Barbra Streisand is set to receive the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award. The fourth recipient of the honor, awarded by the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation, Streisand will be presented with the award on April 22, 2023, at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
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Established by Julie Opperman, chairman of the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation, in 2019 to honor the late Justice Ginsburg, who died in 2020, the award is presented annually to “an exceptional woman who has been an exemplary leader in her chosen field,” according to the Opperman Foundation.
“We were honored to present The Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award to The Queen of England last year, and we are equally ecstatic this year to honor our own queen of music and film, Barbra Streisand, an unrivaled American cultural icon who has brought her own brand of magic to the entire world,” said Opperman in a statement.
Opperman added, “I made a promise to Justice Ginsburg to help preserve her legacy and to ensure that this award that bears her name continues to recognize strong women leaders who have made the world a better place, and I only wish she was here today to celebrate Ms. Streisand with us.”
Streisand’s body of work more than fits the criteria for the Ginsburg honor. Already an EGOT — the winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award—the iconic artist has worked across all creative platforms as a singer, songwriter, producer, director, and actress. In 2015, Streisand also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor presented by the White House.
As a philanthropist, Streisand has also supported the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and helped open the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center, which focused on heart disease research. Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women in the U.S.
Streisand will join a number of esteemed recipients of the Ginsburg honor, including 2020 inaugural honoree philanthropist Agnes Gund. In 2021, the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award was presented to Queen Elizabeth II, which marked the only time the monarch accepted an award, that was not presented by a nation, in her 70 years on the throne. Fashion icon and philanthropist Diane von Furstenberg was the 2022 recipient of the award.
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