Do Not Disturb · A podcast about motherhood
Angela Saini:
Who decided care was women’s work?
What science got wrong about women—and why “natural” roles have complicated histories.
The Do Not Disturb edit
Three things to take with you.
Our edit of the conversation. These are editorial takeaways, rather than quotations from the guest.
Do
Share and model everyday care without labelling it women’s work or men’s work.
Not
Turn a group average into an individual woman’s destiny.
Disturb
The habit of calling unequal arrangements natural.
Why is care still treated as women’s work?
Being a mother is one thing. Being expected to know what everyone needs, organise the household and do most of the caring is another. Angela Saini joins Simona to question how those expectations became so familiar.
They talk about maternal instinct, what research can tell us about differences between women and men, and why calling something natural can make it harder to question.
What comes up
- Why maternal instinct does not look the same for every woman.
- How practice and expectations shape who becomes the default parent.
- Why a group average cannot tell you what one woman or man can do.
- How the history of patriarchy challenges the idea that things have always been this way.
Meet the guest
Angela Saini
Angela is a science journalist, author and Assistant Professor of Science Writing at MIT. Her books—including Inferior, Superior and The Patriarchs—ask how ideas about sex, race and power shape the science we trust.
More about Angela’s work ↗The guest’s bookshelf
Read Angela’s work
The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule
Angela investigates the history of patriarchal systems and challenges the idea that gendered power is inevitable.
Explore the book →Keep the conversation going
Dr Marcia Inhorn ↗
For the social conditions hidden behind individual fertility choices.
Sabrina Sarl ↗
For what unequal expectations mean in everyday working life.
For the stories behind the conversation, get Simona’s Cultural Edit on Mondays →