Episode 193: Bucking the System

“I’m sick of thinking if I just smile and grit my teeth I’ll get the treatment I should get. It just doesn’t work that way. So I’ve become a lot less apologetic and a lot more brash on these issues.”

— Raina Brands

Professor Raina Brands

I knew I wanted to talk to Professor Raina Brands when I spotted a tweet of hers last year in which she revealed that her CV contained some updated, and quite personal, information - information most of us wouldn’t reveal to an employer.

In this episode Raina discusses her project to help women ‘de-bias’ their careers, something she and her colleague Aneeta Rattan write about on their site, Career Equally. She explains what that means, why it’s important, and how we can get started. She also talks about why she decided to get personal in public and what the response has been.

You can also read a transcript of the show.

Episode 192: Better in Scandinavia (re-release)

“Women are working really hard and full time, and then they’re trying to be the perfect mother and have the perfect home. There’s a lot of pressure here to have very tidy, very stylishly decorated homes, and all of that takes energy.”

— Bronwyn Griffith, Sweden

In this episode we revisit a show I first released in 2016.

The Nordic countries have a reputation for equality and excellent work/life balance. American women look enviously at these nations as they scrape together a short maternity leave or finish another 10-hour day.

But here's the paradox: there are just as few women in powerful roles in Scandinavia as there are in the US. 

In this show I set out to discover more about life for professional women in the Nordic countries. We have representatives from three of them - Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. 

You can also read a transcript of the show.