“Change the standard for reviewing presumptions about women and you change the entire body of law.”
The legal frameworks of O’Connor and Ginsburg as the first and second women to serve as Supreme Court justices are predominantly tied to women's rights and gender equality. As a result, Hirshman focuses on their contributions in pushing the modern feminist discourse while fighting against gender discrimination. Both O’Connor and Ginsburg have distinct backgrounds yet very similar upbringing and subsequently career pursuits. Their journey as women marking the start of their legacy at a time when women were seen as inferior encompasses the spirit of the quote. They pursued legal careers and secured prominent positions subverting the notion that women are only meant for traditional roles.
“She once said that she went back to practicing law after a few years of tending to her family in order to get some respite from the demands of the Junior League! Her reliance on voluntarism was a constant theme in her life, public as well as private.”
The quote alludes to O’Connor’s volunteering efforts as a campaign worker and president of a Junior League in her earlier years. Thus, highlights the background and essence of her legal framework into her tenure as a Supreme Court Justice. In American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Ginsburg was a volunteer attorney in the 1970s which shows the resemblance in their beginnings. Henceforth despite their support for different political parties their core values bear a resemblance. The spirit of voluntarism plays a huge role in fighting for social justice which is significant in public figures in key positions. In the quote, Hirshman also recognizes the balance between career and family that exists even for important figures such as O’Connor and Ginsburg.
“Relentlessly sociable and bent on a public life, the transition to the legislature was natural for a woman who never seemed to recognize how uppity she was.”
Hirshman accounts the lives of the two women who would become the first women to serve in the Supreme Court during their transition into the legal sphere. In the quote, Hirshman narrates O’Connor securing the position in the Arizona Senate after it became vacant. Hirshman focuses on the transition the women faced as they advanced in their legal careers into positions that had not been held by women before. Consequently demonstrating their willpower to assume the new obligations despite the societal pressures that had sidelined women thus far. Societal presumptions had forced women to pursue careers that required sociable or affable traits; however, O’Connor akin to Ginsberg defied these beliefs by assuming superior positions.
