Page 68 - English for Constitutional Law

study at Harvard University. Ruth was one of just nine female students in the 500-student
class there.

After Martin accepted a job in New York, Ruth Bader Ginsburg changed schools to
Columbia University so that they, and their little daughter, Jane, to be together. She finished
her legal education at Columbia and shared first place in her class with another student.
Working as a clerk or aide to a judge can be an excellent way for recent law school grads to
get professional experience. Even though Bader Ginsburg was competent, the first judge she
applied to turned her down because she was a woman. Yet later that year, she secured a job as
a clerk for a New York court. She then studied Swedish to contribute to a book on Swedish
law.

She held a position as a law professor at Columbia University before moving on to
Rutgers University. Ginsburg was informed that she would be paid less for this position than
her male counterparts because she had a husband who had a high-paying career. She was one
of fewer than 20 female law professors working in the country when she started her job at the
university. She was a founding member of the W o men's Rights Law Reporter, the first
publication in the United States to concentrate on women's rights.

She also practised as a lawyer, defending significant matters involving women's rights
before the Supreme Court. She rapidly gained notoriety for being a fervent and outspoken
supporter of women being treated equally and fairly.

Exercise 6. Answer the following questions.

.
1 What is the main idea of the text?
2 Describe a professional challenge Ruth Bader Ginsburg experienced and how she
.
overcame it.
3 Choose a detail from the text and explain why you believe it is significant.
.
.
4 What inference can you draw about Ruth's personality from the following sentence?
Ruth was one of just nine female students in a class of 500 there (at Harvard University).
5 . Why was Ruth Bader Ginsburg paid less for her position as a law professor?
Writing Practice

Comparison Contrast Paragraph
A comparison and contrast essay demonstrates the contrasts or similarities between
two objects. A comparison paragraph identifies similarities and provides an answer to the
query, "What do they have in common?"

A contrast paragraph demonstrates the differences between the two items, two people,
two places, etc. It answers the question, "How do they differ?"

Here are some common inquiries regarding various items that you might be required
to compare. You can come up with your questions for these and other forms of comparison;
these lists are meant to offer you some ideas. These lists are by no means exhaustive or
conclusive. You could start by using the standard questions that journalists ask: Who? What?
Where? When? Why? How? General characteristics like size, shape, color, sound, weight,

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