The Notorious RBG: The Legacy of a Woman Who Changed America
Taking a look at the life of Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
by DESJAH ALTVATER ★ SEPTEMBER 25, 2020
The late Ruth Bader Ginsburg was more than just a political figure. Besides being the second female Supreme Court justice in history, she was also the first female tenured professor at Columbia University, champion of race and gender equality, pioneering lawyer on women’s equality, civil rights hero, feminist icon, and more.
Let’s explore the inspiring story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Born to make history:
Credit: New York Post
Born as Joan Ruth Bader on March 15, 1933, in Brooklyn, NY, RBG was destined to be a changemaker. Her father, Nathan, who emigrated from Ukraine and mother, Celia, who was a first-generation immigrant from Poland played a major influence in the direction of her life. Celia was a high achieving student in her youth, graduating from high school at age 15, however, she could not further her education because her family chose to send her brother to college instead.
Influenced by her own disadvantages, Celia wanted her daughter, Ruth, to seek higher education, which she thought would allow Ruth to become a high school history teacher. Eventually, Ruth attended James Madison High School, whose law program later dedicated a courtroom in her honor. Sadly, Celia struggled with cancer throughout Ruth's high school years and died the day before Ruth's high school graduation. Ruth fulfilled her mother’s wish by graduating as the highest-ranking female student in her class from Cornell University with a bachelor of arts degree in government.
A change is brewing:
Credit: CNN
At age 21, Ruth worked for the Social Security Administration office in Oklahoma, where her professional position was downgraded after becoming pregnant with her first child, a daughter who she gave birth to in 1955. In the fall of 1956, Ruth enrolled as one of only nine women in a class of about 500 students at Harvard Law School. Reportedly, the dean of Harvard Law invited all the female law students to dinner at his family home and asked them, "Why are you at Harvard Law School, taking the place of a man?" Following her husband’s professional relocation to New York City, Ruth transferred to Columbia Law School and became the first woman to be on two major law reviews: the Harvard Law Review and Columbia Law Review. In 1959, she earned her law degree at Columbia and tied for first in her class.
Post-graduation, Ruth encountered difficulty in finding employment at the start of her law career. In 1960, despite a strong recommendation letter from professor and eventual dean of Harvard Law School, Albert Martin Sacks, Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter rejected Ruth for a clerkship position due to her gender. Despite the obstacles presented, Ruth did not quit pursuing the opportunity, and Ruth began her clerkship for Judge Palmieri later that year, and held the position for two years.
Rising to justice:
Credit: Bloomberg
In the early 1960s, Ruth joined the Columbia Project on International Civil Procedure, becoming fully immersed in Swedish culture, where she lived abroad to research her book on Swedish Civil Procedure practices. Upon her return to America, she became a professor at Rutgers University Law School in 1963. Her well-rounded education and approach to law made her a perfect fit for the judicial branch of the United States. On August 10, 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsberg took her seat as a Supreme Court Justice, serving as an associate justice for 17 years until her death on September 18, 2020. Her legacy can be found in the groundbreaking laws she championed to achieve gender equality in the United States:
Employers cannot discriminate against employees based on gender or reproductive choices.
State-funded schools must admit women.
Women have the right to financial independence and equal benefits—According to Time, Much of Ruth’s legal work as an attorney was credited to cultivating the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, which “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, or age in credit transactions.” Without it, women would not be able to have a credit card under their name.
Men are entitled to the same caregiving and Social Security rights as women.
Juries must include women.
Credit: TMZ
Ruth Bader Ginsberg abridged the disparities women faced in the U.S and fought for equality until she couldn’t. Her legacy as a political and feminist icon will be remembered, as the historic changes she made for women’s lives will continue into each generation. Without her courage and unapologetic intelligence, women would not be able to sign a mortgage without a male co-signer, have a bank account without a male co-signer, have a job without being discriminated against based on gender, or have children and work. All of the rights that we now view as normal, were once unthinkable and would have remained so if Ruth did not dream of a more equal future.
Cover photo credit: E! Online