Sandra Day O’Connor

http://www.oyez.org/justices/sandra_day_oconnor

O’Connor was born on March 26, 1930 in El Paso, Texas. She was a two term state senate of Arizona. She grew up in Arizona on a family ranch. She attended Stanford getting a bachelor degree in economics. She later decided to go to the university’s school of law graduation in 1952. There are very few opportunities for women in the field of being a lawyer. O’Connor struggled finding work at one point she became a county attorney for California’s San Mateo county for free just to get some experience. For 3 years she was a civilian lawyer in Germany later , returning home to Arizona doing private practice. O’Connor was nominated to become a U.S. Supreme Court Justices and revived a unanimous senate vote. Sandra Day O’Connor was the first female justice.

In the 1920’s women had little to no rights. Even the right to have and not have children. In 1921 Margaret Sanger founded the American birth control league which later became planned parenthood. In the 60’s a women named Betty Friedan published a book called The Feminine Mystique which talked about women feel about their limited role in society. On june 10th of that year congress passed Equal Pay Act making it illegal to be paid differently for being a woman but we continue to have problems with it.  In 1964 congress saw that the civil rights act wasn’t only for discrimination against race but also gender. And in 1981 the first women supreme court justice was nominated.