Ruth Bader-Ginsburg’s (March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020) death has left people across the world devasted. The Notorious RBG was remarkable in many ways, whether it be her quest for social justice or her impact on American democracy.
In 1956, Ginsburg enrolled in Harvard Law school, where she was one of only 9 women in her class of 500 men. After her husband was diagnosed with cancer, Ginsburg attended class and took notes for both of them, alongside caring for their daughter and her sick husband. Despite rarely getting more than three hours of sleep a night, Ginsburg excelled in her studies and became the first woman to make the Harvard Law Review.
After graduating first in her class at Columbia Law School in 1959, Ginsburg struggled to find employment because of her gender. However, due to her tenacity, she landed a clerkship with the U.S District Court the Southern District of New York and later served as a professor at Rutgers and Columbia – where she became the first woman to be granted tenure.
For more than a decade, before her first judicial appointment in 1980, Ginsburg proved her commitment to the women’s rights movement by founding the Women’s Rights Law Reporter in 1970, one of the first journals to focus on the issues of gender inequality. Two years later, she co-founded the Women’s Rights Project which participated in over 300 sex discrimination cases. Ginsburg won five out of six gender discrimination cases before the Supreme Court.
Many looked up to RBG, her life stood as an inspiration for women and feminists everywhere. She may have only been 5ft, but the Supreme Court Justice was a force to be reckoned with, breaking down gender stereotypes and making a huge impact in her lifetime.
To celebrate her impressive legacy, we’ve rounded up RBG’S greatest pieces of wisdom:
- “Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade.”
- “Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
- “When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out.”
- “Don’t be distracted by emotions like anger, envy, resentment. These just zap energy and waste time.”
- “You can’t have it all, all at once.”
If you are looking to learn more about RBG, read My Own Words, or watch the documentary titled RBG on Netflix.
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