Imperfect as is the list it will be
a surprise to those who look upon office-holding as the natural
prerogative of man. A stock objection to woman suffrage is that women
will be wanting the offices. An examination of the reports here
submitted will disclose the surprising fact that in a number of States
where women do not vote they are filling as many offices as in those
where they have the full franchise. Probably the majority of State
constitutions declare that the offices must be held by electors, but
where this proviso is not made, women have been elected and appointed
to various offices and so far as can be learned have given general
satisfaction.[156]

The necessity for matrons at police stations and jails, and for women
physicians in all institutions where women and children are confined,
is too evident to need any argument in its favor, and yet it is only
within the past ten years that they have been thus employed to any
extent and even now they are found in only a small fraction of such
institutions. The objection to these matrons on the part of the police
force has been strenuous, and yet, almost without exception, after
they have gained a foothold, the police officers testify that they do
not understand how the department got on without them. It ought to be
equally evident that there should be women on the boards of all
institutions which care for women and children, but, although in most
instances these positions have no salary, there is the most violent
opposition to giving women a place, and the concession has had to be
wrung from Legislatures in the few States where it has been obtained.
The right of women and their value to school offices is now partly
conceded in about half the States. Women librarians also have met with
some favor. As to offices in general, most of which carry either
salary or patronage or both, they will continue to be regarded as
belonging entirely to voters and as perquisites of party managers with
which to reward political service, although all of them are
proportionately supported by women tax-payers.

As regards Occupations, the census of 1900 shows 3,230,642 women
engaged in wage-earning employments, exclusive of domestic service,
and the question of their admittance to practically all such may be
regarded as settled, but it has not been gained without a contest.
Women, however, are still barred from the best-paying positions and
are usually compelled to accept unequal wages