Not a law firm in the entire city of New York bid for my employment as a lawyer when I earned my degree.
The concern was that if a woman was doing gender equality, her chances of making it to tenure in the law school were diminished. It was considered frivolous.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the challenges women face in pursuing gender equality within academic institutions, suggesting their efforts may jeopardize their professional advancement.
Ruth Bader Ginsburgβs quote reflects the societal bias that often undermines the efforts of women advocating for gender equality. It points to the belief that such advocacy is seen as less serious or important within the academia, which can lead to women facing disadvantages in their career progression, such as achieving tenure in law schools. This illustrates the broader systemic issues that devalue women's contributions to the fight for equality and justice.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture discussing women's rights and academic policies, this quote can illustrate the barriers women face.
More from Ruth Bader Ginsburg
All quotes βIf you want to influence people, you want them to accept your suggestions, you don't say, 'You don't know how to use the English language,' or 'How could you make that argument?' It will be welcomed much more if you have a gentle touch than if you are aggressive.
I try to teach through my opinions, through my speeches, how wrong it is to judge people on the basis of what they look like, color of their skin, whether they're men or women.
The worst times were the years I was alone. The image to the public entering the courtroom was eight men, of a certain size, and then this little woman sitting to the side. That was not a good image for the public to see.
A constitution, as important as it is, will mean nothing unless the people are yearning for liberty and freedom.
My resume showed membership on both the Harvard and Columbia Law Reviews, a credit impressive abroad where it was not generally known that Law Reviews were student-operated publications.
Similar quotes
We need to see men and women as equal partners, but it's hard to think of movies that do that. When I talk to people, they think of movies of forty-five years ago! Hepburn and Tracy!
Our goal should be to develop work-life policies that enable people to put their gender values into practice. So let's stop arguing about the hard choices women make and help more women and men avoid such hard choices.
It is probable that both in life and in art the values of a woman are not the values of a man.
Those who are so eager for women and girls to go back to the kitchen might think again about just what it is we might be up to in there. You can plan a lot of damage from a kitchen. Itβs also where the knives are kept.
Men are not the enemy, but the fellow victims. The real enemy is women's denigration of themselves.
It's really important for boys to see that girls take up half of the planet - which we do.