The Broad Experience

In the last episode you heard Jessi Hempel and I ask, what is happening to women’s careers right now? So many of us are still at home, often with family underfoot, attempting to manage children’s schooling or simply care for them while also doing our own jobs. Much has been written about the ‘women’s recession’ and the enormous pressure women are under during this pandemic.In this show Avivah Wittenberg-Cox offers a more hopeful perspective.She sees this crisis is an opportunity for organizations to change the way they do things and make the workplace fairer for everyone. She says a generation clash between men is part of the current problem. And she says many of us will undergo a big shift in our careers in the months and years ahead, whether we welcome it or not.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode I sit down with Jessi Hempel, host of LinkedIn's Hello Monday podcast. We talk about how the last six months have affected women's careers, and what might happen next. We discuss who's able to get ahead right now, and the delights of a supportive manager whose home/work life is as crazy as your own.We don't have a crystal ball, but we wonder - will this pandemic have lasting effects on women's progress?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When I first made this show I could never have imagined how large a role both stress and getting outside would play in our lives in 2020.In this episode I talk to science writer Florence Williams, author of The Nature Fix, about how spending time outside can help lower our stress levels and allow us to gain perspective on daily problems. Most of us live and work in urban environments, spending hours a day in front of a screen. Nothing could be less natural. In this show we talk about how spending time outdoors can improve our lives in multiple ways, and how women can benefit even more than men.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ainissa Ramirez has loved science since the age of four. But her dreams of becoming a scientist were almost squelched when she got to college. When she graduated she vowed to make other people's journeys through science better than her own. Today, she's helping thousands of people understand and appreciate how the world works - and maybe even go into science themselves. In this episode we talk about the ups and downs of her career, leaving academia to go out on her own, and some of the amazing stories in her new book, The Alchemy of Us. And she has some solid advice for other women scientists who may be finding their workplace...challenging.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A lot of us have been able to work from home during lockdown these last few months. One group of workers that hasn't is paid caregivers - aides, mainly women, who are paid by the hour to help elderly, frail and disabled people accomplish some of the tasks of daily living.In this show we meet two women who have been doing care work for three decades - Susie Rivera in Texas and Maria Colville in Massachusetts. Their job is one of the fastest growing in the U.S. But it pays poorly and a lot of people don't see its importance...until they need that care themselves. Some clients are grateful and gracious, some less so. Each woman feels called to her role. As Maria puts it, "The opportunity to make an impact in someone else's life," is its own reward.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode I hand over the reins to Lauren Schiller, host of Inflection Point. In this show she and writer Ruth Whippman (a fellow Brit) discuss the very American idea that if you just try hard enough, you can get pretty much anything you want - from a better figure to a better job. But Ruth says self-belief plus a few girl power T-shirts and social media slogans do not an equal society make. Tune in to hear Lauren and Ruth discuss what needs to change for 'empowerment' to lead to real power.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Fernanda Santos moved to the U.S. from Brazil to go to graduate school, but ended up staying and forging a career in journalism. Her work is a thread throughout this episode (she was an early believer in the mantra ‘never work for free’). But this story is also about how Fernanda's life as an immigrant, and her journalist training, helped when she was forced to confront a future she never expected.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Some of us have two jobs: one that pays us, one that sustains us in another way. In this episode we meet two women who volunteer as firefighters. Stephanie Looi and Kassie Stevens have faced challenges in their roles, but each feels lucky to be doing something so important for their communities. Stephanie just went through Australia's devastating fire season and had to make decisions she never thought she would. Kassie faces incredulous reactions when she shows up to a call, and sometimes hostility as well. But each says it's a privilege to serve - and to inspire other women.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

You’ve probably seen some of the stories: women leaders around the world are “stepping up to show the world how to manage a messy patch for our human family.” I’m quoting one of this week’s guests, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, from her Forbes piece on women leaders’ success during the pandemic. She and other writers on this topic make the same point: when you look at countries with the best coronavirus outcomes so far, they often have one thing in common - a woman at the top. In this week’s show Avivah and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, author of Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? discuss the leadership styles we’re seeing during this global crisis, why Andrew Cuomo can chat about recipes on TV where Jacinda Ardern probably couldn’t, and whether today’s female leaders will change anything for women in the future.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Last month an article appeared in The Atlantic with the title The Coronavirus is a Disaster for Feminism. One striking line reads, ‘The coronavirus smashes up the bargain that so many dual-earner couples have made in the developed world: We can both work because someone else is looking after our children. Instead, couples will have to decide which one of them takes the hit.’But is that true?In this episode we meet three married women in Canada, the US, and the UK, and one (male) sociologist, Daniel Carlson, who has studied couples and the division of labour in the home. Kristen Elworthy and Anna Lagerdahl have children and Samantha Murphy doesn’t. Each has found the pandemic has affected her work/life balance in unexpected ways. And it’s not all about housework and childcare - women may be carrying a greater emotional load at this time, which affects many aspects of our lives.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest in this episode started working right around the time most of us started school. Marie was just five years old when her acting work began supporting her entire family. But as she got older she noticed all the best parts were going to the boys, while the roles she was getting relied on her looks. Her dreams of continuing in acting were dashed when she realized what she was expected to do to get better parts. Today she has a totally different career, but she’ll never forget what show business taught her - about professionalism, teamwork, and sexism.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode we meet a true broad - a 20th century woman who has bucked convention in more ways than one. Mary Lou landed her first job as a telephone operator in 1941, and went on to become a social worker and then a teacher. Along the way she married, had six children, divorced, and became a (very) independent woman. Today, at almost 95, she’s settled down with her partner Al and tells me, ‘I’ve had a fantastic life.’  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A lot of women have a voice in their heads that asks them that question. In this episode we explore women's confidence, or the lack of it, and why it matters to our livelihoods. We discuss why women often struggle to recognize their value, and how much of our experience depends on our backgrounds. We meet Chicago business owner Denise Barreto, who is enviably confident, and NPR journalist Stacey Vanek Smith, who shares some of my hangups.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode we look at forgiveness as a career tactic. A lot of us stew for weeks or months over things that have happened at work. My guest Christie Lindor decided the way to get ahead in her career was to forgive the aggressions - micro and otherwise - she was subject to at the office. She talks about how and why she chose forgiveness as a way forward, and how focusing on what you want to come out of a bad situation can help you deal with hurt, anger and resentment. If you're fuming over a work situation right now, tune in. This is the last episode you'll hear for a while as The Broad Experience goes on hiatus for a few months.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Most leaders in business and politics are male, and most of us rate our leaders poorly. Would that change if more leaders were women? In this show I meet up with Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, author of 'Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?' We discuss confidence versus competence, learning to distrust our instincts, and how bad leadership can drive a lot of us out of a job (voluntarily).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Most of us have a bad breakup with work at some point. You don't have to be fired for things to end on a sour note, but however the end comes, leaving a job in difficult circumstances is one of the hardest experiences to go through. In this show we meet two women who know this first hand: Marion Kane, longtime food writer at some of Canada's top newspapers, and Heather McGregor, a frequent guest in this show's early years and now executive dean of the Edinburgh Business School. We hear their stories and get some advice on how to recover your confidence and your livelihood after a rocky exit.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is the second of two shows on what happens as women in the workforce get older. And a lot of it isn't good. Women can experience a double whammy of prejudice that men don't, and it's affecting our bank accounts apart from anything else. In this episode we meet women's leadership professor Terri Boyer, and founder of Magnificent Midlife Rachel Lankester. Each discusses age discrimination (which is perpetrated by both men and women) and suggests ways we can tackle it, beginning with women not buying into the narratives we've been fed over the years. OK, centuries. And we meet late-in-life lawyer Kate Wiseman, who's having a positive experience of being an 'older woman' at the office.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

You're commuting to work and you start overheating; you're suddenly feeling more anxious about everything; you can't sleep properly, and your colleagues and family are driving you nuts. Many women in their forties start feeling these signs of peri-menopause. And in the UK, some employers are actually moving to support their female staff as they go through this transition. But menopause still remains largely under-discussed, particularly in the youth-obsessed US (why would you admit you're menopausal when the workplace is already sexist and ageist?) In this show we meet a menopause coach and an employee who are both determined to bring more transparency to one of the last workplace taboos.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this show, originally released in 2016, we look at how class can play out at work. Each of my guests works in a professional setting but both grew up in blue-collar households. Each has had trouble navigating the white-collar workplace and some of its attitudes. We also meet Daniel Laurison, a sociology professor at Swarthmore. He co-authored a study on the 'class ceiling' in Britain. It showed that on average, people in high-status professions who began life in a working-class household earn less than their more privileged peers.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We all need inspiration in the form of successful women. But sometimes the pitches I get about the latest amazing, do-it-all star who's 'killing it' can make me feel tired rather than inspired. Financial Times columnist Pilita Clark is in the same boat. She argues that true equality means not having to be utterly stellar to receive recognition. In this show we discuss her theory that women should be allowed to be as mediocre as any man.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.