Ruth Bader Ginsburg

In honor of the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg a few days ago, I felt it was necessary to write about her incredible, trailblazing life. Because of her, so many young girls can and want to be just like her. Because of her, the women's rights movement has progressed exponentially. And because of her, the lives of many have been bettered through her legal fights.

When she began her journey in law, countless laws barred women from jobs and restricted what they could do. She was born in Brooklyn, and she earned a full scholarship to Cornell University. Unfortunately, her mother, her inspiration, passed away just before she graduated from high school. Despite this challenge, she succeeded at Cornell and got a high score on her civil service exam, but she could only get a job as a typist, which she lost once she became pregnant. A couple of years later, she was one of only nine women out of 500 total students attending Harvard Law School. Faced with further challenges, she was still not deterred. Her husband, Martin, was diagnosed with cancer, so she had to take care of her young child and husband and attend classes. Despite having to do all this and dictate her husband's law papers late at night, she would still "take out the books and start reading what I needed to be prepared for classes the next day" at even two A.M.

Her husband got a job in New York City, so she had to transfer to Columbia University. Even though she graduated top of her class, she was not welcome in any law firm or clerkships. Additionally, because she was a mother, she was dismissed by many male judges who were concerned she would focus on her obligations to her family. Finally, in 1963, she got a teaching job at Rutgers Law School, having to hide her second pregnancy to earn a renewal in her contract. At the beginning of her law career, her cases focused on applying statutes equally to both men and women, representing both. She became the first female tenured professor at Columbia Law School, and she founded the Women's Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. Her primary strategy in fighting for equality was to show how discrimination against women hurt men as well.

"The words of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause — 'nor shall any state deny to any person the equal protection of the laws.' Well that word, 'any person,' covers women as well as men. And the Supreme Court woke up to that reality in 1971."

She filed many briefs to state that the 14th amendment applied to women along with racial groups. In 1980, President Carter named Ginsburg to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and, in 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated her to the Supreme Court, making her the second woman ever to be appointed. She continued to fight for women's rights and became the forefront over her years on the court. She was a powerful feminist.

We lost a tremendous activist and woman today, but her legacy and impact will stay forever. I hope to see more and more women follow in her footsteps, and, because of her, they now can.