Entertainment icon Barbra Streisand will be honored with the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Women of Leadership Award April 22 in a ceremony at the Library of Congress. Streisand will be the fourth person to receive the award, following Agnes Gund, Diane von Furstenberg, and Queen Elizabeth II.
Streisand was selected by a committee of 14, led by Kennedy Center Board of Trustees Chairman David Rubenstein. Ginsburg, a fellow Brooklyn native, had reportedly expressed intentions for Streisand to be a recipient prior to her passing in 2020.
According to Julie Opperman, philanthropist and friend of Ginsburg, Streisand's candidacy for the award was automatically clear. “It’s fair to say that for Barbra Streisand, it was shortest deliberation we’ve ever had,” said Opperman in an interview with the Washington Post.
In addition to acknowledging her artistry, Streisand is also receiving the award in honor of her advocacy work for women's health, racial equality, voting rights, climate change, LGBTQ+ pride and acceptance, and more.
Streisand has recorded 52 gold, 31 platinum, and 13 multi-platinum albums, achieving No. 1 albums in each of the six consecutive decades. She is the only artist ever to receive Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Directors Guild of America, Golden Globe, National Medal of Arts, and Peabody awards, as well as France's Legion d’Honneur, the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and is the first female film director to receive the Kennedy Center Honors. In 2015, President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
