women

On this week's 51%, we speak with Dr. Frank Putnam, professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, about the Female Growth and Development Study (FGDS), which he co-founded with the late Dr. Penelope Trickett in 1987. The FGDS, which is still running today, has followed the lives of more than 100 girls to assess the impacts of child sex abuse on female development, and how trauma crosses generations. Putnam says child abuse can affect a survivor's physical and mental health in a way that accelerates their biological aging, putting them at an increased risk for early puberty, obesity, premature births, mental illness, cognitive decline and more. Putnam compiles more than 35 years' worth of papers from the FGDS — and outlines ways to better prevent child abuse — in his new book Old Before Their Time.

Stewart O’ Nan’s fiction has always paid close attention to the people and relationships that shape us. In his new novel “Evensong” he brings that attention to bear on a vivid cast orbiting Emily Maxwell as she enters her 90s. This is the concluding chapter in a trilogy that began with “Wish You Were Here” and continued in “Emily Alone” and it widens the lens to explore not only Emily’s interior life but the network of care surrounding her.

On this week's 51%, we look back on some of our favorite conversations from 2025: Dr. Heather Hirsch discusses the FDA’s decision to remove “black box” warning labels from hormonal therapies used to treat symptoms of menopause; Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson explains how President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” blocks Medicaid funding for its clinics; and former CIA intelligence officer Christina Hillsberg makes the case for why women make better spies.

The new book “Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning” is a playbook to supporting and retaining women of color in leadership roles to create lasting change in the world. It comes from a former labor community organizer Vanessa Priya Daniel, who is the founder of one of the nation’s premiere funders of women of color led organizations. [Encore airing]

When most of us think of the Viking Age, we think of its men: powerful warriors sailing ships, building armies, and sacking cities across Europe. But new research shows Viking women were warriors, too – and that they were traders, artisans, explorers, landowners, and respected leaders in their own right. On this week’s 51%, we kick off Women’s History Month by speaking with science writer Heather Pringle about her book The Northwomen, on how women helped shape Viking society and culture.

On this week’s 51%, we speak with Carol Cleaveland and Michele Waslin, author of Private Violence: Latin American Women and the Struggle for Asylum. As President Trump effectively shuts down processing at the southern border and ramps up deportations, asylum seekers in the U.S. are left in a precarious position, especially women fleeing domestic and gender-based violence. Through interviews and eyewitness accounts of closed court proceedings, Cleaveland and Waslin demonstrate how difficult it is for these women to seek shelter in the U.S., and why “gender-based violence” is still not considered grounds for asylum — even before the second Trump Administration.

Author Olivia Campbell is here to tell us about her new book “Sisters in Science: How Four Women Physicists Escaped Nazi Germany and Made Scientific History.” The book tells the true story of four women pioneers in physics during World War II and their daring escape out of Nazi Germany.

Nadira Simmons is a writer and digital content creator committed to preserving Black history, hip-hop history, and pop culture and finding new ways to tell stories on TV and the internet. She created “The Gumbo, an innovative space in media for the creative excellence and activism of Black women in hip-hop and a safe haven free of politics.Her book “First Things First: Hip-Hop Ladies Who Changed the Game,” published by Twelve, is a celebration of the achievements of women in hip-hop who broke down barriers and broke the mold.

A self-described recovering perfectionist, Dr. Shai Butler, author of "Better. Not Perfect-From Hot Mess To Life Success" is leading a movement of women who are learning to give the same grace to themselves that they so freely give to others.

“The Women,” a new novel by Kristin Hannah, is set at a pivotal time in American history: the Vietnam era. It is an intimate portrait of a woman coming of age in a dangerous situation and an epic tale of a nation divided by war and broken by politics.