White Picket Fence

White Picket Fence

White Picket Fence interrogates the structures of inequity affecting women since America’s founding. On the newest season, host Julie Kohler investigates the institution of marriage to uncover what’s behind this latest push for the return of a traditional family structure. Join us in exploring where America—and Americans—have fallen short and what we can do to create a better future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

July 18, 2024 34 mins
When host Julie Kohler became a mom, a community of care sprouted up around her. The people who showed up to support her and her family were essential -- and they would be whether or not she was a single mom. All season, we've dissected the institution of marriage in the US. But what are we missing when talk only about marriage? For the final episode of this season, we're asking what the future of family could look like if marriage...

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We’ve spent a lot of time this season investigating the current marriage panic. The pro-marriage crew is sounding alarm bells that if we don’t start marrying, and quit divorcing, things in the U.S. will only get worse. But our theory on this show is that the path to stability and happiness actually leads in the opposite direction. What if we could look beyond our shores, at a country that was taking a very different approach? This ...

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July 3, 2024 38 mins
In 1969, California Governor Ronald Reagan signed the country's first no-fault divorce bill into law. Since then, Americans have been able to leave their marriages without having to prove their spouse committed any wrongdoing. But now, there's a growing movement on the right to make ending a marriage much harder. This week, host Julie Kohler digs into this current attack on no-fault divorce — and rolls back the clock to explore the...

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June 27, 2024 27 mins
In 1965, a government report on Black families that was never supposed to be public leaked... and permanently influenced how our country thought about marriage, poverty, and personal responsibility. It was called the Moynihan Report. The report affirmed the belief that family structure – specifically, families headed by single mothers – caused people to be poor. This week, host Julie Kohler traces the roots and repercussions of the...

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June 20, 2024 25 mins

The idea that marriage is a fundamental, American institution isn’t just a cultural one – it has serious economic and legal implications. For most of its history, the U.S. has used marriage as a vessel to confer privilege and status onto some people, while marginalizing others. This week, our host, Julie Kohler, takes us on a historical marriage tour to examine how marriage achieved its exalted status, and how it became a tool – on...

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June 13, 2024 26 mins
Maybe you’ve noticed it -- we're in the midst of a moral panic about marriage. Pundits and politicians have become awfully concerned that people are marrying later, and less often. That a growing number of adults are living alone, without a spouse or partner. That divorce remains relatively common. That many women are having and raising kids as single mothers. Now, conservatives waxing poetic about family values is hardly new. But ...

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June 7, 2024 2 mins
This season, we're diving into the hallowed institution of marriage. We want to know why so many people are getting so whipped up over the ways that Americans are — or are not — forming relationships and building families. Why marriage is becoming, once again, the catch-all policy solution for all of our country's challenges. And what becomes possible when we broaden our imaginations around what relationships can look like. We'll g...

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April 12, 2023 35 mins

Organizing around motherhood works. It can activate women politically by helping them tap into a powerful identity. But maternal activism can also have some unintended consequences that don't advance justice. So in the final episode of the season, we're asking this season’s guests: should the left still be playing into maternalist politics? Or can we evolve beyond it — to a kind of politics that focuses on values, not a fixed ident...

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April 5, 2023 28 mins

Much of the motherhood activism that is lifted up in our politics portrays women in a certain way: as uniquely moral, even apolitical, actors who were compelled to take action because they fear for their children’s safety. It’s a myth that's highly racially coded and obscures the realities of motherhood. The truth? Motherhood is political. Moms are political. And when we start acknowledging that and centering the most marginalized ...

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March 29, 2023 31 mins

The political identity of "mother" is not owned by the right. There's also a rich history of mothers working to advance progressive change. Yet the framing of much of this activism—a mother spurred to action when awakened to a threat to her child's safety—remains grounded in an image of motherhood that is riddled with race and class privilege. Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, began her activism journey as a stay-at...

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March 22, 2023 34 mins

In the summer of 2022, Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, flew to Texas to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Onstage, his tirades against immigration, gender studies, and LGBTQ rights were met with roars of approval. Orban has made it his mission to codify traditional family values into law—and dismantle democracy in the process. American conservatives are taking note. And paving the way for these e...

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March 15, 2023 33 mins

Moms for Liberty didn't appear out of thin air. They're building on a long history of white, conservative women who, for decades, have used their motherhood as a tool for political credibility. And it all started in 1960s California, where thousands of middle-class moms transformed into suburban warriors and helped build the modern-day conservative movement.

This season's cover art features a photograph by Jonathan Wilkins.

White Pic...

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March 8, 2023 33 mins

In the fall of 2020, a group of mothers gathered around a kitchen table. They were concerned that public school administrators were making decisions about their children's health and education that overstepped their bounds. It felt like they were losing control over their kids. So they decided to band together and fight for their parental rights. Pretty compelling, right? It's hard to argue with moms. The GOP knows that. And that's...

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February 22, 2023 2 mins

The image of mothers — particularly white suburban mothers — has always carried a lot of weight in American politics. But why? This season, we’re exploring the political potency of motherhood. We'll investigate how right-wing groups like Moms for Liberty are making headlines by calling for classroom restrictions on discussions of race, gender, and sexuality. Their agenda is harmful, but their methods have proven effective. And we’r...

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Although the Build Back Better Act could not deliver on all the care economy issues, there is still reason for hope. With a bipartisan oriented strategy, some of these issues can still get through the House and the Senate  – universal pre-k being one of those. On our final episode of the series, Jenny and Julie are joined by Representative Kathy Manning to discuss the importance of universal pre-k and what the future holds for care...

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March 22, 2022 47 mins
The American child care system is full of contradiction. For individual families, care costs keep rising. But many caregivers are barely paid a living wage. The Build Back Better Act would have been the first federal intervention in this sector in fifty years. Without it, this broken cycle continues. On today’s crossover episode with Women belong in the House, Jenny and Julie are joined by Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark to discu...

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March 15, 2022 39 mins
The need to take family or medical leave touches every American. Yet, despite overwhelming popularity, the U.S. stands alone as the only industrialized nation without paid leave. In this crossover episode, Jenny and Julie are joined by Representative Lauren Underwood to unpack why America continues to lag behind and the ongoing political fight around this crucial issue. 

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In this new season of Women belong in the House x White Picket Fence, we’re examining America’s caregiving crisis. In our first episode, Jenny and Julie explore the child tax credit with one of its longtime supporters -- Rep. Rosa DeLauro.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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White Picket Fence is continuing our conversation around the caregiving crisis, this time, with the help of another WMN show: Women belong in the House. Catch Julie on new episodes of Women belong in the House discussing the critical caregiving policies that we still hope could pass in Congress. 

Check out Women belong in the House


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informati...

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December 21, 2021 34 mins

So many things came together that could  have made this moment different. The ascendance of a new progressive economics. A more intersectional gender justice movement. Greater numbers of women political leaders. Multi-racial organizing that is centering women of color and making caregiving a central political issue. But once again, a handful of politicians have prioritized personal success over the well-being of the many.

In our fin...

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