Journal
The Power of Ruth
Ruth Bader Ginsburg gave her life's work to the ongoing battle of gender discrimination and inequality. She graduated exceptionally (tying for first place) at Columbia Law School in 1959 where she was one of nine women out of 500 students. After initial difficulties in finding work due to these apparent handicaps - she was a woman, a mother and Jewish, an extreme recommendation by a senior professor gained her a clerkship.
"The pedestal upon which women have been placed has all too often, upon closer inspection, been revealed as a cage."
In 1963 she became the first woman Professor of Law at Rutgers Law School where she was told that she wouldn't earn as much as her male counterparts as she had a husband (who was also a lawyer) with a well paid job. In 1970 Ruth Bader Ginsberg co-founded the Women's Rights Law Reporter the first law journal in the U.S. to focus exclusively on women's rights. In 1972, she was named a Professor at Columbia Law School and then between 1973 and 1976 she presented six gender discrimination cases before the Supreme Court and won five. It was the start of her journey based on the belief that you can fight to make a difference in people's lives. In 1993 Justice Ginsberg was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
We stand in awe of her incredible achievements and wonder how we would be situated today without her tenacity and hard work?
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg photographed in 1972 by Librado Romero, The New York Times/Redux
"Women will have achieved true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation."
Justice Ginsberg showing her collection of collars photographed by Jonathan Ernst, Reuters
"As women achieve power, the barriers will fall. As society sees what women can do, as women see what women can do, there will be more women out there doing things, and we'll all be better off for it."
In a perfect example of how clothing and fashion can make political statements, we love Justice Ginsberg's symbolism through her majestic collars and gloves. Read a great article by Vanessa Friedman from the New York Times here on her much admired fashion statements.
Watch the interesting and informative documentary on Ruth Bader Ginsberg called RBG directed by Judy Cohen and Betsy West currently screening on ABC iView here.
"I would like to be remembered as someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability. And to help repair tears in her society, to make things a little better through the use of whatever ability she has."
(Main photo: Ruth Bader Ginsberg photographed by Sebastian Kim for TIME)
Stay well, from all of us at Arnsdorf X