An advocate for gender equality, the second woman to serve in the Supreme Court, founder of the Women’s Rights Project and much more: Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, also known as RBG, attended Harvard Law School and graduated at the top of her class at Columbia Law Review in 1959. Alongside fighting agaisnt gender discrimination, she also experienced a degree of it herself. That is where this Ruth Ginsburg story begins. While enrolled at Harvard Law school she was often harassed for “taking up spots of more qualified, righteous men.” Upon her completion of law school, she sought to find a career. That task was next to impossible. Despite her outstanding credentials, not only was she a woman, but she was also a Jew AND a mother. 1965, she hid her second pregnancy to avoid experiencing gender disfavor within her employment. Do you see the trend here?
1970 rolled around and Ruth Ginsburg is the founder of the Women's Rights Project at ACLU! Here, she fought six gender-equality cases where she advocated for victims of discriminatory laws and won five of them. (What can't she do?) Five might not seem like an drastic number to you, however, you have to keep in mind that at this time, your gender was the identification of your abilities. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Thirteen years later (1993), Ginsburg was president Bill Clinton's first choice to the Supreme Court. Here she will serve for twenty-seven years. That brings us to 2020. RBG, the only pro-choice liberal on the Supreme Court, died September 18, 2020 of cancer. We must never forget her. We have to continue to praise her hard work and thank her for all that she has done for gender equality in America. Rest in peace RBG.
A question to consider: What does Ruth Ginsburg’s death mean for the future of women?