On the Basis of Sex: RBG’s Influence on Women’s History

Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993 as only the second female justice.

A barrier-breaking lawyer, Ginsburg devoted her career to fighting for women’s rights and gender equality.

RBG was also a student of women’s history. When she argued cases before the Supreme Court, she wove in detailed histories of women’s exclusion and the injustices written into the law.

After a lifetime of fighting for women’s rights, Ginsburg died of cancer in 2020.

Movies like “On the Basis of Sex” look back at Ginsburg’s life and her role in women’s history. By fighting for gender equality, Ginsburg earned her place among the most important figures in modern women’s history.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the second woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court when President Bill Clinton appointed her in 1993.

As a Supreme Court justice, Ginsburg was well known for her flashy collars and sharp opinions. She also made history in women’s rights — both as a champion arguing before the court and as a justice.

Long before she joined the Supreme Court, Ginsburg broke new legal ground.

She sued her own employer for paying women less than men. She also won multiple sex discrimination cases before the Supreme Court. And Ginsburg led the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Women’s Rights Project, which played a major role in gender equality in the 1970s.

From early in her legal career, it was clear that Ruth Bader Ginsburg would make history.

After graduating at the top of her class at Columbia Law School, Ginsburg became a champion of gender equality. In one of her early cases, Ginsburg wrote the brief that convinced the Supreme Court to strike down a law that treated men and women differently –– for the first time in history.

Ginsburg went on to argue six cases before the Supreme Court in the 1970s, winning five of them.

Always a strategic thinker, Ginsburg tore down sex discrimination by first attacking laws that treated men less favorably.

“I knew that I was speaking to men who didn’t think there was any such thing as gender-based discrimination and my job was to tell them it really exists,” Ginsburg explained.

One of those cases involved a widower with a newborn. When Stephen Wiesenfeld’s wife died in childbirth, he applied for survivors benefits at the Social Security office. They turned him away, claiming only women qualified. Ginsburg argued the case in front of the Supreme Court in 1975.

She won unanimously.

In 1971, the ACLU approached Ginsburg. They were creating a Women’s Rights Project, and they wanted the law professor to act as its director.

Ginsburg accepted.

“I wanted to be part of a general human rights agenda,” she explained. “Civil liberties are an essential part of the overall human rights concern — the equality of all people and the ability to be free.”

The Women’s Rights Project was so successful that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights called up the ACLU in 1973. They asked Ginsburg and her team to put together a list of every federal statute that differentiated on the basis of sex.

“Ruth was careful to build brick upon brick. She wanted to create a stable structure. She wasn’t interested in reaching for the roof right away. In my tenure at the ACLU, this was the most clearly planned litigation strategy,” said Aryeh Neier, executive director of the ACLU when Ginsburg led the Women’s Rights Project.

Ginsburg faced many challenges throughout her career.

She began her legal studies at Harvard. A handful of years after Harvard Law School began accepting women, the prominent law school banned law students like Ginsburg from the dorms and even some libraries.

The dean was even critical of the women at a welcome dinner.

“He asked each of us to stand up and tell him what we were doing taking a seat that could be occupied by a man,” Ginsburg related.

Ginsburg later transferred to Columbia Law School. But even after graduating first in her class at Columbia, Ginsburg struggled to find a job. She interviewed with 12 firms and nearly earned a coveted Supreme Court law clerk role –– except for the fact that she was a woman.

When she finally landed a teaching position at Rutgers Law School, Ginsburg learned she would make less than male law professors because she had a husband with a “good-paying job.”

Unwilling to stand for discrimination, Ginsburg led a class-action suit against the university with other female professors. They won.

Ginsburg also faced challenges in her personal life.

In 1999, Ginsburg received a colon cancer diagnosis. The justice underwent surgery and chemotherapy without taking a day off from work. In 2009, she underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer.

And four days after they celebrated 56 years of marriage, Ginsburg’s husband, Martin, died from cancer.

In 2018, “Notorious RBG” offered a documentary look at the justice’s life. That same year, a second RBG movie provided a fictionalized account of Ginsburg’s life story.

“On the Basis of Sex” tells the story of one of Ginsburg’s first cases, which she argued in front of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The case itself was relatively minor — it focused on a tax deduction for expenses related to caregiving. But it played an important role in Ginsburg’s career. During the case, Ginsburg developed the winning argument that laws made “on the basis of sex” violated the Constitution.

“On the Basis of Sex” also offers a behind-the-scenes look at Ginsburg’s marriage. She argued the case alongside her husband, Marty, a tax lawyer.

The film showcases the challenges Ginsburg faced in her early career, underscoring the many legal barriers RBG broke.