The Fifth Trimester: Gender Equity at Work and at Home in 2020 - a podcast by NeighborSchools

After the birth of her first son, and following a standard 3-month maternity leave, Lauren returned to work as an editor at Glamour. It was hard, and she never felt a need to pretend it was easy. She didn’t go around broadcasting her struggles in the office, but she didn’t feel like she had anything to hide either. Soon coworkers started to acknowledge her and even thank her for being a role model and “speaking up.” Those small moments and recognitions made Lauren realize there was a much bigger story here that needed to be told. A journalist at heart, Lauren dove in and researched all aspects of working-motherhood, particularly the return to work phase that she would come to call the “fifth trimester.” Since 2017 her book and consultancy of the same name have brought these insights and conversations to offices, boardrooms, and living rooms across the country, and helped thousands of women, myself included, navigate and understand what it means to return to work. 

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