Why the Housekeeper Needs the Vote

By: Anne O'Hagan

Narrated by: Sarah Heinitz

Anne O'Hagan Shinn (1869-1933) was a feminist, suffragist, journalist, and writer of short stories who regularly contributed to publications such as Vanity Fair and Harper's. She is known for her writings detailing the exploitation of young women working as shop clerks in early 20th-century America.

Why the Housekeeper Needs the Vote is a pamphlet published by the National American Woman Suffrage Association, in New York, in 1900. The author spells out why the housekeeper needs the right to vote: "It would rejoice my soul exceedingly could I have a voice in appointing the men who inspect the foodstuffs, the weights and measures, the cold-storage plants, and all the institutions in which I, as a housekeeper, am vitally and - even if I were an anti-suffragist - legitimately interested" and "I am aware, dear anti-suffragist, that the tenement-house commissioner of New York is appointed by the mayor, and is not directly elected by the ballots of the voters; but I am also aware that I have no part in electing that mayor, and have no political claim upon his consideration when I wish to complain of the action, or the lack of action, of his appointee."

Public Domain (P)2020 Museum Audiobooks