Margaret A. Hickey

Margaret Hickey (1902-1994) was an American attorney, journalist, women's right's activist, and active member in government affairs between 1950 and 1975. She served a prominent role model for women. She dedicated her career to serving those in need. She is most known for her roles of leadership in her service work, highlighted by her role as a chairman of the Commission on the Status of Women in 1961. She used her career as an attorney and journalist to help solve issues with poverty and women's rights.

Early Life

Margaret A. Hickey was born on March 14, 1902 in Kansas City, Missouri to Elizabeth Wynne and Charles Hickey. Charles Hickey, who lived in Paris, France at the time, served on the Foreign Service as a U.S. diplomat in Europe and the Ottoman Empire until World War I. Her family was forced to move back to the United States in 1914 due to World War I. After making that transition, Elizabeth Wynne worked in favor of the suffrage movement in Kansas City, which she included her children on as well. This exposure helped Margaret Hickey develop her interest in fighting for women's rights. When Margaret was in her late teens she actively worked for the peace movement in regards to World War I. In 1921, Hickey dropped out of college so she could work for the Kansas City Star as a reporter. She began working with influential business women involved in the National Federation of Business and Professional Women. Hickey, 20 years old at the time, was fascinated by these prominent women and this led her to enroll in the University of Kansas City Law School. There she pledged Kappa Beta Phi, a legal sorority for women.

Career

After graduating from law school, Margaret Hickey declined offers from multiple firms in Kansas City and St. Louis to open up her own office as a private practice. She worked primarily in poverty law, due to the depression of the 1920s. In 1933, Hickey established the Margaret Hickey School for Secretaries at Delmar and Skinker in St. Louis. Her school became a long term success, which led Hickey to not change her last name when marrying Joseph Strubinger in 1935. She later gave up her private practice work as a lawyer to focus on the school. Hickey served on the advisory committee to the Social Security Board in the 1930s. She also served as a chairman to the Women’s Advisory Committee of the War Manpower Commission from 1942 to 1945. This committee dealt with issues involved in recruiting women into the wartime economy. In this position, she was given the opportunity to travel the country and speaking to audience. Her message to women was that in order for their to be meaningful change, women must leave the kitchen and enter the factory. In 1944, she was elected president of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women, a group she sought after as a young woman. She served in this position for two years, and remained honorary president thereafter. In 1946, Hickey worked with Eleanor Roosevelt on the human rights section of the UN charter. Also in that year, she went back to journalism and joined the Ladies Home Journal, a successful wartime magazine stationed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She received the Ben Franklin Award for Distinguished Public Service Journalism in 1953 from the city of Philadelphia. In 1961, Hickey was appointed by President John F. Kennedy as a chairman of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. She primarily worked on federal employment policies. Margaret Hickey built up a bit of national prominence throughout her career. Because of that she was in high demand as a public speaker. She spent her final 25 years working as a public speaker.

Service

Margaret Hickey volunteered to work for the Red Cross and YWCA. In 1931, she began running her own class to help train unemployed women with credentials or experience. The federal government took over this program in 1933. Hickey began volunteering for the Red Cross in 1946. The following year, she served on the Board of Governors for six years, and then again for six years in 1955. In 1960 she served as the Deputy to Chairman E. Roland Harriman for the next thirteen years. In 1966 she served as a chairman to the Organizing Committee for International Conference on Social Welfare. Margaret Hickey became a leader to those suffering from oppression and poverty. She was in positions and on committees to be a catalyst of real change for those who she represented.