The Women's Podcast

The vast majority of Indian nurses working in Ireland come from one small part of southwestern India called Kerala. Why Ireland? And, what is it like to be separated from their families back home, some for years at a time? Irish Times journalist and author of New to the Parish, Sorcha Pollak, went to Kerala to find out and in today's podcast she tells Kathy what she learned from that trip. Hosted...

Today, Kathy speaks to Conor O’Clery, the former Irish Times foreign correspondent, and his wife, Zhanna, who met in Moscow in the heady days of glasnost and perestroika. Conor has written about his postings to Moscow and the U.S. in articles for this paper and in his books, but it is Zhanna who is the subject of his latest book, The Shoemaker and his Daughter. It is a memoir about Zhanna’s incred...

On Monday December 10th, The Irish Times marks 100 years since the 1918 election, with a magazine and unique commemorative poster featuring a specially commissioned poem by Eavan Boland, illustrated by artist Paula McGloin. Articles by Catriona Crowe, Ivana Bacik, Una Mullally and others will explore how the vote was won by the women of Ireland, and how they have fared in the century since. To mar...

Kathy Sheridan is back in the driving seat and in this week's episode she talks to the Belfast-born award winning foreign correspondent and FGM activist, Maggie O'Kane. They talk about her time reporting on the Bosnian war in the 1990s, the "new fears" that led to her leaving the war zone behind and how she came to be involved in the fight against the barbaric practice of FGM. Plus: Róisín makes u...

Christine Comaford has lived many lives. She has been a serial entrepreneur, technology and CEO advisor, venture capitalist and was an engineer in the early days of Microsoft. Today she works with help companies as a business strategist and an executive coach. In this show she talks to Róisín about working at Microsoft in the 1980s at a time when it was thought that “chicks can’t code", about meet...

When Cork woman Samantha Barry took over at the helm of the US magazine Glamour this year, she became only its 8th editor since it was first printed in 1939. Anna Wintour, who brought her on board, has described her as "fearless", she counts Amal Clooney as one of her closest friends (since long before George was on the scene), and she has had a distinguished career in journalism at the BBC and CN...

For over four years RTÉ Prime Time’s political correspondent Katie Hannon forensically pursued the story of Maurice McCabe, breaking a number of major stories that were instrumental in exposing how the garda whistleblower had been let down by the State. On today’s show, she speaks to Róisín Ingle about Maurice McCabe, about feeling 'the girlín' during her early days in and around Leinster House, h...

Anne Chambers's biography of Grace O'Malley, the 16th-century pirate queen, has never been out of print in the 40 years since it was first published, such is the fascination with her story. A special anniversary edition has just been printed and on today's show, Anne Chambers talks to Róisín about how discovering the truth behind the legend of Gráinne Mhaol changed her life. Plus: Jennifer speaks...

The morning after the September 11th attacks in New York, Kerry O’Brien quit her job as a senior vice president at one of the world’s largest public relations firms. Cut to 17 years later, she is the founder, designer, and CEO of Commando, a company that specialises in intimates and leggings. On today’s podcast Kerry talks to Róisín about the revolutionary seam free underwear - a favourite of cele...

Jennifer Willis shot to fame as one of The Willis Clan when they appeared on America’s Got Talent and a subsequent reality TV show about the 12 siblings and their parents. While it may have looked like the perfect all-singing, all-dancing life, the world as Jennifer and her siblings knew it imploded with the arrest of their father Toby Willis on four counts of child rape. Jennifer was in Dublin fo...

Ambitious women are scary, right? Female leaders must do everything they can to avoid being perceived as pushy, aggressive, or competent. Comedian, blogger and vlogger Sarah Cooper's new book, How to be Successful without Hurting Men's Feelings, is a tongue-in-cheek guide for women to get ahead in the workplace. She talks to Róisín Ingle about the experiences that informed the book, people taking...

The “Out of Silence” report published by the National Women's Council this week documents for the very first time the specific mental health needs of women and girls in Ireland. It is based on interviews with 100 female patients at St Patrick’s University Hospital in Dublin and has made some stark findings, including that Ireland has the highest suicide rate for female children in the EU. Orla O'C...

On today's podcast we bring you a talk by Luke and Ryan Hart, who say people must be braver about confronting domestic abuse when they see it. The brothers, whose father murdered their mother and sister, were addressing the Safe World Summit organised by SafeIreland at Dublin’s Mansion House recently, an event that grapples with the realities of domestic and gender violence, its manifestations and...

In this episode we bring you a talk by Egyptian feminist activist Mona Eltahawy who spoke recently in Dublin at the International Safe World Summit on gender equality and gender based violence. New York-based Eltahawy is a Egyptian-American journalist and social commentator, writing about women's rights, Egypt and the Islamic world. Her permanent credo is 'Fuck The Patriarchy' and you’ll hear her...

Susan Wood is an American photographer most notable for her work on location of the 1969 film Easy Rider – starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has photographed John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Andy Warhol, John Wayne, Betty Friedan and hundreds more. Her latest book puts Ireland into focus, a country she has strong connections to (she married two Irish men...

In her latest book, Eve Was Shamed, British barrister Baroness Helena Kennedy QC forensically examines the pressing new evidence that women are still being discriminated against throughout the legal system. The law holds up a mirror to society and it is failing women, she says, and the #MeToo campaign has been in part a reaction to those failures. So what comes next? She talks to Róisín Ingle. Lat...

From a very young age Rebecca Bourke knew that she wanted to be in the film industry in some capacity. Her dad convinced her to give college a go as a backup plan, but stints working in Windmill Lane Studios and on the Late Late Show as a runner only served to affirm what she already knew - she was in the right place. Fast forward to 2018 and she is the founder and executive producer at Assembly,...

Róisín talks to Women's Aid director Margaret Martin about domestic violence sentencing and how it affects victims. The conversation comes in the wake of a case this week of a man who hit his wife twice across the head after dragging her upstairs and removing her jeans by force. The man, who pleaded guilty, walked free from court after being given a suspended sentence. Read the details here: https...

Self-taught makeup artist Violette talks to Róisín Ingle at the BT Style Summit about her career, which led her to become Global Beauty Director of Estée Lauder. Later in the show, Niamh Maher, presenter of the Girls With Goals podcast, talks to Jennifer Ryan about the Her.ie/Ella One survey of contraception and sex habits of Irish 18-24 years olds. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

Feminists Don't Wear Pink (And Other Lies) is a collection of writing from extraordinary women - from Hollywood actresses, to teenage activists - each telling the story of their personal relationship with feminism. The collection is edited by journalist and activist Scarlett Curtis and features contributions from Irish actors Evanna Lynch and Saoirse Ronan. On today's show, Scarlett talks to Róisí...

Ailbhe Griffith was 21 years old when she was subjected to a violent sexual assault by a man on her way home from work in 2005. Her attacker was caught and sent to prison, but nine years later Ailbhe decided to meet the man who had left her seriously injured and psychologically scarred. That event is now the subject of a film in which Ailbhe plays herself. She talks to Róisín Ingle about The Meeti...

Feminism might not be something often associated with Maeve Binchy's writing, but looking back on her work now it's so obviously there. Ahead of the Echoes festival in her honour this weekend - in her hometown of Dalkey, Co Dublin - Róisín Ingle and Henrietta McKervey discuss the writer's 'quiet feminism'.Later, we bring you an interview Róisín did with the makeup artist Katie Jane Hughes at the B...

Our Book Clubbers Irish Times journalists Bernice Harrison and Niamh Towey and septuagenarian book lover Ann Ingle discuss The Country Girls by Edna O’Brien. The book was published in 1960 and described as a “smear on Irish womanhood” because of the way it laid bare the lives of young women in 1950s Ireland. It was famously banned and burned by the parish priest in O’Brien’s home county of Clare....

In this episode, Roisin Ingle talks to Sarah Monaghan from the Abortion Rights Campaign about the 7th ARC March for Choice which is taking place at 2pm Saturday 29th of September in Dublin. Why are we still marching? Monaghan explains that as well as a celebration the march signifies the work still to be done in ensuring the legislation ensures as wide as possible access for girls, women and peopl...

"HEROIN is the story you were never told about the republic that never happened, of the person you never saw, of what we built and then demolished. It’s the big one, the bad one, the one you never thought you’d try."Grace Dyas is back with her THEATREclub campaigning show HEROIN, updated to reflect the current state of Ireland's drug problem, with additional writing by Rachael Keogh. They talk to...