A week ago, you were cuddling on the couch. Immersed in the hugs of your mom, and grandma, and auntie. Then they stopped, stared at their phones in horror, and tried to explain why they felt so sad.

I can’t add to what they said, because while the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg affects me and will affect you, it means something else for women. Also, much of what I’ve drafted has been deleted as it sounds like a man telling young men, “here’s a quick guide to feminist ideology and contemporary sexism”.

RBG was an icon. A diva who turned into a rock star. An idealistic ideologue who made time to share appreciate the passions and of her rival jurists.

Our lives are richer because she was in a powerful position to affect our world. As she said

Vitally, Ginsburg frequently argued before the Supreme Court prior to joining its ranks as a justice. She held, as did the renowned Title IX law, that:

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

Title IX of Education Assistance Law (1972)

Too often, sports becomes an exclusionary place, especially in terms of gender. Too often, we fixate on the men of the sport and isolate women’s games to the fine print, or ancillary commentary.

Title IX challenged that notion. It insisted that young women have access to all the athletic programs that young men accessed by default. While college football and basketball are big business; women’s sports have brought in a more diverse and equitable student body.

Without Title IX, there likely wouldn’t be the bevy of young female soccer players in the US. Without that market (and corporate sponsorship that goes with it) there likely wouldn’t be the women’s game around the world as we know it today. Without that international competition, I wouldn’t be reporting breathlessly on the Rosenborg Kvinner, or the Grizzly Soccer team, or Freiburg, Emelec, and Grenoble.

Without Title IX, without a firm and emphatic belief that no person should be excluded from activities, including sports, on the basis of sex, our world would be poorer, our experience, more shallow.

Title IX is a droplet in the ocean of Ginsburg’s work. But the ripple effects of it crash ashore each and every day. We make mistakes (my ignorant titling of weekly MVPs at the start of this year is but one of my many). But with the challenging, strident, and invaluable contributions of women, especially those like RBG in places where decisions are being made, we grow.