5 Women in STEM Podcasts For Your Listening Pleasure
There’s seemingly no limit to the number of podcasts you can listen to. Even on the topic of science, a quick iTunes search yields dozens of results. But a subject we think could use some more attention? Women in STEM. We rounded up five Women in STEM podcasts to add to your listening repertoire. We encourage you check them out and now and hit the subscribe button.
Femmes of STEM
Femmes of STEM host Michelle Barboza-Ramirez uses podcasting as a platform to retrace the steps of women scientists who have gone largely unacknowledged throughout history. Michelle herself is a scientist and is currently studying vertebrate paleontology and women’s studies in graduate school. She said she wanted to learn more about the history of science, but rarely heard about contributions from women.
“As an avid podcast listener, my first thought was to look for a podcast covering this very topic, but there was none – so I decided to make it myself!,” she said.
Catch new episodes on the 15th and 30th of every month and subscribe here.
Superwomen in Science
Cordon Purcell and Nicole George cite the book Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World and the film Hidden Figures as some of what inspired them to launch Superwomen in Science.
“We want our podcast to raise and support the voices of other women scientists, by highlighting a wide variety of scientific endeavors with personal stories of motivation and experiences in science,” they told WINGS. “We hope the Superwomen in Science podcast will provide motivation for young women entering scientific fields, and create a supportive community for current lady scientists.”
In each episode they discuss relevant issues, tell stories of women scientists in history and share an opportunity for the next generation of women. In the most recent episode, the hosts highlighted Homeward Bound, a leadership initiative and annual voyage to Antarctica that aims to heighten the influence and impact of women in science. The 76 women who were part of Homeward Bound’s inaugural voyage last December carried the WINGS flag on their trip. Listen to Superwomen in Science here.
Beyond the Microscope
Friends Lindsay Claiborn and Mumu Xu are the team who host Behind the Microscope, on which they discuss science, technology, innovation and business with women working in the STEM fields. Recent subjects covered include planetary science, paleontology, anthropology and even health law. They also discuss books, movies and feature question and answer segments.
"We started the podcast to give a platform for women in STEM fields," they said. "We noticed that most if not all well-known science communicators were men, and wanted to have a way to showcase the amazing work that women do as well." Listen and subscribe here.
STEMxm: The STEM Career Podcast
The host of STEMxm, Mel, says she came to her career as an engineer later in life. It didn’t take her long to notice how few women were in her classes.
“I started reading about the theories on the causes for this disparity and I thought about my own experience – why I came to engineering late and didn’t have the confidence to pursue a STEM career earlier,” she told WINGS. “I realized that part of the problem was lack of role models (‘You can’t be what you can’t see,’ as Sally Ride said), and also there is a lack of visibility of the career paths themselves. I knew no engineers growing up, there weren’t any in my family, so how could I possibly know what an actual day in the life of an engineer was like?”
She started her podcast as a way showcase women and minorities as role models as well as be a resource for others interested in pursuing STEM careers. Listen and subscribe here.
Polar Exposure
Polar Exposure is a podcast hosted by our very own Fellow Felicity Aston, the first woman to ski across Antarctica and the leader of the Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition. Aston credits her teammate and journalist Nataša Briški with the idea of recording Polar Exposure to give the other team members a platform to share experiences and insight. It’s a great way to learn more about the women and get a “behind the scenes” look at their lives while they’re training. The final expedition will take place in April 2018. Subscribe on iTunes.
Header photo courtesy Gratisography on Pexels.com.