Ruth Bader Ginsburg lived a full life, despite the hardships she also had to endure before she was appointed to the Supreme Court. After taking up this position, she continued to successfully fight against gender discrimination. It was Ginsburg who managed to unite the liberal wing of the court. Incidentally, Ruth’s supporters called her RBG behind her back, a nickname that carried a hint of respect and even tenderness.
Perhaps this was because Ruth inspired women not to bow to gender barriers, but to resist whenever possible. The example of Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg, who became the second woman and first Jewish woman to serve on the Supreme Court, was meant to be inspiring, and it was. For more details, see brooklynski.info.
Childhood and education
She was born as Joan Ruth Bader in Brooklyn in the spring of 1933, at the height of the Great Depression in the United States. Ruth’s father was a furrier, and her mother worked in a garment factory. It was her mother who instilled in the girl a love of science, encouraging her to study and get an education. But the family’s financial situation did not allow two children to study at the same time. Ruth gave up her own education to be able to finance her brother’s college education. She was very devoted to her brother.
But all this was later, for now, Ruth Bader was surprising her family with her successes while attending James Madison High School. Just one day before graduation, she lost her mother to cancer. She was very worried about this, but the death of her dearest person did not prevent her from doing well in school, surprising her with her success. Especially when Ginsburg was studying at Cornell University. No one was surprised that the young lady graduated with honors in 1954.
Along with receiving her diploma, Ruth Bader Ginsburg became Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1954. She married her husband Martin. The process of creating a young American family was in full swing, and in 1955 Ruth gave birth to her first child. At that time, her husband Martin was serving a two-year military service in the armed forces. It was only after her beloved returned from service that Ruth was able to enter Harvard Law School.
While studying at Harvard, she found herself one of only 9 young mothers in a class of 500 students. During her studies, Ruth often faced gender discrimination. For example, she was asked to explain how she felt about taking a place in the program instead of her husband. Ginsburg and her classmates were even banned from certain sections of the library.
My husband’s illness
So in 1958, Ruth Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School, where she intended to complete her final year. As a result, in 1959, she graduated from Columbia University with a law degree and became the best graduate in her class. However, even with a diploma from a prestigious university and despite her numerous academic achievements, Ruth was unable to find a decent job for a long time. The fact is that in the 1950s, American law firms were just beginning to reorient themselves and hire Jews.
But even before graduation, Ruth Ginsburg faced a new challenge. In 1956, when she was in her first year of law school, her husband was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Then Ruth took it upon herself to help him with his studies, while not forgetting about her own level, because she had always been the best in her studies.
Throughout this time, the woman constantly faced gender discrimination, with manifestations of segregation coming even from the highest levels of the university. For example, Ruth was criticized for taking a male place at Harvard Law School, because Ginsburg was the first female member of the Harvard Law Review.
Тим часом її чоловік Мартін Гінзбург вилікувався від раку. Він так само закінчив Гарвард і відправився до Нью-Йорка, щоби посісти посаду в одній із юридичних компаній. У Рут Бейдер Гінзбург на той час залишався ще один рік навчання в юридичній школі. Відтак саме тому, вона перевелася до Колумбійської школи права, працюючи в їхньому юридичному відділі.
The struggle for women’s equality
After graduating, Ruth Bader Ginsburg began her epic search for a job. The fact that she graduated with honors had no effect on employers. Ruth constantly faced gender discrimination. In the 1960s, all women in the United States faced this problem. In this difficult situation, she was helped by her favorite professor at Columbia University, who refused to recommend any of his other graduates until District Judge Edmund L. Palmiere hired Ruth Ginsburg as a clerk.
This was the beginning of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s career, and she worked under Judge Palmier for two years. It was only after she gained experience and the judge’s recommendation that Ruth began to be invited to work in law firms. Everything would have been fine, if not for one very significant nuance: the salary offered to a woman was much lower than that of men.
Thus, Ruth Bader Ginsburg moved up the career ladder, experiencing terrible gender discrimination. She even had to hide her pregnancy from her colleagues at Rutgers University. Nevertheless, in 1980, she was offered a position on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, an appointment made by the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter. Ruth worked in this position for thirteen years, until in 1993, the next US President Bill Clinton nominated her to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Thus, on August 10, 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg took her seat on the Supreme Court. At the time, she was only the second woman to serve on the highest judicial body in the United States. And the first Jew to hold this position. However, this high position did not stop her from continuing her fight for gender equality. Ruth was the author of the court’s opinion in the case of United States v. Virginia, which ruled that all women with a certain level of qualifications should not be denied admission to the Virginia Military Institute.
Similarly, Ruth Bader Ginsburg disagreed with the court’s decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. which dismissed a woman’s claim of gender-based pay discrimination. Later, when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, Ginsburg worked with his administration on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to combat pay inequality. Even at the age of 87, she continued to work on gender equality.
Death from cancer
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or RBG as she was affectionately known to her subordinates, died on September 18, 2020. She suffered a complication of metastatic pancreatic cancer. The fact that Ruth worked with a personal trainer in the Supreme Court gym until her death speaks to the will and love of life of this woman. Being a woman, she was able to lift more weight than Justices Breyer and Kagan for many years.
Until 2018, Ginsburg did not miss a single day of oral argument during the course of a case, whether she was undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, recovering from colon cancer surgery, or the day after her husband died in 2010.
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