The Broad Experience

I did a show last year called Professional Women, No Kids. It did way better than I expected. This is a 7-minute show on the same topic, using some of my interview tape that didn't make it into that first show. Do you have to be a mother to be a 'real woman'? Lots of people think so. My guest and I discuss why motherhood is still the ultimate in womanhood even as fewer women have children.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode two men share their views on women and men in the workplace. One is straight, one gay, one works in tech and one in the arts. We talk about how gay men can be sexist too, why society values masculine qualities over feminine ones, and what one company, SoundCloud, is doing to increase the number of female engineers who work there (including making its job descriptions less exacting).  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

India has a huge population and a burgeoning economy. More and more women are getting an education, yet only a third of women work outside the home. In this episode we hear from Indian journalist Shaili Chopra, founder of SheThePeople.tv. We discuss some obstacles Indian women face that western women don't, and why they badly need more female role models. We talk about the influence caste still has on Indian society, why Shaili's nanny has her own nanny, and why Shaili doesn't call herself a feminist.  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 (so do I - more on that in the show). We hear their stories and get some advice on how to recover your confidence and your livelihood after a tricky exit.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What could be more male than a construction site? Only 9 percent of US jobs in the industry belong to women, and even fewer involve manual labor. So what drove Renee Mercado to spend her days outdoors, managing a crew of curious and sometimes suspicious guys? In this show we talk about what drew her to this work, the sexist comments she hears on a daily basis, and how she feels she's making a difference in a man's world.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this show we hear from some familiar guests, using parts of our conversation you've never heard. Lauren Tucker heads the tech division of an ad agency. She talks candidly about race and whether bosses ever see your full potential at work. Mary Kopczynski of 8of9 Consulting says women have to claim credit for their work or others won't notice their achievements. Curt Rice of the University of Tromsø talks about what it's like being a man advocating loudly for women in the workplace. And Financial Times journalist Simon Kuper reminds us it's not just women who make career sacrifices for their families.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Subtle gender discrimination at work, female guilt, and how to say no - these are the topics we discuss in this show, which I first released in the autumn of 2013. One guest is a young journalist who didn't even believe in gender discrimination until she was forced to recognize it. The other a seasoned businesswoman with distinct views on what it takes to get ahead, and good tips on how to get rid of guilt.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This time, a show on women in religious roles. It's more common than it used to be for women to become rabbis or priests. But these hard-won jobs aren't without their frustrations as well as their triumphs. In this show we meet three women. One went straight to her calling from college, the other two are career-changers. We talk about how women are viewed by the congregation, what you can get away with when you preach, and how getting ahead can still be tougher for women - even within denominations where women are allowed to be leaders.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Countries like the US and UK may be doing well in many areas, but not when it comes to women in politics. The US Congress is about 20% women. In the UK, Parliament is 23% female. Yes, it's an improvement on former decades, but in 2015 why aren't more women holding power at a national level? We have two fantastic, outspoken guests on today's show: Megan Murphy, the Financial Times Washington bureau chief, and Madeleine Kunin, former (and first woman) governor of Vermont. We discuss the landscape for women in politics today, what life as a female politician is actually like, and why it's so important that more women go into politics in the first place.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 we still view men as type-A go-getters who aren't 'real men' if they take on a caregiving role. In the US even taking a brief paternity leave can be a fraught issue. But will women ever be truly equal at work until more men become caregivers?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Chances are you've noticed that professional women are often stressed out. In this show we aim to find out why and bring some relief. First we meet Jen Yip, a Broad Experience listener who lived a stressful existence for years, but kept going because plowing through was the only option she knew - until she started to crack. Then we hear from therapist and corporate consultant Marjorie Hirsch, who has some advice about how to cut down on stress. This includes tackling stuff women tend to suck at, such as saying no, setting boundaries, and asking questions that'll make your life easier.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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're up against. This time two women in their forties look at the twenties from their perspective: Broad Experience listener and professor Dawn Edmiston, and Dr. Meg Jay, TED talker and author of The Defining Decade.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For some the twenties are a fun, relatively carefree time (who are these people?), but for many women this decade is stressful. They're trying to work out how they fit into the workplace, whether they're even in the right career, and how to communicate with older colleagues. The world is far more competitive than it was 20-plus years ago when I started working. But that's not the only thing that's different about the old me and today's twenty-somethings. My guests are London-based digital marketer Ade Okeowo, Broad Experience intern April Laissle, and Dr. Meg Jay, author of The Defining Decade.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the summer I did a show about communication at the office, but it left out one glaring component: body language. So today we tackle hunching, spread legs, eye contact, and kissing by gender - all in a business setting. I speak to Yale psychology professor Marianne LaFrance about how men and women play up their power, or lack of it, through non-verbal communication at work. And Financial Times journalist Elaine Moore talks about how she deals with unwanted male kisses at business meetings.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This has been a big year for stories about women in tech, ranging from depressing tales of sexual harassment at startups to controversy over egg freezing and advice from a prominent CEO on *not* asking for a raise. The spotlight is shining on women in technology far more strongly than when I first covered this topic on the podcast in 2012. In this episode we focus on Silicon Valley, the tech capital of the world, and ask why it can be such a challenging place for women to work. My guests are Financial Times journalist Hannah Kuchler and tech worker Talia Fukuroe.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Women have a problem valuing themselves - both setting prices and believing they're truly worth something in the marketplace. We tend to charge too little for our work. Sometimes we don't charge at all. It's a complicated, multi-layered issue, and it's part of the reason women earn less than men. As someone who squirms whenever I have to talk about how much I'm worth, I knew I had to tackle the topic on the show.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Who hasn't compared themselves to someone else at work, envying the relationship they have with the boss, or the amount of attention they get for their work? Then there's the other side of comparison - boosting your ego by assuring yourself you're better than that woman down the hall. The comparisons we make at work can hold us back in our careers, whether we work for a company or for ourselves. In this show Canadian leadership coaches Lauren Bacon and Tanya Geisler explain how we can overhaul this relationship and turn it into something less destructive, more constructive.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Female entrepreneurship is rising fast. In the US, a third of businesses are now owned by women. But look a bit deeper and you find nearly all these businesses are 'solopreneurships' - they don't have any employees and they don't bring in much money. This is sometimes by design, but not always: many women are unprepared for the inequities that still exist in entrepreneurship. In this show we meet two ambitious entrepreneurs who want to grow their companies: Julia Pimsleur and Denise Barreto. They have advice about how to survive in the male-dominated world of fundraising, why hiring other people is a must even when you can barely afford it, and how passion for your work isn't all it's cracked up to be.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

So much attention is focused on women in the workplace today that you might think progress is everywhere. Yes, more women are joining company boards, and some prominent women have top jobs. But other numbers haven't shifted much. In this show Financial Times journalist Carola Hoyos laments the slow pace of change in Britain in particular. But she says one upcoming move could turn things around. Meanwhile, Norway is getting a lot right on work and life. Curt Rice of the University of TromsØ says the future looks good for both sexes - and not just in the far north.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

More and more women are reaching their mid-forties without having children. Sometimes this is by choice, and sometimes it's not. But here's what both sets of women have in common: they're operating in a world where being a mother is still considered the default setting for women. Discussions of women in leadership usually assume every woman has to juggle her work with children. But where does that leave the rest of us?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.