Robin Rachel Runge

Robin R. Runge, JD is an internationally recognized legal expert on violence against women and gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work. She is a Distinguished Professorial Lecturer in Law at The George Washington University Law School where she teaches Domestic Violence Law and directs the Workers’ Rights Division of the Access to Justice Clinic. She is the author of several law review articles and most recently co-author of the book Stopping Gender-Based Violence in the World of Work (Aspen Publishing 2022) describing the landmark global campaign that led to the adoption of International Labor Organization Convention (ILO) 190 the first ever binding international treaty to eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work including gender-based violence and harassment. Ms. Runge assisted the Universidad Catolica de Salta, Salta Argentina develop their international human rights law clinic as a Fulbright Specialist in the summer of 2022. She also serves as a consultant with domestic and international organizations to prevent and address gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work, provides workshops, keynotes and other presentations on these issues.

From 2017 to March 2022, Ms. Runge was Co-Director, Acting Director, and Senior Gender Specialist in the Equality and Inclusion Department at the Solidarity Center where she led Center’s global work to increase the capacity of partner organizations including on leadership development of women workers, migrant workers and other informal workers, issues related to the care work/economy, and gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work. Ms. Runge participated in the negotiations for ILO Convention 190 in 2018 and 2019 in Geneva supporting the worker group.

Prior to joining the staff of the Solidarity Center, Ms. Runge was the Director of Enforcement Policy and Procedures in the Wage and Hour Division and a Senior Policy Advisor in the Civil Rights Center at the U.S. Department of Labor from 2013-2017.

From 2009-2013, Ms. Runge was an assistant professor at the University of North Dakota School of Law where she taught in the Housing and Employment Law Clinic and Domestic Violence Law. In 2012-2013, she lived in Beijing, China as a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar studying the legal system response to violence against women in China and assisting with the drafting of the national anti-domestic violence law that was adopted in 2015.

From 2003 to 2009, Ms. Runge directed the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence where she led efforts to expand civil legal assistance for victims of domestic violence domestically and internationally. Previously, she was Deputy Director and Coordinator of the Program on Women’s Employment Rights (POWER) at the DC Employment Justice Center. Upon graduation from law school, Ms. Runge received an Equal Justice Works Fellowship and created the Domestic Violence and Employment Project at the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco (now Legal Aid at Work), one of the first programs in the country devoted exclusively to advocating for the employment rights of domestic violence victims. She is a graduate of the George Washington University Law School and Wellesley College. Ms. Runge is from Collinsville, Illinois and currently resides in Washington, DC.