Women
Ginsburg uses this book to comment on her admiration on key feminist figures that impacted her own growth and career as the second female Supreme Justice in the US. Figures such as Justice Scalia, a former Justice himself, impacted Ginsburg’s life so significantly that it led to a 2015 comic opera by Derrick Wang, known as Scalia v. Ginsburg. Scalia's friendship and admiration of Ginsburg highlighted that, despite their difference in gender, men and women are equally capable within the legal field. Other feminist figures mentioned were Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Supreme Court, and Gloria Steinem, a prominent spokeswoman and social political activist of the American feminist movement in the 1960s -1970s.
Gender discrimination
Ginsburg uses her prominent cases to explain the sex discrimination faced in the US. For example, she used United States v. Virginia (1996), which saw female students excluded from joining the Virginia Military Institute, as an obstacle to face in the quest to achieving equal rights for women, and was ultimately successful in the ruling. She also comments on her work in the ACLU, and how it is still an important aspect and movement in light of the gender discrimination faced today.
Love
Throughout the autobiography, Ginsburg professes her love for her husband, Martin, and the challenges they have faced through the years. She comments on his support of her fight against the Supreme Court in her earlier career, and the fact that the two would often work on gender-discrimination cases together. She also discusses his health challenges, having faced testicular cancer, and her own health concerns with pancreatic and colon cancer, and how they could not have survived without the help of the other.
