Male-only swimming pools, too few bathrooms, inappropriate sexual comments: On today’s show the secret--and not so honorable--history of women in the U.S. Senate.
Then, common wisdom tells us that half of marriages end in divorce. Turns out, the oft-quoted number is wrong. We’ll debunk the pervasive divorce rate myth. And, we’ll take an unfiltered look at the state of family and maternity leave in America.
Listen to the full show and click Read more for individual segments.
The Secret History of Women in the Senate
- Liza Mundy is a contributing editor at Politico Magazine, is program director at the New America Foundation and the author, most recently, of The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners is Transforming Sex, Love, and Family. She wrote “The Secret History of Women in the Senate” for Politico.
International Pressures, Domestic Pain
- In 1922, 15 American women traveled to France to participate in the first international track meet for women. While they may not have had the backing of the country, they made great strides towards women’s equality in sports. BackStory producer Kelly Jones brings us this story.
- You can listen to this segment again at PRX.org.
Lack of Paid Maternity Leave in the U.S.
- Judith Barnett is a former senior government official and now a lawyer and consultant in international trade. She considers America’s unwillingness to provide women time off to have children an outrage and wrote about it for the Huffington Post. "An American Outrage: Having Babies on Sick Leave."
Capturing That Once in a Life Time Photo
- Rebecca Sheir brings us the story of a photographer on the front lines of childbirth.
- You can listen to this story again at PRX.org.
The Divorce Rate Myth
- Claire Cain Milleris a reporter covering tech and gender, work, and family for the “Upshot” at The New York Times website. She wrote about the myth of the 50% divorce rate: "The Divorce Surge is Over, But the Myth Lives On."