Bridging the Divide: A New Podcast Launched by BIFP's Advocacy Committee

Since its launch in January 2020, the Bipartisan Feminist Project has expanded greatly, making huge strides in uniting feminists across the political aisle. With 11 chapters across the country and over 12,000 people reached, BIFP is pursuing an array of projects in the coming months to maximize its impact. Among them is a podcast called “Bridging the Divide,” an open forum to encourage discussions about gender equality and dissolve the partisan gap in the feminist movement.

The podcast is the latest project launched by BIFP’s advocacy team, which seeks to raise awareness and provide education about bipartisan feminism. “We wanted a way to bring the education provided in our workshops to a wider audience,” said BIFP’s founder and CEO, Veronica Tadross. “We’re not having many workshops at the moment, so the podcast is intended to give our audience more easily accessible information about bipartisan feminism.”

The first episode, entitled “Introduction to Bridging the Divide,” was released on November 30 and features Tadross along with Althea Collier, the director of the advocacy committee. The episode provides a brief introduction to BIFP and discusses the importance of bipartisan support for feminism.

Future episodes will delve into the intricacies of the feminist movement while highlighting different perspectives on women’s issues. While nothing is set in stone, the advocacy committee has discussed several thought-provoking subjects for upcoming episodes. The committee plans to foster a conversation about Kamala Harris and whether her vice presidency is a positive step for women. The committee also intends to lead discussions about women in third-world countries and interview people who do not consider themselves to be feminists.

As a whole, the podcast will feature call-ins from people with differing views on feminism, interviews with experts, and conversations with partner feminist organizations. “We’re currently working on finding guests to speak on future episodes of the podcasts to make it interesting, whether it’s friends and family or professors and legislators,” said Tadross.

The advocacy committee has a lot of goals for the future of the podcast. Namely, they want to highlight a multitude of diverse perspectives on the feminist movement. “I think one of our major goals is to get a lot of different voices onto the podcast,” said Collier. “We want it to feel like an open conversation between different members of the feminist movement.”

Above all, the advocacy committee views increased partisanship as a hindrance to the feminist movement and hopes to engender widespread, bipartisan support for feminism through the podcast. “Without full acknowledgement by both political parties, the feminist movement lacks momentum,” said Collier on the first episode of Bridging the Divide. “Liberal politicians can make claims of being feminist without valuing feminist ideas, and conservative politicans may be pressured into not supporting feminist ideas so that they don’t go against the values of their party. In this climate, feminism is no longer a tool for supporting and empowering women.”

The first episode of Bridging the Divide is currently available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Stay tuned for more episodes in the coming months!