Happy Birthday Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Things To Know

Today is the 84th birthday of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to ever be nominated to the US Supreme Court. She is a staunch supporter of women’s rights who has had to deal with her fair share of gender discrimination. Here are some things to know about the inspiring lady.

Ginsburg studied at Harvard Law School where she suffered sexism. She has spoken about how the then Dean Erwin Griswold asked the nine women of the class at a dinner how they felt taking a place in the class that would have otherwise been taken by men. The whole environment was sexist, Ginsburg has said. But she still managed to excel and became the first-ever female member of the prestigious Harvard Law Review.

After Law School, which she then completed at Columbia, she was rejected by all the 14 law firms that she had applied to. She has said that the fact that she was a Jew and a woman was a tough pill for firms in the 1950s to swallow.

She finally got a job as a clerk to US District Judge Edmund L. Palmieri. In all her jobs, she found that she was getting paid less than men.

The pedestal upon which women have been placed has all too often, upon closer inspection, been revealed as a cage

She moved to Sweden where gender equality was better.

She co-founded the first American law Review that focused only on women’s issues. It was called Women’s Rights Law Reporter.

She has argued many cases for gender equality before the Supreme Court. She was against laws that said they were shielding women, such as stopping women from jury service. The pedestal upon which women have been placed has all too often, upon closer inspection, been revealed as a cage, she said.

She founded the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in 1972, during which time she fought many battles for women’s rights and paved a new path for women’s advocacy. She has fought many landmark cases and is unafraid to voice her opinions.

Her mother was a big inspiration for her. She calls her the bravest and strongest person she has known. Her mother used to work in a garments factory, and later passed away from cancer.

Happy Birthday to this phenomenal woman!

Also Read: Dhanya Menon: India’s first woman Cybercrime Investigator