Femme Wonk by Katie Davey: Recent Episodes
Katie Davey
We're a podcast about politics, public policy, and current affairs, with a flavour of Atlantic Canada and intersectionality. Hosted by Katie Davey.
Tune in to get the recap on the first 3 weeks of the federal election campaign. We'll be back later this week after the national debates.
The Femme Wonk Book Club is joined by author Celina Caesar-Chavannes to discuss her book, Can You Hear Me Now?
This episode is 100% my (Katie's -- hi!) advice about a career in the policy space. We cover master's, the landscape, and practical tips.
The takeaway? Connect with people and learn how to stand out.
As promised, here is your New Brunswick post election debrief! I'm joined by University of New Brunswick prof JP Lewis who helps us understand the context of the election. His takeaway: You can’t assume that whatever happened with Covid-19 evaluation of government and voter intentions will overwhelm traditional voting patterns.
Like what you hear? Leave us a review!
This episode is dropping just 10 days before Election Day. Check it out to hear my thoughts on the campaign this far, and what to expect over the next two weeks.
We chatted with the authors of the first national feminist economic recovery plan in the world. Anjum and Carmina talk about the motivation behind the plan, some of the nuts and bolts of creating it, a description of pillars, and what's next for the plan.
Like this episode? Share it with a friend.
We chat with Eternity Martis about her book They Said This Would Be Fun. It was the May Femme Wonk book club pick so we discuss observations from the book club, the book writing process, and what happens next.
I chat with Anna, co-CEO of Tidal Equality. We discuss various covid-19 policy responses, what this pandemic response has meant for equity, and what we can learn from all of this.
In this live recorded episode, Katie gets interviewed by Amanda from PoliticsNOW as a part of their InspireNOW series.
Amanda picks Katie's brain about topics like building Femme Wonk, impostor syndrome, what's next, and if 10 year plans are reasonable for millennials. We cover a lot of grounds. Let us know if you struggle with any of the topics we highlight.
Thanks to our sponsor, GlassSKY. GlassSKY works to help the next generation of leaders make the most of their talents and contribute to society and the workplace in powerful ways. They work with progressive employers who want to embrace diversity and gain a deeper understanding of the changes they are facing as their leadership profile rapidly shifts to one that is Millennial and increasingly female. Visit their website GlassSKY.org to learn more.
COVID-19 has dramatically impacted nearly every single person and their work. One main shift has been a forced work from home. I've been working from home for about a year now, so I partnered with Samantha (samantharoad.com) to chat about best practices, what is still really hard, and what we hope to see stick after the pandemic ends.
I want to thank our sponsor, GlassSKY. GlassSKY works to help the next generation of leaders make the most of their talents and contribute to society and the workplace in powerful ways. They work with progressive employers who want to embrace diversity and gain a deeper understanding of the changes they are facing as their leadership profile rapidly shifts to one that is Millennial and increasingly female. Visit their website GlassSKY.org to learn more.
Okay. We're mixing it up a bit during covid-19. We don't want to add unnecessary noise, so we've pivoted to some lighter content.
Tune in for three book reviews:
-
Had it Coming: What's Fair in the Age of #Metoo by Robyn Doolittle
-
We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslin Memoir by Samra Habib
-
The Handmaid's Tale & The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
We're also thrilled to announce that GlassSKY will be sponsoring the podcast for the remainder of 2020! GlassSKY works to help the next generation of leaders make the most of their talents and contribute to society and the workplace in powerful ways. They work with progressive employers who want to embrace diversity and gain a deeper understanding of the changes they are facing as their leadership profile rapidly shifts to one that is Millennial and increasingly female. Visit their website GlassSKY.org to learn more.
This week we chat with Velma from Operation Black Vote Canada (OBVC). We chat about some great projects that they're working on, like the 1834 fellowship, but we also talk more broadly about what diverse decision making looks like and how we can all be allies.
We get two calls to action: 1. provide access and 2. at whatever decision making table you're at, take an internal audit. Look around the table and ask yourself if it looks like Canada. If it doesn't, find people that can fill the gaps.
How could we not do an episode about the Iowa caucus? I chat with an old friend about our 'interested observer' status on Iowa and the democratic primary race. Check it out!
We're joined by friend of the podcast, Jordan O'Brien to talk about what has happened over the last 6 weeks, top political moments of the past decade, and predictions for 2020.
We talked about:
-
Andrew Scheer's resignation
-
Blaine Higgs and his confidence threats
-
The NWT first majority women Cabinet
Top moments of the decade? You'll have to tune in to find out.
We're back with part 2 of our Cabinet brief! Listen in for our takes on what exactly the new Cabinet appointments mean, what our biggest takeaways were, and what we're still waiting for. What are your Cabinet quick-takes?
We've got a quick mini-episode for you today where we talk all things federal Cabinet shuffle scheduled to happen on Wednesday. On Thursday, we'll have your post-cabinet brief giving a run down of our thoughts.
We answer questions like: What is a cabinet; what happens in a minority situation; what about representation, and many others.
Let us know what you think, and send along any predictions you may have.
We chat with Yash and Nahum of Everyday about participatory democracy -- what is it, why it is important, who is doing it well, and how we can improve?
Today we’re talking about gender equality and climate change. Our public discourse in Canada has been dominated by the economic impacts of climate change -- specifically carbon tax. We also hear about the urgency, and about what is happening to our lands, water, and life. We talk very little about how climate change hits the ground. Major episodes like wildfires, flooding, and storms are often getting chalked up to climate change, but who is being impacted?
Much research suggests that women and children will disproportionately feel the impacts of climate change. This has to do with things like the lack of economic security women face, and the types of work women are doing.
I’m joined by Damien and Anne from Community Forest International. They also walk us through some of the programming that they’re doing internationally, and what they’ve learned.
Today we’re talking about politics, social media, and self-care. By the time this episode is released, we’ll know the results of the 2019 election, however we recorded it a few days before.
I got the inspiration for this episode when I was recording last week’s episode. I was honestly feeling really overwhelmed about providing election commentary because I’ve felt pretty upset about many elements of this campaign. I also felt like spending time on Twitter was adding to the negativity I was feeling.
We chat with Kayley Reed, a successful entrepreneur who started her journey as a mental health advocate and co-founder of Wear Your Label. Her journey has led her to a successful business built around influencer marketing. She also hosts a podcast called Self-care Sunday. I wanted to talk to Kayley about how we can practice self-care in a negative political social media environment -- especially people like me who rely on social media as a tool for business.
We talk about setting boundaries on social media, the difference between personal and business use, where we both were when we found out Donald Trump was elected, the role social media now plays in politics, and last but not least, some tools we can use to have a better experience on social media, while still being an informed advocate for change.
Like #Elxn43, this episode is a lot. We talk about the federal election, give you some useful definitions in case we've gotta talk about a minority situation in a few days, dive into the platforms to see where the parties stand on gender, and answer some great listener questions.
Young people ages 18-35 make up the largest demographic voting block in this election. We chat with Shreya, an organizer with Future Majority about getting young people to the polls for Election 43!
If you haven't yet, do get out and vote! Check out elections.ca for more information.
We talk about all things basic income including frameworks, past pilot programs, benefits, and #elxn43 platform commitments. We end with listener questions on basic income. What do you think? Is it a no-brainer?
We chat with Amber Bishop, the principal of the Cambridge- Narrows Community School (K-12) about what her school specifically is doing to transform the bathroom experience for all students. The transformation includes providing sanitary products for free to those who need them. Although the CNCS is a small school in rural New Brunswick, the idea of period poverty is being discussed across the country and governments are beginning to respond. We hope that these conversations continue.
Thanks to Ontario Loud for organizing and facilitating this conversation!
In this episode, we join a conversation with Chris, Kate, and Alexi of Ontario Loud as well as Dr. Kate Graham of No Second Chances to put the Trudeau government to the test on feminism. We also chat about how parties can show up for women in this election -- do you think they will?
In keeping with our back to school theme, we chat with the chair of Students for Consent Culture, Connor Spencer about the landscape of campus sexual violence, what they're doing to support student advocates, what their provincial lobbying looks like, and barriers that exist within the post-secondary system.
I'm joined by Founder and CEO of Leading Women of Tomorrow, Medha Reddy. We chat about the importance of supporting young women to equip them with the tools to run for office or take on leadership roles in the future.
What do you get when you put two Canadian political podcast hosts together to talk about the #DemDebate? 1.5 hours of rants, rabbit holes, and some smart analysis. Thanks again to Chris from Ontario Loud for joining us to chat U.S Democratic Party politics.
In this episode, we collaborated with Matt George of the podcast Unsettled. Matt is focused on the intersection of culture, business, and technology. We chatted about gender quotas, universal basic income, legislating culture change, and about a million other things. Let us know what you think -- and check out Unsettled!
We chat with Susan Holt about her experience running for office. She shares lessons learned, opportunities, and challenges that she and others face. We dig into the recently raised issues of sexism at the Fredericton City Council, we chat about her new role with PQA and Plato Testing, and we talk about a number of systemic changes needed to get more people with diverse experiences elected.
Still need your t-shirt? Visit femmewonk.com/buy
We just celebrated our 6th full month of this project so I wanted to take to opportunity to flip the script a bit. We asked you on social media what questions you’d like me to answer and then I asked my lovely partner if he would take these questions as well as some of his own and interview me! We chat about a wide range of topics, including our current TV and book recommendations so stick around. Let me know what you think -- and if you're still left with questions send us a note: Katie@femmewonk.com.
Also — this is the first episode since we launched our t-shirt campaign! If you haven’t had a chance, head over to femmewonk.com/buy and check out our “a woman’s place is in the house.” t-shirts. This is our way of positively contributing to the dialogue leading up to the 2019 federal election. We want to see a house of commons that is more representative of the actual population of Canada. This is also something that we’ve heard time and time again from guests on this podcast.
In this episode, I chat with So What Media founder, Phaedra de Saint-Rome about making political media accessible leading up to the 2019 federal election. I have to say, there are few things I enjoy more than chatting politics with a kick ass young woman. I hope you enjoy! This episode also includes the announcement of an exciting partnership between Femme Wonk and So What Media!
You can follow along the Femme Wonk So What Media partnership by signing up for the So What news letter at sowhatmedia.ca.
In this episode, we chat with KJ about his experience as an international student and newcomer in New Brunswick. We talk about both the challenges and the bright spots as well as some policy innovations that would increase inclusive immigration.
This is the second episode in our inclusive immigration series.
In this episode we chat about our experience at Women Deliver 2019. The episode is packed with content ranging from the future of work to #MeToo to the power of movements and everything in between. We also chat with three other East Coasters -- Ashley Hall, Allison Thorne, and Rachel Richard about their experience at Women Deliver.
The Women Deliver 2019 Conference took place from 3-6 June 2019 in Vancouver, Canada and was the world’s largest conference on gender equality and the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women in the 21st century.
I attended Women Deliver as a Women Deliver Mobilization Canada bursary recipient. Mobilization Canada brought together around 50 advocates from across Canada to participate in Women Deliver.
Femme Wonk is also one of the many mobilizers from across the country working to continue the momentum of Women Deliver. You can check out the other mobilizers including events at wedeliver2019.org.
In today's episode we're joined by Ginette Gautreau -- assistant director at the New Brunswick Multicultural Council. We talk about inclusive immigration, which at its core, is as simple as treating immigrants as humans rather than economic engines.
We asked Ginette how can folks listening can promote a more inclusive conversation around immigration. Here are the tips she suggested:
- Volunteer and attend events with the multicultural communities in your own communities
- Look at how you’re bringing newcomers into your space - are you actively trying to diversify folks around the table?
- Reinforce kindness, curiosity, open openness with your own actions
This epsiode is 100% unedited. We were supposed to be taking this week off -- so I’m travelling without my laptop or recording tools.
It is because of my personal privilege that I had the choice to take a week off from engaging. This is not a privilege that folks fighting for their fundamental rights in the US have.
I could not sit by and drink wine while the rights of women are being trampled on.
I hope you’ll endulge my unedited episode while I share some thoughts, opinions, and experiences on abortion acess with you.
I'm joined by Meranda of the All Things Dreams podcast to reflect on the Atlantic Podcast Summit as well as our first six months in podcasting! We chat about choosing our names & logos, what tech we use, the challenges we faced, and top pieces of advice.
In this episode, we chat with Erin Flood about our recent experience with the GovMaker Conference. We discuss open government, open data, the future of democracy, and what role technology plays in this conversation. This is a big topic and we were left with some big questions including how we build the infrastructure around privacy that makes us feel protected and safe with what governments will do with that data in the same way that we feel safe using publicly funded infrastructure -- let us know what you think!
I'm joined by Jordan O'Brien for a second time. He first joined the pod in episode 3 to chat about the 1.5x incentive to political parties for votes cast for women candidates -- check it out.
In this episode, we chat about the recently elected minority government in PEI, our experience navigating a historic election in New Brunswick, what challenges and benefits that minority governments have, and we sprinkle in a bit of electoral reform.
We lean into our inner policy wonk so let us know what you think.
In this episode, we're joined by former Premier of New Brunswick and Minister Responsible for Women's Equality, Brian Gallant.
This episode is jam packed. We chat about how Mr. Gallant found himself in the role of minister responsible for women's equality, some of the policies he's most proud of, why men's ally-ship is so important, and how we can keep moving forward.
On a personal note, I worked for Premier Gallant for 2.5 years and it was a real privilege to get to recap his thinking on some of the work I found most impactful.
We also chat about our recent blog post: 6 Point Action Plan to get More Women Elected.
In this episode, we chat about the front runners and their platforms as we head into the Alberta and PEI elections.
I'm joined by Joan Kingston, former New Brunswick cabinet minister to discuss the roles of platforms, how they're built, and why they're still important.
If you live in PEI or Alberta -- don't forget to vote!!
We're joined by Kate Graham to discuss her new project in collaboration with Canada 2020 -- No Second Chances. This project follows the journey of the 12 women previously elected as first ministers (premiers and prime minister) in Canada. We discuss some interesting learnings that the project has produced, as well as continued barriers for women in politics in Canada.
In our current affairs lightening round we chat about inclusive legislatures and some issues highlighted issues that have been in the news lately. Check out our blog post to learn more about it.
In today's episode we are honoured to chat with both Siyabulela Mandela & Bernadette Fernandes.
Siyabulela Mandela is an internationally recognized academic and activist grandson of the Freedom Fighter, Nelson Mandela.
He is currently a Ph.D. candidate (International Relations and Conflict Resolution) in the Department of Politics and Conflict Studies at Nelson Mandela University, South Africa, where he is also a lecturer for the Politics and Conflict Studies Department.
Bernadette Fernandes is the founder of The Varanda Network which seeks to promote inclusive trade partnerships. She is also the connector of Siyabulela to New Brunswick.
Together we discussed Siyabulela's work on conflict resolution, the importance of education, and the the challenges the global community is facing today.
I want to thank Robyn Tingley of Glass Sky, and Bernadette Fernandes of The Varanda Network for making this episode possible.
In today's episode we chat with Robyn Tingley, founder and CEO of Glass Sky. We chat about women's leadership, eliminating bias in the workplace, quotas on corporate boards, and resources that you and your employer can use to enhance inclusion.
Robyn is the author of 10 Essentials for the Motivated Millennial: A Guide to High Performance for New Grads and Career Starters: Get it here
She also referenced the launch of a free tool kit for employers to stamp out bias in the workplace: Check it out here
In this episode, we launched a new lightening round section to chat about current affairs. We highlighted the following things -- click on the links for more info.
-
New Brunswick 2019 Budget Analysis from a Femme Wonk
-
The gender equality chapter in the 2019 federal budget
-
No Second Chances, a new Canada 2020 podcast
-
The Gender Gap Tracker
-
On the Basis of Sex
-
So Here's the Thing...
In this episode, we chat with Lana Payne, Atlantic Regional Director for Unifor. We discuss Unifor's advocacy on domestic partner violence and why they have been pushing for legislative changes across Canada. We also talk about what exactly domestic, intimate partner, and/or sexual violence leave is and how it can be implemented. This is a policy heavy episode -- we hope you learn a thing or two!
This is the fifth and final episode in our International Women's Day project. The IWD project brought a short podcast episode every single day this week that interviewed an organization or person doing really great things to embody the #InnovateForChange theme of International Women's Day this year. In today’s episode, I chat with Jill Lamb, a founder of Girls STEM Up, about their upcoming conference to engage high school and university women in STEM.
This is the fourth episode in our International Women's Day project. The IWD project will bring you a short podcast episode every single day this week that interviews an organization or person doing really great things to embody the #InnovateForChange theme of International Women's Day this year. In today’s episode, I chat with Cathy Simpson, creator of Up & Go, about getting more girls engaged in STEM.
This is the third episode in our International Women's Day project. The IWD project will bring you a short podcast episode every single day this week that interviews an organization or person doing really great things to embody the #InnovateForChange theme of International Women's Day this year. In today’s episode, I chat with Karina LeBlanc from the Pond Deshpande Centre about supporting system change through representation.
This is the second episode in our International Women's Day project. The IWD project will bring you a short podcast episode every single day this week that interviews an organization or person doing really great things to embody the #InnovateForChange theme of International Women's Day this year. In today’s episode, I chat with Heather MacLean of Women For Atlantic about supporting women and girls in leadership.
This episode kicks off our International Women's Day project which will bring you a short podcast episode every single day this week that interviews an organization or person doing really great things to embody the #InnovateForChange theme of International Women's Day this year. In today’s episode, I'm also going to talk to you a bit more about Femme Wonk and how we’ve evolved over the last five months or so. I’m also going to talk to you about my own opinions on International Women's Day as well as basically answer the questions that I’m going to be asking the guests for this week coming up.
We're joined by Alaina Lockhart, the Member of Parliament for Fundy Royal. We chat about the importance of having women as role models, why diversity in decision making is important, and how beautiful New Brunswick is!
Where are all the women?
This week we chat with Sal Patel about the lack of gender parity in The Oscars nominations. We chat broadly about the film industry in both Hollywood and in Canada.
We learned that in 2018 only 4% of the top 100 grossing films were directed by women.
I'm joined by Mary Andow, a former senior policy adviser in the New Brunswick premier's office. Mary has been living in Australia for the last two years and working in the early learning space there.
We chat about New Brunswick's Free Childcare Program, early learning programs across Canada, and how we hold up to the Aussie model.
Apologies for the audio quality -- it's our first international interview!
In this episode, Katie provides an analysis of the changes that the Ford government announced to post-secondary education funding. She also highlights what changes like this could mean in the New Brunswick context (spoiler alert: it'd be bad).
We are also celebrating our one month anniversary and we'd love your feedback: https://goo.gl/forms/e28u9ffB4ZGK13ul2
I'm joined by Vanessa Paesani of Amplify East. We talk about why she created Amplify East, the importance of highlighting and supporting diverse representation, and about being inclusive when we have difficult conversations. Vanessa also mentioned a book she has been loving -- The Person You Mean to Be by Dolly Chugh. Check it out here https://amzn.to/2SetEET
This is a live recording of a panel discussion. Katie spoke about social innovation and empowering women at Elevate New Brunswick, a conference focused on women’s leadership and economic empowerment.
In this episode I'm joined by Jordan O'Brien. We discuss an amendment to the Political Process Financing Act in New Brunswick to allow for votes cast for women to be counted at 1.5x when calculating the per-vote subsidy. We discuss how this impacted the 2018 General Election, what can be done to improve it, the future of political fundraising in New Brunswick, and encouraging more women to run for elected office.
In this episode we discuss the mechanics of pay equity with Frances LeBlanc, the chair of the New Brunswick Coalition for Pay Equity.
This episode is an introduction to Femme Wonk. Have ideas to improve the podcast? Let us know!