Mina Caroline Ginger Van Winkle (March 26, 1875 – January 16, 1933) was a crusading social worker, suffragist, and groundbreaking police lieutenant.

[3] On October 27, 1906, she became the second wife of Abraham Van Winkle, wealthy president of a manufacturing company (and a widower 36 years her senior) who had financially supported the Bureau of Associated Charities.

[7][8] Her tenure as president of the Union included 1915's unsuccessful effort to amend New Jersey's constitution by referendum to give women the right to vote.

As the suffrage movement was on the verge of succeeding through the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, she was a speaker at the 1920 National Woman's Party convention.

[14] In the summer of 1918, Police Major and Superintendent Raymond W. Pulliam established a woman's bureau, originally directed by Marion O. Spingarn.

[14] After Spingarn left in February 1919, Van Winkle became the Bureau's director, with an initial rank of detective sergeant (and, by December 1920, as a lieutenant).

[14] The Bureau's initial responsibilities included "girl welfare work," prevention and detection of store crimes, and supervision of movie theatres, dance halls, and similar places.

Subcommittee members Rep. George Tinkham (a Republican from Massachusetts) (and Rep. Thomas U. Sisson, a Democrat from Mississippi) objected that Congress had not specifically appropriated funds for a bureau of policewomen.

Colonel Kutz responded that Congress had specifically appropriated funds for police officers, and "there is nothing in the law that requires that policemen shall be of the male sex.

In describing the context of those statements, she gave a suggestive account that involved divergent interests of McLean and the Bureau in the welfare of an unidentified young girl who she said was a material witness in a "white slave" trafficking investigation.

He denied that he had asked that anyone be fired (let alone the sister of a senator whom McLean considered a friend), but expressed his view that the Bureau was "rather a dangerous toy for a sincere woman to play with," referring to Van Winkle.

"[2] Speaking more generally in 1928, she stated that "the average wage-earning wife is not intelligent enough to manage both home and job," and "most women who babble of careers would be better off as homemakers.