Friday, Nov. 23, 1917
Now that women have the right to vote in New York State, local politicians are debating whether to appoint women to government positions next year. In Albany County, Watervliet was the only city to vote in favor of the women’s suffrage amendment earlier this month. As far as Rev. Dr. John T. Slattery of St. Patrick’s Church is concerned, that entitles Watervliet women to consideration for places in city government. Slattery tells The Record that he was unhappily surprised to find no consideration of women in a report on likely appointment in yesterday’s paper. He believes that Watervliet should follow the example set by Schenectady and make some highprofile female appointments. He also warns against pigeonholing women based on gender stereotypes. “It might be argued that the only position to which a woman could properly be appointed, as possessing the necessary attributes, was that of charity commissioner,” Slattery says, “It might be attempted to limit her to that post, or else to appointment to one of the boards, like the school board.” Slattery thinks that elected officials should think more creatively. “Circumstances peculiar to Watervliet made fitting the appointment of a woman to a higher position, that of commissioner of public works,” he argues. “The condition of the streets of Watervliet has never been an asset to the city, and in this situation a woman possesses a special capacity for service. Her instinct endows her with a facility for finding dirt where there was dirt, and she would bring to the position certain unique attributes which are not given to man to possess, and which might enable her to rescue Watervliet from the drag placed upon it by the state of its streets, and raise it to the altitude of a spotless town.”
A woman is more likely to make sure that all of Watervliet’s streets stay clean, Slattery claims. Under male management, “Sometimes the thoroughfares crossing the city in a lengthwise direction are given attention, [ but] the cross streets are generally neglected, and such details call for a woman’s care.
“Obviously some change in the management is necessary in the case of the streets of this city, and a woman might be the solution, the impulse necessary to send Watervliet ahead by leaps and bounds.”
While voting for women’s suffrage, Watervliet returned former mayor Edwin Joslin to City Hall after a two-year hiatus. As Slattery predicted, Joslin’s Republicans are leaning toward appointing a woman as charity commissioner, or to the school board. Our paper reports, however, that “the deliberations had not crystalized down to the point where names were mentioned.”