When most people think about philanthropy, they picture rich, often white, men, writing huge cheques for whatever cause they decide to get behind. And billionaire philanthropy has faced growing criticism: is it really philanthropy, or is it just a sneaky way for the wealthy to avoid taxes and reinforce inequality? But this perspective leaves out a much broader, richer history – one where women, members of racialized communities, LGBTQ+ folks, and others have long used the power of voluntary giving to contribute to the public good and drive important social change. In this episode, we speak to researchers who are challenging the dominant narrative, expanding our understanding of who gives, why they give, and how philanthropy has always belonged to more than just a select few. 

Further research:

Ackerman, J., Han, X., and Osili, U. (2024) Women Give 2024. Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. https://scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu/items/b1a60723-37d9-41da-9556-4505270d9c8f

Dale, E.J., Ackerman, J., Mesch, D.J., Osili, U.O. and Garcia, S. (2017). Giving to Women and Girls: An Emerging Area of Philanthropy. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764017744674

Rumble, T. and Numata, Y. (2023). Prioritizing restitution, Indigenous leadership, and the future with ‘restorative philanthropy’. The Philanthropist Journal. https://thephilanthropist.ca/2025/03/prioritizing-restitution-indigenous-leadership-and-the-future-with-restorative-philanthropy/

GATE’s Busted podcast is made possible by generous support from BMO.  

Featured Guests:  

Jacqueline Ackerman, Director, Women's Philanthropy Institute, Indiana University Indianapolis

Dr. Elizabeth J. Dale, Frey Foundation Chair for Family Philanthropy, Grand Valley State University

Produced by: Carmina Ravanera and Dr. Sonia Kang 

Edited by: Ian Gormely 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we got a sense of how devalued care work really is. Care workers were, and still are, working long hours in poor conditions, for low pay, to support elders, children, and people with disabilities. These care workers provide some of the most essential labour in our society, but their work is often overlooked. We rarely stop to think about how much we rely on care, and how everything would fall apart without it. That neglect has consequences: care workers have been leaving the sector, and we’re now facing a global care crisis, with not nearly enough carers to support everyone who needs care. In this episode, we’ll be busting the myth that care work is low value, and talk about what it would look like if society recognized that our communities and economies are built on and sustained by care. 

 
Further research:

Prentice, S. & Armstrong, P. (2021, May 25). We must eliminate profit-making from child care and elder care. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/we-must-eliminate-profit-making-from-child-care-and-elder-care-159407

Thomas, C., & Lightman, N. (2022). “Island Girls”: Caribbean Women Care Workers in Canada. Canadian Ethnic Studies 54(1), 29-58. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/ces.2022.0004.

GATE’s Busted podcast is made possible by generous support from BMO.  

Featured Guests:  

Dr. Susan Prentice, Duff Roblin Professor of Government and Professor of Sociology, University of Manitoba 

Dr. Carieta Thomas, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Carleton University  

Produced by: Carmina Ravanera and Dr. Sonia Kang 

Edited by: Ian Gormely 

If you’ve been on social media lately, you might have seen some content about the tradwife movement and from tradwives themselves. Popular tradwife accounts post photos and videos of an idealized domestic lifestyle – taking care of children, cooking from scratch, baking bread, and keeping a clean and organized house – often with a feminine aesthetic that harkens back to the 1950s. They make beautiful content that showcases the value of “traditionally” gendered households, where men are the bread-winners and women are the bread-makers. It might be easy to think that this movement is simply about empowering women to return to tradition. But, when you dig deeper, there’s much more to the story. In this episode, we speak with researchers to unpack the tradwife movement, what it does, and who it really benefits. 

GATE’s Busted podcast is made possible by generous support from BMO.  

Further research: 

Bower, L.J. (2024). The thorn in feminism’s side: black feminist reconceptualization and defence of #tradwives and the #tradwife movement. Journal of Gender Studies, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2024.2423198 

Proctor, D. (2022). The# tradwife persona and the rise of radicalized white domesticity. Persona Studies 8(2), 7-26. https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/informit.873023567302359 

Featured Guests:  

Dr. Laura Jane Bower, Lecturer in Criminology, Edinburgh Napier University 

Dr. Devin Proctor, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Elon University 

Produced by: Carmina Ravanera and Dr. Sonia Kang 

Edited by: Ian Gormely 

When we talk about an organization’s “case” for diversity, we’re talking about the set of justifications or reasons it gives for why diversity is an important organizational value. A common case that organizations make for promoting DEI is the business case for diversity: the idea that diversity is important because it boosts an organization’s bottom line. The business case seems harmless, or maybe even helpful, but research has found that using it to advocate for equality could, in some cases, be doing more harm than good. This episode debunks the myth that the business case for diversity is effective for creating equality for marginalized groups.   

GATE’s Busted podcast is made possible by generous support from BMO. 

Further research:

Georgeac, O.A.M. & Rattan, A. (2023). The business case for diversity backfires: Detrimental effects of organizations' instrumental diversity rhetoric for underrepresented group members' sense of belonging. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-pspi0000394.pdf

Saha, A. & van Lente, S. (2022). Diversity, media and racial capitalism: a case study on publishing. Ethnic and Racial Studies 45(16). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2022.2032250

Featured Guests:  

Dr. Oriane Georgeac, Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations, Boston University 

Dr. Anamik Saha, Professor of Race and Media, University of Leeds 

Produced by: Carmina Ravanera and Dr. Sonia Kang 

Edited by: Ian Gormely 

While anyone can experience ageism at work, research shows that women tend to have unique, and typically more severe, experiences. No matter how accomplished they are and no matter how effective they continue to be, older women are perceived as ageing out of relevance. It’s a different story for older men. They’re usually perceived as aging into wisdom and given more power and leadership opportunities.  

In this episode, we’ll bust this myth—that older women should step aside while older men should step up—and explore the gendered nature of ageism. 

GATE’s Busted podcast is made possible by generous support from BMO. 

Further research:

Berger, E. (2021). Ageism at Work: Deconstructing Age and Gender in the Discriminating Labour Market. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Ross, K (2024). Gendered ageism in the media industry: disavowal, discrimination and the pushback. Journal of Women and Aging 36(1), 61-77. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08952841.2023.2238580

Featured Guests:  

Dr. Ellie Berger, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Nipissing University 

Dr. Karen Ross, Professor Emerita of Gender and Media, Newcastle University  

Produced by: Carmina Ravanera and Dr. Sonia Kang 

Edited by: Ian Gormely 

Many people think of AI as objective and neutral, something that not only makes our lives easier, but also helps us to eliminate the biases that plague human cognition and decision-making. While it’s true AI can do a lot for us, it’s a myth that AI is bias-free. In fact, AI can amplify the bias and perpetuate the inequality that is already rampant in our society. In this episode, we’ll explore how and why AI isn’t as fair as we’d like to believe, the consequences of bias in AI, and what responsible and ethical AI could look like.    

GATE’s Busted podcast is made possible by generous support from BMO.  

Featured Guests:  

Allison Cohen, Senior Manager, Applied Projects, Mila  

Dr. James Zou, Associate Professor of Biomedical Data Science and, by courtesy, of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Stanford University 

Produced by: Carmina Ravanera and Dr. Sonia Kang 

Edited by: Ian Gormely 

Dr. Jen Gunter joined us at the Rotman School of Management to talk about her new book, Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation. In this conversation with GATE’s founding director, Dr. Sarah Kaplan, she discusses the many myths around menstruation and the impact that misinformation and stigma about menstruation have on women’s health and on society. Listen in to learn about how periods and reproductive health are linked to purity culture and patriarchy, as well as to social, economic, and political outcomes. 

GATE’s Busted podcast is made possible by generous support from BMO.  

Featured Guests:  

Dr. Jen Gunter, OB/GYN, pain medicine physician, and bestselling author 

Dr. Sarah Kaplan, Founding Director of the Institute for Gender and the Economy, Distinguished Professor of Gender and the Economy, Professor of Strategic Management, and Fellow of the Lee-Chin Family Institute for Corporate Citizenship, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto 

Produced by: Carmina Ravanera and Dr. Sonia Kang 

Edited by: Ian Gormely

What does being LGBTQ+ have to do with your job? Actually, a whole lot. LGBTQ+ people face many barriers at work, and to being employed in the first place – like hiring discrimination, microaggressions, and lower earnings. And, if people feel like they have to hide who they are at work, it can take a huge toll. Sexual and gender identity are a part of who we are, and like other aspects of our identities, they affect how people perceive us and the opportunities we have. This episode busts the myth that being LGBTQ+ doesn’t matter at work.  

GATE’s Busted podcast is made possible by generous support from BMO.  

Featured Guests:  

Dr. Lee Airton, Associate Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies in Education, Queen’s University 

Dr. Erin Cech, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Associate Professor by courtesy in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan 

Dr. Bianca D.M. Wilson, Associate Professor of Social Welfare, University of California Los Angeles 

Produced by: Carmina Ravanera and Dr. Sonia Kang 

Edited by: Ian Gormely  

In Canada, only 30% of Members of Parliament are women, and only 16% belong to a racial minority group, well below their 26% representation in the overall Canadian population. On the other hand, white men are over-represented in political leadership, and that’s not only the case in Canada, but in many other countries as well. People may – consciously or subconsciously – think that that’s because women, racialized folks, and members of other underrepresented groups just don’t make good political leaders. But the reality is that there are a lot of factors contributing to the political underrepresentation we see today. In this episode, we’re going to be busting the myth that women and members of other underrepresented groups just aren’t suited to political leadership.    

GATE’s Busted podcast is made possible by generous support by BMO.  

Featured Guests:  

Dr. Kristen Duke, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto 

Dr. Mirya Holman, Associate Professor, Hobby School for Public Affairs, University of Houston 

Dr. Erin Tolley, Canada Research Chair in Gender, Race, and Inclusive Politics and Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Carleton University 

Produced by: Carmina Ravanera and Dr. Sonia Kang 

Edited by: Ian Gormely  

Accessibility is about making information, resources, activities, and environments, well, accessible. That means that everyone should be able to engage with these things with minimal effort and as meaningfully as possible. Countries around the world including Canada and the US have adopted accessibility laws, but there’s still a huge disconnect between how important this issue is and how much attention it receives. Many people don’t think about accessibility at all. Or if they do, they think of it as a nice-to-have that’s kind of optional or that’s it’s just about accommodations and modification to physical space. This episode busts the myth that accessibility is optional. 

GATE’s Busted podcast is made possible by generous support by BMO.  

Featured Guests:  

Dr. Mahadeo Sukhai, Head of Research and Chief Accessibility Officer, Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) 

Dr. Jutta Treviranus, Professor and Director, Inclusive Design Research Centre, OCAD University 

Produced by: Carmina Ravanera and Dr. Sonia Kang 

Edited by: Ian Gormely