 Despite being a working woman, Gooding was of the position that women did not need suffrage.Despite her opinion, or maybe due to it, she was on the board of judges, with Charlotte Rumbold and Thekla M. Bernays, in the Votes-for-Women contest held by "The St. Louis Post-Dispatch".She was an active member of the Carondelet's, and organized the Women's City Club which gave luncheons every month for the purpose of having the business women of the city, and others interested in municipal affairs, to come together.