The International Congress of Working Women (ICWW) was
the brain child of Margaret Dreier Robins, a wealthy, progressive
Republican who felt strongly about women's labor issues
and served as the president of the
Women's Trade Union League (WTUL). Robins chaired the
first ICWW in 1919, a meeting that gathered representatives
from nineteen countries to discuss and promote fair labor
standards for women. Among other demands, the Congress called
for a universal eight-hour workday and legally binding maternity
leave for working women.
Eleanor Roosevelt attended that first gathering in Washington,
D.C. as a volunteer providing simultaneous translation
for
the delegates. Immediately intrigued by the Congress' goals,
ER spent much time socializing with the delegates and
grew
more supportive of their efforts as her understanding of
the issues deepened. Many of the activists that accompanied
her to the conference became lifelong associates whose
advice ER sought as her involvement in public policy grew.
These
included Rose Schneiderman,
Mary Anderson, and Julia O'Connor, all of whom were ardent
trade unionists. Their views about the right to economic
security and universal employment had an important effect
on ER that remained with her throughout her life as she
organized women voters throughout New York and the nation,
lobbied FDR as he
debated various New Deal economic measures, worked to
defend the
rights of organized labor, and drafted and promoted the
sections of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights dealing with labor and
society.
Sources:
Beasley, Maurine, Holly C. Schulman and Henry R. Beasley,
eds. The Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia. Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001, 579-582.
Cook, Blanche Wiesen. Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume One,
1884-1933. New York: Penguin Books, 1992, 258-259.