What RBG Taught Me About The Right's Of Women

Ron and I went to see the movie RBG, a documentary on the extraordinary life of Ruth Bader Ginsberg.  I learned so much I did not know.  First, the story of she and her husband Martin Ginsberg, a tax attorney, was a real love story.  They met when she was 17, he 18, and were together until his death in 2010.  He was a man unafraid of a women who was smart and ambitious, and he supported Ruth's work and career always.  She's a small, quiet woman who never raises her voice, but never the less, gets things done.  Prior to being appointed Supreme Court Justice by Barack Obama, Ginsberg appeared before the court six times, winning five.  Her cases are mostly regarding women's rights.  She is a true champion for women!

Prior to 1970, women were truly second class citizens.  Except for the right to vote, which took decades to get, women were treated as less than equal.  For example, married women could not be prescribed birth control until 1965.  Imagine that. It wasn't until Roe Vs. Wade that women were allowed the right to choose what happened to their own bodies.   Women could not serve on juries in some states until late in the 20th century.  When I got married in 1967 women could not have a credit card in their own name.  Their husband had to co sign.  Women were not allowed to serve in any of the military academies.  Women couldn't report a rape by their husband either.  In the senate, an unwritten law was finally lifted in 1993.  Until then, women were not allowed to wear pants on the senate floor.  In many states, women were not allowed to own property or stocks without their husband's consent.

How things have changed, and quiet, diminutive Ruth Bader Ginsberg was responsible for some of these changes.  We always want change to occur rapidly, but it doesn't.  It took years to get women the right to vote.  I can think of something that has changed rapidly, and that is this:  attitudes on same sex marriage have changed, to a point where over half the population agrees that he or she should marry who he/she chooses.  Women and minorities have a long way to go, but we're going in the right direction.  Young people today are more open minded, and will hopefully strive for equality for all.