By: Jhanavi Ravi
Image by Femme for Education Graphic Designer Laura Graves
An advocate for women’s rights, Ruth Bader Ginsburg changed the world - judicially and socially. She combatted sexism and rightfully earned her title as a feminist icon.
Ginsburg was the second woman to serve as justice for the United States’ Supreme Court. She attended Harvard Law School in 1957. Being one of only nine women in the law school, she was blatantly discriminated against and ridiculed solely because of her sex. This however did not stop her from being one of the best students in her class. Her difficulties at Harvard were what made her decide to fight for women’s rights. She continued to study at Columbia Law School where she graduated in 1957.
Being first in her class in Columbia, her professor, Albert Sachs, recommended her for an internship with Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter. Frankfurter denied the recommendation and requested Sachs to recommend a man for the job because he believed that a woman was not capable of the internship. Ginsburg did not let this stop her and was eventually hired to clerk for Judge Edmund L. Palmieri of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1959 to 1961. Later on, she received numerous job opportunities from other law companies. She turned down these job offers to take part in Columbia Law School’s International Procedure Project where she co-wrote a book on Sweden’s legal system.
In 1963, Ginsburg became a teacher at Rutgers Law School where she taught women and the law. During her time at the college, she found out that her salary was lower than the male faculty members which encouraged her to join the equal pay campaign with her other female colleagues. Because of these hardships as well as those she faced in college, she decided to handle complaints about discrimination by sex which were referred to her by the New Jersey Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The lead brief ‘Reed v Reed’ discussed whether men could be automatically preferred over women as estate executors. Ginsburg made her very first successful argument in 1971 where she filed the aforementioned lead brief. This was the first time that the Supreme court had ever laid down a law because of discrimination based on gender.
Ginsburg led the ACLU Women’s Rights Project in 1972 to overcome the hardships that women faced and to achieve the same treatment as men did. She ended up becoming the first woman to be granted tenure at Columbia Law School. She later on became a part of the ACLU’s general counsel where she tackled numerous cases of gender inequality. Six of these cases were brought before the Supreme Court and Ruth Ginsburg had won five of them.
She believed in incrementalism, which is a policy of tackling issues or making a change gradually. She thought that it would be better to slowly take on policies or laws that were sexist rather than doing it all at once in front of the Supreme Court. In short, she believed that slow and steady wins the race.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Ginsburg for the Supreme Court. Being only the second woman to ever be nominated for the Supreme Court, she did not have it easy; however, this did not stop her from refusing to staying quiet. She never bit her tongue and never hesitated to critique the sexist opinions of her colleagues.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a woman of might. She was diagnosed with cancer five times but never allowed her treatments to deter her from her work; she never let her illness get in the way of making a difference. Her hardships and struggles only made her stronger than ever. For all that she has done for women, her name will never be forgotten. Ruth Ginsburg will forever be remembered as the woman who made a colossal impact, the woman who fought ferociously to ensure that justice is served.
Citations
Honderich, Holly, and Jessica Lussenhop. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Obituary of the Supreme Court Justice.” BBC News, BBC, 19 Sept. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49488374.
Pullman, Sandra. “Tribute: The Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and WRP Staff.” American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union, www.aclu.org/other/tribute-legacy-ruth-bader-ginsburg-and-wrp-staff.