The Women's Podcast

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...

Yesterday, survivors of Ireland’s mother and baby homes heard from one of the members of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, when professor Mary Daly spoke publicly about the Commission’s work at an online event organised by Oxford University. To date, none of the Commission members have gone before the Oireachtas or given a press conference following the publication of its...

Why Women are Poorer than Men is the debut book from Annabelle Williams, a journalist and editor who specialises in investing, economics and consumer affairs. The book explores injustices from old-age poverty to the gendered housing crisis and illustrates how society conspires to limit women's wealth. In today’s episode, Williams joins Róisín Ingle to discuss the many reasons why women are poorer...

In this specially extended podcast, Sinead O'Connor invites us into her home to talk about her extraordinary new memoir Rememberings. Over coffee and cigarettes she talks Róisín Ingle through her traumatic childhood, her singular musical career and the liberation she found in tearing up that photo of the pope. And there's more: Prince, family bonds, nuns, shame, writing, singing, head shaving, tru...

It’s three years since the referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment was passed by a landslide on May 25th 2018. Now, film directors Aideen Kane, Lucy Kennedy and Maeve O’Boyle are releasing their documentary, The 8th, about that defining moment in Irish history. With footage gathered over a three-year period, The 8th brings us voices from both sides of the referendum campaign. It takes us behind...

The inspiration for Fíona Scarlett’s debut novel came to her just over three years ago while scrolling through Twitter. The schoolteacher turned author happened across a tweet by a paediatric palliative care doctor, in which he had listed what his young patients said they would miss the most when they died. Using their answers as a springboard, Scarlett immediately opened up her laptop and wrote w...

When the trailer for Wild Mountain Thyme was released late last year, it was immediately met with widespread criticism, not only for its delusional depictions of modern Irish life, but for its dodgy Irish accents and over the top Paddywhackery. Written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, the film is based on his play Outside Mullingar, which ran on Broadway in 2014. It stars Emily Blunt and Jami...

Today is a BIG day for us. It’s our 500th episode! We love any excuse for a party, as you know, so in lieu of being able to gather the team together for some bubbles we did a very pandemic thing and partied with our listeners over Zoom. Last Thursday evening we held a live episode of the podcast with some very special guests aged 19 to 81, who shared their feelings on ageing and becoming Older & B...

Hollie McNish writes about so much of what it means to be a woman. In her latest book, Slug… and other things I’ve been told to hate, she writes about death and grief, growing up and periods, parenting, her relationship with her body, masturbation and lots more. The book is a mixture of poetry, prose, short stories and essays. It’s not your usual “poetry book” and it’s all the better for it. In th...

Have you ever really thought about where your clothes come from? Who makes them and what conditions are they working in? What happens to all the material waste from unwanted garments? These are the thoughts and questions that inspired Dublin fashion designer Laura Egan to launch Studio Minti, a sustainable online fashion hub & preloved clothing store. Leaving behind a career in London, Egan now se...

In 1982, Gemma Hussey became Ireland’s first female minister for education. She was appointed by Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald after winning a seat for Fine Gael in Wicklow. Her appointment caused a bit of a culture shock among several of her male fellow ministers and for five years she was the only woman in cabinet. A lifetime liberal feminist, Hussey was co-founder of the Women’s Political Associa...

Lifestyle blogs are ten a penny, but well-informed health blogs are hard to find. Siobhán Freeney’s ‘Being Dense’ is an Irish blog aiming to raise awareness around breast density, a condition that increases the risk of developing cancer, because it can lead to breast cancers being masked on mammograms. On today’s podcast, Freeney talks to Kathy Sheridan about her patient advocacy work, her own exp...

Roisin Kiberd was born in 1989, the same year that Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist, invented the World Wide Web. In her new book The Disconnect, Kiberd takes a look at life growing up alongside the ever-expanding, ever-evolving Internet. In these interlinked essays, she examines our dependency and obsession with the online world, the ways we are more connected than ever before, and the discon...

Until a few weeks ago, 19-year-old UCC law student Alicia O’Sullivan had never heard of Admireme.vip. The website is an 18+ subscription-only platform, which describes itself as a place to share the “most intimate and secret content”. Alicia only became familiar with it after images purporting to be her appeared on the site. Someone had stolen her identity and set up a fake profile, doctoring pict...

Alexandra Heminsley is a best selling author, journalist and broadcaster. Her latest memoir Some Body to Love is an open-hearted exploration into body image, identity and family life. In the book, Heminsley shares her experiences of IVF, pregnancy and sexual assault, all of which have had a profound effect on her own sense of self. She also details the breakdown of her marriage, following her then...

If you’ve ever passed the GPO on Dublin’s O’Connell Street on a Friday evening, you’re very likely to have seen the Muslim Sisters of Éire (MSOE) hard at work. The group is a grassroots, non-profit, all-female organisation, established in 2010 to promote integration and social inclusion, and to provide support services to the most vulnerable. Every Friday night at their soup kitchen in Dublin city...