Pandemic Voices: The Dominican Republic, Spain, Italy, and Vietnam (0:33)

All week on Top of Mind, we’ve been hearing from people around the world about how they’re coping with the isolation and anxiety of the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve spoken to people in China, Japan, Turkey, Ghana, Italy and Peru. It’s been striking to hear similarities in what people are worried about right now and what they long to do when this is all over. 

Juan Mateo in the Dominican Republic

Anna Olivas in Spain

Ricardo Vanoli in Italy

Maryam Naushad in Vietnam

 

Progress Toward Gender Equality in the Workplace Is Slowing; Why? (23:03)

Guest: Paula England, Professor of Sociology, New York University 

We just passed what’s known as “Equal Pay Day” in America. Because women earn, on average, $ 0.82 cents for every dollar a man earns, Equal Pay Day symbolizes how far into a new year, women must work to make what men were paid in the previous year. Since the 1970s, the pay gap between men and women has shrunk considerably, but recently that progress has stalled.

 

Helping African Forest Elephants Requires Lots of Listening (35:03)

Guest: Peter Wrege, PhD, Director of the Elephant Listening Project, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University.

If you click on the link above and you will hear a private conversation between two female elephants in an African rainforest. They’re family and haven’t seen each other in a while, so this is a kind of “greeting ceremony.” The recording was made by the Elephant Listening Project. How – and why – they’re capturing these elephant recordings is a cool story.

 

The Apple Seed (50:41)

Guest: Sam Payne, Host, The Apple Seed, BYUradio

Sam Payne shares some stories of how to connect with family - and objects - during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Why Is the Rate of Maternal Mortality Higher for Black Women in the U.S.? (1:02:08)

Guest: Dr. Neel Shah, OB-GYN, Professor, Harvard Medical School.

The United States is a scary place to give birth. The rate of maternal deaths in America is the highest among wealthy countries. Black women in America are two to three time more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than white and Hispanic women. And most of these deaths are preventable. What is wrong with maternal care in America?

 

Movies to Help Parents Deal With Pandemic Fears (1:18:55)

Guest: Kirsten Hawkes, ParentPreviews.com

Parents are doing a lot of work to help their kids cope with the uncertainty of the pandemic – and a few weeks ago we had some movie recommendations from Parent Previews that could be useful in helping kids understand how they’re feeling. Today we’ve got movies to help grownups process our own fear or sadness.