FALEJO, PATRICIA B.

On the Basis of Sex

Based on Ruth Bader Ginsburg's judicial life, On the Basis of Sex is a biographical drama
film about the Supreme Court justice, who was only the second woman to hold the position.
Mimi Leder directed the film, which stars Felicity Jones as Ginsburg. Focus Features released
the picture in the United States in December of last year. Despite graduating from Harvard Law
School, Ginsburg is still unable to obtain a job in the legal field for women. In the 1970 case of
Moritz v. Commissioner, she gets her big break as she seeks to create a precedent for unjust sex
discrimination. Despite her difficulties in court, she maintains her will and confidence in fighting
the Court of Appeals' unfair treatment of women.
The film depicts Ruth Bader Ginsburg's early days as a lawyer in the United States Supreme
Court. Her husband Martin is diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of the film, and she is a
student at Harvard Law School with him. In the meanwhile, Ruth teaches both of his classes. A
law company then hires him, but Ruth cannot do so because of her gender. Instead, she is a
professor of law at a university. Moriz v. Commissioner is the name of a tax law case Martin
informs Ruth about later in the film. A guy's tax deduction for nursing care is denied because he
is a male in this case. Ruth sees this case as an opportunity to expose and confront the gender
biases inherent in the law. As a result, they meet with a variety of lawyers to persuade them to
accept the case. As a result, most of the case is assigned to Martin, with Ruth providing reasons
in support of equal protection. At the beginning of the trial, things don't go as planned because
Martin uses up all of his given time, and Ruth has to rush to make her arguments. The
government refuses to recognize the case's constitutional components with this settlement. On
the other hand, Ruth delivers a compelling and convincing closing argument, causing the court to
rule in Moritz's favor. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the real-life lady who played her, makes a
triumphant exit from the Supreme Court building at the film's conclusion, symbolically
becoming the court's second female member.
It's the central concept of the film, and Ginsburg's real-life experience, as well. Ginsburg, a
Harvard Law School valedictorian, is still unable to get a job in the legal field despite being one
of just nine female classmates. Due to her gender, she became a professor at Rutgers Law
School, where she teaches "Sex Discrimination and the Law." Even though the movie is centered
around Ginsburg challenging the established quo by taking on Supreme Court cases that show
how the system is biased against women, she is eventually successful in overturning five of the
six points she presents. The events depicted in the film are primarily intended to draw attention
to the unjust treatment that both men and women experience merely because of their gender. In
the real-life case of Moritz v. Commissioner (1972), Charles Moritz was refused a tax deduction
for the nursing care of his elderly mother while he worked because he was neither "a woman, a
widower or divorcée, or a husband whose wife is disabled or hospitalized. As a result of this,
Ginsburg said that males should not be exposed to harsh and discriminatory judgments because
they are the primary breadwinners in a household. Ginsburg demonstrates how easy it is to deny
women access to the same rights as men by underlining the injustice of the Moritz judgment. As
a result of this lawsuit, all of America's gender-based legislation can be challenged. However,
Ginsburg's concerns and lack of confidence in the courtroom are implicit in the effort to
pronounce section 214 unlawful. She has difficulty acclimating to the courtroom due to her lack
of formal legal training. Despite this, Ginsburg continues to fight for her beliefs. Indeed, she is
commended for having discovered her voice as a lawyer, something she had only ever hoped to
do, regardless of the case outcome.
As economic agents in both public and private domains, women are crucial to the WAD
paradigm's focus on their roles in their societies. Men and women have different roles in society,
and it's essential to recognize that including women in development initiatives would only help
perpetuate the inequalities that already exist in countries dominated by patriarchal interests. We
can observe the protagonist's battle for equality in this film. The film had a great impact to me,
especially its empowering factor towards me as a women whom also had a share of such
instances in my life. It taught me that perseverance if important in every aspect of life. Second, is
having a voice for oppression, clearly that the only thing that we can do for oppression is to fight
it, we cannot rise above oppression by merely standing in the middle and observing. Lastly, the
film thought me that love is powerful, that it has no boundaries, even when the world is against
the both of you, true love prevails indeed. Overall this film was very enjoying to watch.