September 2, 2024 • 30 mins
Happy Labor Day! We’re celebrating the unsung women of the labor movement with Jenny Kaplan – CEO and co-founder of Wonder Media Network and the host of the “Womanica” podcast. Jenny shares the herstories of the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet, equal pay activists, a labor activist focused on gender and race in the workplace, and a politician engaged in women’s and workers’ issues while she was in Congress.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hey, Bestie's Happy Labor Day.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
We're celebrating the unsung women of the labor movement with
Jenny Kaplan. She's the CEO and co founder of Wonder
Media Network and the host of the Womanica History podcast.
It's Monday, September tewod. I'm Simone Boyce.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright side from
Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we come together to
share women's stories, laugh, learn and brighten your day. On
my Mind Monday is brought to you by Missus Meyers.
Clean Day, inspired by the goodness of the garden see money.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Happy Labor Day.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Thank you, Same to you, Danielle, Thank you.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
It is the unofficial end of summer and the kickoff
to fall, and it is on my Mind Monday, which
is our opportunity to start the week with some fresh perspective. Simone,
you always pick the best articles. What is on your
mind today? Me?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Something good?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Oh my gosh, no pressure at all.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Okay, I've got one that I would say is a
companion piece to the episode that you did about viewing
optimism as a muscle.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Right.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
So I came across this article in the New York times,
and it's headlined how to strengthen your happiness muscle.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
We all need to strengthen our hat.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
That's like, isn't that the goal of everyone's life is
to just be happy?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah? I want big happiness gains. That's what I'm about.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
So this article says, our drive to seek happiness is
a muscle that we can develop, and we do that
by strengthening what's called our reward sensitivity. So reward sensitivity
is something that we can dial up by simply training
ourselves to pay attention to and savor positive emotions. So
where's your reward sensitivity, Danielle? Like, on a scale of
(01:52):
one to ten, where do you think you're at?
Speaker 4 (01:54):
I actually have to tell you, I think mine is
pretty low. I don't often reward myself. I don't feel
like I deserve it, which is crazy to say out loud,
that doesn't that's like so awkward. But I'm like a
power through, push through type of person, and I don't
often think of rewarding myself.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, you're in luck because I've got some tips for
you today. Please.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Well, first of all, do you reward yourself?
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I feel like my reward sensitivity is too high. I'm
all about the rewards. I'm all about the little treats.
I need to dial it down.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, you do like a like a millennial treat.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I love a millennial treat. I'm all about the treat life.
I just want life to be one big treat.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yea.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
But anyways, I think this article might be helpful for
you or anyone who feels like they're in the same position.
So this writer, Jenny Tates. She is a practicing psychologist,
and she put together a few research back strategies which
we love to help us do this.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Here's what she said. She said, one way to boost.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Your reward sensitivity is by practicing a simple exercise every day,
like plan one activity per day that will make you
happy or bring this sense of a complishment.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And it can be something small.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Like getting your favorite fancy beverage I'm a beverage queen.
I love that, or even just facetiming a friend. I
love the idea of building this into your calendar every day.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
I love this.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
I actually think it's possibly the only way to make
it happen. I one time was like, I really want
to just call my parents more because it's not happening
in my life, and I had to calendar it and
then it worked, and it's like, not such a hard lift,
you know.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
That's so smart.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, my parents live down the street and I still
don't talk to them enough.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
So I need to take a page of of your book.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Every time you say that, I'm like, Okay, your life
is everybody loves Raymond.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
It is. My life is literally everybody loves Raymond. My parents.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
I left my leaf flower out on our front porch
last night so they could come pick it up. Like
this is this is our suburban dream that really was
over here.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Everybody loves Simone and Michael.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I sure hope. So okay.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Another tip from this article you can forecast future wins.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
This is so smart.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
So if you're looking at your calendar for the coming
weeks and you're just overwhelmed with all your obligations, everything
that you have to do, this article says, pick an
event that's coming up, and then imagine the best possible
outcome for that event instead of the worst possible outcome.
So let's say you're meeting a friend for a workout
(04:26):
class you don't really want to go your energy's low.
Instead of dreading it, think to yourself, Wow, this could
be the best most energizing class ever.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
You're like you're visualizing a positive outcome for yourself.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I love this.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
I think our brains are wired sometimes to think about
what could go wrong instead of what can go right.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Yes, okay, last one for you. You're gonna love this one.
Expand your joy vocabulary. So instead of describing our positive
emotions with predictable over words like fine or good or great,
using more precise words like serene, exhilarated, inspired, delighted can
(05:09):
validate and intensify those positive emotions.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I personally, I love the word delighted.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
It it sparks delight when you hear it, when you
say it. You know how I feel about the word
radiant too.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
I was actually gonna mention that because you taught us this,
that if you say radiant you smile. Delight makes you
smile too, Yes, Yes, Surprise and delight Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I feel like the delight.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
One is maybe the only one I can realistically implement.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
But I'm hereful true, you can do the others. You
can do it, Danielle. I believe in you.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
It's just so hard to calendar things well.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I had a delightful time sharing this thought starter with
you today.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
I was delighted to learn and listen. Thank you so much. Well,
another thing that delights both of us is talking about
the significance of women's stories. And today is Labor Day, right,
and there are so many women's stories that are part
of the labor movement that we're not familiar with. So
earlier this summer, for the fourth of July, we talked
(06:13):
to author Matty Kahn about some unsung women in United
States history.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah, so many of our besties loved hearing about those
stories and those women. So we're excited to keep the
conversation going today. And here to help us tell their
stories is Jenny Kaplan. She's the host of the Wollmanica
History podcast and the CEO and co founder of Wonder
Media Network. She's going to be joining us right after
the break, so stay with us. Thanks to our partners
(06:39):
at missus Myers. You can learn a lot about a
person by their dish soap. Missus Meyers's collection of household
products are inspired by the garden and pack up punch
against dirt and grime. Visit missus meyers dot com.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Jenny Well Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 5 (06:59):
Thank you, thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Welcome, Welcome, It's our pleasure.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
You know, our first impressions of the workforce often come
from what we see modeled inside our own home. And
your mom, Kathy Manning, seems like an incredible role model.
She's actually a US congresswoman representing Greensboro, North Carolina. How
did she shape your idea of ambition growing up?
Speaker 5 (07:23):
Wow, what a lovely question to start off on.
Speaker 6 (07:26):
I think that growing up, I just always had the
idea that I could do whatever I really wanted to
in terms of there being no barrier in terms of
what I could do based on gender or anything else really,
which is obviously a very privileged position. But also it
(07:46):
really came from the idea that I saw what my
parents were doing and the kinds of things and chances
that they took, and so I learned from them. I
also got to see what it looked like to balance
and family, which is quite a challenge as I now
know I have a child myself, and got to see
(08:07):
also what it looks like to go through different phases
of having a career. My mom was an attorney when
I was growing up, had a really giant volunteer role
in national organizations as I got older. And then it
wasn't until I was in the workforce that my mom
decided to run for Congress. So I got to see
a lot of different sort of periods of growth for
(08:28):
her and see what that could look like for me too.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
So when most people here Labor Day, I think, at
least growing up, we think of it as just a
holiday or day off of school or work, But there's
really so much more behind why we observe it. And
you've produced an entire series on women who transformed the
labor movement, both in the US and around the world.
What did you discover about the work that these women do?
Speaker 6 (08:53):
Totally well, actually, it was just one month of We
have a daily show called Womanica, and it's a five
ish minute day daily podcast where every episode is the
story of a different woman from history who you may
not know about but should. Every month is themed, and
this may our theme was workers. So we talked all
about different women, as you said, who shaped the way
(09:14):
that we do business today, whether they were union leaders
or advocates for sex workers, or the accidental fashion Iconomelia Bloomer,
who made pants really popular for women.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
There's so many.
Speaker 6 (09:27):
Different ways that women have had huge impacts on the
way that we do work. You know, we spend the
vast majority of our time at work, and so it's
important to think about and acknowledge the progress that's been
made over the past one hundred plus years and also
the significant progress that still needs to come in terms
of making the workplace more equitable.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
I was listening to Julia Louis Dreyfus's podcast Wiser than Me,
the episode with Gloria Steynam a few days ago, and
Gloria said history tends to be written by the winners.
Important to have a critical lens through which we view it.
And it seems so obvious, but I really loved how
she put it, and I think the winners in labor
have really been men. And I'm curious to know what
(10:11):
you discovered about the misconceptions surrounding women's labor and how
history was recorded during that era.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
A great question.
Speaker 6 (10:19):
All history is certainly framed that way, and I do
want to acknowledge that there has been significant progress. If
I think to my own family and the opportunities that
were available for my grandmother, not just what she was
allowed to do, but the kinds of jobs that she
thought were possible for herself. It basically was like two
things she could do versus then my mom had way
(10:42):
more opportunities, and I have even more. So I do
think it's important to acknowledge that there has been progress,
and that has been because of people who've worked really
hard to make that happen, like many of the women
that we highlighted, so I think often the misconceptions that
we saw over and over again we see in lots
of different areas are just undervaluing what people are capable
(11:06):
of from groups that are discriminated against. So be those
women and especially women of color, people of color. More broadly, like,
there are many of the stories of people who changed
the world and changed the way that we work really
started from you know, no one thought we could do this,
No one thought I could be I could make a difference.
(11:28):
People didn't think I was capable of working in this
kind of field or doing this kind of thing. I
think the other thing that I learned that certainly is
not revolutionary to say, but there is so much power
in group activism. So a lot of the changes and
a lot of the protections that we have today stem
from organized labor, from unions, from you know, really grassroots
(11:50):
movements that made big changes happen over the course of
a long time and very difficult work. So it's important
not to I think, I think put too much credit
on others if they're telling you that, you know, you
can't do something, because it's the people who move beyond
that who end up making these giant changes and help
push all of us forward.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
One of those women who helped push all of us
forward is Francis Perkins, and she was a significant figure
inside the FDR administration. How should we remember her?
Speaker 5 (12:21):
So what a lady?
Speaker 6 (12:23):
Francis Perkins was the first woman appointed to the US cabinet.
She served as FDR Secretary of Labor for twelve years,
and I think most notably, to try to summarize, because
she did a lot of things.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
We really did.
Speaker 6 (12:38):
She became Yeah it's really wild, but she was just
really determined to help solidify worker rights and try to
make make life a little better for everyone who has work.
And she was the driving force behind a lot of
what we all know as sort of new Deal policies. So,
you know, she had all sorts of different positions and
then When FDR asked Frances Perkins to be his labor secretary,
(13:02):
she said he would have to commit to a variety
of social insurance policies, including unemployment relief, a public works program,
minimum wage laws, you know what became social security, and
abolishing child labor. So she really was a driver behind
all of these things that we now think of as
(13:23):
hardcore New Deal policies and sort of the backbone of
our social safety net.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
What do you think was her biggest achievement. I think
it's hard to.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
Overstate the importance of systems that she put into place
as part of the New Deal. I mean it's really
hard to imagine now getting that sort of number and
that variety of giant social programs past, yeah, that have
changed the way that we work, have really allowed the
country to ensure that a lot more people are not
(13:56):
in incredibly impoverished positions and have the ability to get
help when they need it. So, I mean, even just
child labor laws, it's a pretty big deal. Any single
one of those things would have been huge, But the
fact that she helped to make the first minimum wage law,
the first overtime law, you know, these are all really
(14:17):
giant things and I think Yeah. She also had interesting foresight.
During World War Two. She really saw how valuable it
would be for women not to be drafted and instead
to take over the wartime roles that were left empty
as evidence that women really should be in the workforce
(14:38):
more broadly, or should be able to be in the
workforce more broadly.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
She was pretty unbelievable, and it doesn't come without criticism.
I've read about how her gender really gotten the way
of a lot of things during her fight, but she
never let it stop her. One of the things I
love about her is that she's from my hometown, Chicago.
She held a variety of teaching positions at a rival
high school of mine. She taught chemistry at Lake Forest Academy.
(15:05):
She was a white collar worker fighting for labor workers' rights,
which is sort of an interesting juxtaposition. Do we know
how she became interested in this work initially?
Speaker 6 (15:15):
Yeah, So after she graduated from college, she became really
interested in work helping the porn unemployed, and she started
lobbying for workers' rights. And then she witnessed the Triangle
shirtwaist fire and sort of doubled down on her interest
to really try to make a difference.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Wow. Moving on to our next activist, Florence Saint John,
there really is no discussion of equal pay the kinds
of conversations that we have today without mentioning Florence and
her contribution to this issue in the nineteen thirties.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Would you tell us her story?
Speaker 5 (15:49):
I would love to.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
It's interesting, I think, particularly because Florence's story is so significant,
and yet it was also largely forgotten for quite a
long time. So Florence Saint John was a worker at
General Motors at the Old's Motorwork factory in.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
Lansing, Michigan.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
She was one of three hundred workers at the factory,
one of thirty women. And the women at that point
in time when she started working there, they were doing
all the same work as the men.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
They thought they were being treated the same way.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
And then one day Florence and some other workers were
playing paycheck poker. They were betting paper checks in the game,
and Florence noticed that men who were on the same
shifts as the women, many of whom were actually less
senior than the women they were playing with, were making
more money because she could see their paychecks as they
were betting them. So she tried to take action via
(16:44):
the union. The managers at GM wouldn't budget. Some of
them actually said they'd rather not have women on the
floor at all. Eventually, GM created a specific women's division
and changed the kind of work that they were given,
gave them more sort of remedial time asks, separating it
out specifically so that they could justify paying the women less,
(17:05):
even though women ended up doing labor intensive work anyway. Then,
a decade into working at GM, Florence called on a
couple of well known trial attorneys. Together they gathered twenty
eight claims from women and filed a lawsuit against GM.
That was really the first time women banded together legally
to demand lost wages in this kind of way. The
(17:26):
lawsuit dragged on. It actually took three years before the
Michigan Supreme Court even ruled that Florence had standing for
The lawsuit continued to drag on, and eventually, after a
long slog, GM was forced to present payroll records and
the judge ruled in favor of the women, and so
GM was ordered to pay a little more than fifty
(17:47):
five thousand dollars to Florence and the twenty eight women,
which today would be something like three quarters of a
million dollars. So yeah, it was a really big deal.
Inspired lots of other wage discrimination lawsuits and all. So
for the subsequent two decades, twenty one states passed wage
equity bills. In nineteen sixty three, the US passed the
(18:08):
Equal Pay Act. It was just a really, really significant
win for workers.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
We have to take a quick break, but we'll be
right back with more from Jenny Kaplan. Stick with us,
and we're back with Jenny Kaplan.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
All right, Next, we're going to talk about Addie Wyatt.
I think it's really important to note, since we're in
an audio medium, that this is.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
A black woman.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
She was a labor activist focused on how gender and
race shaped the idea of what jobs people are qualified for.
And it sounds like she got herself into some good trouble.
Would you share what happened?
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Yes?
Speaker 6 (18:47):
So, Addie why it's an amazing story. She just got
involved in so many different ways in pushing civil rights,
labor rights, women's all the rights, women's rights forward. She
was just such an credible advocate. She was born in
Mississippi in nineteen twenty four. When she was six, her
family moved to Chicago, she sort of by accident became
(19:10):
a factory floor worker and sort of snuck into a
typing test instead that was only available to white women.
And then when she showed up for work, they just
automatically led her to the factory floor, and she became
a factory floor worker and actually made more money.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
Doing that than she would have as a typist.
Speaker 6 (19:27):
She joined the United Packing House Workers of America pretty
quickly and got to see how unions would help protect
her rights. So, for example, pretty quickly after joining the
factory tried to hire a white woman in her place,
and the union used its seniority clause to help keep
Baddie's job. When she became pregnant with her second child,
(19:50):
Addie was eligible for up to a year of parental
leave because of union negotiations. She just really saw the
value personally of what non discrimination could do, and then
she just kept rising up the ranks of union leadership
and became the first black woman elected vice president of
her local chapter of the UPWA. She kept rising up
(20:13):
the ranks. She and her husband became pals with doctor
Martin Luther King Junior, and really helped join and push
forward the civil rights movement. More broadly, she became an
ordained minister, She founded a church in Chicago, and eventually,
in nineteen sixty two, she was appointed to JFK's Commission
on the Status of Women, serving on as Labor Legislation Committee.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
She just did all sorts of stuff.
Speaker 6 (20:37):
She co founded the National Organization for Women, she co
founded the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and she co
founded the Coalition of Labor Union Women.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
So she was very busy this lady.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
You mentioned that she was a contemporary of doctor Martin
Luther King junior. Did she marry her civil rights with
her labor activism?
Speaker 6 (21:00):
With really all of the activists here, I think it's
important to note it's hard to separate out these issues.
It's not like you can just fight for workers' rights
without understanding the way that workers' rights intersect with gender
rights and race and class and all of the different
kinds of discriminations that exist intersect with what happens in
(21:21):
the workplace, because again, it's where we spend most of
our time. So she certainly used She was an activist
on all of these different fronts and all of the
intersectionality that comes with being a real person in the world.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Finally, the last figure that we'd like to highlight is
Pat Shrouder and she was actually born in nineteen forty
and just passed away last year.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
What's her legacy?
Speaker 6 (21:46):
Pat Schroeder was a representative in the US House of
Representatives for twenty four years and she had just an
absolutely enormous legacy in terms of the work that she
did focused on women's and workers' issues while she was
in Congress, So she had an interesting history, and she.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
Had her pilot's license.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
She went to the University of Minnesota because it's ROTC
program included aircraft. She then went to Harvard Law School
and became a lawyer. She was one of only fifteen
women in a class of more than five hundred people,
and then married a classmate, moved to Denver and worked
for the National Labor Relations Board and also as a
(22:34):
volunteer legal counsel for Planned Parenthood. She then sort of
had a interlude where she left to raise her family.
When her husband was on part of a committee of
Democrats looking for a candidate to challenge the incumbent congress person.
He came home and was basically like guess whose name
came up? And it was hers, so she ran for
(22:56):
Congress and was elected. I think interestingly, a lot of
the headline read Denver housewife runs for Congress, sort of
not mentioning the fact that she was a Harvard educated
lawyer and had significant experience in the workplace too. But
she won the primary, the general, and was in Congress
for again twenty four years. When she joined, she was
(23:16):
just one of fourteen women in the House. She described
it as a guy gulag, which I think is colorful
and fun. And she had to deal with all kinds
of discrimination. As early as during her swearing in, the
Speaker of the House tried to swear in her husband
instead of her wow at the actual swearing in ceremony,
(23:38):
but she made such Despite having to face such challenges,
she got a lot done. She co founded and co
chaired the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues. She played a
key role in getting the Pregnancy Discrimination Act passed, which
still today prevents employers from dismissing women because they're pregnant
(24:00):
or denying them maternity benefits. She was vital to the
Economic Equity Act, the Child Abuse Prevention Act, the Violence
Against Women Act. She opened military jobs up to women
also helped to advocate for and pass the Family and
Medical Leave Act. She I think really represents how there
(24:21):
are different ways of making a huge difference for people
in the workplace, whether you are a union activist or
someone who gets started on the factory floor.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
You know, a teacher, or.
Speaker 6 (24:32):
A congress person or however, there are lots of different
ways to have an impact, But what happens at work
affects all of us, and so I think Pat's story
is really amazing in terms of she she got to
Congress in a way that beat the odds and then
managed to be really, really productive while she was there,
which is a hard thing to do, difficult to imagine
quite that much happening at this exact moment in Congress.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
I think a lot of times people who push for
change are in able to actually see the way they
have changed people's lives because legislation takes a long time.
She was in Congress for more than twenty years. Do
you feel like she was able to see the benefits
that people receive from all of her hard work and
(25:17):
her labor and her initiatives.
Speaker 6 (25:20):
Even just in the number of her colleagues who were
women who changed over time, the first show we ever
produced at Wondermedia Network. The company that I founded was
called Women Belong in the House with the capital H
and we. I spoke with many women who've been in
Congress in different eras for different lengths of time, and
I think that it has changed in a really significant
(25:41):
way over time, just in terms of what issues are
brought up on the floor, the number of people who
understand what we're talking about here when different congress people
bring up issues that are particularly relevant for women, for
people of color, because previously there just was the kind
of representation that was necessary to bring those issues to
(26:04):
a point where there was a large amount of consensus
versus feeling like you're the only person in the room.
So I think that she certainly would have seen that change.
And if you think about from nineteen seventy three to now,
that's a lot of progress has been made in terms
of protections, particularly for women in the workforce.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Whenever we do these retrospectives, I think it's really easy
to feel disconnected from women like this because women dressed differently,
they carried themselves differently in society. There were so many
elements of life that were not accessible to them, and
yet they all believed in this truth that still rings
(26:42):
true today, which is that racism and sexism are actually
economic issues. What's your understanding of how that paradigm still
shows up in society today.
Speaker 6 (26:52):
I think that it's often people try to separate out
the economy from sort of like kitchen table issues or
other social issues, when in fact it's all tied together.
The economy is really just money and how money flows
in our society, and the discrimination against women, against people
(27:13):
of color, against all sorts of different kinds of people
shows up in subtle and not so subtle ways, in
terms of people being left out of job candidate pools,
receiving less compensation for the same work, not getting the
kinds of benefits that other You know, it's all the
same stuff that we've heard about lots and lots of times.
It isn't separate. You can't separate out the economy from
(27:35):
our actual everyday purchasing habits and how we get treated
at work, how we get paid at work, the kinds
of initiatives. And I think it sometimes is difficult to
see because the way that we talk about economic policies
can be pretty just. The language that's used can be
more technical sounding than I think it needs to be,
(27:58):
and that is I think isolating, when in fact, these
are issues that affect all of us and how we
can afford to live our lives.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Jenny, thank you so much for joining us on the
bright side.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Thanks Jenny.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Jenny Kaplan is the CEO and co founder of the
Wonder Media Network and the host of Womanica, a podcast
that tells the stories of women you don't know but should.
We hope you're having a great long weekend, besties. We
hope you are choosing yourself, whether that looks like relaxation
or spending time with the people that you love. Danielle,
(28:33):
what are you up to today?
Speaker 4 (28:35):
I am not laboring for the first time in a
long time. I am going to hang out after this.
I might go watch a TV show, hang out with
my friends.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
I'm going to unlabor. How about you.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
We are observing the holiday. Very cute, very cute. I
am in Santa Monica. Actually, we spontaneously just decided to
do a little staycation and get an airbnb, and we
don't live anywhere near the beach, so it's so nice
to just come here and be near the water because
it's so therapeutic. So I'm going to be chillin' by
the beach, by the pool and just soaking up this
(29:11):
CALLI Sun for as long as we can.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
That sounds so relaxing.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
I love that for you and your family, and to
everybody out there listening, keep enjoying your last days of summer.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
And that's it for today's show.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
Tomorrow, we're talking women in Leadership with CNBC's senior Media
and Tech correspondent Julia Borston. She's telling us how women
can leverage the qualities that we already have to succeed
in the workplace.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
And thank you to our partners at Airbnb.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
I'm Simone Boys.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
You can find me at Simone Boice on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
That's ro Bay. We'll see you tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
Keep looking on the bright side.
Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hey, Bestie's Happy Labor Day.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
We're celebrating the unsung women of the labor movement with
Jenny Kaplan. She's the CEO and co founder of Wonder
Media Network and the host of the Womanica History podcast.
It's Monday, September tewod. I'm Simone Boyce.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright side from
Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we come together to
share women's stories, laugh, learn and brighten your day. On
my Mind Monday is brought to you by Missus Meyers.
Clean Day, inspired by the goodness of the garden see money.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Happy Labor Day.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Thank you, Same to you, Danielle, Thank you.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
It is the unofficial end of summer and the kickoff
to fall, and it is on my Mind Monday, which
is our opportunity to start the week with some fresh perspective. Simone,
you always pick the best articles. What is on your
mind today? Me?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Something good?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Oh my gosh, no pressure at all.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Okay, I've got one that I would say is a
companion piece to the episode that you did about viewing
optimism as a muscle.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
Right.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
So I came across this article in the New York times,
and it's headlined how to strengthen your happiness muscle.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
We all need to strengthen our hat.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
That's like, isn't that the goal of everyone's life is
to just be happy?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah? I want big happiness gains. That's what I'm about.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
So this article says, our drive to seek happiness is
a muscle that we can develop, and we do that
by strengthening what's called our reward sensitivity. So reward sensitivity
is something that we can dial up by simply training
ourselves to pay attention to and savor positive emotions. So
where's your reward sensitivity, Danielle? Like, on a scale of
(01:52):
one to ten, where do you think you're at?
Speaker 4 (01:54):
I actually have to tell you, I think mine is
pretty low. I don't often reward myself. I don't feel
like I deserve it, which is crazy to say out loud,
that doesn't that's like so awkward. But I'm like a
power through, push through type of person, and I don't
often think of rewarding myself.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, you're in luck because I've got some tips for
you today. Please.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Well, first of all, do you reward yourself?
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I feel like my reward sensitivity is too high. I'm
all about the rewards. I'm all about the little treats.
I need to dial it down.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Yeah, you do like a like a millennial treat.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I love a millennial treat. I'm all about the treat life.
I just want life to be one big treat.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yea.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
But anyways, I think this article might be helpful for
you or anyone who feels like they're in the same position.
So this writer, Jenny Tates. She is a practicing psychologist,
and she put together a few research back strategies which
we love to help us do this.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Here's what she said. She said, one way to boost.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Your reward sensitivity is by practicing a simple exercise every day,
like plan one activity per day that will make you
happy or bring this sense of a complishment.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And it can be something small.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Like getting your favorite fancy beverage I'm a beverage queen.
I love that, or even just facetiming a friend. I
love the idea of building this into your calendar every day.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
I love this.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
I actually think it's possibly the only way to make
it happen. I one time was like, I really want
to just call my parents more because it's not happening
in my life, and I had to calendar it and
then it worked, and it's like, not such a hard lift,
you know.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
That's so smart.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah, my parents live down the street and I still
don't talk to them enough.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
So I need to take a page of of your book.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Every time you say that, I'm like, Okay, your life
is everybody loves Raymond.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
It is. My life is literally everybody loves Raymond. My parents.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
I left my leaf flower out on our front porch
last night so they could come pick it up. Like
this is this is our suburban dream that really was
over here.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Everybody loves Simone and Michael.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
I sure hope. So okay.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Another tip from this article you can forecast future wins.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
This is so smart.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
So if you're looking at your calendar for the coming
weeks and you're just overwhelmed with all your obligations, everything
that you have to do, this article says, pick an
event that's coming up, and then imagine the best possible
outcome for that event instead of the worst possible outcome.
So let's say you're meeting a friend for a workout
(04:26):
class you don't really want to go your energy's low.
Instead of dreading it, think to yourself, Wow, this could
be the best most energizing class ever.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
You're like you're visualizing a positive outcome for yourself.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
I love this.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
I think our brains are wired sometimes to think about
what could go wrong instead of what can go right.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Yes, okay, last one for you. You're gonna love this one.
Expand your joy vocabulary. So instead of describing our positive
emotions with predictable over words like fine or good or great,
using more precise words like serene, exhilarated, inspired, delighted can
(05:09):
validate and intensify those positive emotions.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I personally, I love the word delighted.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
It it sparks delight when you hear it, when you
say it. You know how I feel about the word
radiant too.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
I was actually gonna mention that because you taught us this,
that if you say radiant you smile. Delight makes you
smile too, Yes, Yes, Surprise and delight Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I feel like the delight.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
One is maybe the only one I can realistically implement.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
But I'm hereful true, you can do the others. You
can do it, Danielle. I believe in you.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
It's just so hard to calendar things well.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I had a delightful time sharing this thought starter with
you today.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
I was delighted to learn and listen. Thank you so much. Well,
another thing that delights both of us is talking about
the significance of women's stories. And today is Labor Day, right,
and there are so many women's stories that are part
of the labor movement that we're not familiar with. So
earlier this summer, for the fourth of July, we talked
(06:13):
to author Matty Kahn about some unsung women in United
States history.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah, so many of our besties loved hearing about those
stories and those women. So we're excited to keep the
conversation going today. And here to help us tell their
stories is Jenny Kaplan. She's the host of the Wollmanica
History podcast and the CEO and co founder of Wonder
Media Network. She's going to be joining us right after
the break, so stay with us. Thanks to our partners
(06:39):
at missus Myers. You can learn a lot about a
person by their dish soap. Missus Meyers's collection of household
products are inspired by the garden and pack up punch
against dirt and grime. Visit missus meyers dot com.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Jenny Well Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 5 (06:59):
Thank you, thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Welcome, Welcome, It's our pleasure.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
You know, our first impressions of the workforce often come
from what we see modeled inside our own home. And
your mom, Kathy Manning, seems like an incredible role model.
She's actually a US congresswoman representing Greensboro, North Carolina. How
did she shape your idea of ambition growing up?
Speaker 5 (07:23):
Wow, what a lovely question to start off on.
Speaker 6 (07:26):
I think that growing up, I just always had the
idea that I could do whatever I really wanted to
in terms of there being no barrier in terms of
what I could do based on gender or anything else really,
which is obviously a very privileged position. But also it
(07:46):
really came from the idea that I saw what my
parents were doing and the kinds of things and chances
that they took, and so I learned from them. I
also got to see what it looked like to balance
and family, which is quite a challenge as I now
know I have a child myself, and got to see
(08:07):
also what it looks like to go through different phases
of having a career. My mom was an attorney when
I was growing up, had a really giant volunteer role
in national organizations as I got older. And then it
wasn't until I was in the workforce that my mom
decided to run for Congress. So I got to see
a lot of different sort of periods of growth for
(08:28):
her and see what that could look like for me too.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
So when most people here Labor Day, I think, at
least growing up, we think of it as just a
holiday or day off of school or work, But there's
really so much more behind why we observe it. And
you've produced an entire series on women who transformed the
labor movement, both in the US and around the world.
What did you discover about the work that these women do?
Speaker 6 (08:53):
Totally well, actually, it was just one month of We
have a daily show called Womanica, and it's a five
ish minute day daily podcast where every episode is the
story of a different woman from history who you may
not know about but should. Every month is themed, and
this may our theme was workers. So we talked all
about different women, as you said, who shaped the way
(09:14):
that we do business today, whether they were union leaders
or advocates for sex workers, or the accidental fashion Iconomelia Bloomer,
who made pants really popular for women.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
There's so many.
Speaker 6 (09:27):
Different ways that women have had huge impacts on the
way that we do work. You know, we spend the
vast majority of our time at work, and so it's
important to think about and acknowledge the progress that's been
made over the past one hundred plus years and also
the significant progress that still needs to come in terms
of making the workplace more equitable.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
I was listening to Julia Louis Dreyfus's podcast Wiser than Me,
the episode with Gloria Steynam a few days ago, and
Gloria said history tends to be written by the winners.
Important to have a critical lens through which we view it.
And it seems so obvious, but I really loved how
she put it, and I think the winners in labor
have really been men. And I'm curious to know what
(10:11):
you discovered about the misconceptions surrounding women's labor and how
history was recorded during that era.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
A great question.
Speaker 6 (10:19):
All history is certainly framed that way, and I do
want to acknowledge that there has been significant progress. If
I think to my own family and the opportunities that
were available for my grandmother, not just what she was
allowed to do, but the kinds of jobs that she
thought were possible for herself. It basically was like two
things she could do versus then my mom had way
(10:42):
more opportunities, and I have even more. So I do
think it's important to acknowledge that there has been progress,
and that has been because of people who've worked really
hard to make that happen, like many of the women
that we highlighted, so I think often the misconceptions that
we saw over and over again we see in lots
of different areas are just undervaluing what people are capable
(11:06):
of from groups that are discriminated against. So be those
women and especially women of color, people of color. More broadly, like,
there are many of the stories of people who changed
the world and changed the way that we work really
started from you know, no one thought we could do this,
No one thought I could be I could make a difference.
(11:28):
People didn't think I was capable of working in this
kind of field or doing this kind of thing. I
think the other thing that I learned that certainly is
not revolutionary to say, but there is so much power
in group activism. So a lot of the changes and
a lot of the protections that we have today stem
from organized labor, from unions, from you know, really grassroots
(11:50):
movements that made big changes happen over the course of
a long time and very difficult work. So it's important
not to I think, I think put too much credit
on others if they're telling you that, you know, you
can't do something, because it's the people who move beyond
that who end up making these giant changes and help
push all of us forward.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
One of those women who helped push all of us
forward is Francis Perkins, and she was a significant figure
inside the FDR administration. How should we remember her?
Speaker 5 (12:21):
So what a lady?
Speaker 6 (12:23):
Francis Perkins was the first woman appointed to the US cabinet.
She served as FDR Secretary of Labor for twelve years,
and I think most notably, to try to summarize, because
she did a lot of things.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
We really did.
Speaker 6 (12:38):
She became Yeah it's really wild, but she was just
really determined to help solidify worker rights and try to
make make life a little better for everyone who has work.
And she was the driving force behind a lot of
what we all know as sort of new Deal policies. So,
you know, she had all sorts of different positions and
then When FDR asked Frances Perkins to be his labor secretary,
(13:02):
she said he would have to commit to a variety
of social insurance policies, including unemployment relief, a public works program,
minimum wage laws, you know what became social security, and
abolishing child labor. So she really was a driver behind
all of these things that we now think of as
(13:23):
hardcore New Deal policies and sort of the backbone of
our social safety net.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
What do you think was her biggest achievement. I think
it's hard to.
Speaker 6 (13:34):
Overstate the importance of systems that she put into place
as part of the New Deal. I mean it's really
hard to imagine now getting that sort of number and
that variety of giant social programs past, yeah, that have
changed the way that we work, have really allowed the
country to ensure that a lot more people are not
(13:56):
in incredibly impoverished positions and have the ability to get
help when they need it. So, I mean, even just
child labor laws, it's a pretty big deal. Any single
one of those things would have been huge, But the
fact that she helped to make the first minimum wage law,
the first overtime law, you know, these are all really
(14:17):
giant things and I think Yeah. She also had interesting foresight.
During World War Two. She really saw how valuable it
would be for women not to be drafted and instead
to take over the wartime roles that were left empty
as evidence that women really should be in the workforce
(14:38):
more broadly, or should be able to be in the
workforce more broadly.
Speaker 4 (14:41):
She was pretty unbelievable, and it doesn't come without criticism.
I've read about how her gender really gotten the way
of a lot of things during her fight, but she
never let it stop her. One of the things I
love about her is that she's from my hometown, Chicago.
She held a variety of teaching positions at a rival
high school of mine. She taught chemistry at Lake Forest Academy.
(15:05):
She was a white collar worker fighting for labor workers' rights,
which is sort of an interesting juxtaposition. Do we know
how she became interested in this work initially?
Speaker 6 (15:15):
Yeah, So after she graduated from college, she became really
interested in work helping the porn unemployed, and she started
lobbying for workers' rights. And then she witnessed the Triangle
shirtwaist fire and sort of doubled down on her interest
to really try to make a difference.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Wow. Moving on to our next activist, Florence Saint John,
there really is no discussion of equal pay the kinds
of conversations that we have today without mentioning Florence and
her contribution to this issue in the nineteen thirties.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Would you tell us her story?
Speaker 5 (15:49):
I would love to.
Speaker 6 (15:50):
It's interesting, I think, particularly because Florence's story is so significant,
and yet it was also largely forgotten for quite a
long time. So Florence Saint John was a worker at
General Motors at the Old's Motorwork factory in.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
Lansing, Michigan.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
She was one of three hundred workers at the factory,
one of thirty women. And the women at that point
in time when she started working there, they were doing
all the same work as the men.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
They thought they were being treated the same way.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
And then one day Florence and some other workers were
playing paycheck poker. They were betting paper checks in the game,
and Florence noticed that men who were on the same
shifts as the women, many of whom were actually less
senior than the women they were playing with, were making
more money because she could see their paychecks as they
were betting them. So she tried to take action via
(16:44):
the union. The managers at GM wouldn't budget. Some of
them actually said they'd rather not have women on the
floor at all. Eventually, GM created a specific women's division
and changed the kind of work that they were given,
gave them more sort of remedial time asks, separating it
out specifically so that they could justify paying the women less,
(17:05):
even though women ended up doing labor intensive work anyway. Then,
a decade into working at GM, Florence called on a
couple of well known trial attorneys. Together they gathered twenty
eight claims from women and filed a lawsuit against GM.
That was really the first time women banded together legally
to demand lost wages in this kind of way. The
(17:26):
lawsuit dragged on. It actually took three years before the
Michigan Supreme Court even ruled that Florence had standing for
The lawsuit continued to drag on, and eventually, after a
long slog, GM was forced to present payroll records and
the judge ruled in favor of the women, and so
GM was ordered to pay a little more than fifty
(17:47):
five thousand dollars to Florence and the twenty eight women,
which today would be something like three quarters of a
million dollars. So yeah, it was a really big deal.
Inspired lots of other wage discrimination lawsuits and all. So
for the subsequent two decades, twenty one states passed wage
equity bills. In nineteen sixty three, the US passed the
(18:08):
Equal Pay Act. It was just a really, really significant
win for workers.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
We have to take a quick break, but we'll be
right back with more from Jenny Kaplan. Stick with us,
and we're back with Jenny Kaplan.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
All right, Next, we're going to talk about Addie Wyatt.
I think it's really important to note, since we're in
an audio medium, that this is.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
A black woman.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
She was a labor activist focused on how gender and
race shaped the idea of what jobs people are qualified for.
And it sounds like she got herself into some good trouble.
Would you share what happened?
Speaker 4 (18:47):
Yes?
Speaker 6 (18:47):
So, Addie why it's an amazing story. She just got
involved in so many different ways in pushing civil rights,
labor rights, women's all the rights, women's rights forward. She
was just such an credible advocate. She was born in
Mississippi in nineteen twenty four. When she was six, her
family moved to Chicago, she sort of by accident became
(19:10):
a factory floor worker and sort of snuck into a
typing test instead that was only available to white women.
And then when she showed up for work, they just
automatically led her to the factory floor, and she became
a factory floor worker and actually made more money.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
Doing that than she would have as a typist.
Speaker 6 (19:27):
She joined the United Packing House Workers of America pretty
quickly and got to see how unions would help protect
her rights. So, for example, pretty quickly after joining the
factory tried to hire a white woman in her place,
and the union used its seniority clause to help keep
Baddie's job. When she became pregnant with her second child,
(19:50):
Addie was eligible for up to a year of parental
leave because of union negotiations. She just really saw the
value personally of what non discrimination could do, and then
she just kept rising up the ranks of union leadership
and became the first black woman elected vice president of
her local chapter of the UPWA. She kept rising up
(20:13):
the ranks. She and her husband became pals with doctor
Martin Luther King Junior, and really helped join and push
forward the civil rights movement. More broadly, she became an
ordained minister, She founded a church in Chicago, and eventually,
in nineteen sixty two, she was appointed to JFK's Commission
on the Status of Women, serving on as Labor Legislation Committee.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
She just did all sorts of stuff.
Speaker 6 (20:37):
She co founded the National Organization for Women, she co
founded the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and she co
founded the Coalition of Labor Union Women.
Speaker 5 (20:47):
So she was very busy this lady.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
You mentioned that she was a contemporary of doctor Martin
Luther King junior. Did she marry her civil rights with
her labor activism?
Speaker 6 (21:00):
With really all of the activists here, I think it's
important to note it's hard to separate out these issues.
It's not like you can just fight for workers' rights
without understanding the way that workers' rights intersect with gender
rights and race and class and all of the different
kinds of discriminations that exist intersect with what happens in
(21:21):
the workplace, because again, it's where we spend most of
our time. So she certainly used She was an activist
on all of these different fronts and all of the
intersectionality that comes with being a real person in the world.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Finally, the last figure that we'd like to highlight is
Pat Shrouder and she was actually born in nineteen forty
and just passed away last year.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
What's her legacy?
Speaker 6 (21:46):
Pat Schroeder was a representative in the US House of
Representatives for twenty four years and she had just an
absolutely enormous legacy in terms of the work that she
did focused on women's and workers' issues while she was
in Congress, So she had an interesting history, and she.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
Had her pilot's license.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
She went to the University of Minnesota because it's ROTC
program included aircraft. She then went to Harvard Law School
and became a lawyer. She was one of only fifteen
women in a class of more than five hundred people,
and then married a classmate, moved to Denver and worked
for the National Labor Relations Board and also as a
(22:34):
volunteer legal counsel for Planned Parenthood. She then sort of
had a interlude where she left to raise her family.
When her husband was on part of a committee of
Democrats looking for a candidate to challenge the incumbent congress person.
He came home and was basically like guess whose name
came up? And it was hers, so she ran for
(22:56):
Congress and was elected. I think interestingly, a lot of
the headline read Denver housewife runs for Congress, sort of
not mentioning the fact that she was a Harvard educated
lawyer and had significant experience in the workplace too. But
she won the primary, the general, and was in Congress
for again twenty four years. When she joined, she was
(23:16):
just one of fourteen women in the House. She described
it as a guy gulag, which I think is colorful
and fun. And she had to deal with all kinds
of discrimination. As early as during her swearing in, the
Speaker of the House tried to swear in her husband
instead of her wow at the actual swearing in ceremony,
(23:38):
but she made such Despite having to face such challenges,
she got a lot done. She co founded and co
chaired the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues. She played a
key role in getting the Pregnancy Discrimination Act passed, which
still today prevents employers from dismissing women because they're pregnant
(24:00):
or denying them maternity benefits. She was vital to the
Economic Equity Act, the Child Abuse Prevention Act, the Violence
Against Women Act. She opened military jobs up to women
also helped to advocate for and pass the Family and
Medical Leave Act. She I think really represents how there
(24:21):
are different ways of making a huge difference for people
in the workplace, whether you are a union activist or
someone who gets started on the factory floor.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
You know, a teacher, or.
Speaker 6 (24:32):
A congress person or however, there are lots of different
ways to have an impact, But what happens at work
affects all of us, and so I think Pat's story
is really amazing in terms of she she got to
Congress in a way that beat the odds and then
managed to be really, really productive while she was there,
which is a hard thing to do, difficult to imagine
quite that much happening at this exact moment in Congress.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
I think a lot of times people who push for
change are in able to actually see the way they
have changed people's lives because legislation takes a long time.
She was in Congress for more than twenty years. Do
you feel like she was able to see the benefits
that people receive from all of her hard work and
(25:17):
her labor and her initiatives.
Speaker 6 (25:20):
Even just in the number of her colleagues who were
women who changed over time, the first show we ever
produced at Wondermedia Network. The company that I founded was
called Women Belong in the House with the capital H
and we. I spoke with many women who've been in
Congress in different eras for different lengths of time, and
I think that it has changed in a really significant
(25:41):
way over time, just in terms of what issues are
brought up on the floor, the number of people who
understand what we're talking about here when different congress people
bring up issues that are particularly relevant for women, for
people of color, because previously there just was the kind
of representation that was necessary to bring those issues to
(26:04):
a point where there was a large amount of consensus
versus feeling like you're the only person in the room.
So I think that she certainly would have seen that change.
And if you think about from nineteen seventy three to now,
that's a lot of progress has been made in terms
of protections, particularly for women in the workforce.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Whenever we do these retrospectives, I think it's really easy
to feel disconnected from women like this because women dressed differently,
they carried themselves differently in society. There were so many
elements of life that were not accessible to them, and
yet they all believed in this truth that still rings
(26:42):
true today, which is that racism and sexism are actually
economic issues. What's your understanding of how that paradigm still
shows up in society today.
Speaker 6 (26:52):
I think that it's often people try to separate out
the economy from sort of like kitchen table issues or
other social issues, when in fact it's all tied together.
The economy is really just money and how money flows
in our society, and the discrimination against women, against people
(27:13):
of color, against all sorts of different kinds of people
shows up in subtle and not so subtle ways, in
terms of people being left out of job candidate pools,
receiving less compensation for the same work, not getting the
kinds of benefits that other You know, it's all the
same stuff that we've heard about lots and lots of times.
It isn't separate. You can't separate out the economy from
(27:35):
our actual everyday purchasing habits and how we get treated
at work, how we get paid at work, the kinds
of initiatives. And I think it sometimes is difficult to
see because the way that we talk about economic policies
can be pretty just. The language that's used can be
more technical sounding than I think it needs to be,
(27:58):
and that is I think isolating, when in fact, these
are issues that affect all of us and how we
can afford to live our lives.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Jenny, thank you so much for joining us on the
bright side.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Thanks Jenny.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Jenny Kaplan is the CEO and co founder of the
Wonder Media Network and the host of Womanica, a podcast
that tells the stories of women you don't know but should.
We hope you're having a great long weekend, besties. We
hope you are choosing yourself, whether that looks like relaxation
or spending time with the people that you love. Danielle,
(28:33):
what are you up to today?
Speaker 4 (28:35):
I am not laboring for the first time in a
long time. I am going to hang out after this.
I might go watch a TV show, hang out with
my friends.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
I'm going to unlabor. How about you.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
We are observing the holiday. Very cute, very cute. I
am in Santa Monica. Actually, we spontaneously just decided to
do a little staycation and get an airbnb, and we
don't live anywhere near the beach, so it's so nice
to just come here and be near the water because
it's so therapeutic. So I'm going to be chillin' by
the beach, by the pool and just soaking up this
(29:11):
CALLI Sun for as long as we can.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
That sounds so relaxing.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
I love that for you and your family, and to
everybody out there listening, keep enjoying your last days of summer.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
And that's it for today's show.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
Tomorrow, we're talking women in Leadership with CNBC's senior Media
and Tech correspondent Julia Borston. She's telling us how women
can leverage the qualities that we already have to succeed
in the workplace.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
And thank you to our partners at Airbnb.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
I'm Simone Boys.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
You can find me at Simone Boice on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 4 (29:52):
I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
That's ro Bay. We'll see you tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
Keep looking on the bright side.
Host
Simone Boyce
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