Episode 189: Stop Telling Women to Find an Equal Partner

03/07/22 • 19 min

Bobbi Thomason studies gender for a living. She was aware of the pitfalls couples can fall into, even those who assumed their relationship would be absolutely equal. Still, when her own marriage foundered over career equality (or the lack of it), she was gutted. At the same time she was reading social media comments urging women to demand a ‘50/50 partner.’ ‘I tried that,’ she thought, ‘and it didn’t work.’

In this episode we hear Bobbi’s story. She says sticking to her belief that she deserved a partner as willing to sacrifice for her as she was for him, has cost her a great deal. But she’s learned through academic research and personal experience that support comes in many forms, and that all women need a ‘village’ to get ahead.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Episode 188: You vs. Burnout

Two years into a pandemic many of us are overwhelmed at work, feeling we have little control, and dealing with a lack of support from our organizations. Burnout rates are up all over the world. But they were bad even before Covid-19 came along. So what can we do about it?

In this episode we meet three women who know burnout first-hand. Danielle Fried works for a small business that exploded during Covid. It took a health crisis for her to realize she was a frazzle of her former self. Jennifer Moss is the author of The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It and a longtime expert on happiness and unhappiness at work. She says it's up to leaders to solve this problem, and there is plenty they can do about it. Jamie Hand is one such leader, managing her own stress levels while tackling burnout one team member at a time.

Jennifer's pandemic dog Maple made her presence felt during our interview. For an outtake, go to the episode 188 page at TheBroadExperience.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Episode 190: Difficult Relationships: managing drama at work

Business and economics reporter Stacey Vanek Smith has not only reported on the gender pay gap and other workplace discrimination, she’s experienced it firsthand. But it hasn’t put her off the workplace. Far from it. In her book, Machiavelli for Women, she explores how women can thrive in a setting that was not designed for them.

In this show - the tenth anniversary episode of The Broad Experience - we focus on a few areas that are rarely discussed, in particular the relationships women have with other women at work, and how to manage them when things get tricky. We delve into the inequities mothers face after coming back from parental leave, and our shared experience of receiving vague, discouraging and useless feedback - and what to do next.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.