Why is it important for young women to have strong female role models?
Role Model Interviews
Judge Karina Alomar:
Most of Judge Alomar’s family was not high school educated, let alone college educated. Her mother was only educated to eighth grade because her family stopped her from getting an education. They believed a woman’s place was to be in the house. However, “[her] mother was the one who guided [her] dad throughout life. She made the business and family decisions. [Her] father would say that the result of my success was who I married. Her mom was her role model in an "untraditional sense". She had to be married by the age of twenty one because anything else in Ecuador was not acceptable. Even though her mom couldn’t achieve all she wanted, she never stopped being strong for her daughter. Judge Alomar's mother's resilience and strength makes her one of Judge Alomar's greatest role models.
Another female role model of Judge Alomar was her great aunt. Her great aunt’s parents died when she was only tweny one. She was the oldest child and had several younger brothers and sisters. Her family had a coffee farm. Judge Alomar's great aunt was able to keep the farm running in a time when it was really unheard of to see women managing anything, let alone a farm.
Besides these two strong female role models, Judge Alomar had a father who believed in women having an education. Her father pushed her to be a professional so that she would never have to be dependent on a man.
“Becoming a lawyer was something I always wanted to do. I remember being three and I used to play court and have a little briefcase. I’m going to court, I would say. My parents went with it. As I got older, it continued to get reaffirmed. There was never any question in my mind. I am going to be a lawyer and then I am going to be a judge. And that’s what happened in my life.”
“When I was eight, this was affirmed.” Judge Alomar went to the store with her mom. She took her mother’s lipstick from the house before going without telling her mom. When her mom took the lipstick away from her in the store, her mom was accused of stealing the lipstick. “My mom couldn’t even speak English. I was so upset because she couldn’t properly defend herself. Every time I tried to speak out, they wouldn’t let me. That made me want to be able to help to make sure that people are being treated fairly.”
“Everything that I’ve seen with my work has impacted who I am and how I raise my daughter. Prior to becoming a judge, I did a lot of work in the matrimonial law arena. I saw a lot of women in bad marriages, sometimes abusive ones, who stayed longer than they should have because they didn’t know where to go. I saw how these women became damaged emotionally and psychologically. It hurt their children. It made me realize how lucky I was to have a dad who wanted me to have an education. I don’t care what my daughter studies, but she has to study and do something.”
Judge Alomar has inspired me to aspire to become a matrimonial lawyer. As a partner at her firm, Judge Alomar worked to help women get out of their unhappy marriages. From my previous leadership roles, I feel as though I am an empowered and confident woman. Through the law, I hope to help other women who do not feel as strong as I do. Judge Alomar was able to become a partner at her own firm and then a Judge, all at a young age. I admire how she has accomplished all she had hoped to.
Professor Dana Muir:
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Professor Muir graduated college when she was only twenty years old. Her first job was in the human resources rotational management program at Chrysler, where she was “young and naïve.” She is from a rural town, and she had never had a professional job before. This experience was new and daunting for her. “The automotive industry was and is very male dominated. I was really lucky in my first job because there were two people who worked as labor representatives for the company. One of two people was a woman, and I still remember her—Linda. It was so nice that I had another woman who could model to me how to dress, how to respond to men, and how to present myself.” For Professor Muir, having another female who knew the ropes was not only comforting for her, but inspiring as well. Having this female role model “was critical for me as a brand new college graduate going into a new environment.”
After that, Professor Muir joined the faculty at the Ross School of Business, which was and still is very male dominated. “I was incredibly lucky because since 1993 I never had male area chair—not that would have been bad—but I was in the only area in the business school where men weren’t area chairs. That has really helped me in terms of being able to get signals from very successful senior women on how to navigate that environment.”
Professor Muir also appreciated having other senior women in the academy of faculty members and scholars at other institutions. “I was really lucky to have a supportive network of other women who are scholars at other institutions- supportive in formal means and informal means, like mentorship and inviting me to their institutions to give a talk.”
Professor Muir discusses another example of a time it was important for her to have a strong female role model. At the Ross School of Business, there is an executive education program where the school sells its executive program to companies to get their managers trained. “Fifteen years ago I had the opportunity to speak in one of these programs, which are male dominated. The person who was running the program did not help me. Basically I failed miserably, which I’ve never done in the classroom. But there was actually a woman running the entire executive program who knew I was a good teacher and knew I would be able to do this. She then gave me the opportunity to teach in a different program. She told the person running it that I wanted to sit in and watch one of the programs so I would understand it. Melanie, the woman in charge of the program, then introduced me to the students because she knew the person teaching wouldn’t be particularly nice about it, which turned out to be true. The man running this program was not fond of this at all. He wouldn’t give me real time, but let me come speak at night when it was voluntary for the students to come. After about two offerings of this, the man who was running the program got on board and realized I could do this. He then became helpful but only because that woman really stood up for me.”
Professor Muir’s Business Law class was one of the first law-related classes I took at Michigan. I frequently attended Professor Muir’s office hours, and grew closer with her even after her class was over. Professor Muir wrote me a letter of recommendation for law school and was a speaker at my Women in Law Club. Her work as a female lawyer inspires me because even in male-dominated jobs, Professor Muir was able to thrive and learn from her experiences. She had the courage to find the profession she was passionate about and settled for nothing less.
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My mom:
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My mom didn’t really have a strong female role model. Whereas my other role models had people to look up to, my mom found the power and drive to succeed in herself. She knew what she wanted, and she was determined to work for it. My mom’s mom, my grandma, raised three great kids. For this, my mom said she was a role model, but for professional aspirations. My mom “wanted more.” She wanted to be successful and she “wanted to be the first female justice of the Supreme Court.” Her mom was happy, but my mom wanted to truly make something of herself in the professional realm.
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She worked hard in high school and graduated a year early as salutatorian. She was the first of her family to go to college. “I didn’t have a role model that a woman should have. I didn’t want to be dependent on a man. I wanted a career. I raised my daughter to be smart and independent.” Thank you mom.
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From a young age, my mom found the law interesting. She "wanted to be able to apply facts to achieve justice and use knowledge to help people."
My mom has shown me that it is possible to be a great mom and a great lawyer. I aspire to be both of those things as well. Her work never got in the way of being there for my brother and I, but she also made sure to not sacrifice her career.
