She previously served as Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 until 2021.

After her Abitur in 1997, she started studying English and French at Humboldt University of Berlin in order to become a teacher, but had to leave the profession in 1998 for medical reasons.

Following the 2018 Chemnitz protests, Giffey was the first member of Merkel's cabinet to visit the site where a 35-year-old German carpenter was stabbed to death.

[7] In mid-2020, Giffey presented the government's first equality strategy, which bundled together measures that aim to get more women into leadership roles, narrow the gender pay gap, and improve work-life balance.

[11] On 10 June 2021, the presidium of the Free University of Berlin unanimously stripped Giffey of her doctorate, saying she was guilty of 'at least partially intentional deception' and citing 69 instances in the 200-page thesis when citations were either not at all or improperly attributed.

[12] Giffey resigned as minister on 19 May 2021 but immediately won the candidacy for Berlin mayor from the SPD, which she did not relinquish until the end of her term in April 2023.

[17] Against the backdrop of a series of assaults on German politicians, Giffey was attacked during an event on 7 May 2024 at a Berlin library, sustaining injuries to her head and neck.