Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, better known online as “the Notorious RBG,” offered some life advice in an essay for the New York Times. The essay is excerpted from, and was published in advance of, her new book, My Own Words.
Speaking frankly about her career, the social progress she has seen, and the progress she’s still waiting for, Ginsburg credits much of her success to her mother. For one thing, Ginsburg’s mother “made reading a delight” early on, and instilled in Ginsburg a fierce intelligence and curiosity that never left her.
Her mother also “counseled [her] constantly to be independent,” and to make sure she could support herself without relying too heavily on anyone else. Ginsberg’s admirable determination has roots here as well; she is a woman who always knew what she wanted, and found ways to achieve it.
Ginsburg also speaks highly of work-life balance in her essay. Even though it “was a term not yet coined in the years [her] children were young,” work-life balance is what got Ginsburg through law school. She fondly recalls the time she spent “playing silly games or singing funny songs, reading picture books and A. A. Milne poems” with her then-infant daughter, and those breaks in the law school grind kept her sane. They also “gave [her] a sense of proportion that classmates trained only on law studies lacked.”
Though Ginsberg remains critical of the gender wage gap and other struggles that women face, her tone is ultimately hopeful that young women will build upon the gains she and her generation of women made in the past.
Read the full essay here. You can order a copy of My Own Words here. To learn her thoughts on how it feels to be somewhat of a folk hero (the Notorious R.B.G.), watch this interview with Justice Ginsburg below.
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