LST FAVES: It's A Real Mother, Part 2: Ideal Worker

The Longest Shortest Time

Hillary Frank | Realm

Health & Fitness, Sexuality, Parenting, Kids & Family

4.8 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why do stock images of working moms look frazzled, while stock images of working dads just look like... guys at work? Author Brigid Schulte gets to the heart of why discrimination against working moms is so deeply embedded in our culture—and what we can do to change it. ⭐️ This episode originally ran on November 8, 2017 as a part of our critically acclaimed series about working moms, It’s a Real Mother. We hope you enjoy, and we’ll be back next week with a brand new episode. … Brigid’s book (using our affiliate link supports the show!) Overwhelmed: How to work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time … Join LST+ for community and access to You Know What, another show in the Longest Shortest universe! Follow us on Instagram Website: longestshortesttime.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, longest, shortest time listener. It's Hillary Frank. And right now, I'm working on a new episode that we will bring you next week. In the meantime, to tide you over, we're airing one of my favorites from the archives. I hope you enjoy it. And I also hope you'll join our special club. It's called LST Plus. And when you
0:24.1	join, you get all kinds of cool stuff. You get to be part of our community where you can bond with
0:29.2	other listeners. You get to suggest story ideas for future episodes. You get access to a whole other
0:35.5	show with super awesome college kids talking about sex, dating, and relationships. And you get access to a whole other show with super awesome college kids talking about sex, dating, and relationships.
0:40.8	And you get to hang out with me and reproductive health experts and past guests and ask them questions.
0:47.8	Membership is just 50 bucks a year or 7 bucks a month.
0:51.3	And if you want to give more, you can.
0:53.6	We've relaunched independently. So when you
0:56.2	join the club, you're helping this show to simply exist. Sign up is easy. Just go to
1:01.9	Longestortestime.com slash club. See you there. Bridget is a mom of two.
1:11.6	Her kids are teenagers now.
1:13.6	But almost 20 years ago, when her son was born, she asked her boss for a more flexible schedule.
1:19.6	She wanted to maybe work from home a day or two a week.
1:22.6	Editors and bosses at the time just said, no, it's all or nothing.
1:25.6	And I was afraid that if I didn't choose
1:28.4	all, then I would have nothing and we couldn't pay our bill. So I did. I went back to work full
1:32.4	time with my son after he was born. And then I moved jobs. And after my daughter was born,
1:39.1	I started working four days a week for a couple years, even though I was told it was going to ruin my
1:45.2	career. Wow. Did it? Well, I don't know. I read a book. I want to pull a surprise. I'm directing a
1:53.9	pretty cool program at New America. I would say not. I would say definitely not.
2:01.7	Bridget Schulte is an award-winning journalist and the author of a book that I brought her in to talk about.
2:07.2	Called Overwhelmed. Work, love and play when no one has the time.
	...

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