Elena Bridgers on Why Modern Motherhood Feels So Hard

Elena Bridgers is the writer behind the Substack "Motherhood Until Yesterday." She is known for her writing on evolutionary biology: specifically, the nature of hunter-gatherer societies, and how that explains why motherhood is so difficult in the present.

In the episode, I got a chance to speak with her about the tradeoffs that come with gender equity, how parenting has changed her conception of contemporary feminism, and the ways in which hunter-gatherer societies were neither patriarchal nor matriarchal.

Show Notes

"Regan Arntz-Gray on the Different Interpretations of Feminism" from Frames of Space

"But WHY Do We Want Gender Equality?" by Elena Bridgers, Motherhood Until Yesterday

"Of course motherhood drives the gender wage gap" by Ruxandra Teslo, Ruxandra's Substack

"Three years ago, I bought an obscure academic book that changed my life" by Elena Bridgers, Motherhood Until Yesterday

Father Time: A Natural History of Men and Babies by Sarah Blafer Hrdy