Molly was a feminist and political activist. Right after graduating from Wellesley in 1897, she worked for the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union. She became an active member of the National Consumers League (NCL) and received mentorship from Florence Kelley, a famous advocate for social justice feminism and General Secretary of the NCL. Dewson’s later role as civic secretary of the Women’s City Club of New York (WCCNY) led to her meeting Eleanor Roosevelt, who later convinced Dewson to be more politically active in the Democratic Party.
After suffrage, both the Democratic and Republican parties set up women’s divisions. However, it was Molly’s actions within the Democratic Party that helped women reach new heights of political power.
Dewson, working closely with Eleanor Roosevelt, encouraged women to support and vote for Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election. When the election was over, she pushed for women to receive political appointments. This advocacy led to Franklin D. Roosevelt making groundbreaking selections such as Frances Perkins becoming secretary of labor, Ruth Bryan Owen being named as ambassador to Denmark and Florence Allen joining the Circuit Court of Appeals.
As Dewson once noted, “𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦.”