In this information packed episode, Michael interviews award-winning gender economist Katica Roy. It was Katica’s research and MSNBC byline that broke the story about the over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the US labor force in just three months, research that landed her on the front page of the New York Times. In this episode, Katica brings a wealth of information and insight to talk more about that research as well as a variety of other topics. She answers questions about how the pay gap affects every single one of us in this country, about how AI could potentially eradicate bias in the workplace in just 10 years, about how gender equity is not just about women’s rights, and about how she sees equity as a massive economic opportunity. Along the way, she talks more about her family history and her own fights for pay equity.

Would you be surprised to learn that over 300,000 Black women were recently pushed out of the US labor force in just three months? Do you know how that impacts all of us? It was Katica Roy’s research that brought this to our national attention, first from her MSNBC byline that broke the story and then from the front-page article about it in the New York Times. In this episode, host Michael Baran asks Katica more about how that is happening and what the implications are for workplaces and for the country more generally.
In addition, Katica discusses a wide range of issues, including (a) how policy is not gender neutral, (b) how we all fund the pay gap through our taxes, (c) how gender equity is not just women’s rights, (d) men, mental health, and the “man box,” (e) how AI has bias, but can also detect and eradicate bias in the workplace in just 10 years, (f) and how she sees equity as a massive economic opportunity.

Resources mentioned:

• Katica Roy’s MSNBC article breaking the new about 300,000 Black women pushed out of US labor force
• New York Times front page that mentions Katica’s research
• Katica Roy articles, from Forbes
• ABC News video with Katica Roy interview
• Katica Roy website