As part of its International Women’s Day celebration, Western Michigan University Cooley Law School’s Organization of Women Law Students (OWLS) hosted a virtual event on March 8. The speaker, Ingham County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Teddy Eisenhut, spoke about her experiences as a woman in a male-dominated profession.
“When you are successful you will be called emotional, bitchy, you hold too hard of a line, you’re unreasonable, you have something to prove,” said Eisenhut. “To me this means you’ve made it, you’ve done it just as well or even better – but is very evident of the need still for change, there is still a stigma.”
Eisenhut described how being successful in the criminal field typically meant being the loudest person in the room. As a self-proclaimed introvert, who eventually became a litigator, she referenced the challenges this posed for her. She discussed her discovery of using fewer, meaningful words as being more impactful than many aggressive ones.
“I owe a great deal of my success and knowledge to the positive influences of male mentors I have been privileged to know,” said Eisenhut. “This is a day to celebrate the triumphs of women, however, one of the greatest gifts that I have received in my career was the support of male mentors. The positive influence they had by reaching back and lifting me up.”
Personal stories further cemented the lessons she said she would carry with her, including recommending that female leaders not perpetuate the cycle of inequality by dismissing the challenges their female employees face.
“I want to challenge you, that when each of you are in a place of power, a place of success as you’ve defined it, reach a hand back to the woman behind you. This is how we make the profession a more welcome place to women and I believe how we continue to break the bias,” said Eisenhut.
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