My Own Words

by Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I spoke of great changes I have seen in women’s occupations. Yet one must acknowledge the still bleak part of the picture. Most people in poverty in the United States and the world over are women and children, women’s earnings here and abroad trail the earnings of men with comparable education and experience, our workplaces do not adequately accommodate the demands of childbearing and childrearing, and we have yet to devise effective ways to ward off sexual harassment at work and domestic violence in our homes.

As women achieve power, the barriers will fall. As society sees what women can do, as women see what women can do, there will be more women out there doing things, and we’ll all be better off for it.XII

Two things were important to her and she repeated them endlessly. One was to ‘be a lady,’ and that meant conduct yourself civilly, don’t let emotions like anger or envy get in your way. And the other was to be independent, which was an unusual message for mothers of that time to be giving their daughters.” 8

Today, women are almost 50 percent of all law students,18 and over 50 percent of the associates at large law firms.19

In 1996, during her third Term on the Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Ginsburg authored the majority opinion in United States v. Virginia on behalf of six members of the Court, clarifying and strengthening the approach to gender equality that the Court had developed, under her tutelage, in the 1970s.