4 Ideas for International Women's Day
My New Pod (yay!) | Maternal Stress | Donate | The Other 364
Happy March 8! Want to mark the occasion? Here are some ideas.
Listen to My New Pod:
In late 2022 I recorded the podcast Rerouting: Navigating Parenthood with Tiffany Anclair. Tiffant and I found that we had way more to talk about than 60-minutes worth of pod, so we made a zoom appointment to talk some more. Which turned into another zoom. And another. And then we exchanged WhatsApp numbers, which seems like the modern equivalent of asking - do you want to be friends?
So when Tiffany asked me to be a guest-host for a season of Rerouting I jumped at the opportunity. We are calling this series Rerouting: Navigating Patriarchy. And our first episode is available TODAY in honor of International Women’s Day.
You can find our debut episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. To make sure you get all future episodes, click the follow button. And if the episode resonates - we would be honored if you help us spread the word by sharing it with a friend. THANK YOU!
We have fantastic guests lined up, including: Eve Rodsky, Rob Cohen, Ryan Ubundu Olson, Deborah Choi and Blessing Adesiyan. And just for the record, this pod is not about vilifying men. We are vilifying patriarchy. Rob and Ryan were especially helpful in articulating why patriarchy is bad for people of all genders - including men and boys.
Read About Maternal Stress
Any new parents reading? This one is for you!
My friend and colleague Molly Dickens has a fabulous new Substack out called the Maternal Health Project.
“Addressing stress and stress-related illness is key to improving health. It is a critical piece in solving the maternal health crisis puzzle… And, yet, the terminology around ’stress’ remains a generic, catch-all that, somehow, means everything and nothing. This conundrum dulls the effectiveness of targeting stress as a path to improve health outcomes.”
I’ve long been frustrated with people who think a mani-pedi or a good nap is going to solve women’s stress issues. Molly, who holds a PhD in Stress Physiology, takes on motherhood and stress with hard data and smart science - which truly feels like a fresh breeze blowing away old norms around stress and bodies and blame.
Personally, I will be acknowledging the day with a donation to Emily’s List.
Most of my writing is about social change, and what we can do in our homes and communities to make a difference. But policy change is also necessary for long-term, structural change.
Emily’s List is doing the critical work of researching the issues that impact women and families, supporting pro-choice candidates up and down the American ballot, and electing leaders to ensure policy that can change our communities.
If you can, today is a great day to send in a donation to Emily’s List - or your favorite local women’s rights organization.
Plan Something for April. (Or May, or October, or whenever…)
I’ve long had a love / hate relationship with International Women’s Day for a while. Sure, it’s great to celebrate our women’s rights work on a specific day. But we all know we should address women’s rights EVERY day. (I have similar apprehensions about Black History Month and Indigenous People’s Day.)
So my last idea is to look past the celebrations today, and plan something later on - so we continue talking about women’s rights and gender equality 364 days of the year.