Ruth was a supporter for women’s rights throughout her life. The Women’s Strike for Equality took place in 1970 and sought equal opportunity in the workforce, improved political rights for women, and social equality in marriage. In 1988, Ruth was a guest speaker for the Women’s Campaign Fund. The group wanted more women elected into positions of government and politics nationwide. Ruth was able to use her fame to bring media attention to the event and the cause.

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Ruth was also involved in civil rights and education. Operation Bootstrap was an educational program that stemmed from the Watts riots in Los Angeles. In August of 1965, an outraged community reacted violently to unemployment and police racism. Soon after the riots, Operation Bootstrap was formed as an education and job-training center for the area. Ruth assisted with acting classes within the organization. In 2000, she refused a lifetime achievement award from the South Carolina Arts Commission due to the state’s refusal to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol, claiming it was “a deliberate affront to the African-Americans who see it as a sign of oppression and hate.”

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Ruth was very supportive of the anti-war movement throughout the Vietnam era. She supported the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, which was founded in 1967. The Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam was a 1969 demonstration in opposition to the war and war taxes. Ruth used her vocal talents by composing a ballad in honor of the victims of the Kent State Massacre to honor the four students killed there by the Ohio National Guard on May 4, 1970. Vice President Spiro Agnew claimed that the antiwar movement was led by an "effete corps of impudent snobs” and so Ruth wore the title proudly in protest. She was a supporter of the Impeach Nixon movement after the Watergate scandal was revealed in 1973.