Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Diary of a Young Girl
PC: people.com
Ruth Bader Ginsburg is dope. She’s served on the Supreme Court and has been for 25 years. She fights for gender equality and is a symbol for women empowerment. Here are some of the coolest things she’s done:
Ginsburg graduated top of her class at Columbia University, so already you know this lady is smart. Her first couple years were spent at Harvard and—get this—she was one of nine females in a class of 500. Ginsburg is quoted as saying, “The entering class I joined in 1956 included just nine women, up from five in the then second-year class, and only one African American. All professors, in those now ancient days, were of the same race and sex.” You can only imagine how crazy that must have been (or you can watch the movie so you don’t have to imagine.) While she was at Harvard, the dean allegedly chastised the women, asking them how they felt justified in taking a man’s spot in the class.
Yikes.
Ginsburg constantly had to fight to gain her rightful place. Even after she graduated, she struggled to find a job because most law firms weren’t hiring female lawyers. After searching and searching, she finally found a job, though not by her own means. One of her mentors threatened to stop sending clerks to a judge’s office unless he hired Ginsburg. Ginsburg continued to fight against discrimination in every job she held. She became the first female tenured professor at Columbia. She was on the road to breaking norms!
Later, she served as president of the Women’s Rights Project in the American Civil Liberties Union. Her goal was to chip away at gender inequality, to gain small victories that would eventually win the war. Going for a big case and losing it could set them back, so Ginsburg stuck to the winnable cases. She was successful in five cases she brought before the Supreme Court based on gender inequality, even fighting to change an act that favored widows over widowers.
Former President, Bill Clinton appointed her to the Supreme Court in 1993, where she was able to serve with the first female Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor for 12 years. She’s a frequent dissenter, pushing against conservatives to start a legacy of reforming the system. Ginsburg has been fighting for equality for a long time. She’s 85 and is more fit than I’ll ever be. This lady works out a couple times a week and does 20 push ups like it’s nothing. She’s faced battles with cancer (Fox News accidentally said she died.) But Ginsburg has proven she’s not going anywhere. She’ll continue to be there fighting for equality every step of the way.
Ashley Bower is a junior studying english language arts education.