“My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent”  

Ruth Bader Ginsburg 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg has held many titles over the course of her life. Supreme Court Justice. Law student. Professor. Mother. Wife. Daughter. But perhaps her most significant title that still resonates with us today is that of feminist icon. Ginsburg was a pioneer for gender equality, a trailblazer for equal rights, spending a majority of her life fighting for women everywhere.  

As one of the nine women in a law class of five hundred, Ginsburg was no stranger to being pushed aside because of her gender. Despite her strong academic standing, her place at Harvard Law School was questioned by the Dean, who thought that she was taking a spot that should belong to a male student. While she was a professor at Rutgers School of Law, she hid her pregnancy by wearing oversized clothes in fear of her contract not being renewed.  

Even after managing to surpass the systemic barriers that every woman faces in our patriarchal society and after being appointed a judgeship in the Columbia circuit, her male colleagues were worried that she would be too preoccupied with her “motherly duties.” These hardships that Ginsburg experienced reflect the experiences of many women. How many times has your authority been questioned, second-guessed because of your gender? How often have you been judged for choosing to pursue a career while raising children, being told that you were selfish for trying to have both a professional life and a family? How many times have your work and contributions been ignored, in favour of your male colleagues or classmates? How often have you been stereotyped, had assumptions made based on your gender before you were even able to speak? These experiences merely fueled Ginsburg’s drive, and she accomplished so much in her eighty-seven years.  

Not only did Ginsburg make advancements for her professional career, but she made strides for the equal rights movement as well. She was the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court, the first tenured female faculty member at Columbia Law School, and the first woman on the editorial staff at the Harvard Law Review. During her entire career, Ginsburg worked tirelessly to obliterate laws that discriminate based on gender. She created — as well as taught — numerous law courses on gender discrimination laws, was the founding council of the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Women’s Rights Project, and authored multiple law review articles on gender discrimination, as well as Supreme Court briefs (most notably Reed v. Reed). Furthermore, she inspired generations of women through her refusal to be pushed aside and her determination to see a world in which men and women were viewed as equal.  

Ginsburg served as a role model for generations of young women who were taught that they had to conform to the strict societal roles set out for them at birth. She inspired us to fight back when the world tried to suppress our voices, and because of her influence, there are little girls who dream about following in her footsteps — who dream about changing the world. 

Her passing has significant repercussions for the future of both gender equality and the United States as a whole. Ginsburg’s absence provides the opportunity for Republicans to sink their claws into the courts, as seen by President Trump’s pathetic attempt to rush through the confirmation process of his own nominee this close to the presidential election. Aside from the obvious hypocrisy, this directly contradicts Ginsburg’s wish: that she not be replaced until a new president is in power. If Trump succeeds and Amy Coney Barrett is appointed to the Supreme Court, it could undo all the work Ginsburg devoted her entire life to. Years of progress made in the legal fight for gender equality could be thrown down the drain, and Trump would solidify his control over the third branch of the government.  

Moreover, Ginsburg’s absence means that the chief justice no longer has a controlling vote in closely contested cases. If Barrett were to take Ginsburg’s place, it could potentially create an impenetrable wall of conservatives to block out the voices of the American people. Furthermore, with Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Gorsuch on the bench, they could overturn Roe v. Wade. It’s not only the issue of equal rights that is at stake — abortion, health care, gun laws, and immigration could all be impacted. It feels like a direct insult to Ginsburg, to not only deny her last wishes but to attempt to replace her with her ideological opposite.  

Women are told that we are mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives. Women are told that we are nothing beyond these limited roles, and we are called selfish for trying to pursue something else. We are told to be happy with what little we are given and to not expect or take more. Ruth Bader Ginsburg refused to take this lying down — she spent almost her entire life advocating for women, suffering through personal tragedies and multiple health issues, but she persevered through it all because she knew that her work would make a difference. Despite her shy demeanour, she was as tough as nails, and she knew that she deserved better — that all women deserve better. While she may be gone now, her work is not over. We must continue the fight that she started; we owe it to Ginsburg, and we owe it to ourselves.