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Born
born Joan Ruth Bader in Brooklyn, New York -
Primary education
Love of education fostered by a supportive mother, graduated high school with high marks -
Bachelors Degree
Graduated at the top of her class from Cornell University -
Family
Ruth marries, then puts her education aside temporarily to start her family, having her first child. Her husband is then drafted for two years in the military. -
Law school
Upon her husband’s return, Ruth enrolls in law school at Harvard, maintaining a spot at the top of her class as one of the only women while also taking care of her sick husband. -
Law School Cont.
Her husband takes a job in New York, so for her last year she transfers to Columbia Law and graduates at the top of her class. -
Job
Throughout the 60s Ruth faces a lot of struggles as a woman trying to find a job in a heavily male dominated field, but upon being offered far lower salaries than her male equals she pursues civil procedure in Sweden. When she returns she accepts a job as a professor at Rutgers law school. -
Career
As Ruth establishes herself as a powerhouse in her field, she is offered a job as a professor at Cornell which she accepts. During the 70s she argues 6 landmark cases all the way to the Supreme Court in her fight for gender equality. -
Court of Appeals
She is appointed by Jimmy Carter to the US Court of Appeals for DC which she serves on for 13 years. -
Supreme Court
Appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States by Bill Clinton which she serves on for 27 years until her death, all the time fighting for women’s rights through slow and calculated moves. -
Death
She exercised both her body and her mind, maintaining gym appointments as well as court appointments all the way up to her death.