This week on SHLTMM, meet Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author Kate Zernike. This episode, you'll have a chance to get to know Kate and her mother, Barbara. Kate grew up with a working mom, that was Kate's 'normal.' Unfortunately Barbara's 'normal' was a constant fight against gender bias and discrimination in the workplace. Kate Zernike's current release uncovers in detail the exposure of sexism at MIT.
My guest has a story to share that has many parallels between her mother, her career as a journalist, scientists and working women world wide.
People say, "time change," but in this particular conversation, it's hard to believe that after decades of women making major strides in the work force, suddenly you take a look and realize, maybe we're not as progressive as on would have hoped.
My guest, Kate Zernike, is a 2002 Pulitzer Prize winning National Correspondent for the New York Times. She is the author of "Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America" from 2010. Her most recent book, "The Exceptions-Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science." My guest originally broke this story in 1999 as a reporter for The Boston Globe.
Science is not new to Kate. Her father and grandfather were Physicists and her grandfather won the Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of the 'Phase Contrast Microscope."
At a young age, Kate recalls her mother's interest in applying to law school. Advice her mom received was less than encouraging, and yet today, it's been suggested that perhaps kate is 'finishing up what her mother started.'
Advice that was bestowed upon Kate while walking with her father on the beach one day reinforced how much her dad supported everything that Kate's mom was trying to accomplish in breaking down barriers for women. It was a significant conversation that Kate still holds close to her heart.
"We're still not taking women seriously...... so that's what brought me back to this story," says Kate confidently.
It's so wonderful to have Kate with us to fill in all rest of the details.
NY TIMES LINK: Review by Bonnie Garmus
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/25/books/review/the-exceptions-kate-zernike.html
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
Twitter: @kzernike
Instagram @kzernike