Appreciating Legacies: An Homage to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Legacy:
“A gift by will, especially of money or other personal property. Something transmitted by or received from an ancestor, predecessor or from the past.”
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born Joan Ruth Bader on March 15, 1933 and died on September 18, 2020 at the age of 87. She was the second woman to become part of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), and the first Jewish woman to serve on the SCOTUS.
Hello Harper Therapy friends! In our lives we tend to honor family members who left a mark in our path of well-being, may it be financially, emotionally or through lessons. There are a few times when public figures also have that impact. Today we want to chat about Justice Ginsburg a.k.a. Notorious RBG.
Her legacy permeates family dynamics, couple dynamics and the search for individual justice and equity. Let’s talk a bit about her background. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a first generation American on her father’s side. She lived in a multicultural home in a multicultural neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. She experienced loss at an early age. Her sister died when Ruth was only 14 months old, and her mother died when she was 17 years old. However, throughout the years, her mother had instilled in her the love for education and intellectual advancement, and that was her guiding light in her process of achieving goals.
Ruth Bader met her husband, Martin Ginsburg, while studying at Cornell university. They married right after graduation and moved to Oklahoma while her husband served in the military. While in OK, she worked at the Social Security offices and got demoted after becoming pregnant. That was one of the sparks that ignited her flame to search for equity in her life.
Later on, both her and her husband got accepted to Harvard Law. She made the Harvard Law review while being a full-time mother, full-time student and taking care of her husband who had been diagnosed with cancer. She took her classes, and coordinated to have friends take notes of her husband’s classes whenever she couldn’t personally attend. Then she came home to read and type up the notes for him. They were a team.
The Ginsburg’s couple’s dynamics are something to observe and learn. They admired, appreciated and were fond of each other. They were wise adults who supported each other’s dreams and goals. They did not adhere to gender roles in the relationship. In fact, she did not cook, so he took over the cooking duties while she worked. They complemented each other in public. She was on the shy side, he was an extrovert and they balanced their interactions smoothly. They had executive meetings to decide who would answer calls from school or who would go to school when the children needed them but both were working.
Her biggest legacy started before she became a Justice in the Supreme Court. She co-founded the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU. However, her job was not only representing women. She represented cases that would promote equity among genders. Here is a list of some of the precedents she was able to work on while at the ACLU:
Was able to get the Air Force, to pay a married airwoman, the housing allowance that was automatic for married airmen. Eventually all branches of the Armed Forces implemented this practice.
She represented women in the search for equal pay for equal work.
She worked with a Widower, whose wife died at childbirth and was requesting his wife’s social security benefits in order to stay home to raise the child. With this case she demonstrated that equity among genders was necessary and overlooked by the law.
She made it possible for women to enter the Virginia Military Institute, therefore ending educational segregation based on gender in the armed forces.
Because of her work in the ACLU, women no longer need a man’s permission to open a bank account, buy a home, accept a job, take care of medical procedures, etc.
She defended and upheld the Fourteenth Amendment, which offers in its first section the following words:
“… nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protections of the law.”
She was confirmed into the Supreme Court in August 1993. She has been a controversial figure, but at the end of the day, her search for justice and equity were the guiding light in the opinions and dissents she wrote. She sought to find the “one voice” among the Justices by using outstanding communication skills to create middle ground of understanding even if they did not agree. One of the best examples of her ability to move past differences, and that all of us could learn, was her relationship with Justice Antonin Scalia. In all observable facts, they were polar opposites. Justice Scalia was tall and big where Justice Ginsburg was small and thin. He was loud, she was shy. He was Catholic, she was Jewish. He was conservative, she was liberal. Yet their friendship grew out of understanding that they both sought to serve their institution and the constitution to the best of their abilities. How many of us can still remain friends, or remain married with individuals who are so diametrically different from us?!
Wrapping up…I could chat with you about Justice Ginsburg for hours at end, but our main take away from this blurb is the fact that when communication is clear and open, marriages can overcome differences, roles in the family can be equally divided, individual success does not mean the detriment of the marriage, families can thrive when parents communicate, friendships can be forged even when there are differences of opinion, women and men have the same rights and these should be protected, and most importantly, the preservation of judicial integrity and the respect of civil rights of all individuals is a task that we can all integrate into our daily lives. These are the legacies that we can appreciate.
If you are thinking about the legacies left by your predecessors (whether good or not so good), or the legacy that you are leaving for your children, and need a place to discuss, reassess, and move forward, please give us a call at 813-434-3639. Let us, at Harper Therapy, be your home for growth, hope and healing!
