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About The Show
In America, women make up more than half the population. Worldwide, women are expected to outnumber men within the next fifty years – and every issue we face is one that affects us all. Whether it’s the environment, health, our children, politics or the arts, there’s a women’s perspective, and 51% is a show dedicated to that viewpoint. Host Jesse King talks to experts in their field for a wide-ranging, entertaining discussion of issues that not only fall into the traditional ‘women’s issues’ category, but topics that concern us all as human beings and citizens of the global community.
Meet The Host
Jesse King has been with WAMC since 2018, and currently produces its afternoon news programs. She also produces the WAMC podcast, A New York Minute in History. She grew up an avid writer and radio-nerd in upstate New York, and holds a B.A. in Music Industry and Mass Communications from SUNY Oneonta. You can find her reading, watching Marvel movies, and playing the fiddle in her free time.
More Episodes
“Decolonizing science” with Drs. Fowler and Vandebroek
On this week’s 51%, our associate producer Jody Cowan speaks with ethnobotanist Dr. Ina...
Jessica Palden on “Teardrop on Fire”
On this week’s 51%, we hear from the director of a new documentary telling the stories of...
Muriel Fox on “The Women’s Revolution”
On this week’s 51%, we sit down with Muriel Fox, feminist activist and cofounder of the...
Kamala Harris steps forward
Following President Biden's decision to step away from this year's presidential election, Vice...
Dr. Camille Clare on C-section recovery
On this week's 51%, we speak with Dr. Camille Clare, an OB/GYN and professor at SUNY Downstate,...
Looking back on New Paltz’s “Winter of Love”
On this week's 51%, we brush up on the history of marriage equality in the U.S., and look back...
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Emily Feng on “Let Only Red Flowers Bloom”
May 22, 2025 • 00:29:05
On this week’s 51%, we hear from NPR’s Emily Feng about her experience reporting in China, and her new book Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping’s China. Telling the stories of nearly two dozen people Feng encountered in China – before she ran afoul of…
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Amy Friedman on “Home and Away” and the pain in our prison system
May 15, 2025 • 00:29:26
On this week’s 51%, we learn about an organization offering community to children and teens impacted by incarceration and deportation. The Pathfinder Network, which merged with the POPS Club in 2022, has support groups in schools across the country, where students can share their thoughts and fears stigma-free. POPS Founder…
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Dr. Margo Lowy on 'Maternal Ambivalence'
May 8, 2025 • 00:29:11
On this week’s 51%, we recognize Mother’s Day and sit down with Dr. Margo Lowy to discuss her book Maternal Ambivalence: The Loving Moments & Bitter Truths of Motherhood. A psychotherapist specializing in mothering, Dr. Lowy offers advice on how to navigate the conflicting emotions that come with being a…
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Dionne Koller on why youth sports are "More Than Play"
May 1, 2025 • 00:28:00
On this week’s 51%, we speak with Dionne Koller, a law professor at the University of Baltimore, about the benefits and dangers of youth sports, and what parents should know before signing their kids up. In her new book, More Than Play, Koller explains how today’s youth sports became more…
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Jill Hasday on "We the Men"
Apr 24, 2025 • 00:30:48
On this week’s 51%, we chat with Minnesota Law Professor Jill Hasday about her book, We the Men: How Forgetting Women’s Struggles for Equality Perpetuates Inequality. Hasday explains how downplaying women’s history and exaggerating our progress on women’s rights prevents us from tackling the inequalities we still face. In We…
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The SAVE Act: What would it mean for women voters?
Apr 17, 2025 • 00:28:55
The House has passed the SAVE Act, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship from anyone registering to vote in federal elections. What might this mean for married women and other voters with changed names or hard-to-reach documents? We discuss the bill (and where it goes from here) with Dr.…
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How to prepare for a recession (just in case)
Apr 10, 2025 • 00:32:14
On this week’s 51%, we learn how to prep for and survive a recession with Professor Suzanne Shu of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. We also chat with business journalist Alison Kosik about her new book What’s Up with Women and Money? Part memoir, part how-to guide, Kosik’s…
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Nanda Reddy on "A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl"
Apr 3, 2025 • 00:30:50
On this week’s 51%, we speak with author Nanda Reddy about her new novel A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl. An exploration of identity and the immigrant experience, A Girl Within a Girl Within a Girl follows Maya, an Indo-Guyanese woman, as she confronts the many versions of herself,…
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Dr. Samra Zafar on "Unconditional"
Mar 27, 2025 • 00:32:13
We internalize a lot of ideas about womanhood, good and bad, as we grow up. On this week’s 51%, we speak with Dr. Samra Zafar about how to ditch the bad ones. In her new book Unconditional, Zafar shares her journey of escaping an abusive, forced marriage and unlearning her…
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The Women of NOW
Mar 20, 2025 • 00:31:08
On this week’s 51%, we sit down with longtime feminist activist Muriel Fox to chat about how the National Organization for Women got started in the 1960s, and how it fought for many of the rights and opportunities women cherish today. Fox is a public relations executive who co-founded NOW…