A Woman to Know: Bertha Knight Landes
Men in general are not ready to yield to women the privilege and right of holding high political office. — Bertha Knight Landes
(image via Seattle Municipal Archives)
When Bertha ran for mayor of Seattle in 1925, she knew she couldn't dodge the "woman" question. "Who's going to take care of your husband?" "Who's cleaning your house while you're campaigning?" etc etc, sexism abounding. So, Bertha being Bertha, she faced the controversy head-on. Throughout her campaign, she talked openly about how her experiences as a homemaker made her the perfect candidate to "clean up" the Washington metropolis. As her husband said in one speech, "It's simply the natural enlargement of her sphere. Keeping a house and raising a family are logistical tasks, and there is no difference between running one home and running one thousand." Bertha even used this in her campaign slogan: "Municipal Housekeeping."
And her strategy worked. Bertha beat the incumbent mayor by more than 6,000 votes. And in doing so, Seattle didn't just elect its first female mayor — Bertha was the first woman to be mayor of any U.S. city.
Add to your library list:
Bertha Knight Landes of Seattle: Big City Mayor (Sandra Haarsager)
Experiences in a Promised Land: Essays in Pacific Northwest History (Carlos Arnaldo Schwantes)
Read more:
In the 1920s, the now-forgotten flood of "girl mayors" became the face of feminism (Atlas Obscura)
Bertha Knight Landes (National Women's History Museum)
Washington State has a History of Women Who Lead (The New York Times)
Seattle's first and last female mayor (Seattle Times)
The Woman Who Was Mayor (The Pacific Northwest Quarterly)
Seattle's Mayoral Race is Bereft of Female Candidates Again (Seattle Met)
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