Ruth Bader Ginsburg Essay Example

Joan Ruth Bader was the youngest of the 2 children of Nathan Bader and Celia Bader. She was born March 15 1933 in Brooklyn, New york. At only six Her sister, Marilyn died of meningitis when Joan was just 14 months old. At school,  (which Joan excelled at) she went by Ruth because many other girls at school were also named Joan. When Ruth first started High School her mother Celia Bader was diagnosed with cancer. She passed away four years later just a few days before Ruth’s graduation which Ruth could not attend. 

Ruth met her future husband Martin/Marty Ginsburg at Cornell University and in 1954 they married. Martin was drafted into the U.S. Army and the Ginsburgs relocated to Oklahoma where he was stationed. Ruth gave birth to their first child Jane. Ruth was refused employment as a lawyer because of both her gender and because Ruth was a mother. A very small number of women were lawyers in the U.S. and only two women had ever served as federal judges. One of Ruth’s Columbia law professors advocated for her and helped her to convince Judge Edmund Palmieri. Ruth also studied Swedish civil procedure, which was eventually turned into a book Civil procedure in Sweden. Ruth began studies at Harvard law school and served on the editorial staff as the first woman to do so. During this time she was also taking care of Jane. In 1965 Ruth’s 2nd child James was born.

Ruth later became a leader in Gender Discrimination litigation and in 1972 she became the founding counsel of the ACLU’s women's rights project. During the 70’s Ruth brought six cases to the Supreme court winning all but one. Ruth’s signature approach to combat sexism was to bring cases of sexism where the male was the victim. She thought that a case of male injustice would please the other men. This slowly set the path to fighting sexism towards women. 

Ruth was later appointed to the supreme court on Jan 20, 1993, and served a great term up until her death on September 20, 2020. Ruth was one of only four female justices in history. Ruth did great things to combat sexism and fight for equality, she achieved many things, was rejected many times for employment because of her gender yet still managed to take care of and provide for her family and is the reason we’re where we are now with equality.