‘She was our champion,’ say New York women

From the top of the political and social heap to ordinary New Yorkers, women poured out their hearts in admiration of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, grateful for her remarkable career and trailblazing path that “broke through that glass ceiling for us all.”

And across the otherwise wide divides of age, race and income, women also hailed Ginsburg as a working mother and wife.

“She made such a mark for women,” said Emely Guzman, an airport worker from Manhattan. “She was the boss. RBG was someone every woman had to look up to.”

“There are so many women in power now,” she added, naming Rep. Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez (D-Queens, Bronx) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as two examples.

“But when she started it wasn’t that way,” Guzman said. “She broke through that glass ceiling for us all.”

Ginsburg, when confirmed as a Supreme Court justice in 1993, was only the second woman on the high court, following Sandra Day O’Connor.

Fourth-grade private school teacher Hillary Davis, 32, said youngsters have been left an outstanding role model.

“She’s done so much for the equality of women, especially in the workforce,” Davis, who teaches on the Upper East Side, said. “My students choose her when they want to do biographies. She’s a role model for what they want to be.”

“Well, you have to wonder what our Republican government is going to deny us now,” she warned. “Her passing is a call to arms. Women have to stand for what’s right and equitable.”

“She broke down walls,” Davis added. “She gave us forward movement. She proved you didn’t have to be ‘nice’. What was her quote? ‘I dissent.’ “

Aspiring teacher Giovanna Giusto, 25, of Ozone Park, Queens, said Ginsburg “was a tie-breaker,” and “that’s why people need to vote. It’s important in all elections, but now…” She said she worried the issue of abortion now hangs in an uncertain balance.

“It’s going to be a scary next few months to see what’s going to happen,” said Giusto.

“People don’t realize the Supreme Court has a lot of power.”

Performer and writer Ally Bonino, 30, who lives near Columbia University, credited Ginsburg for fighting “so that I could go to college, have a job where I wasn’t paid pennies. I know women are still fighting for that, but she just represented equality and justice.”

“She was our champion,” Bonino said.

One sobbing student at a memorial for Ginsburg that popped up near Columbia struggled to speak about the jurist’s death, but vowed her legacy would survive.

“She represented all of the ideals I believe in,” said Columbia sophomore Stefanie McKenzie, 19, who was born in Kenya and said she stayed in the same freshman dorm as Ginsburg did as a student.

“Going to the school, there are all these big names and it gets hard, you lose focus, but she didn’t, she fought all her life and I find that so inspiring,” McKenzie said.

Stay-at-home Manhattan mom Kristina Barko, 38, said she “grew up loving her.”

“She was my idea of [how to fight] to make many women equal,” she said.

Melissa Weiss, 38, a marketing executive from Manhattan, also described Ginsburg as “an inspiration.”

“Given the currently administration, she brought a level of character and integrity … that is sorely missed,” Weiss remarked.

“She was just everything,” she said. “She laid the groundwork of the female politicians and executives that exist today.”

Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, said Saturday that Ginsburg “was someone I had looked up to for a long time — as a young lawyer, and throughout my time practicing and teaching law.”

“This is a devastating personal loss for so many. But more than that, it is a devastating loss for our country. Her memory is already a blessing. May it also be a call to continue her work for justice and equality under the law.”