1. Impact on status quo
1.1. Stood up against sex discrimination
1.1.1. Stood up for men's rights
1.1.1.1. She stood up and took a case (with her husband) for a man who, unlike women, wasn't allowed to deduct from his taxes what he spent on helping his older mother
1.1.1.2. Argued before the supreme court in a case in which a man could not get the same housing and medical benefits as women and won, further preventing sex discrimination
1.1.2. Stood up for women's rights
1.1.2.1. When she was paid less as a professor than male professors, she and other female professors filed a claim against the school and won
1.1.2.2. When she began teaching at Columbia Law school, other women asked her for help on filing a claim against the school for paying them less and giving them less benefits than men, and after filing and arguing for her case, she won
1.1.2.3. When she heard that Columbia was going to fire large number of female maids, but no male janitors, she spoke with the University's president, saying that if they didn't stop this, she would file a claim against them again
1.1.2.4. She worked with the ACLU to help other women across the country who were suffering from discrimination
1.1.2.4.1. Later became the co-founder and co-director of the ACLU Women's Rights Project
1.1.2.5. She wrote a brief to a Supreme Court justice about a case in which a woman's son commits suicide, and the father gets all of the property, and the woman gets none. The supreme court rules in the woman's favor, partially thanks to Ruth's brief, outlawing sex discrimination
1.1.2.6. After becoming a justice, she voted for women's rights
1.1.2.6.1. She voted to make the Virginia Military Institute allow women to enroll
1.2. Stood up for what she believed, having no fear to read her dissenting opinions out loud, which drew many people's attention to the problems she addressed
2. Lesser know facts
2.1. Although proud of being Jewish, she doesn't like certain discriminating policies the church has
2.2. Her mother was diagnosed with Cancer when Ruth was 13 and died the day before Ruth's high school graduation
2.3. She exercises every day, always working hard on a routine that includes:
2.3.1. Squats
2.3.2. Planks
2.3.3. Medicine ball tosses
2.3.4. Push-ups
2.4. She thinks of her mother as the smartest person she knows, and her mother worked very hard to give RBG the best education she could
2.5. She very often had a strong dissenting opinion, which led her to be known as the "Notorious RBG" which sparked many memes, including one featuring her saying "I dissent" with both of her middle fingers up
2.6. She believes the way to effectively and lastingly change the law is to slowly choose cases that she knows will win, rather than trying to change everything at once in a political ground in which she will probably lose, setting precedence and making it harder in the future
2.6.1. Quotes about this include:
2.6.1.1. "Not all feminist issues should be litigated now because some are losers, given the current political climate, and could set back our efforts to develop favorable law. - Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Mental Floss)
2.6.1.2. “One bad decision of the Supreme Court has a terrible impact.” - Pauli Murray, one of RBG's colleagues at ACLU (Mental Floss)
2.7. She has had cancer multiple times throughout her life, but continues to work
3. Works Cited
3.1. "15 Things You Should Know About Ruth Bader Ginsburg." Mental Floss. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/76804/15-things-you-should-know-about-ruth-bader-ginsburg
3.2. Carmon, Irin, and Shana Knizhnik. Notorious RBG: the Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2018.
4. Periods of life
4.1. Childhood
4.1.1. Born in 1933 as Joan Ruth Bader
4.1.2. Began to go by Ruth because there were too many people named Joan in her class
4.1.3. Graduated from high school when she was 15 years old
4.2. Higher education
4.2.1. Went to Cornell
4.2.1.1. Met Martin Bader Ginsburg, her future husband
4.2.1.2. Graduated as highest ranking female
4.2.2. Married Marty (Martin Ginsburg) after graduation
4.2.3. Got job in the Social Security Administration, but was demoted when she became pregnant
4.2.4. She had first child in 1955
4.2.5. Went to Harvard Law School
4.2.5.1. Was one of 9 women out of 500 men in her class
4.2.5.1.1. Was asked why she was taking a place from a man
4.2.5.2. Juggled having to care for her young daughter and keeping up with schoolwork
4.2.5.3. Marty was the cook in the house and took care of their child the most
4.2.5.3.1. Not normal family structure at the time
4.2.6. Transferred to Columbia Law School because Marty got a job in NYC
4.2.6.1. Graduated tied for first in her class (out of men and women)
4.3. Career
4.3.1. Early career
4.3.1.1. Struggles to find a job even after graduating because she was a woman
4.3.1.1.1. Rejected from being a Supreme Court Justice's clerk because she was a woman
4.3.1.2. Finally finds a job as a law clerk
4.3.2. Becomes a professor of law at Rutgers Law School
4.3.2.1. She is the second woman to teach full time there
4.3.2.2. Is paid less than male professors
4.3.3. Has second child in 1965
4.3.4. Co-founds Women's Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
4.3.5. Becomes first female professor at Columbia Law
4.3.6. Publishes casebook on sex discrimination
4.3.7. Martin Ginsburg dies from cancer
4.3.8. Is nominated to be Supreme Court justice by Bill Clinton in 1993
4.3.8.1. She got diagnosed with cancer, but keeps working until she is forced to miss a week because of surgery
4.3.8.2. She got diagnosed with cancer again and had another surgery
5. Accomplishments
5.1. Did very well in college
5.1.1. Graduated Columbia tied for highest ranking out of all genders
5.1.2. Graduated Harvard as highest ranking female in her class
5.2. Became a Supreme Court Justice
5.2.1. Is the second woman to become a justice
5.2.2. Also is the first Jewish justice
5.2.3. Even during nomination she still received some sexist comments
5.2.4. Worked very hard, barely missing any days of work, even when:
5.2.4.1. She got diagnosed with cancer (twice)
5.2.4.2. Her husband died
5.2.5. Stood up for her opinion, often voting with the minority, which earned her the name "dissenter on the bench"
5.3. Spoke up many times against sex discrimination
5.3.1. For women in issues like:
5.3.1.1. When women were fired because they were pregnant
5.3.1.2. When women were not allowed to use contraceptives
5.3.1.3. When women were underpaid
5.3.1.4. When women were discriminated against, or others assumed that they had to fulfil a certain role
5.3.2. For men in issues like:
5.3.2.1. Not getting certain tax benefits that women got because the women were not expected to have a job
5.3.2.2. When men were discriminated against or were assumed to have to fulfil a certain role