Taking the Lead Episode 4: The Partnership

Taking the Lead Episode 4: The Partnership

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It all comes down to this — we’ve arrived at the fourth and final episode of our month-long series about women and work: “Taking the Lead.”

And the timing couldn’t be better: Ivanka Trump took on equal pay and affordable childcare during her speech at the Republican National Convention last week, becoming the model mother/entrepreneur for her dad’s campaign. Hillary Clinton goes into the final stretch as the Democrat’s presidential candidate, breaking political glass ceilings no matter which way you vote.

Back in podcast land, a quick recap: our two Brooklyn moms turned tech entrepreneurs, Rachael Ellison and Leslie Ali Walker are co-founders of Need/Done, a service for backup childcare and household support. (It doesn’t exist yet but think Nextdoor meets Sittercity.)

If you missed the first three episodes of our four-part series, enjoy catching up here:

In the final chapter, the women face difficult choices: Should they drop the feminist mission behind the company when they make their pitch to investors? Does Rachael need to give up entrepreneurship so she can remain the kind of mom she wants to be?

Plus, we’ll end the suspense and talk about the seismic shift happening to our culture around women and work with Anne-Marie Slaughter, Hillary’s former advisor at the State Department. Anne-Marie is now the CEO of New America and the author of Unfinished Business: Women Men Work Family, which she wrote after detailing her struggles to combine her career with parenting in a hugely popular piece for The Atlantic called “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All.”

And yes, we’ll tackle the male perspective on caretaking and professional ambitions by speaking with Anne-Marie’s husband, Andrew Moravcsik. He’s a professor of Political Science at Princeton University and the “lead parent” at home. Andy explains how being his family’s primary caretaker has affected his career, psyche and marriage… and why he feels so strongly that the conversation about work/life balance is really about men and their role in society.

A special note to listeners: Your thoughts on these issues have been a hugely important part of this series. Thank you so much for being so honest and open with your stories and struggles. We want to continue to hear what you think — any/all of your reactions. Send them to us by recording a voice memo or emailing notetoself@wnyc.org.  

We’d also like to make a request: Please share this episode with one person whom you think needs to know more about this topic (or needs to know she’s/he’s not alone!). Share and talk about the series with a colleague, boss, spouse, or friend by cutting and pasting this link here [http://www.wnyc.org/story/work-life-balance-need-done-partnership] in a Facebook post or email.

Also, if you enjoyed the little bit of our conversation with father and lead-parent Andy Moravcsik, we’ve got great news: You can listen to his full conversation with Manoush in a bonus episode right here. For more Note to Self, and to get episodes like this one sent straight to your feed, make sure you’re subscribed in iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, I Heart Radio, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or anywhere else using our RSS feed.