165. Bridging the Age Gap: Mia & Mieke Unlearning Expectations

This is the very first episode of the Series – Bridging the Age Gap – where we explore how women from different generations come together to reframe what it means to lead. In this episode, Julia is joined by Mieke Verloo and Mariel Mia Haug, a professor and her former student who connected at a conference on democracy and gender equality in Europe. What began as a formal introduction quickly evolved into a collaborative dynamic grounded in shared roots, values, and feminist ideals.  

Mia reflects on how she had to shed learned notions of deference and excessive politeness to form a meaningful connection. Mieke, the professor, in turn, shares how intentional presence, deep listening, and care are at the heart of how she holds space and how that is, in itself, a way of leading. 

They explore how age difference can create assumptions about what each person brings to the table, and how those assumptions can be challenged through honest dialogue and mutual respect.  

Listen to dive into a conversation between two women at different life stages, choosing curiosity over hierarchy as that’s where the magic in leading resides.   

About The Guests:

Mieke Verloo is Professor of Comparative Politics and Inequality Issues at Radboud University in the Netherlands, and Non-Residential Permanent Fellow at the IWM, Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. She has extensive publications on gender equality policymaking in Europe, on gender mainstreaming and intersectionality, on gendered body politics, gendered knowledge politics, and on opposition to gender equality in Europe. For 2022-2036, she is coordinating the CCINDLE project. Since 2020, she is also chair of the FLAX Foundation

Mia Haug is a political science graduate from Estonia with a strong background in student politics. She’s also the Operations Manager at Women Emerging. As cofounder and former board member of 020 - a student political party at the University of Amsterdam - she led key initiatives aimed at improving student representation and passed policies that addressed key issues affecting the community. Later, as Chair of LEF, a youth-oriented party in the Netherlands, she worked on radical policy ideas like universal basic income, better access to mental health care, and just climate action.