We are bereft at the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She did as much for our generation and for today’s young women as anyone in history. In this year we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Suffragists success at passing the 19th Amendment giving all the right to vote. Who better represents the “equalness” of women than Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
After the announcement of her death, I sat down to watch “On the Basis of Sex’ on Netflix. Think how women were perceived in the hierarchy of our society and culture prior to her extraordinary efforts on behalf of equal rights. Look at the way she was treated when she was one of only nine women in a class of 500 men at the Harvard Law School.
We accepted the policy that men could enter the main entrance of our local country club, but women had to enter through the side door. I remember my young sons going into the bar of the club, ordering candy bars, and I had to stand at the threshold unable to enter because it was men only. Imagine now having an executive at a financial institution saying in a job interview: “And how, my dear, are you going to get new business and accounts as a woman?”
Someone passed along this Facebook posting:
Each and every one of us has an obligation to continue her work and commitment to equality for all. And in her honor we must do so with dignity and grace. One of her most poignant teachings is something she said in an interview and an OP-ED piece in the Times:
“Another often-asked question when I speak in public: “Do you have some good advice you might share with us?” Yes, I do. It comes from my savvy mother-in-law, advice she gave me on my wedding day. “In every good marriage,” she counseled, “it helps sometimes to be a little deaf.” I have followed that advice assiduously, and not only at home through 56 years of a marital partnership nonpareil. I have employed it as well in every workplace, including the Supreme Court. When a thoughtless or unkind word is spoken, best tune out. Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade.”
Farewell to our mentor, our heroine of justice. We will all work to protect and further your legacy.
Lucy and Claudia