With the recent release of the new Ruth Bader Ginsberg movie On the Basis of Sex, it’s only fair that she gets more recognition. Throughout her life, Ruth Bader Ginsberg fought gender discrimination and was ultimately appointed as a Supreme Court Justice.
Before she became a Justice, she attended Cornell University and graduated top of her class in 1954. Cornell was also where she met her husband. Shortly after she graduated, she started a family with her husband. After taking some time off to spend time with her family she enrolled in Harvard law school. However, hardship ensued as her husband was soon diagnosed with cancer and she constantly faced discrimination from the male-dominated school. Of the five hundred people in her class, Ginsberg was one of nine women. Despite all of these hardships, this did not discourage her from reaching her goals. Ginsberg transferred to Columbia Law School for her last year of law school and graduated at the top of her class in 1959.
Although she achieved incredible goals through her academics, she still faced gender discrimination in the workforce. It was difficult for her to receive jobs from law firms and when she did she was only offered a much lower salary than her male counterparts. She then chose to join the Columbia Project on International Civil Procedure in which she was able to live abroad and do research for her book on Swedish Civil Procedure practices. This caused her to accept a job at Rutgers University Law School as a professor and she later accepted a teaching position at Columbia Law in 1972. In addition to her teaching position, Ginsberg also led the influential Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union and fought against gender discrimination for both women and men. Finally, in 1993, she was appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States. To this day, she holds the moderate-liberal bloc of the Supreme Court by presenting a viewpoint in favor of separation of church and state, the rights of workers, and gender equality.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg fought her entire life for equal opportunity for all and continues to fight for this to this day. So if you haven’t already… go see On the Basis of Sex!