Addressing gender injustice starts by investing into women leaders and women-led organizations in the human rights space. Despite the growing recognition that women’s rights are human rights, in 2021 less than one percent of Development Assistance Committee aid for gender equality went to women’s organizations. In this episode we hear from two female leaders who are making it a priority to support women, especially those fighting for gender equality in the global south. We explore the...

According to the United Nations, as of  2021, there were only 26 women serving as Heads of State or Government. Globally, only 21% of government ministers were women, with only 14 countries having achieved 50% or more women in cabinets.  If we don’t have more women and women of color in leadership, our policies won’t address their needs. Yet, at the current rate, gender equality in the highest positions of power will not be reached for another 130 years. In this episode we learn how Antonia...

The world is increasingly determined by the way we design our technology. Yet, in the U.S.  Black and Indigenous women occupy less than 10 percent of positions in the fields of STEM –science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In this episode we hear from two women who founded organizations that teach girls the skills they need to pursue careers in STEM. We also go back to the history of this field, and examine why closing the gender gap in technology will lead to a more inclusive...

Study after study shows that looking at idealized images of women in the media results in lower self-esteem, particularly for young women and girls. Hoping to challenge what is perceived as beautiful, designer Carrie Hammer founded Role Models, Not Runway Models, a movement credited for kickstarting the body positive movement in the fashion and beauty industries. In this episode we hear how Carrie made history by creating the first New York Fashion Week show that included a model in a...

Male athletes in most sports make significantly more than female athletes. One of the reasons for this pay gap is that men’s sports receive vastly more media coverage, television licenses, and sponsorship deals. However, even in cases where women’s sports are as popular, we have been slow to achieve equal pay. In this episode, we hear from former basketball player Tajay Ashmeade about the ways in which her gender impacted her career. We examine the reasons behind the gender pay gap,...

To protect democracy, we must first protect journalists. Yet, women journalists experience approximately three times as many abusive comments on Twitter, compared to their male counterparts. In this episode, we examine the disadvantages female journalists around the world face. We also explain why we must recognize online harassment against women journalists as a threat to the freedom of the press. Featuring Carla Minet, Executive Director at the Center for Investigative Journalism in Puerto...

Investing in women and women-led companies is not only the right thing to do, it’s also good for business. Yet, women and women of color in particular continue to face disadvantages in the workplace. In 2021, only 2% of venture capital went to companies founded only by women and 15.6% to those with at least one woman on their founding teams. Women are also 30% less likely to be considered for a job position than men. In this episode, we examine the ways in which women and women-led companies...

In the U.S., women of color hold only 4% of C-suite roles in media and entertainment. As a result, we rarely find their stories featured in films or T.V. Growing up as a Muslim who wore a headscarf, Marya didn’t see herself represented on the screen. Yet, she found her way into Hollywood through a handful of pioneer women of color in the industry. As a vice-president at Walt Disney Studios, Marya is now advancing social change through diverse storytelling. In this episode, we examine how...

From a young age, Selin Ozunaldim questioned gender stereotypes. When she was 17, her little brother told her that she didn’t need to worry about studying because she could always get married. Hearing her brother say that made Selin realize she had to do something to change this way of thinking in her community. Now 19, Selin is the youngest representative of the United Nations’ HeForShe movement in Turkey, a global effort to engage men and boys in the fight for gender equality. She also...

Throughout history and across cultures, inspiring women and girls continue to break records and blaze trails—shattering glass ceilings while imagining and innovating the way forward. On season 5 of the Finding Humanity podcast, we bring you powerful voices of women shaping history by overcoming innumerable challenges to achieve greatness. You’ll hear the inspirational stories of leaders in arts, entertainment, science, sports, politics, and beyond. -- Finding Humanity is a production of...

BIG NEWS! Our podcast has just been nominated for this year’s Webby Awards! The show that you have supported since we launched in 2020, has been singled out as one of the five best podcasts in the world for Public Service and Activism. But we need your help! The Webby People’s Voice Award Winners are chosen by listeners like you. Take a minute to vote for Finding Humanity through this official voting link. Voting closes on April 21st. Please help us spread the word. Thank you so much!

In 1970, the New York Times published Milton Friedman's seminal essay, "The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits." For more than half a century, Friedman’s doctrine of profit maximization helped accelerate the racial, economic, and environmental injustice we see today. In our final episode of this special series, we discuss corporate solutions to our broken economic system. We examine stakeholder governance and its role in transforming the business community into a...

Replacing your smartphone every two and a half years is not uncommon. In fact, it’s by design. The consumer electronics industry is fraught with unethical business practices, from planned obsolescence to the dark side of cobalt mining, to the 40 million tons of electronic waste that's generated each year. In this episode, we learn about Fairphone, a social enterprise that creates smartphones that are both repairable and built to last. We also share how the circular economy and “Right to...

Each year, about a third of the food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. Food loss and waste contributes to some of the most pressing health, environmental, and economic challenges of our day, accounting for 8% of all greenhouse gas emissions and $1 trillion in economic losses annually. How can businesses innovate and help win the fight against food waste? In this episode, we explore how global brands like Danone are contributing to aggressive targets aimed at reducing food...

What if businesses removed barriers to employment and gave job seekers a fair shot at self-sufficiency? For the formerly incarcerated, unhoused, or people with limited education, getting a job can be extremely difficult. In 1982, Greyston Bakery piloted Open Hiring, a recruitment practice where simply putting your name on a list could get you hired — no work experience, background checks, resumes, or interviews. Now adopted and scaled by companies like The Body Shop, Open Hiring continues...

Can businesses help solve the greatest societal challenges we face? Historically, the business sector has accelerated social inequity, fueled human rights violations, and exacerbated climate change. With a global cultural shift underway, are businesses truly evolving from contributors to humanity’s biggest problems to drivers of positive change? In this special series from Finding Humanity, we’ve partnered with B Lab to bring you honest conversations with leaders and policy experts who...

Dan's wife Brittany Maynard sought adventure up until the very end. When it became clear that the brain tumor she'd been diagnosed with would ultimately take her life, Brittany chose to end things on her own terms. Medical aid-in-dying, commonly known in the U.S. as "death with dignity," enables someone with a terminal illness to request a prescription for medication that will end their suffering. In the final episode of season 4, we explore end-of-life choices and the social and legal...

Ronald fell in love with television as a child, but as a queer, black boy from a Latinx household, representation was deeply lacking. In this episode, we focus on "colorism," or discrimination that occurs based on skin color, and how misrepresentations of people of color in the media often have real-life consequences. Featuring Ronald Hinton, actor, writer, and founder of Shared Soil Productions, ReNika Moore, Racial Justice Program Director at the ACLU, and Dr. Mia White, professor of...

Kimi Ceridon and her sister never went without food growing up, but living paycheck-to-paycheck meant her parents constantly worried about how to pay for meals. What they did eat was often low-cost and low-quality food. This is what experts call ‘food insecurity,’ an issue that has grown substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic to affect over 750 million people worldwide. In this episode, we dig into why so many people are unable to secure sufficient, safe, and nutritious food, and the...

Ban Ki-moon, former UN Secretary-General, joins hosts Mary Robinson and Hazami Barmada to discuss the persistent, global injustice that is violence against women. 1.3 billion women and girls around the world—equivalent to the entire combined populations of North America and Europe—have experienced violence at some point in their lives. This has significant political, economic, and cultural consequences. In this episode, global leaders unpack this critical issue and address what is needed to...

Addiction was common in the McDaid family. So when Carol, the youngest in her upper-middle-class household began using, the disease quickly took root. Carol sipped her first drink at age 12, and by 16 was using IV drugs. It wasn't until her drug use threatened her career that she decided to enter treatment. One in every ten people in the U.S. experiences drug addiction, which is nearly the entire population of Texas. In this episode, we seek to understand the varied causes and consequences...

Sherry Johnson grew up in Tampa, Florida as a member of the Pentecostal church. She was only 11-years-old when her mother married her off to a man nearly twice her age. She had already been a victim of years of sexual violence, abuse that resulted in her first pregnancy at age nine. As many as 12 million underage girls are forced to marry each year, meaning more than 650 million women alive today were married as children. In this episode, we explore the many causes of child marriage,...

Juan Escalante's family immigrated to the U.S. from Venezuela when he was a child. It wasn't until he applied to college that he learned his family had overstayed their visa. Every year, visa overstays outnumber those who enter the U.S. illegally. These same undocumented immigrants pay $11 billion in U.S. taxes annually. Nearly 3 in 4 are considered essential workers. In this episode, we reveal the barriers undocumented immigrants face when they attempt to work within the U.S. immigration...

Trigger Warning: This episode discusses sexual violence. Stephanie Mosley experienced sexual violence perpetrated by a schoolmate in college, then a football player at her alma mater, the University of Alabama. In spite of being blamed and called a liar, Stephanie ultimately decided to press charges — but her case was never prosecuted. It is estimated that out of 1000 rapes, only 310 victims report the incident. Of these, only 25 are prosecuted. In this episode, we tackle weak enforcement...