Solving #MeToo
Julia Kline
Recent Episodes
This interview was first recorded in February 2020. The world was a very different place then from the one we face in June 2020, at the time of its release. First coronavirus, then worldwide peaceful protests in response to the murder of George Floyd by an on-duty cop, have caused seismic global convulsions that are still reverberating. Because none of that had happened yet, it wasn't directly addressed in this conversation.
Solving #MeToo stands with the Black Lives Matter protesters. Not only that, it is a fundamental part of our mission to seek out solutions to workplace sexual harassment and assault that work for ALL women, not just straight white affluent women. We do that by looking at the problems (and possible solutions) from a diversity of perspectives, as well as actively seeking out a diversity of voices to speak.
Near the top of today's show, we invite you to listen to the trailer for The So-Called Oreos Podcast, a terrific project from 4 young Women of Color - Kia, Janae, Rachel and Amari. Their show addresses everything from career advancement to feminism to dating through the lens of being so-called oreos (black on the outside, white on the inside). https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/so-called-oreos/id1462012568
Today's episode of Solving MeToo features Sharmili Majmudar, the EVP of policy and organizational impact at Women Employed, an almost 50 year old organization widely recognized for its innovative work to improve women's economic status and remove barriers to economic equity.
As in most episodes, we tackled the big philosophical questions this podcast seeks to address; and the back and forth that we had about restorative justice was really illuminating and thought provoking.
We went on to discuss what companies can and should be doing to provide safer and more inclusive workplaces for all their employees. Here are a number of the resources referenced in the conversation:
The recommendations to Uber, compiled by Eric Holder and the law firm Covington & Burling https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/13/eric-holder-uber-report-full-text.html
EEOC Promising Practices Guide for Preventing Harassment, from Nov 2017: https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/promising-practices-preventing-harassment
"Men agree that gender diversity is important on boards - but they're sick of hearing about it," by Emma Hinchliffe for Fortune, Oct 8, 2019 https://fortune.com/2019/10/08/pwc-gender-diversity-boards-men-2019/
So if you're the leader of a company or organization, we offered you the spectrum of accountability that you need to create, as well as the outcomes you should be expecting from your employee education.
Spoiler: it's not just about checking a box to protect yourself from legal liability.
Joan has been a fixture in the Chicago media landscape for more than 35 years. She first came to Chicago in 1981 as a 27-year-old reporter and weekend anchor at WGN-Channel 9, then became a Monday-Friday anchor star at both the local ABC and NBC affiliates.
Since leaving NBC 5 in 1999, Esposito formed J2 Strategic Communications, a media training firm. She is now back to her roots in radio. In Feb 2020 she took over as host of WCPT AM 820's afternoon talk show, after the legendary Ben Joravsky stepped down from that slot.
Joan was the victim of false accusations back in the 90s - not about sexual harassment, but terrible character assassination. We talked about how she sued the local shock jock who fanned the flames of the allegations on air, and how she found - and he earned - forgiveness.
We also talked a lot about beauty, and what a double edged sword it is. As she said, "You wanted the boss to think you were pretty ... but not too pretty." And how neither of us ever felt that our beauty was a tool in our arsenal, something we could wield as we saw fit.
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Join the Solving #MeToo community:
email: [email protected] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/199718984507390/ Twitter: @Julia_Kline, @SolvingMeToo #TheSMTPodcast, #SolvingMeToo
Jennie Willoughby became a symbol of forgiveness and compassion in early 2018 when she wrote a blog post that became a viral sensation - and sparked the global hashtag #AndSoIStayed - detailing the abuse she suffered at the hands of her ex-husband, a top aide to President Donald Trump.
Jennie is now a writer, speaker and singer whose message encourages us all to strive for empathy, connection and self-compassion.
The reason I wanted to talk to Jennie is that the work that she's doing is so in alignment with this podcast, and the movement behind the podcast: Stop the abuse. Foster healing. Fix broken systems. But wrap all of it in as much compassion and forgiveness as possible, without diminishing the first three.
Jennie's performance of her blog post + 2 songs, at a fundraiser for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence in October 2019.
Jennie's interview with Mark Halperin (edited by Mark's people prior to publication, so it's lost much of Jennie's perspective unfortunately)
The detailed allegations against Mark Halperin, in the words of the women he harmed
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Would you like us to keep making more episodes like this one? Make a contribution here.
Join the Solving #MeToo community:
email: [email protected] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/199718984507390/ Twitter: @Julia_Kline, @SolvingMeToo #TheSMTPodcast, #SolvingMeToo
Alicia Garza is a civil rights activist and author with a lot of irons in the fire:
- she co-founded Black Lives Matter in 2013
- she works with the National Domestic Workers Alliance
- she co-founded Supermajority in 2019
- she's founded the Black Futures Lab
- her book, How to Turn a Hashtag into a Movement, will be out in 2020
We went deep fast in this conversation! We talked about transforming anger into love; we went deep into the topic of redemption; and Alicia presenced for us the idea that black communities are a part of the antidote to the poison that is spreading throughout this country.
Bryan Stevenson's book, Just Mercy
Dr. King's speech, "Beyond Vietnam"
The crimes of convicted serial sexual abuser, Harvey Weinstein Bill Cosby's sexual assault cases The sexual assault allegations against R Kelly
Read the transcript of this episode or leave a comment here, on the Solving Me Too website
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Would you like us to keep making more episodes like this one? Make a contribution here.
Join the Solving #MeToo community:
email: [email protected] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/199718984507390/ Twitter: @Julia_Kline, @SolvingMeToo #TheSMTPodcast, #SolvingMeToo
In this episode Julia interviews Daniel Epstein, a lawyer and former candidate for the Illinois Supreme Court.
Daniel and Julia discussed a number of the shortcomings of our current criminal justice system - especially in Illinois, but also around the country - as well as specific recommendations for reforming them. They discussed everything from cash bail to the widespread use of private arbitration courts and NDA's.
As the conversation turned to a discussion of how to implement transformative justice inside of American workplaces, Daniel had a number of interesting recommendations.
View the transcript or leave a comment on this episode here, on the Solving MeToo website.
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Would you like us to keep making more episodes like this one? Make a contribution here.
Join the Solving #MeToo community:
email: [email protected] Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/199718984507390/ Twitter: @Julia_Kline, @SolvingMeToo #TheSMTPodcast, #SolvingMeToo