What young feminists can learn from Ruth Bader Ginsburg

So Ruth Bader Ginsburg is gone. What do I hope is her legacy? That younger feminists take a leaf out of her book and fight for real, material change instead of targeting older feminists as ‘bigots’ and ‘irrelevant’.

An old-school, early second wave feminist, Ginsburg was nevertheless loved and admired by legions of young women. In an era where the efforts of older feminists are often derided, ignored or taken in bad faith by younger women it was heart-warming to see Ginsburg attain rock star status in later years, and nicknamed the Notorious RBG, in honour of fellow Brooklynite, the rapper Biggie Smalls. Mugs, t shirts, and facemasks bearing Ginsburg’s image are available to buy, and many young women in Brooklyn even bear RGB tattoos.

Why was she respected and loved by so many younger women? Because they discovered, through the widely distributed films about her life that Ginsburg made an actual difference to women’s lives – black, poor, migrant, disabled.