The Women's Podcast

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 Irish Times columnists Emer McLysaght and Fintan O’Toole to get their thoughts on the book and to discuss the Sally Rooney effect: the mass appeal of her writing, the impact she’s had on the literary world and the spotlight she’s shone on emerging Irish writers. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 in economics itself. Pryce also shares her personal journey of moving from Greece to the UK in her teens, her experiences in the male-dominated financial sector and the challenges of being a working mother. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 Jade and the women closest to her, is the book, Nanny, Ma and Me: An Irish story of family, race and home. In today’s episode, she tells Róisín Ingle about the power of looking back into the past, the importance of speaking out and standing up to racism and why when people come together to talk, the possibilities are endless. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 that when it comes to fighting climate change we are not all in it together, but we could be. In today’s podcast she joins Róisín, Sadhbh O’Neill, policy coordinator with Stop Climate Chaos, and Catherine Cleary, writer and founder of the Pocket Forests initiative, to talk about many of the issues raised in the book, the debate about women and climate change and what we can all do to help. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 to her to write about mental illness with sensitivity and why she is a Derry girl at heart. She also tells Róisín about her lockdown wedding to husband Justin Basini, some of her favourite How To Fail guests and her friendship with Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 the migrant background. Our Table was founded by activist Ellie Kisyombe and food writer Michelle Darmody, who met through a shared conviction that Direct Provision was an unjust system and that talking about it through food might help to start an important conversation. In today’s episode, Kisyombe and Darmody speak to Róisin Ingle about the origins of Our Table and their involvement in this year’s festival. Also joining the conversation is pastry chef and Irish Times food writer Aoife Noonan who will be doing a live demonstration at Taste of Dublin this Sunday. See https://dublin.tastefestivals.com/ for all details.

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 based in Donegal. They discuss the worries and concerns facing parents and students, the current rules around masks and vaccinations and they’ve loads of tips and advice for the new academic year ahead. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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” tells Róisín Ingle about her obsession with heartache, the new language around dating and why lesbians are the unofficial, unrecognised world champions of breakups. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 death soon becomes the best reason to choose life. In this episode, Gildea and Meehan tell Roisin Ingle how the idea for the film came about, their strong emotional ties to the story and some of their favourite moments from the set. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 and "accidental" breastfeeding spokesperson Aoibhinn Ní Shúillebháin speaks to Róisín Ingle about the lactation supports needed for mothers, the world-wide marketing ploy that is follow-on milk and why the government need to fully fund and implement the National Maternity Strategy and the National Breastfeeding Action Plan in Budget 2022.We’re also joined by maternity care campaigner Emma Carroll, who set up the Facebook page In our shoes: Covid Pregnancy to highlight the unfair restrictions placed on expectant mothers and partners in Ireland’s maternity hospitals. Carroll tells Ingle about her own experience of giving

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 under a conservatorship controlled by her father, which gives him the legal right to make decisions on her finances, work commitments, health and personal life. This summer, Spears has been fighting the conservatorship in court, describing the details of her life in a harrowing testimony which shocked fans around the world. In today’s episode, Róisín Ingle speaks to Kimberly Wehle, Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore about the details of her conservatorship battle and to journalist Louise Bruton about the life and career of America’s biggest pop star. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out informati

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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 artists in the past, the idea of the monstrosity of the female body in art and lots more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 out - has been replaced with FOJI - the fear of joining in. To discuss the difficulties, logistics and etiquette of getting back out there, Róisín Ingle is joined by Irish Times columnists Jennifer O’Connell and Laura Kennedy and Helen Vaughan, psychotherapist and owner of Maynooth Counselling. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 Born Every Minute star, Lesley Gilchrist, talks to our co-producer Jennifer Ryan about the importance of self-care for women after giving birth and how the pandemic has obliterated new mothers’ usual support networks. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 from her own life, and lots more.https://www.teni.ie/https://www.belongto.org/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 lengthy report in January. On today’s episode, Tuam mother and baby home survivor Teresa O’Sullivan, Maeve O’Rourke of the Clann Project and Irish Times political correspondent Jennifer Bray talk to Róisín Ingle about this latest development. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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 than men and what we can do about it. Also joining the discussion and sharing their personal experiences with money, is Dr Katriona O’Sullivan, a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Maynooth University and Rachael Ingle, a former chairperson of the Irish Association of Pension funds and the CEO of Aon Solutions Ireland. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.