Perkins was instrumental in getting New York to pass a " fifty-four-hour " bill capping the number of hours women could work . Perkins pressed for votes for the legislation , encouraging proponents including legislator Franklin Delano Roosevelt to filibuster while Perkins called state senators to make sure they could be present for the final vote . In 1912 , Perkins resigned as New York secretary of the Consumers League to take the position of executive secretary with the Committee on Safety . The Committee on Safety was formed to increase fire safety following the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire . As part of the Committee on Safety , Perkins investigated the fire at the Freeman plant in Birmingham , New York in which 63 people died . Perkins blamed lax legislation for the loss
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
Frances Perkins