Friend –

It's easy to forget that not so long ago, it was considered radical to suggest that men and women should be treated as equals. People were pigeonholed into strict gender roles, regardless of their interests or talents. A majority of white women were mostly caregivers and homemakers, and their white male spouses, breadwinners. Racism generated different pernicious gender role stereotypes for Black people and other people of color. Sex discrimination against all women was rampant, and the courts allowed it to flourish.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a trailblazing social justice warrior who made it her life's work to tear down gender-biased laws, one court case at a time. She didn't just argue that women should be treated equally, she fought to get rid of predetermined gender roles altogether to free men and women from the suffocating constraints imposed by them.

She was a longtime member of our ACLU family, and her passing has affected many of us at the ACLU NorCal in personal ways.

Read the ACLU NorCal reflection on the legacy of RBG.

We must continue Justice Ginsburg's work. Make a plan to vote and cast your ballot early, by mail, or in person!

In solidarity,

Phyllida Burlingame, Legal-Policy Co-Director (Policy)
Tammerlin Drummond, Communications Strategist
ACLU of Northern California