The fight for change

Ava Hunt, News Writer

 As Ruth Bader Ginsburg once said, “I would like to be remembered as someone who used whatever talent she had to the very best of her ability.” 

       Ruth Bader Ginsburg served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court for 27 years before her passing on September 18. Ginsburg died in her home in Washington D.C. from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer. She spent her career advocating for women’s rights, gender equality and more. Prior to being on the Supreme Court, however, she was not given the respect she now receives— she had to fight to earn it. 

       Ginsburg attended Cornell University and went on to study law at Harvard University, where she was one of the only women in her class. She then transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated joint first in her class. She went on to teach civil procedure as one of the few women in her field. 

       Throughout her career, she spent her time advocating for women’s rights and gender equality. She was a voice for women, fighting against education and workplace discrimination, along with health care rights. Ginsburg’s work not only affects people across the world, but also in the Xavier community. 

        “There are a variety of privileges that have always been available to me because she fought for them in the 1970s: I’m able to have credit cards and a mortgage without a male co-signer, I have attended and am attending institutes of higher learning where women make up approximately half of the population,” English and Film Studies teacher Ms. Sarah Hayes said. “No one questions my right to an education or to a job. RBG is the extraordinary reason why we consider those things part of ordinary life in 2020.”

       Ginsburg is responsible for many steps forward for women in society pertaining to gender equality. She made progress towards equal pay, pushed to protect pregnant women in the workplace, argued to allow women to serve on juries and more. 

       “She has left behind a fighting spirit for women everywhere. The honor of lying in state in the U.S. Capitol started in 1852, and yet in 2020 she is only the first woman to do so,” Social Studies teacher Mrs. Gina Kutilek said. “Thanks to her, women can do things like buy a house, leave an abusive relationship more easily or open up a bank account.” 

       Ginsburg not only fought for her own rights and equality throughout her life, but also fought for the rights of other women and minorities, like immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community. She assisted in overturning the decision by the Trump administration to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative, and also helped overturn a state constitutional amendment in Colorado that prohibited the recognition of members of the LGBTQ+ community as a protected class. 

       It is now up to the next generation of people to continue on her work. One cannot simply acknowledge that change is needed, there needs to be true work towards creating that change.