Women who set the Pace

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) was the second woman to serve on the US Supreme Court from 1993 until her death on Friday, the 18th of September 2020, at the age of 87. RBG’s name cannot be overlooked when crediting women who have championed the cause of gender equality and female empowerment. 

"Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time. So fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you". RBG

Right from the First-wave feminism in the 19th and early 20th century of Women's Suffrages who fought for legal and political reforms to allow women the right to vote in elections and the right to own properties; through to the Second-wave feminism in the early 1960s –1980s who extended the cause from liberation and disenfranchisement to cover diverse overt and covert inequalities against women - socioeconomic reforms were the main focus of this movement. 

Thus, they fought for women’s right to work; challenged workplace inequalities; the right of women to own businesses; leadership roles and opportunities; social mobility; girls’ right to be educated; the sexuality and reproductive rights of women; rape-crisis centres; marriage reforms (marital rape, custody and divorce laws); and domestic violence and shelter for abuse women. The late 1990s and 2010s produced the third and fourth wave of feminists. Opposed to the legal and political focus of the earlier movements, these wave of feminist rather focused on the individuality of each woman – in the context of their lived reality.  

This is underpinned by the ideology that the needs of all women globally cannot be packaged as one unit with a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. The focus, therefore, has been dynamic and evolved to cover diverse issues of oppression, marginalization and discrimination against women; which are enabled by patriarchy and institutionalised male domination and gender role stereotypes, coupled with the diverse intersectionality of racial, ethnicity, nationality, religion, culture, social status, and cultural identity.

Today, the world celebrates Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) because her commitment and persistence to the cause of women’s right and gender equality are exceptional and remarkable. Getting married just after her undergraduate to Martin "Marty" Ginsburg (a very supportive and progressive husband); at the age of 21, she was demoted from her job because she got pregnant with her first child. Admirably, after the birth of her daughter she proceeded to enrol at Harvard Law School, worked to support herself while managing a home and nursing a baby; and yet, managed to graduate at the top of her class.

At one point RBG received a telephone call from her son’s school concerning an issue with her son; and she responded "… 'this child has two parents, you must alternate the calls from now on, starting with this one…'" . RBG is an embodiment of social justice, ambition, self-efficacy, resilience and hard work. In an era of gender discrimination, inequalities and stereotypes, RBG was able to rise and progress to the very top of the legal world to become a Supreme Court Justice.

If today’s women can see far, it’s because we standing on the shoulders of RBG and the feminist movements. RBG’s activism directly resulted in women having the right to buy a house without the permission of a man; open a bank account and acquire a credit card without a male co-signatory; getting a job without discriminated on; women having the autonomy of their own bodies and reproductive rights: to get pregnant, have kids and still be able to work, earn their own money and be financially independent. 

This is why we celebrate them. Because of them, we can too

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