Thank You, RBG

The United States lost a legend this September with the devastating passing of Supreme Court Justice and women’s rights trailblazer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As women growing up in the 2000s, my friends and I know just how much we have to thank RBG for, so we gathered on the couch one night to watch the powerful film On the Basis of Sex which stars Felicity Jones depicting Ginsberg’s early adulthood and her entrance into the United States legal system. By the end of the film we were all in tears watching the real RBG walk into the Supreme Court building. But albeit the sadness, the film left us feeling inspired, proud, and left me with the desire to find out even more about the incredible impact Ginsburg had on our country.  

Ginsburg grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and completed her undergraduate degree at Cornell University. She began her legal journey as a law student at Harvard where she was one of only eight women in her Harvard class, paving the way for future women with legal aspirations. When her husband Martin, also a law student, became ill with testicular cancer, Ruth took on the role of caregiver to Martin and mother to their young daughter, while simultaneously attending both her own and Martin’s Harvard courses. 

Despite these unimaginable challenges for the family, Martin recovered and graduated from Harvard, and Ruth went on to finish first in her class from Columbia Law School when the family relocated to New York City. Unfortunately, this was not where the adversity stopped for Ruth. As a woman in the 1960s it was nearly impossible to be hired at a law firm. So after facing countless rejections, she became a professor of law at Rutgers and eventually Columbia. 

Ginsburg was not satisfied just teaching though, and was determined to make a difference for women’s rights in our country. To start her incredible journey influencing US gender equality precedent, she worked tirelessly as the Director of the Women’s Rights Project for the ACLU. Ginsburg won five landmark cases before the Supreme Court while working with the ACLU and I bet at least one of these has impacted your life as a young woman in the US, whether you knew it or not.

Do you have your own bank account? Or perhaps a credit card to build credit for your future? Personally I’ve had a bank account since I got my first job at a restaurant at the ripe age of 17 and I recently got my own credit card #adulting. None of this would be possible before 1974. Ginsburg’s tireless efforts with the ACLU influenced the Equal Credit Opportunity Act which granted women the financial independence they deserve. With the passing of this act, women were finally able to apply for mortgages, credit cards, and their own bank accounts without the need for a male co-signer. This was such a landmark win for female independence as we know it today.

Finally in 1980 Ginsburg was given her shot to influence United States policy on a governmental level when President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals. This appointment gave her the visibility she needed to then be chosen for the United States Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993, where she would serve as the second female justice and the first Jewish female justice for 27 years. 

While serving as a supreme court justice, Ginsburg continued her fight for women’s rights, even as recently as 2007. She argued a powerful dissent in the case of Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., where Lilly Ledbetter had sued on the basis of discriminatory wages. She was making thousands less than her male co-workers by the time she left the company, but didn’t notice these discrepancies until they had accumulated over several years. A majority of five on the bench argued that Ledbetter didn’t file the suit in a timely manner, but Ginsburg dissented that pay inequalities on the basis of gender can appear far more discreetly over time. Ginsburg’s dissent was heard by Congress, and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was added to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, asserting that each paycheck was considered a new basis to analyze wage discrimination. 

We have so much to thank RBG for, from the ability to attend universities that were previously all male, to the power of financial independence. There will never be another woman quite like Justice Ginsburg, but as young women in an ever-changing United States, we need to use these freedoms to keep our country moving forward on the basis of civil equalities, rather than taking a step back. We live in a society now with endless outlets to use our voice, so harness this power and speak out about your thoughts and opinions in whatever way makes you comfortable. This may look like Instagram posts, Youtube videos, blogs, or simply talking to your friends and family, but regardless this is an ongoing fight, and if nothing else, do it for the legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

xx,

Madison Terry

University of California, Santa Barbara ALUM

Delta Gamma

@maddieterry