The Women's Podcast

The vast majority of violence against women and girls (and men and boys) is perpetrated by men. Why then is it viewed primarily as a women’s issue? On UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, Róisín talks to two men who are activists in the area about why we urgently need to reframe the conversation and why more men need to speak out.  Guests: Dr Jackson Katz, co-fo...

Living alone during lockdown and cut off from her wide circle of friends, Irish Times journalist and author Rosita Boland, wrote a beautiful book of essays called Comrades: A Lifetime of Friendships. The book is an exploration of camaraderie, from the imaginary, the unrequited, to the ones lost along the way. In today’s episode, Boland joins Róisin Ingle to speak about the different friendships wh...

When Lara Marlowe met Robert Fisk in 1983 in Damascus, he was already a famous war correspondent. She was a young American reporter who would become a renowned journalist in her own right. For the next twenty years, they were lovers, husband and wife and friends, occasionally angry and estranged from one another, but ultimately reconciled. In today’s podcast, Marlowe, who is The Irish Times Paris...

The death of a 30-year-old woman in Poland, likened to the Savita Halappanavar case, has sparked protests and candlelit vigils in an outpouring of opposition to restrictive abortion laws which campaigners claim played a role in her death. Irish Times Europe correspondent Naomi O’Leary has the details of this story and explains why the case will resonate in Ireland. Later, Róisín talks to priz...

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 episode, we’re bringing you a conversation from our Big Night In series of events which took place earlier this year. Back in May, comedian, author and journalist Maeve Higgins joined Róisín Ingle on zoom for a very fun evening in front of a live virtual audience. Higgins spoke about her move to New York, podcasting with former president Mary Robinson and why she returned to her hometown o...

In her memoir, Openhearted, Ann Ingle tells the story of her life with her late husband Peter, the “wild Irishman” she fell in love with while on holiday in Cornwall at the age of 20. Presented as a series of essays, Ann writes about everything from love, sex and heartbreak, to money, rearing children, writing, ageing, and so much more. In today’s episode, she talks to Kathy Sheridan about what sh...

Last month Irish writer Sally Rooney launched her highly anticipated third novel Beautiful World, Where Are You. Since its release, the book has topped bestseller lists across the world and continues to fly off the shelves. We here at the Women’s Podcast devoured the book in just a few days and we’re still not ready to stop talking about it. That’s why in today’s episode, Róisín Ingle is joined by...

In her new book, Women vs Capitalism, economist Vicky Pryce presents readers with an uncomfortable truth: we will not achieve equality for women without radical changes to contemporary capitalism. In today’s episode she speaks to Kathy Sheridan about all the ways in which our economic structure is built to put women at a disadvantage, from the gendered threat of robot labour to the lack of women i...

Last year, when most of us were busy baking banana bread or learning how to crochet, Irish actress Jade Jordan spent her time in lockdown delving back into the pasts of her mother Dominique and grandmother Kathleen. Spurred on by the death of George Floyd, Jade was eager to explore and add to the discussion surrounding race and discrimination in Ireland. The result of these conversations between J...

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 today’s podcast 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 life, why it was important...

Taste of Dublin returns to the Inveagh Gardens this week. A celebration of eating, drinking and entertainment, the festival runs for five days from the 1st- 5th September and features live cooking demonstrations, wine tastings and food stalls from all over the world. This year, Our Table will be joining the festival line up, selling a selection of products and showcasing start up businesses from t...

It’s that time of year again. The back-to-school sun is shining as thousands of children around the country return to the classroom. Parents, children and teachers alike will be hoping for some normality as the new school year begins, but will it be all plain sailing? In this episode Róisín Ingle is joined by journalist and parenting expert Jen Hogan and by Maria Rushe, a secondary school teacher...

In her new book The Breakup Monologues, comedian Rosie Wilby takes you on a journey back through her romantic history, celebrating the ups and downs and the many lessons learned along the way. The book serves as a love letter to those breakups and includes anecdotes from friends and interviews with relationship therapists, scientists and sociologists. In this conversation, the “breakup queen” tell...

The Bright Side, by Irish director Ruth Meehan opens in Irish cinemas on August 20th. The film was inspired by Anne Gildea’s best-selling memoir ‘I’ve got cancer, what’s your excuse’ and tells the story of Kate (Gemma-Leah Devereux), a world-weary comedian who is diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of thirty-five. Already suicidal, Kate sees this as a guilt-free way out, but the prospect of de...

The first week of August marks World Breastfeeding Week, which aims to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world. Globally, Ireland has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates, with just over one third of mothers breastfeeding their newborn when they leave hospital and fewer than 6% of babies still breastfed exclusively at 6 months old. In this episode, broadcaster an...

In 1998, a fresh-faced 16-year-old Britney Spears became an overnight global superstar with the release of her debut single Baby One More Time. She went on to sell over 150 million records, win multiple awards and gain a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But for nearly half of Spears’ impressive career, the singer hasn’t had full control over her life. For the last thirteen years, she has been u...

In this episode, we are bringing you a conversation from our Big Night In series of events, which took place in late 2020. On a cold Winter's evening, Róisín Ingle was joined on Zoom by former state pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy in front of a live virtual audience. Cassidy spoke about her very unconventional career choice, the unexpected fame that came with it and the Irish obsession with death. Ho...

In this episode Róisín talks to author Ethel Rohan, who describes herself as “a kind of a queen of uncomfortable stories”. Rohan has written a number of short story collections and a novel. Her latest book, In the Event of Contact, is a collection of 14 stories set in Ireland, England, and America about abuse survivors who turn their trauma into power. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mo...

Art historian Catherine McCormack recently published her book, ’Women in the Picture: Women Art and the Power of Looking’. In it, she argues that women's identity has long been stifled by woeful narratives and a limited set of archetypes. In this episode, Catherine speaks to Róisín Ingle about how studying art has shaped her feminism, why history fooled us into thinking there were no female artist...

After more than a year working remotely, socialising on zoom and staring at the four walls of our own houses, the thought of getting back out into the world can seem a little daunting. While the reopening of society brings with it the chance to meet friends, eat out and reunite with loved ones, it can also bring a sense of uncertainty and social anxiety. For some of us, FOMO - the fear of missing...

Last week, author Marian Keyes joined Roisin Ingle live on Zoom, for a post-pandemic beauty chat in association with Clarins. In front of a virtual audience, the pair spoke about online cosmetic discoveries during the last very strange year, products they relied on to keep their spirits up, new post-pandemic beauty trends and the joy of letting yourself go. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...

With her book ‘Shy: How being quiet can lead to success’, author and journalist Annie Ridout has written a practical guide which teaches us to recognise shyness as a gift and something to be embraced, rather than fixed. Róisín talks to Ridout and our co-producer Suzanne Brennan, who is a shy person, about this often misunderstood attribute. Also in this episode: My Expert Midwife founder and One B...

On today’s show Róisín chats to one of Ireland’s leading trans activists, Sara R Phillips, chair of the Transgender Equality Network Ireland and a board member of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, about what it means to be transgender in Ireland today. In a wide-ranging conversation, Sara addresses some of the common questions people may have, she dispels a few trans myths, shares stories f...