[5] In the 1970s, after a failed marriage to a man and her own involvement in the feminist movement, she changed her surname to "Ruthchild" in honor of her mother.
[2] In 1971, she participated in the Boston International Women's Day March and subsequent ten-day occupation of 888 Memorial Drive in Cambridge.
[6][7][5] In addition, she is a visiting scholar at Brandeis University's Women's Studies Research Center and has been a member of the Aspasia editorial board since 2009.
[4][6] In 1986, Ruthchild helped to establish the Women's Studius Caucus at the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies.
[5] She has written a book, Equality and Revolution: Women’s Rights in the Russian Empire, 1905-1917, which was given honorary mentions for the 2011 Reginald Zelnik Book Prize in History awarded by the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, and the Heldt Prize awarded by the Association of Women in Slavic Studies.