Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the Supreme Court

Studio photograph taken in Dec. 1953 when she
was a Senior at Cornell University.

      Before Ruth Bader Ginsburg earned a position on the United States Supreme Court she spent much of her life fighting against gender discrimination. Born in 1933 in the middle of the Great Depression her father worked as a furrier (someone who deals furs) and her mother worked in a garment factory. Ginsburg's mother instilled a love in education in Ginsburg from a young age and supported her throughout her life however sadly passed away the day before Ginsburg's high school graduation from cancer. Being such a successful student Ginsburg managed to be at the top of her 1954 graduating class from Cornell University. During University she met her husband Martin Ginsburg who was a first-year law student at Cornell and after her graduation, she temporarily put her education on hold so that she could focus more on her family life. During this time her husband was drafted for two years into the army and upon his return, she signed up and attended Harvard Law School. Ginsburg managed to battle against many sexist encounters despite being one of only nine female students in a 500 student class at Harvard.
     Despite having been such an excelling student she still struggled to find a job during the 1960s until her favourite law professor refused to recommend anyone else to the U.S district judge until she was hired as a clerk. Ginsburg directed the influential Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union during the 1970s. In this position, she led the fight against gender discrimination and successfully argued six landmark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Ginsburg accepted Jimmy Carter’s appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1980 and served on the court for thirteen years until 1993 when Bill Clinton appointed her to the Supreme Court.