For years Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been an iconic figure in the Jewish community and an advocate for social change within the American legal system. Ginsburg is currently an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Across the nation, Ginsburg set a new precedent for gender equality; she argued many legal cases in which a defendant was discriminated based on their gender. Her name has been in news headlines recently because she has been experiencing health issues and a new movie was released about her life and struggles of living and working as a female lawyer in a male-dominated field. On the Basis of Sex (2018) shows her struggle to fight for gender equality by law. Ginsburg was one of only nine women in her class at Harvard Law School, and this number is representative of the number of women in the field during the time. Throughout her career she often faced discrimination because of her gender and many law offices did not want to hire her as a result of this. These law practices were stuck with the notion that women were not fit to be lawyers because they would supposedly make choices solely based on emotions. Although Ginsburg was originally put off by the discrimination she experienced, she used this to fuel her later fight for gender equality in America. Ginsburg worked on a project with the ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union, to identify areas of the constitution where men and women were not treated equally.  

Today, at Ginsburg's ripe age of 85 she is still fighting for social justice and the rights of people across America. Despite facing discrimination for her gender, she persisted in fighting for change in hopes that generations to follow would not have to face similar discrimination as well.

This was one of the most intellectually stimulating movies I have seen in a long time. I encourage you to see this film if it is available in your area. This film has reminded me to be thankful for all of the rights I have in the United States and that during Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s time she had to fight for the rights I am privileged to have today.