Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Our Avenger of the Century

RUTH BADER GINSBURG, 1933 - 2020

This week, we honor Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her incredible life by reflecting on the many barriers she shattered in the service of gender equality.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, right, receives the LBJ Liberty & Justice for All Award from Lynda Johnson Robb, left, and Luci Baines Johnson at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 30, 2020. Photo credit: Jay Godwin [public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Among her many accomplishments, she was:

• 1st in her graduating class at Cornell University,

• tied for 1st in her graduating class at Columbia Law School,

• 1st woman tenured law professor at Columbia University,

• 2nd woman appointed to the US Supreme Court,

• 1st Supreme Court justice to officiate at a same-sex marriage ceremony, and

• 1st woman to lie in state in the US Capitol.

“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.”

“When I’m sometimes asked when will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court] and I say, ‘When there are nine,’ people are shocked. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that.”

“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.”

“Fight for the things that you care about. But do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”

Photo credit: Supreme Court of the United States [public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Photo credit: Gayatri Malhotra, via Unsplash.

“Yet what greater defeat could we suffer than to come to resemble the forces we oppose in their disrespect for human dignity?”

“You can disagree without being disagreeable.”

“Women will have achieved true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.”

“A gender line… helps to keep women not on a pedestal, but in a cage.”

“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.”

Thank you for your incredible work, Ruth Bader Ginsburg ❤️

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is @GenderAvenger's Avenger of the Century for her incredible life and the barriers she shattered in service of gender equality. “A gender line… helps to keep women not on a pedestal, but in a cage.” #AvengerOfTheWeek #GenderAvenger https://www.genderavenger.com/blog/ruth-bader-ginsburg-avenger-of-century