Gals Guide

Riwo's pick is pre-Christian times in Ireland. Her pick is also part historical but also part myth and legend. She’s a complex woman. Queen Medb (also spelled Maeve, Mave, Meave) her name is connected to alcohol -  you know meade-woman -  she starts a war over who has a prettier bull, and it takes 30 men in a night to satisfy her sexually. She’s a lot and she's not apologizing for any of it. 

Lori continues Ireland Month by talking about singer, songwriter, and activist Sinéad O'Connor. The Pope and Prince tie into this episode as we learn about the many albums, struggles, and talents of this Dublin musician. 

Katie continues Ireland Month with a campaigner for social justice, elected to Parliament at age 21, served prison time, wounded in an assassination attempt, and sometimes called "Ireland's Joan of Arc", Bernadette Devlin.

It's the start of Ireland Month! Bonnie's pick is an all-around adventurer. Lilian Bland is an aviator, horseback rider, lumberjack, painter, and car salesman. And when we say aviator we mean, she's the first woman to build her own plane 'cause it's 1910.  And when we say car salesman, we mean the idea of cars is new. 

Katie finishes up African Gals Month by sharing about Senegalese author, Mariama Ba. So Long a Letter is a novel expressing the fate and the frustration of African women. Mariama received the Noma Award, a major book award in Africa.

Gal's Guide Film Club is discussing the Viola Davis movie The Women King. Leah wanted to dig deeper into the real-life all-female military regiment in the Kingdom of Dahomey known as the Agojie. If you are wondering if they are what the Dorje Milaje of Black Panther is based on - you are correct my friend.

Josh returns to the podcast to talk about the medicinal plant biologist, Nokwanda Pearl Makunga. Professor Nox is a researcher in Biotechnology at Stellenbosch University. Her work is fascinating if you have a green thumb and even if you don't! 

It's a new month and Bonnie starts African Gal month with a trailblazer of the Egyptian Feminist movement, Huda Sha'arawi. Learn about this amazing suffragette.   

Leah closes out Australian Gals Month with her pick. Sister Elizabeth Kenny (who was a military sister, not a religious sister) was an Australian Bush nurse who basically created physical therapy. At the time her methods of treating polio patients were unconventional but one day there was some help from the Mayo Clinic in the United States. Learn more about this amazing woman. 

Katie's Australian Gal is a legendary businesswoman who started as a convict.  Learn about Mary Reibey, an incredible woman who is on the money and became a role model for many. 

Australian Gals Month continues! Barb's pick is a social reformer who was the first woman to serve as a member of Parliament. 

It is a new season of the Gal’s Guide Podcast! Can you believe it, it’s season 7! We’ve got a slightly new spin on all of 2024’s episodes. We’ll be learning about women around the world with a new region each month. This month, it’s Australia! Bonnie starts us off with the first female Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard. 

For the last episode of Season 6, Barb ends Medicine Woman month with Omaha Medical doctor, Susan La Flesche Picotte. Season 7 begins on January 8, 2024, with Australian Gals.

Medicine Woman Month continues! Leah tells us about the amazing Gladys Tantaquidgeon who was 3rd generation medicine woman who lived to age 106! 

Bonnie stars of Medicine Woman with the Great Healer of the Native Americans, Qi-yo Ke-pe. 

Bonnie finishes up Folklore Month with the Slavic hero/villain the Baba Yaga!

Leah shares a Buddhist folktale of Kisa Gotami and the Mustard Seed. 

Kassie talks about the amazing modern playwright who has a folklore twist. Learn and celebrate Aleshea Harris and her play "Is God Is." 

Barb tells us about Lozen, the Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache who was a skillful warrior and a shield to her people. There is a trigger warning for this episode as we do discuss the capture and the imprisonment of Lozen and her people. 

October is Folklore Gals Month. To set the tone, Katie Young shares a quick and bonus episode about the lore of Banshees. 

Leah finished up Working Women Month with a delicious treat! Learn about Ruth Wakefield, the inventor of the chocolate chip cookie. See if you think she got a tasty deal for her business creation. 

Working Women Month continues! Barb tells us about the founder of Girls Who Code and the best-selling author of multiple books, Reshma Saujani.

Working Women Month continues! Katie is up next telling us about the fantastic American aerospace engineer, who also happens to be the mom of actor, Jack Black. 

Bonnie starts off Working Women month with a cautionary tale of the horrors of the workplace. On Saturday, March 25, 1911, a fire broke out in Manhattan. The tall building with unsafe conditions created a deadly industrial disaster. Taking the lives of 146 people, most of them women, inspired protests to create safer work conditions for all. 

The Aviation drink with gin has REALLY KICK IN! Katie wraps up aviation month with the power of the Great Stewardess Rebellion. Inspired by the amazing book of the same name by Nell McShane Wulfhart. We also talked about the window, aisle, or middle seat before we got really upset with the sexism in the airline industry.