Women of the 70’s
Unlike many women of her time, Ginsburg was unusual in that she was ambitious enough to pursue things that were deemed exclusive to men. Being educated in law was considered to be a man’s job, but Ginsburg dispelled all notions of this when she successfully graduated top of her class from the elite Columbia University. However, in other ways she was very much like the women of her time. She married her college sweetheart very early and had a daughter, which was the expected path for women.
Racial discrimination
Despite her affluent background, Ginsburg was still ostracized from early on in her life due to her Jewish background. She faced many anti-Semitic attacks across the course of her lifetime and she touches on the difficulties this caused her in her pursuit of becoming the first Jewish female Supreme Court judge in the US.
Gender-based discrimination
Many of the court cases Ginsburg was involved in over her career was related to gender-biased laws that unfairly favored one sex over the other. For example, in United States v. Virginia (1996), she argued for the right of women to join the military. Alternately, in Moritz v. Commissioner (1972) she argued for men to have the right to have a reduction in carer’s allowance.
