CPO PODCAST

Our Most Recent Episode  |  Number 10 – Women’s History Month

Host: Liz Rust / Guests: Hema Narayan, Osa Osagie, Ellie DiMauro, and Carley Castro

March is Women’s History Month. The fight for voting rights, social, civil, and economic justice is still being waged today by women in boardrooms, courtrooms, and classrooms across this nation. Honoring their legacy requires deliberate, continuous action.  Check out our latest podcast with panelists Liz Rust, Hema Narayan, Osa Osagie, Ellie DiMauro, and Carley Castro.

Concord Prison Outreach Podcast #10 Transcript

Women’s History Month Panel

Script Transcript

[00:05] Liz Rust:
Good afternoon. My name is Liz Rust, and I’m the board chair for Concord Prison Outreach, and welcome to CPO’s podcast number 10.

[00:14] Liz Rust:
Our theme for this podcast is celebrating Women’s History Month this March.

[00:20] Liz Rust:
We have a really powerful group of panelists with us today.

[00:28] Liz Rust:
First, I’d like to give a big shout out and thank you to the Minuteman Media Network for being our host.

[00:46] Liz Rust:
Today, as I said, we’re celebrating Women’s History Month. Every March we lift up the contributions, achievements, and impact of women throughout history.

[00:57] Liz Rust:
This started as part of International Women’s Day in 1911…

[01:13] Liz Rust:
Women in the U.S. didn’t gain the right to vote until 1920…

[01:30] Liz Rust:
Women of color were prevented from voting until the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

[01:46] Liz Rust:
Today there are Christian nationalist pastors arguing for repealing the 19th Amendment…

[02:19] Liz Rust:
The fight for voting rights, social, civil, and economic justice is still being waged today.

[02:35] Liz Rust:
We range in this panel from ages 23 to 69… Starting with introductions—

Introductions

[02:44] Carly Castro:
Hi everyone, I’m Carly Castro. I’m the volunteer coordinator at CPO, and I’m really excited to be here. First time on the podcast.

[02:56] Hema Narayanan:
Hi, my name is Hema Narayanan. I’m a volunteer with CPO as well, and I’m an immigrant, so my story is a little bit different.

[03:07] Ellie DeAro:
Hello, I’m Ellie DeAro. I’m the volunteer and program manager for Concord Prison Outreach.

[03:14] Osa Osai:
Hello, my name is Osa Osai and I am a board member of CPO.

Question: What woman most shaped who you are?

[03:29] Liz Rust:
What woman—famous or not—has most influenced who you are today? Osa, we’ll start with you.

[03:37] Osa Osai:
This was a really hard question… but the person I’ll speak about today would be Nina Simone.

[03:49] Osa Osai:
She used her artistry to demonstrate activism and her value system around equity.

[04:13] Osa Osai:
I’m always holding her as a provocateur. So thank you, Nina.

[04:22] Ellie DeAro:
For me, it would be my mom. She was a single mom and embodies all the values I live out today.

[04:44] Liz Rust:
That’s lovely. Carly?

[04:53] Carly Castro:
A lot of my teachers in high school and professors in college really shaped who I am and how I show up in the world.

[05:32] Hema Narayanan:
My woman hero was my grandmother.

[05:44] Hema Narayanan:
She lived through two world wars, India’s freedom struggle… she was a freedom fighter herself.

[05:54] Hema Narayanan:
From her I learned the importance of evolving and not being stuck in one ideology.

[06:20] Liz Rust:
For me, Eleanor Roosevelt… she used her position to bring good to many disadvantaged people.

Question: How have opportunities changed?

[06:42] Liz Rust:
How have women’s opportunities changed from your parents’ generation to yours? Ellie?

[07:05] Ellie DeAro:
Growing up, messaging around women’s empowerment was almost nonexistent.

[07:51] Ellie DeAro:
There’s much more opportunity now for women in different career fields.

[08:21] Ellie DeAro:
Cultural conversations about women bleed into opportunities in jobs and society.

[09:27] Liz Rust:
Thank you. Osa?

[09:31] Osa Osai:
The way we think about what women can do—particularly in relationships—has really shifted.

[10:06] Osa Osai:
The relationship you have with yourself is equally important.

[10:30] Osa Osai:
People are exploring so many more opportunities.

[10:59] Carly Castro:
Women feel empowered not to have kids now… that was once treated as a woman’s whole purpose.

[11:23] Carly Castro:
And women who do want to be mothers are balancing much more.

[11:39] Liz Rust:
Yes, thank you.

[11:46] Hema Narayanan:
My sense is mobility.

[12:03] Hema Narayanan:
My mother’s generation could not imagine letting a woman leave the house unmarried to travel.

[12:23] Hema Narayanan:
Mobility transformed how women seek out opportunity.

[13:09] Liz Rust:
My mother always told me: be in charge of your own money.

Question: How does society still limit women?

[13:42] Liz Rust:
Are there ways society still limits women? Carly?

[14:02] Carly Castro:
There’s such pressure on how women present themselves.

[14:24] Carly Castro:
Society manufactures insecurities.

[15:04] Hema Narayanan:
Social media has played a huge disservice in that regard.

[15:30] Hema Narayanan:
We’re forced to look a certain way all the time.

[16:05] Ellie DeAro:
Women are expected to show up the way men do without being given the support to do so.

[16:36] Ellie DeAro:
Work full-time—but no childcare. Be functioning—but postpartum isn’t taken seriously.

[17:46] Osa Osai:
There’s still work to do around autonomy and even singleness becoming commodified.

[18:49] Liz Rust:
Abortion laws were won and lost in one lifetime.

Question: What legacy do you hope to leave?

[19:39] Liz Rust:
What do you hope your generation of women leaves behind? Osa?

[19:46] Osa Osai:
Continuing to be expansive in how we define womanhood and femininity.

[20:13] Osa Osai:
Helping folks center what makes them feel seen and cared for.

[20:30] Ellie DeAro:
Thinking proactively about the climate women will live in in the future.

[21:38] Ellie DeAro:
An intersectional way of living… empowering trans women and folks beyond the gender binary.

[22:40] Liz Rust:
What unique strengths do women bring to that legacy?

[23:08] Carly Castro:
Empathy. Emotional intelligence. Being able to put ourselves in each other’s shoes.

[23:55] Hema Narayanan:
Being able to define success for ourselves.

[24:26] Hema Narayanan:
Without validation from anyone else.

[25:06] Liz Rust:
There’s freedom in that.

Closing Reflections

[26:15] Liz Rust:
We’re going to start to close up. What does Women’s History Month mean to you personally?

[26:48] Osa Osai:
This month is a time to reflect… ask, am I doing what I want to do?

[27:37] Ellie DeAro:
The work is never done.

[28:26] Ellie DeAro:
When we’re working in community, we can continue work that is never ending.

[29:08] Hema Narayanan:
If the next generation of women can walk into any space and know they belong…

[29:38] Carly Castro:
I think women are so good at making everyday things whimsical.

[29:57] Carly Castro:
And also watching women’s basketball because it’s March Madness.

[30:13] Liz Rust:
Carly brings whimsy with her to the job.

(laughter)

[30:22] Liz Rust:
Belonging gives life meaning.

[30:54] Liz Rust:
What legacy are we living today?

[31:08] Liz Rust:
With that we’ll close. Thank you Osa, Ellie, Hema, and Carly…

[31:26] Panel:
Thank you.