On the Basis of Sex

    It took me quite a while to watch On the Basis of Sex.  First for superstitious reasons.  Then because I thought it was going to be a dreary film, and I was not up for dreary.  Finally, I just sat down and watched it.  Not only was it not dreary, but I found this film to be another important film to watch.

    Mrs. Ruth Ginsburg (Felicity Jones) is in law school.  Harvard law school, to be exact.  A school where Ruth is one of the very few women who have been allowed to enroll.  The dean, Erwin Griswold (Sam Waterston), makes it very clear he thinks little of the women who have enrolled.  He believes their spots in the school should have gone to men.  The professors are not far behind with these beliefs.

    Still, Ruth pursues her law degree.  She also purses the degree of her husband, Martin (Armie Hammer), when he is diagnosed with cancer.  During this time, Ruth goes to Martin’s classes, goes to her classes, cares for Martin, and cares for their baby daughter, Jane.  And still, she gets little to no respect from Dean Griswold and the other professors.

    Nor are her efforts taken into consideration when she asks for a transfer to Columbia University.  Martin has received a job in New York, and Ruth wants to go with them.  To finish her studies, she would have to transfer.  Dean Griswold refuses to go along with the plan, but Ruth goes anyway.  She earns her degree from Columbia.

    Finding a job after graduating is impossible, though.  No one will hire her.  Each law office has a different reason.  Some are because she is a woman.  Other times it’s because she’s Jewish.  I’m sure for some places both were a problem.  Eventually Ruth accepts a job as a law professor at Rutgers University.  Their single Black professor has left, and they believe hiring a woman for the position will be an equivalent diversity-appearing replacement.  I think they need a new definition of diversity.

    For years Ruth works as a professor and struggles with her students.  Not just with the men who have problems seeing women as equal, but also with the women themselves.  They are out changing the world, as she wanted to do.                               

Changing Times/Artwork by Kate Dorsey

    Jane (Cailee Spaeny), now a teenager, has a problem with this as well.  She skips school to go to women’s rights rallies, and looks up to Gloria Steinem.  She doesn’t see her mother as someone doing anything for the cause of women.  This makes Ruth question herself.

    To help, Martin, a tax attorney, finds a case for Ruth to look into.  Charles Moritz (Chris Mulkey), a man from Colorado, is being discriminated against because he is a man.  As a single man, the law does not see him as a possible caretaker for his mother.  It would be different if he were married, divorced, or a woman.  But as a single man, in the eyes of the law, there is no way he could be a caretaker, and is therefore ineligible for the caretaker tax break.

    Ruth sees this case as a stepping stone to overturning and changing laws against women.  Unfortunately, she has very little support.  Her old friend at the ACLU, Mel Wulf (Justin Theroux), dismisses her.  A lawyer, Dorothy Kenyon (Kathy Bates), a woman famous for a past female discrimination case, will not help her.  Only Martin truly believes in what Ruth is doing.

    Something with Dorothy’s meeting with Ruth must have piqued her interest, though.  Dorothy looks at the case and brings it to Mel’s attention at the ACLU.  She also tells Mel he would be an idiot if he doesn’t take the case.

    Mel finally agrees to see the case through, but only on the condition he has almost complete control over Ruth.  As this is the only way she can move forward, Ruth agrees.  Things do not go well from this point on.

    In so many ways Mel is far worse towards woman than Dean Griswold is.  At least he is towards Ruth.  Dean Griswold didn’t pretend he supported women.  Pretty much every word he said made it clear he didn’t.  Mel, on the other hand, acts as though he has respect for women, but then has no problem undercutting them.  Except for Dorothy.  I think Mel was afraid of her.

    No matter what Ruth does, according to Mel, it is wrong.  He tells her to be more appealing to the judges they will face.  Commands her to smile.  Everything she does and says is not the way to do it.  Then Mel decides it is Martin who should do the talking in court.  Ruth should not speak at all.  All things I highly doubt Mel would ever say to a man.  The demand to smile in particular.

    In the end, a compromise is made.  Martin will speak half the time, and Ruth will speak the other half.  But Mel isn’t done causing problems.  He asks Ruth to help on a female discrimination case.  Ruth thinks she will finally truly be able to help.  Be part of the team.  

    No.  That’s not what’s happening.  Mel wants Ruth to give her knowledge to the male lawyer to use himself.  He also wants, to aid this second case, for Ruth and Charles Moritz to settle.  His settlement?  One dollar.

    Ruth is not happy with this agreement, but she is obligated to present it to her client.  Charles is reluctant to agree, as he should be.  In the settlement, his name will not be cleared of wrongdoing, nor will it help anyone in the future.  When Ruth presents these conditions of clearing Charles’ name and changing the law to Dean Griswold and another of her past professors, who are somehow the council for the opposing side, they refuse to agree to them.  One dollar is all Charles will get.  His name will not be cleared.  No one will be helped for the future.  Believing they have everything in hand, the men are shocked when Ruth refuses the agreement and leaves the room.

    In court, Martin and Ruth split their given time.  Martin stumbles over his answers to the judges’ questions.  The exact same questions Mel was so certain Ruth would be inept at answering.  The judges also keep holding Martin up, preventing him from passing the time to Ruth.  I have a feeling this was quite intentional, as they did not want to hear from a woman.

    But Ruth does get to speak.  It does not go well, and she saves her leftover time for rebuttal.

    After the opposing council, whose speaking time was used by Attorney James H. Bozarth (Jack Reynor), have their turn, Ruth speaks again.  With strength, certainty, and conviction, we see who Mrs. Ruth Ginsburg is going to become: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

    As good as this film is, there are a lot of frustrating parts.  Far too many men needed a good, swift kick for their behavior.  Dean Griswold, Mel, and the very smug James H. Bozarth needed particularly hard kicks.

    Martin, on the other hand, is a good, sweet man.  He had a couple moments where he didn’t fully understand what Ruth was trying to explain to him about how people treated her.  But he always tried.  And eventually he would understand.  In either case, when Martin understood and when he didn’t, he always supported Ruth in what she wanted to do.

    The reason this film is important to see is not just because it’s about Justice Ginsburg, although that is reason enough.  It is important to not only see what she, herself accomplished, but also to see how far women have come. 

    It’s also important to understand how these long fought for accomplishments are now sliding backwards.  Laws are being made to take away rights at every turn.  First one piece.  Then another.  After that, it’s the entire right, followed by another.  Soon, we will be taken back so far, we’ll need another Justice Ginsburg to get everyone back on equal footing.  Because it wouldn’t take much to take us back to a time where women had to fight for their right to go to law school.

    Justice Ginsburg had a long, hard road to accomplish all she did.  Do we really want to put all her work to shame?  Accept rights being taken away by those unaffected by their removal?  Have rights taken away by people with the power and money to get around the law?  Do we really want to start the fight over again? 

    Unless we do something now, that may be our only option.

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