Law Schools

Sexism Drove Ruth Bader Ginsburg To Always Be Prepared In Law School

In a class of 500 men, RBG was always ready to be cold-called.

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(Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

One thing that I did feel in law school was that if I flubbed, that I would be bringing down my entire sex. That you weren’t just failing for yourself, but people would say, “Well, I did expect it of a woman.” It’s like they would say about a woman driver. So I was determined not to leave that impression.

— Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, discussing her time at Harvard Law School almost 65 years ago, in a wide-ranging interview with Dahlia Lithwick about her life and what she remembers about her nine female classmates. Click here to check out the transcript.

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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