Jennifer Ludden
Jennifer Ludden helps edit energy and environment stories for NPR's National Desk, working with NPR staffers and a team of public radio reporters across the country. They track the shift to clean energy, state and federal policy moves, and how people and communities are coping with the mounting impacts of climate change.
Previously, Ludden was an NPR correspondent covering family life and social issues, including the changing economics of marriage, the changing role of dads, and the ethical challenges of reproductive technology. She's also covered immigration and national security.
Ludden started reporting with NPR while based overseas in West Africa, Europe and the Middle East. She shared in two awards (Overseas Press Club and Society of Professional Journalists) for NPR's coverage of the Kosovo war in 1999, and won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for her coverage of the overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. When not navigating war zones, Ludden reported on cultural trends, including the dying tradition of storytellers in Syria, the emergence of Persian pop music in Iran, and the rise of a new form of urban polygamy in Africa.
Ludden has also reported from Canada and at public radio stations in Boston and Maine. She's a graduate of Syracuse University with degrees in television, radio, and film production and in English.
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Across the developing world, 1 in 3 girls marries before age 18. Some are wed and become mothers by the time they reach their teens. In Malawi, some villages have started to punish parents who marry off their young daughters. -
Fast food and restaurant work used to be seen as an entry point for the young. Today, the average such employee is 29, and nearly a quarter are parents. For these workers, current wages are hardly enough to support them, let alone their families. -
With new momentum for same-sex marriage from the Supreme Court, gays and lesbians are hoping for progress in another sphere — the workplace. In 29 states, it's still legal to fire someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Congress is again considering legislation to ban that. -
At a time when most pregnant women work, there are new efforts to keep companies from unfairly targeting employees because of a pregnancy. Allegations of pregnancy discrimination persist and have even risen in recent years despite a decades-old law against it.
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Policymakers who've relied on health initiatives to address the mortality gap may take a look at the workplace. Family-friendly policies, like paid parental leave and subsidized child care, that could help keep women employed. -
A year after Massachusetts ended lifetime alimony, groups in a number of states are pushing similar legislation. They say alimony laws are outdated, based on a time when most women didn't work. But family lawyers say the proposals would punish those who've sacrificed their own career to help a spouse advance.
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For decades, the role of breadwinner was reserved for men, but today, more than a quarter of American working women earn more than their spouses. That means more fathers are opting to stay home with the kids. -
Defense attorney Judy Clarke routinely faces an enraged public, top-notch prosecutors and difficult, often disturbed clients. Now, she is soon to face those things again with another high-profile client, alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. -
Science education standards, issued in April, recommend teaching climate change for the first time. But one nonprofit says kids aren't learning enough, soon enough, about how their world will change in the coming decades. The group aims to remedy this with presentations in schools nationwide. -
Even though it's tough to purchase your own home in this economy, single women are making it work. After married couples, they're the largest demographic group of homebuyers. In fact, their share of the market is twice that of single men.
