Did you know that before President Benjamin Harrison was in office, there were no female White House staffers in Washington, D.C.?

While President Harrison wasn’t particularly memorable for his time in the White House during the Gilded Age, he did make one decision that was a very important moment in American women’s history.

Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States and was in the White House from 1889 to 1893. During his presidency, the campaign for women’s rights and suffrage was getting more heated.

Women were not only passionate about their right to vote but also began pushing for more employment opportunities. Prior to the women’s suffrage movement, most women were expected to be housewives or work low-income jobs with harsh working conditions.

Before Benjamin Harrison’s presidency, women worked in the White House but were only given domestic duties. Other than the first lady, the only other women in the White House were cleaners and cooks.

Although President Harrison wasn’t a strong voice in the women’s suffrage movement and stayed fairly quiet on the matter, his wife, Caroline, was a politically active and passionate woman who supported the cause.

Caroline was said to be a big influence in President Harrison’s decision to hire a young woman named Alice Sanger as an official staff member at the White House. Alice was hired as President Harrison’s stenographer.

While little is known about Alice herself, her time in the White House was not her first instance of working with President Harrison, as she had previously worked at his law firm in Indianapolis. She came from a humble background and attended secretarial school after graduating high school at 15 to help financially support her family.

No matter how big or small her role was, having Alice work in the White House in a position that did not involve domestic duties was a big deal and greatly impacted the women’s suffrage movement.

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Her employment proved that women were capable and deserving of important jobs.

So, although President Harrison certainly could’ve done more to support women’s suffrage during his presidency, it was amazing how he and his wife at least got the ball rolling to hire more women in Washington, D.C.

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