February 27, 2018

Bonus episode: Femininity and Power

February 27, 2018/ Ashley Milne-Tyte

“When you see the countries that have been run by women, they’re not necessarily the Anglo-Saxon countries.”

— Avivah Wittenberg-Cox

Former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner

“I do think Latin countries have a different attitude to women in power.”

In this extra episode we're back with Avivah Wittenberg-Cox. She's fresh from 30 years of living in France, and a keen observer of how gender plays out all over the world. "Anglo-Saxon cultures do not like, embrace, or value femininity," she says. She believes Latin cultures are far more female-friendly - that a woman can be as feminine as she likes and still hold power without the blowback she'd get in a country like the US.

There's a lot to think about in this 9-minute episode. You can also read a transcript of the show.

Further reading: From The Economist, a piece on violence against women in Latin America.

From UN Women - Fighting Femicide in Latin America.

Catherine Deneuve and Others Denounce #MeToo Movement, via the New York Times.

February 19, 2018

Episode 120: Does Your Partner Support Your Success?

February 19, 2018/ Ashley Milne-Tyte

“I’m hearing that more and more, that not only is there a reluctance or a discomfort when women are making more than men in a relationship but it’s actually hurting relationships.”

— Diane Reichenberger

“I think you have to be clearer than most couples are about how are we going to manage two successful careers? What are the terms of engagement, what kind of support do we need from eachother?”

— Avivah Wittenberg-Cox

This time we're talking about couplehood and careers. My first guest is shocked that her mentees' boyfriends refuse to marry them until they - the men - are the main breadwinner. My second guest isn't surprised at all. In this episode we talk about who supports whom in heterosexual and same-sex couples, and what that support looks like. We discuss how dual-career couples can maintain partnerships where each person gets what they want and need. And we get tips on using team-building techniques to good effect at home.

My guests are Diane Reichenberger and Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, author of Late Love: Mating in Maturity.

You can also read a transcript of the show.

Further reading/listening: Avivah first appeared on TBE in episode 41, Stop Fixing Women, Start Fixing Companies .

This is a great episode of the new Harvard Business Review podcast Women at Work - it's called Couples That Work. Avivah is in this one too, along with other guests.

Here's the 2015 Work and Families Institute study Modern Families - same and different-sex couples negotiating at home.

Do Millennial Men Want Stay-at-Home Wives? via the New York Times, by Stephanie Coontz.

Fairygodboss recently did a survey on male/female couples' attitudes to money in relationships.

Diane reichenberger (r) and her wife sharon on their wedding day with jack the dog

February 05, 2018

Episode 119: Women in Medicine are Burning Out

February 05, 2018/ Ashley Milne-Tyte

“I think we look at other women and we judge ourselves on how they’re doing. So we see this little iceberg of their lives and we say, are we doing as good a job as they are?”

— Robine Devine

Photo by LUHUANFENG/iStock / Getty Images

“You don’t necessarily show that emotion. And so that’s how I carried on most of the time. And most of the time that worked, you know 90 percent of the time that worked, and then every so often terrible things happen and you react to it.”

— Heather Anaya

At the end of 2016 I did a show on burnout that got passed around a lot. At around the same time I began hearing from female doctors saying burnout is a huge issue in their field. Studies show women doctors burn out at higher rates than men. And given so many of us have at least one woman doctor in our lives, that can't be good for any of us.

In this show we talk about why this is happening. We discuss a lack of empathy in a profession that on the surface seems to be all about it; how women judge one another’s success, and how they can help eachother.

My guests are family doctor Robin Devine and maternal fetal medicine specialist Heather Anaya.

You can also read a transcript of the show.