Influencing the Climate of an Era: A Generation of Transformative Action #NotoriousRBG

Above all else, we insist that the rights of all human beings, regardless of their race, sex or identities, should be respected.

A favorite quote of mine, is a quote of a quote, that was used as a catalyst for RBG. A great constitutional scholar, Paul Freund, once said:

"The Court should never be influenced by the weather of the day but inevitably they will be influenced by the climate of the era.”

A court ought not be affected by the weather of the day, but will be by the climate of the era. Sex discrimination is not an abstract but a reality that is prevalent in our climate. Ruth Bader Ginsburg gained her notoriety by puncturing ancient national rhetoric, with her arduous dissenting arguments against the erasure of a women’s place in our societal constitution.

Justice Ginsburg was a multigenerational phenomenon. Her resilience was unyielding, amongst her consistent strives. 

A true Legacy Left. 

A History Confound. 

A Population Transformed. 

We cannot deny that many women, regardless of race or background, share similar instances of gender bias and discrimination. However, women of color exist in a separate set of unique challenges, that often remain vastly disregarded.

Black women make up 1.73% of all attorneys.

While enjoying the Harvard Business Review, I came upon a few profound concepts. For the most part, we’re all familiar with “Pink Tax” and “Black Girl Tax,” but how about these...

INCLUSION TAX: 

This labor is levied in the form of time, money, and mental and emotional energy required to gain entry, and acceptance from traditionally white and male institutional spaces.

LABOR OF INVISIBILITY: 

This entails the need to work longer or harder to get noticed and the pressure to be flawless, because the stereotypical assumption of incompetence leaves little to no margin for error. The research of numerous scholars reveals that women and people of color are penalized at significantly higher rates for marginal errors, as compared with white men.

There is an emotional and mental burden inflicted upon those who are perpetually the only person of color, or woman in the room.

What we ask for is a structural change, and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg paved a path to be populated by more powerful women of transformative action.