RBG opnåede ikonstatus og var inspireret af den ligestilling, hun oplevede i Skandinavien
Ginsburg’s status as a court rock star also says a lot about the time she lived in
Ruth Bader Ginsburg achieved iconic status and was inspired by the equality she experienced in Scandinavia.
In front of the Supreme Court building in Washington DC, people crowd together, spontaneously the crowd bursts into song, behind the bandages ” Amazing Grace” is heard . It is as if people need to meet and be together. An icon has disappeared.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg 87 died of pancreatic cancer Friday afternoon, US time. RBG, which is the nickname she goes by here in the United States, was much loved and respected in large parts of American society. She fought for women’s equality and for minorities in several cases, she fought for women’s suffrage, for the right to contraception, the right to abortion and equality in military academies.
She leaves a legacy that focuses on her enormous influence on American history and the civil rights movement.
In 1993, she was nominated by the Supreme Court judge by President Bill Clinton and she was voted through by an overwhelming majority in the Senate.
Ginsburg worked day and night, devoting her life to her career. After learning Swedish and working on a comparative project, Ginsburg focused on the fact that there are other ways to organize society. She did not believe that there was a difference between the work of women and men, and i.a. therefore, there should be no difference in their rights either.
But RBG was clever and strategic. She turned the way of looking at equality legislation upside down and initially took cases that highlighted how men were discriminated against. In this way, she cunningly presented a discourse that changed the usual way of thinking about the law.
She was from a generation, born in 1933, the same year that the 32nd President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt was installed, the time was different, gender roles had not previously been discussed. The rights women take for granted today were considered unheard of when she brought them to market.
Cancer has followed Ginsburg all her life. The mother died the day before Ginsburg was to graduate from high school. Later, when both she and her husband were studying law, he became ill with testicular cancer and she had to take notes for him, look after their little daughter and even read next door. After a long marriage, Ginsburg lost her husband to cancer and she herself has had to fight the disease 5 times, which won on Friday night.
When Ginsburg studied law, 9 out of 550 students were women. Ginsburg had difficulty finding work after her studies because she was a woman. She has had to fight to be respected as a self-thinking and strong woman and not just be seen as a feminine, petit woman all her life. Many women, young and old, can relate to this.
Maybe that’s why RBG in the early 00s with its dry humor, intellect and appearance gained rock star status and toured US universities where thousands of young listeners flocked to hear her.
Rap songs have been made about her, children’s books, biographies have been written, you can buy RBG mugs, hats, earrings and other merge , SNL ( Saturday Night Live) has made several sketches about her, made a film and a documentary. In these Corona times, one can even get a bandage with her image and initials.
Ginsburg loved opera, and her iconic status resulted in her performing in an opera performance a few years ago, well enough with a dumb role, but that says something about the enormous resonance and status she had in the population.
RBG’s last wish was that she not be succeeded by a Supreme Court judge before the next presidential inauguration ceremony . Now begins an ugly political game.
RBG symbolizes not only an era in the history of the United States, but also an era in the history of American women. She represented justice for all, regardless of gender and race and she believed everyone was entitled to one vote.
Ginsburg was aware of her position, but she was also aware that she was standing on the shoulders of the women who had preceded her. She took her role seriously and in recent years she played an active role in telling young people that they are the next generation to carry on the baton.
The star status she was given perhaps says more about the time we live in than it says about her. She channeled the feelings of discomfort in relation to the development of society that many feel and brought out the fighting spirit in women in particular. She made them feel that anything is possible, she herself was a living proof of that.
(Google translate)
Danish-American Eyes on Society 