Advertise on podcast: The Women's Current

Are women waiting to be desired—or asking themselves what they really want? Pamela Madsen joins Sylvia and Molly for a candid conversation about sexuality, pleasure, menopause, aging, and the freedom to explore desire on our own terms.

Author Ruth Franklin joins The Women’s Current to reconsider Anne Frank—not simply as the girl behind the famous diary, but as a young writer who deliberately shaped her words for future readers.

For the Season 2 finale of The Women's Current, Sylvia Beckerman and Molly Wadzeck turn the microphones toward themselves for a conversation about identity, motherhood, visibility, curiosity, and what they've learned from their guests, from each other, and from the lives they're living while these conversations unfold. At four. At thirty-nine. At seventy-four. We're all still learning. We're all still becoming.

Author and journalist Danielle Crittenden joins The Women's Current for a deeply personal conversation about motherhood, grief, identity, marriage, and what remains after profound loss. Drawing from her memoir Losing You, Danielle reflects on continuing bonds, enduring love, and learning to carry grief while moving forward.

What happens when your identity becomes performance? Retired U.S. Navy Captain Jenn Donahue joins The Women's Current for a conversation about fear, self-doubt, leadership, and redefining strength. From Afghanistan to self-belief, this is a powerful discussion about authenticity, resilience, and the women who come after us.

Climate isn’t only about science or politics. It’s also about motherhood, responsibility, fear, hope, and the generations that will inherit what we leave behind. Harriet Shugarman joins The Women’s Current for a conversation about activism, anxiety, community, and how women are helping shape the future.

We didn’t question it. We absorbed it. The quiet rules that shaped how women think about food, sex, and desire—long before we had language for them.

We weren’t taught. Not in school. Not in doctors’ offices. Not even by the people we trusted most. And yet—we were expected to know.

Health inequality isn’t abstract. It shows up in real lives—every day. This week on The Women’s Current, we’re joined by journalist and author Irin Carmon, whose latest book Unbearable: Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America reveals what happens when pregnancy collides with policy, politics, and power. Through the stories of five women, Irin exposes a system that too often fails the very people it was meant to protect. What emerges is not a collection of rare tragedies— but a pattern.

What happens when women are seen — but still not heard? Linda Villarosa exposes how systemic bias shapes women’s health — and why telling the truth is the first step toward change.

Erin Gallagher: Hype Women & Visibility Visibility. Voice. Power. In this episode of The Women’s Current, we’re joined by Erin Gallagher — founder of the Hype Women movement and author of Hype Woman: Breaking Free from Mean Girls, Patriarchy, and Systems Silencing You. Erin has sparked a global conversation about something many women recognize but rarely name: the cultural conditioning that teaches women to compete rather than amplify one another. Through her work, she invites women to reclaim their visibility — and to celebrate the success of others as if it were their own. Together, we explore what it means to be a “hype woman,” and why that idea is about far more than encouragement. It’s about shifting how women use influence, access, and voice to create opportunity for one another. This conversation asks a deeper question: What becomes possible when women stop shrinking — and start amplifying?

Transformation isn’t a moment. It’s a practice. In this season-ending episode of The Women’s Current, Paula Stone Williams joins us for a conversation about empathy, truth, and the courage it takes to live honestly — especially when change is ongoing and public. We talk about what authenticity actually asks of us, and why listening deeply may be the most radical act of all.

Education doesn’t just open doors — it restores dignity. In Episode 9 of The Women’s Current, Sylvia Beckerman speaks with Lindsay Wyman of Mercy Learning Center about adult education, second acts, and what happens when women are supported with trust, structure, and belief.

Raising girls to lead starts early. In this episode, Ms. President US leaders Amanda Cordano and Sofia Sahai discuss confidence, ambition, and why leadership training can’t wait.

Laura Kaplan — member of The Janes and author of The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service — joins Sylvia Beckerman and co-host Molly Wadzeck for a powerful conversation about courage, secrecy, and the collective action that saved thousands of women before Roe.