RBG And The Young Women Who Loved Her
RBG And The Young Women Who Loved Her
Ruth Bader Ginsburg loomed large in American culture during the final years of her life, perhaps no larger than in the minds of young women.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rbg-young-women_n_5f6a54a8c5b6718910f2382a
By Rebecca Klein
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Photo courtesy of Leyla Fern King
Leyla Fern King dresses up as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, complete with a white collar and gavel.
King first started looking up to Ruth Bader Ginsburg two summers ago, when an extracurricular leadership program she was involved with got to participate in a Q&A with the Supreme Court justice. King remembers Ginsburg as being diminutive but commanding of the room, staying until the audience’s last question was answered and peppering her stories with witty quips. The teen, a member of her school’s student court, began to connect Ginsburg’s experiences to her own. King had spent her first year on student court as the youngest and only girl, and she was often timid about voicing her thoughts.
Ginsburg loomed large in American culture during the final years of her life, perhaps no larger than in the minds of young women in K-12 schools and beyond. These women, more than half a century Ginsburg’s junior and born into a world far kinder to women, say the justice’s experiences fighting gender discrimination remains relevant today.
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Photo courtesy of Krista Threefoot
Twelve-year-old Michele Threefoot calls Ginsburg one of her heroes.
Ava Farquhar dressed up as Ginsburg for her high school senior photo ID. She first learned about Ginsburg while listening to “More Perfect,” a podcast about the Supreme Court. The 19-year-old has since gone on to study engineering at Michigan Technical University, a school that is comprised of 70% men. She learned about Ginsburg’s death on the radio while riding in the car with a friend.
Farquhar said she thinks of Ginsburg every time she is the only girl in the room, a frequent occurrence at her STEM-focused school.
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Photo courtesy of Ava Farquhar
Ava Farquhar dresses up as Ginsburg.
King is now the chief justice on her student court, but it took about three years before she felt comfortable and confident in voicing her opinions in the setting — a confidence that Ginsburg always seemed to have, she said.
