Robin Runge
Associate Professorial Lecturer in Law
The George Washington University Law School
Robin R. Runge, J.D. is a legal expert on gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work. Her career has included the successful advancement and enforcement of local, state, national and international law and policy solutions to end gender- and sex-based violence and harassment as barriers to economic security. Currently, Robin is a consultant and an Associate Professorial Lecturer in Law at The George Washington University Law School where she has taught Domestic Violence Law, Public Interest Law and in the clinical education program since 2004. 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 190 the first ever binding international treaty to eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work including gender-based violence.
From 2017 to March 2022, Robin was Co-Director, Acting Director, and Senior Gender Specialist in the Equality and Inclusion Department at the Solidarity Center where she led global strategic programming for Solidarity Center staff, union and workers' rights organization partners, and allies internationally on gender equality and inclusion. She also directed the implementation of the Solidarity Center’s global campaign to end gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work. As a part of this work, she served as a member of the workers' group technical drafting committee for negotiations at the International Labour Conference in 2018 and 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland which led to the adoption of the first ever global labor standard to address violence and harassment in the world of work including gender-based violence and harassment (ILO Convention 190).
Prior to joining the staff of the Solidarity Center, Robin 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 2009-2013, Robin 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, Robin 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 D.C. Employment Justice Center. Upon graduation from law school, Robin received an Equal Justice Works Fellowship and created the Domestic Violence and Employment Project at the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco, 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. Robin is from Collinsville, Illinois and currently resides in Washington, DC.
