Robins, Margaret Dreier (1868–1945)
Robins, Margaret Dreier (1868–1945)
American labor and women's rights activist. Pronunciation: DRY-er. Name variations: Gretchen; frequently misspelled as Drier. Born Sept 6, 1868, in Brooklyn, NY; died at Chinsegut Hill, Brooksville, FL, Feb 21, 1945; dau. of Dorothea Adelheid Dreier and her cousin Theodor Dreier (iron merchant); sister of Mary Elisabeth Dreier and Katherine Sophie Dreier; m. Raymond Robins (1873–1954, brother of Elizabeth Robins), June 21, 1905; no children.
Served as chair, legislative committee, the Women's Municipal League (1903–04); was a member of the WTUL (1904–44), president of Chicago WTUL (1907–13), president of National Women's Trade Union League (1907–22); served as executive board member of Chicago Federation of Labor (1908–17); was a member of Illinois state committee of Progressive Party (1912); was a member of the women's division of Republican Party National Committee (1919–20); served as president of International Federation of Working Women (1921–23); was an active member of League of Women Voters (1920s); was a member of the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection planning committee (1929); was reelected to NWTUL executive board (1934); was chair of the League's committee on Southern work (1937).
See also Mary E. Dreier, Margaret Dreier Robins: Her Life, Letters, and Work (NY: Island Cooperative, 1950); and Women in World History.