The Women's Podcast

When Maryam Mohitmafi arrived in Ireland with her husband two years ago, she was seeking a better life. A life where she could be free to choose what to wear, where to work and what religion to practice. A life with “basic freedoms” that are not available to women in her home country of Iran. From her new home in Dublin, the 31 year-old watches on as the women of Iran fight for those freedoms. Ove...

Total is the brand new book from author and filmmaker Rebecca Miller. It has just been released, but the wheels were set in motion for this collection of short stories, almost two decades ago. It was during the pandemic, when Miller, the daughter of playwright Arthur Miller and acclaimed photographer Inge Morath, finally found the time and space needed to flesh out and expand her ideas. In Total,...

Kate Ewart-Biggs was just eight years-old, when her father, Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the former British Ambassador to Ireland was assassinated by the IRA, just two weeks after the family arrived into the country. Looking back on that day in 1976, Ewart-Biggs says she spent “a lovely morning” with her father, before he left their home to attend an official meeting. Minutes later, the explosion from...

When Alice Ryan began writing her first novel There's Been A Little Incident, a debut about familial love and lifelong friendship, it was an "act of hope" in the face of terrible loss. 11 years ago, her mother, former literary editor of The Irish Times Caroline Walsh, died by suicide while suffering from a debilitating illness. Ryan, a grand-daughter of the late writer Mary Lavin, was in...

When Edwina Dunn was a young girl, she dreamed of becoming a long distance truck driver and living a very glamorous life on the road. While she didn’t quite achieve that goal, she did go on to become a very successful business woman and the brains behind the Tesco Clubcard. In the early 1990s, she and her husband Clive brought their expertise in data science to the boardroom of Tesco and helped th...

Girlcrush is the brand new novel from writer and illustrator Florence Given. It follows the journey of Eartha, a young woman fresh out of a relationship, coming to terms with her sexuality and dealing with her growing online fame. It’s the second book from the writer who brought us Women Don’t Owe You Pretty which explores all corners of the feminist conversation. Given speaks to Róisín Ingle abou...

It’s Fringe time again and as usual, the Dublin Fringe Festival has a host of female-led art and showomanship to discover. In today’s episode we highlight some of the brilliant events by women taking place in venues across the capital from the 10th to the 25th of September. (You won't want to miss Growler, the story of an 82-year-old inner-city vulva for just one brilliant example). Róisín Ingle i...

Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen is the latest book up for discussion on the book club. Set in the summer of 1994, the story follows the lives of Maeve and her two friends, who begin working in the local shirt factory in a small border town in Northern Ireland, while awaiting their A-Level results. As the summer unfolds, tensions rise in the factory between the Catholic and Protestant workers and...

We cannot resolve the climate emergency without fighting for gender equality. Women, especially poor women of colour, are suffering most as a result of the climate crisis, our highest-profile climate activists are women and girls and yet, at the top table it is men who are deciding the earth’s future. In her latest book, How Women Can Save the Planet, award-winning journalist Anne Karpf argues tha...

In the 1960s and 70s, the name Karen was one of the most popular baby names for girls. Now, not so much. With the rise of the Karen meme, the name has gradually become associated with obnoxious and entitled behaviour, usually demonstrated by a white, angry, middle-class woman. In this episode, Róisín Ingle speaks to two Irish Karens, Karen O’Donoghue and Karen Hand, about how their once loved name...

Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch was just 11 when her eating disorder began to manifest. She struggled for several years with anorexia, with spells in and out of hospital including a three month stay in a facility in England. In her memoir, The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting, she explores with breathtaking clarity, her path to recovery and her struggle to deal with the complexities and contradictions...

In this podcast recorded in September 2021, Róisín talks to the journalist, author and presenter of the brilliant How To Fail podcast Elizabeth Day. She has just published her latest novel, Magpie, a thrilling, stylish and psychologically astute story of jealousy, motherhood and power. In this funny, moving and revealing conversation, Day explains how some of the book’s themes relate to her own li...

Aoife Farrelly was just six years-old, when her older brother Cian began sexually abusing her. The abuse lasted two years and stopped when she told her parents what was happening. Last month, he was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to rape and sexual assault. Now aged twenty-one, Aoife plans to rebuild her life, ‘heal her inner child’ and not let the abuse define her. In this episode,...

Launched in 2015, Love Island is one of the most successful reality dating shows on TV. Despite a number of controversies through the years, the show still attracts millions of viewers every night. So why is it so compelling to watch and what keeps us coming back for more? In this episode Róisín Ingle is joined by three avid Love Island viewers, writer and philosopher Laura Kennedy, baker Gerry Go...

The price of everything is on the rise. From petrol, groceries, energy and gas, every facet of our lives has been affected. So why is everything so expensive and how can we make our money stretch further? In this episode, Róisín Ingle speaks to two budgeting experts Caz Mooney and Kel Galavan, who both share their money and saving tips through their Instagram profiles @Irishbudegting and @Mrssmart...

Set in the seaside town of Tramore, Co Waterford, The Amusements by Aingeala Flannery follows the lives of the Grant and Swaine families and their neighbours, over three decades. The story is woven together by this diverse cast of characters who capture the joy, frustration and limitations of small town life. In this episode, the author speaks to Róisín Ingle about her own childhood summers spent...

Following on from the landmark decision by the US Supreme Court last week to overturn Roe v Wade, abortion is now restricted in at least seven states, with trigger bans set to take effect in several more. In today’s episode, Róisín Ingle is joined by women’s rights advocate Dr Erica Goldblatt Hyatt and American journalist, poet and essayist Katha Pollitt to discuss this “assault on human rights” a...

In this book club episode, Niamh Towey, Bernice Harrison, Róisín and Ann Ingle discuss Trespasses by Derry writer Louise Kennedy. Set in Belfast, during the Troubles, it explores the relationship between a young Catholic woman and a married Protestant barrister. The group also share their summer reading recommendations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cork writer Louise O’Neill’s latest book Idol delves into the heart and mind of a super influencer in the wellness world. In this episode she talks to Róisín Ingle about the book, her third novel for adults, and the thorny topics it throws up like consent, eating disorders, cancel culture and the authenticity of influencers.  We also hear from Alice Kelly, a Leaving Cert student who is planni...

Naomi Long grew up in a staunchly unionist, east Belfast community. But as a centrist politician she has led the Alliance Party to become the third largest in Northern Ireland.   In this episode, she speaks to Kathy Sheridan about her matriarchal upbringing, her struggle with endometriosis, misogyny in politics, her faith and her primary school teacher’s appearance in Derry Girls.  Hoste...

The writer Katherine May believes we should all embrace our personal winters. She isn’t talking about the coldest season of the year though. For her, wintering is "a fallow period in life when you're cut off from the world, feeling rejected, sidelined, blocked from progress, or cast into the role of an outsider." In her book, Wintering, May recounts her own year-long journey through winter, sparke...

Yeah, But Where Are You Really From? is the new memoir from Irish-Zambian writer Marguerite Penrose. It’s a perfectly apt title for a book that explores the author’s experience of life, which began in St Patrick’s Mother and Baby Home in Dublin in 1974. In the book, Marguerite writes about coming to terms with the circumstances of her early childhood, about navigating the world with a disability a...

In today’s episode of the Women’s Podcast we are talking about abortion, exactly four years on from the referendum to repeal the Eighth. The anniversary falls at a time when abortion access is being restricted in many parts of the world and with the news that the US Supreme Court is planning to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. In Northern Ireland, access to abortion has been available sin...

In 2007, aged just 17, Amy Dunne was forced to go to the High Court to fight for her right to travel for an abortion, after a scan revealed that the baby she was carrying had a lethal abnormality and would not survive. From then on Amy became known as ‘Miss D’ and found herself at the centre of Ireland’s bitter abortion debate. Now in her 30s, Amy has written a memoir I Am Amy Dunne , reflecting o...

Following the Taliban takeover in August 2021, life for women and girls in Afghanistan has never been the same. Under their rule, access to education is limited, women are forced to cover their faces in public and there is a ban on nearly all paid employment. In this episode, Kathy Sheridan is joined by a woman who has sat opposite the Taliban in negotiations, former Minister for Women’s Affairs H...