Piece Description

Do medical dramas make you wish you’d become a doctor? Does that cheating spouse make you think you could get away with it, too? The Population Media Center, based in Vermont, has higher stakes for its shows. It creates TV and radio dramas with the hope that the behavior of the characters it creates will improve- and even save- the lives of its audience.

From Vietnam to Rwanda to Mexico, the PMC works with local writers to combat some of the most pressing problems in the region by having characters confront problems and then figure out how to work through them. The character taken on everything from HIV and AIDS to family planning to having an obstetric fistula repaired.

The president of the Population Media Center, Bill Ryerson, and veteran TV executive Virginia Carter- who trains PMC scriptwriters- join us to discuss the organization and its successes.

Then … though women outnumber men at most colleges, Linda Tarr-Whelan says they are still behind “at the top.” For example, she says, women hold only 17 percent of Congressional seats and 14 percent of board of directors seats at Fortune 500 companies. In her new book, “Women Lead the Way: Your Guide to Stepping Up to Leadership and Changing the World,” Tarr-Whelan argues women must make up 30 percent of that group at the top for real change- a move away from male-dominated decision-making- to occur.