April 20, 2015

"We had never experienced anything we thought to be remotely gender discrimination. So we couldn’t even identify it when we saw it." - Jessica Bennett

"Every time you say yes to something you are saying no to something else...You are going to end up not doing the things that matter if you’re not careful.” - Heather McGregor

19 minutes.

I sometimes get emails from listeners, particularly professors, saying, 'The young women I work with believe gender equality has been sorted out - they don't believe there's a problem.' That was Jess Bennett when she began her career at Newsweek in the early 2000s. She'd never come up against any kind of gender discrimination so she didn't think it existed. It was some tired old problem from the past. She gradually realized she was wrong.

In this show we talk about subtle discrimination at work, the changing world of journalism, and, with guest Heather McGregor, the problems of female guilt and how to say no without alienating people (she's good at it).

March 9, 2015

"I thought it was interesting that people would say, 'Oh, so your husband doesn't want to work?'...The next question would be, 'Does he cook?'" - Kathryn Clifton

 "I think any dude would love to at stay home with their kids and not have to work, but their sense of purpose and those role reversals are a little bit intimidating." - Eric Bryan

Eric Bryan and Alton during our Skype interview

25 minutes.

More and more men are staying at home to look after kids while their wives or girlfriends support the family. In this show we explore what that situation means for women's careers, and what these role reversals mean for men. Evidence shows society still doesn't wholly accept stay-at-home fathers - that, in essence, we still view men as type-A go-getters who aren't 'real men' if they take on a caregiving role (see links below for more reading on this). In the US even taking a brief paternity leave can be a fraught issue depending on where you work. But will women ever be truly equal at work until more men become caregivers? 

February 9, 2015

"We can constantly reinvent ourselves if that's what we choose to do. I know I felt pressure to make all the right moves in my twenties, but I've learned I'm most fulfilled when I listen to my inner voice." - Dawn Edmiston

"I do feel like many women feel that their path is more flexible: 'Well, maybe I'll work for a while and then I'll stop.' I don't know that many men feel that's possible for them." - Meg Jay

Dawn Edmiston

This is the second of two shows on women in their twenties. Last time we heard from two young women talking about communication problems, confidence, and the competition they feel they're up against. This time two women in their forties look at the twenties from their perspective. 

First we hear from Broad Experience listener and professor of marketing Dawn Edmiston. She firmly believes that you do not have to have your whole life sorted out by the time you're 30.

Meg Jay

Meg Jay isn't so sure. She wrote her book, The Defining Decade, because she had so many young clients who felt they didn't have to focus on work or relationships in their twenties. She argues now's the time to do that, or you'll struggle later. She has plenty of tips for young women who feel work life is getting on top of them, and some fascinating insights into how the twenty-something brain works. And we finish by talking about men, and how few of them feel they have the same choices when it comes to career/life balance.