Ruth Bader Ginsburg, winner of the 2019 Berggruen Prize

Ginsburg, who has been a pioneer for gender equality throughout her career, was selected as the recipient of the 2019 Berggruen Prize, given annually to a thinker whose ideas “have profoundly shaped human self-understanding and advancement in a rapidly changing world.”

“Legal scholar, judge, and advocate whose work provided a new era of vital philosophical ideas to fruition; extending women’s rights and human rights rooted in ethical principles”, that's what the Berggruen Institute wrote about her on October 23.

This prize was introduced in 2016 by philanthropist Nicolas Berggruen to honor those who have "profoundly shaped human self-understanding and advancement."

Since that time this prize has been awarded to four outstanding philosophers, three of them women: Charles Taylor of Canada, Onora O’Neil of Britain and Martha Nussbaum of the United States

This year five hundred people were nominated and Ginsburg won the price, according to the committee for her work as “a lifelong trailblazer for human rights and gender equality,” and “a constant voice in favor of equality, the rights of workers and the separation of church and state.”

Ginsburg was the second woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court and since then she has been doing a notorious job. 

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There was a time in which she was the only woman on the court. As read on USA today, Ginsburg said that "It was a lonely position. Viewing the court, there was something wrong with the picture. The public was seeing these eight, rather well-fed men coming on the bench, and then there was this rather small woman. The concept of 'we the people' has become ever more inclusive."

She started the American Civil Liberties Union's Women's Rights Project in the 1970s and has become in recent years a cultural icon for being the subject of an Academy Award-nominated documentary. 

“It is a true honor to have Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the recipient of this year’s Berggruen Prize,” stated Institute Founder and Chairman Nicolas Berggruen. “I am delighted the Jury has chosen to honor such a prolific leader in the field of jurisprudence. Throughout her career, Ginsburg has used the law to advance ethical and philosophical principles of equality and human rights as basic tenets of the USA. Her contributions have shaped our way of life and way of thinking and have demonstrated to the world the importance of the rule of law in disabling discrimination.”

She will receive the $1 million prize on Dec. 16 at a ceremony at the New York Public Library and the money will be donated to charity.