In 1956, wife and mother Ruth begins her first year of studies at Harvard Law School as one
of the few women in the university.
It's not an easy task, from day one she encounters all kinds of discrimination: Dean Griswold
offers a welcome speech that only acknowledges the men in the room, and later during a special
welcome dinner, he barely lets any of the girls talk, considering all their reasons
to join law school stupid and commenting their places should've gone to a man.
Class isn't any better, teachers like professor Brown won't choose her to answer questions
even if she raises her hand first and her classmates speak all over her.
Even when she finally manages to speak up and offer good arguments, she's just accused
of filibustering.
Her husband Martin, a second-year student, is always supportive of her, and together
they manage to handle their studies and the care of their baby daughter.
One evening, while the happy couple is having fun with friends in a bar, Martin begins feeling
unwell and suddenly passes out.
No time is wasted in taking him to the hospital, where Ruth waits patiently for any news.
Unfortunately, after many hours of thumb-twiddling, Ruth is told to go home because they're going
to need to run a long list of tests.
It isn't until a few days later that Martin finally gets a diagnosis: it's cancer.
The doctor explains that at least they've caught it early, so there are many options
for treatment.
Tears soon take over Martin's eyes, but Ruth refuses to let him give up: he will go through
the treatments, finish school, and be an excellent lawyer and father.
From then on, Ruth begins going to both her classes and Martin's, and when she gets home,
she keeps on working by transcribing lectures while caring for her sick husband and growing
baby.
Fortunately, the treatments work, and Martin's cancer begins remitting, allowing him to graduate.
Two years later, he gets a job at a firm in New York.
Eager to support her husband and not ready to see him only during the weekends, Ruth
talks to Griswold to request to finish her Harvard law degree with classes at Columbia.
Unfortunately, Griswold denies this request, claiming Ruth should already be grateful that
she was admitted at all.
In the end, Ruth transfers to Columbia Law School, having to start her course of studies
from scratch but still managing to graduate at the top of her class.
Her intelligence however is absolutely ignored when she tries to find a job.
All law firms turn her down, using flimsy excuses like women being too emotional to
be a lawyer, the fact she's Jewish and may ask for Shabbat, and claiming the employees'
wives will get jealous if they hire a woman.
Running out of options, she ends up taking a job as a professor at Rutgers Law School,
teaching "Gender Discrimination and the Law".
Ruth is obviously not entirely happy with this situation but pretends to be, so Martin
stays supportive and points out professors can take any clients they want instead of
having to stick to a firm's preferences.
In 1970, Ruth continues to be a professor, and she's incredibly happy to see how all
her students, mostly women, are eager to change the world.
Martin is a successful tax court lawyer that still helps at home with their new son and
their daughter Jane, who has become quite a rebellious teenager.
Ruth is constantly fighting with her because Jane likes to skip school to attend rallies
and doesn't hesitate to talk back to her mother, pointing out that talking about discrimination
in class isn't a movement, just a support group.
One night, Martin takes Ruth to one of his many firm dinner parties.
Ruth doesn't really get along with the other wives and prefers to listen to Martin's law
stories, occasionally adding some comments of her own, but she's always dismissed and
condescendingly brushed off by the other lawyers.
When they leave the party, Ruth calls Martin out for not defending her, and in the middle
of her rant, she finally admits how frustrated she is with the fact she isn't allowed to
be a real lawyer.
Sometime later, Martin brings Ruth news of a very interesting case: a single man was
denied a tax deduction for the nursing care of his mother because the law assumes that
caretakers are women.
For the first time, a law is discriminating against men, so if the Supreme Court ruled
this law unconstitutional, it could become precedent to topple all other unfair gender-based
laws.
Determined to take this case, Ruth meets with Wulf from ACLU, the American Civil Liberties
Union, who she's known since she was a kid.
Sadly, this friendship means little when it comes to going to court: Wulf thinks Ruth's
case is already lost and refuses to let ACLU back her up.
Still not willing to give up, Ruth travels all the way to Denver to meet Charles, the
victim of the case.
He's already been told by four different lawyers that he doesn't have a case, and a judge even
accused him of trying to cheat the law.
However he changes his mind and accepts to go for it when Ruth explains she'll do it
for free and that his case may help thousands of people in the future.
With Charles onboard, Martin asks for permission at work to take a case outside the firm, which
is his right.
His boss isn't amused by the idea, thinking Charles' case will destroy his career and
embarrass the firm, but permission is still given.
Afterward, when Martin returns home, he finds Ruth and Jane arguing over ethics again.
Feeling like her mother is bullying her, Jane rushes to her room to cry, so Martin comes
to comfort her and asks her to be patient.
Ruth's mother died when she was young but up to that day, she taught her to be fierce
and question everything in order to survive, and this is Ruth's way to pass the same values
to her daughter.
The next day, to make amends with Jane, Ruth allows her to skip school and come with her
to meet Dorothy Kenyon, a famous attorney and political activist that has always fought
for women's rights.
She didn't always win, but she always made sure to be taken seriously.
Unfortunately, Dorothy agrees with Wulf; Charles won't be taken seriously by the court and
his case is already lost.
On their way out, Jane still shows Ruth her support and defends her against catcallers,
prompting Ruth to proudly realize what a liberated woman Jane has become.
This couldn't have been possible twenty years ago, which means times are already changing,
they don't need to wait.
As weeks pass, Ruth and Martin continue to work hard on preparing the case, writing up
a brief that they send to Dorothy together with the news of another case in Idaho where
the husband won against his wife because "men are better at math".
This is enough to make Dorothy change her mind, prompting her to visit Wulf and make
him take on Ruth's case.
Frustrated but willing to listen to one of ACLU's most important lawyers, Wulf meets
with Ruth and after hearing her ideas to change the tax law, he accepts to offer ACLU's support
for Charles' case.
Meanwhile, Brown and Griswold are discussing who shall be the lawyer to go against Ruth.
They can't risk losing the privileges given to men by the law, so they want someone with
experience; however newbie Bozarth convinces them to give him the case with a very compelling
argument.
He's using a computer to find every law that mentions gender, that way, he can convince
the judges accepting gender discrimination as a real thing would destroy the entire American
law system.
There'll be three judges in the trial, and one of them is also an activist, thus Bozarth
will have to appeal by painting a dreadful picture of society in the future if they allow
women not to say home with the kids.
Back to Ruth, her students and Jane have accepted to help her find all the laws that mention
gender, too.
One evening, Wulf comes to Ruth's home with two other lawyers to go through a moot trial,
which consists of a simulated court so Ruth can practice her arguments.
Unfortunately, they absolutely destroy her, especially when she gets more and more emotional
by the second and ends up yelling at them.
Martin cuts in to offer her some advice on how to present her arguments, which inspires
an idea from Wulf and his friends: Martin should present half of the brief by concentrating
on the tax law, then Ruth can do the other half by presenting the arguments related to
gender.
Martin doesn't like the idea because it implies Ruth can't do it on her own, but they have
no choice but to accept if they want to keep ACLU's support.
A few days later, before Ruth leaves for Denver, Wulf calls Ruth with an offer: he wants her
to help write the brief for the Idaho case, which the ACLU has recently taken.
However Ruth won't be allowed to talk in court, and she hates the idea that they would use
her words yet not her face.
To make matters worse, Wulf informs her that Brown is trying to settle Charles' case for
a dollar, and he wants Ruth to convince Charles to take it.
Honestly, he doesn't think Ruth can win, and if she embarrasses herself in court she'll
send the women's rights movement back a hundred years.
When Ruth returns home and shares what happened with the family, Jane comes in her defense,
reminding her this is her life's work and that it should be not only for her own career
but for the future of her daughter.
Afterward, Ruth calls Charles, who also expresses more interest in helping future generations
than in the money.
The next day, Ruth meets with Griswold and Brown, and manages to stay calm while they
keep throwing condescending comments at her.
Ruth is ready to accept the deal if Charles is paid the whole sum, not only a dollar;
which Griswold and Brown are willing to concede.
However they change their minds when Ruth adds other conditions: the government must
admit Charles did nothing wrong and enter in the court record that this tax law is discriminating
on the basis of gender, therefore it is unconstitutional.
Since the men won't agree to this, Ruth agrees to meet them in court and leaves with her
head held high.
The day of the trial finally comes and the judges give each side thirty minutes to present
their arguments.
Martin does well even if the judges keep trying to bait him and keep him talking instead of
letting Ruth take her turn.
Fortunately, Martin knows how to escape those arguments and allows his wife to do her thing.
Sadly, Ruth does fall for the bait the same way she did back during the moot trial, getting
too nervous and emotional to keep going.
In the end, she decides to save some of her time to prepare a rebuttal, perhaps letting
Martin do all the work.
Next, Bozarth comes forward and gives a speech about the "natural order of things", pointing
out that it is their duty to respect traditions, not radical social change, and that Charles
just wants to avoid paying taxes.
Everyone thinks Bozarth has this case in his pocket, but actually, his words have inspired
Ruth to think of the perfect rebuttal and she takes over the last minutes of their time
instead of Martin.
Presenting radical social change as the opposite of the basic natural laws is wrong, many laws
have been changed throughout the years to accommodate new needs, like allowing women
to vote and study law.
By saying radical social change is not good for society, they're implying all the work
their forefathers did for the law is also wrong, therefore all the current laws are
wrong too.
When one of the judges points out that the word "woman" doesn't appear in the constitution,
Ruth responds by saying the word "freedom" doesn't appear either.
The judges aren't being asked to change the country, because the country is changing on
its own, what they need to do is to protect the country's right to change.
Once the trial is over, Wulf congratulates Ruth on her wonderful work.
They don't know who won yet, but like Dorothy, Ruth has managed to bring the subject to light
and ignite a flame for future lawyers that want to follow in her footsteps.
The real case ended with Charles getting the tax deduction he was entitled to.
His case plus Idaho's, which Ruth also worked on, were the first two federal cases to declare
discrimination on the basis of gender unconstitutional.
Eventually, Ruth co-founded the ACLU's Women's Rights Project and in 1993, she was nominated
to the US Supreme Court, winning 96-3.
Martin became one of the country's most important tax court lawyers and died of cancer in 2010,
a few days after the couple's fifty-sixth wedding anniversary.
Jane also graduated from Harvard and today she's a professor at Columbia.