“Young women who did aspire to a professional life faced challenges that few fully comprehended. There was the initial hurdle of admissions quotas. Schools that trained students for law, medicine, or other traditionally male professions had quotas that limited the number of women to a maximum of 10 percent. Once through the needle’s eye, the token women admitted faced further obstacles in securing scholarship money. Jobs for which they trained were in even shorter supply. For those who secured employment, the biggest challenge still awaited: combining career and family in a society that offered scant support to women who tried to do both.”
Ginsburg attended prestigious institutions at a time women had a difficult path securing admissions. Moreover, she became the first female in several positions throughout her career path. Therefore, she fought for the rights of women by founding and leading projects that led to the banning of sex-discriminatory laws. As a feminist, Ginsburg used her platform to persuade the Supreme Court to overturn certain state laws that hindered women. She faced the pressure of balancing work and motherhood even hiding her pregnancy to avoid losing her job. Several laws had been placed that stopped women from pursuing education and career opportunities. Inspired by her mother and Ginsburg having encountered all these obstacles, she worked to create a conducive environment for females.
“She believed in equal privileges; she believed just as strongly in equal responsibilities; and in her private life she had always taken for granted the principle of equal partnership. She and Marty had based their marriage on the premise that shared work-family roles permitted both partners to share the burdens and joys of domestic life and the professional world alike.”
Ginsburg made gender equality the focus of her career which led to the famous cases about gender discrimination. Rather than solely seek the rights of women, she pursued equal opportunities for all genders. She advocated for equality at home which will eventually reflect in the public sphere as much as the private sphere. Her marriage was based on this equity in terms of the roles that have been traditionally for men or women. Since women had to bear the burden of career like their male counterparts, the husbands had to play an extra role at home too. Through this approach, Ginsberg managed to write briefs that would aid in the gender-based cases in her career.
“I am a judge born, raised, and proud of being a Jew. The demand for justice runs through the entirety of the Jewish tradition. I hope, in my years on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, I will have the strength and the courage to remain constant in the service of that demand.”
Though Ginsburg was raised in an affluent neighborhood, she was discriminated against based on her ethnicity. Her Jewish background made her a target of anti-Semitism while pursuing education and career opportunities. She had to jump several hurdles to secure the opportunities that marginalized Jewish people in America. As a Supreme Court Justice, she pledged to protect the rights of those that face discrimination in society. In the statement, she swears to uphold justice akin to the Jewish doctrine that demands fairness and integrity.
