The Women's Podcast

Kathy Sheridan talks drag queens, the Irish lesbian scene and the biggest LGBTQ+ party to bring the summer to a close, Love Sensation, with Cormac Cashman, Lisa Connell and Victoria Secret.Plus: “The world was charmed when she was around"- Rachel DeLoache Williams talks to us about her book, My Friend Anna, telling the explosive true story of Anna 'Delvey' Sorokin, the fake German heiress who fooled New York's elite.But first: Tanya Sweeney and Róisín Ingle on the reality of maternity leave and the breath of fresh air that is Love Island's Maura. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Is catcalling really a problem? Some people might consider it complimentary, but for many women and girls it’s anything but. Often catcalling and other forms of street harassment can actually be quite frightening.A 2015 Dublin City Council report into sexual harassment in Dublin, for example, showed that sexual harassment is a frequent and distressing occurrence for women and girls and that for many women walking the streets of Dublin, catcalling, wolf whistling, and being shouted at from cars is an everyday occurrence.Sinead O’Carroll, news editor at TheJournal.ie, and University of Limerick professor of psychology, Orla Muldoon, join Kathy to discuss their own experience of harassment and why catcalling is, in fact, a problem.https://soundcloud.com/irishtimes-women/ep-316-domestic-violence-terrorism-women-in-politics See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode Irish Times journalists Polly Dennison and Roisin Ingle talk to host Kathy Sheridan about Donald Trump’s racism and the four congresswomen of colour who have stood up to him. Known now as The Squad they are Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts. Polly also tells us about Zara’s polka dot dress of the summer (“it’s horrendous on me” she says). Also in the episode, our Book Club returns with a very funny chat about How to Fail by Elizabeth Day. And Rachel Lee, a swimming firefighter from Dublin, tells us about her biggest challenge yet, crossing the North Channel. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In a momentous week for Northern Ireland with MPs in Westminster voting to extend abortion and same sex marriage rights to the North, we talk to Danielle Roberts from Alliance for Choice about what happens next. Róisín Ingle also talks to Anne O'Leary CEO of Vodafone Ireland and domestic abuse survivor and campaigner Emma Murphy about Bright Sky Ireland a groundbreaking app to support people in abusive relationships. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode features two authors one Danish and one Irish: Sofie Hagen is a London-based Danish comedian and fat acceptance campaigner. She has been starting conversations all over the place with her new book ‘Happy Fat: Taking up space in a world that wants to shrink you’. Sofie talked to Roisin Ingle about fatphobia and about why she is on a mission to change the way people talk to and about fat people. Jane Casey is an Irish-born author of crime novels. From Castleknock in Dublin, Jane studied English at Oxford. After her first book The Missing, was published by Ebury Press in 2010 she began a series of novels featuring Detective Constable Maeve Kerrigan. She has written for young adults but her latest book for grown-ups who like reading about gruesome murders is called Cruel Acts. Jane talked to Roisin about writing fiction, leaving Ireland and how Agatha Christie fuelled her early love of all things criminal. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dublin songwriter Ruth-Anne Cunningham chats to Róisín about her incredible career which took with a bang when she won the ASCAP Songwriters ‘Best Pop Song’ award for a song she wrote when she was 19. Since then she has written a string of hits for the likes of Britney Spears, One Direction and John Legend, but in the last two years she has been focusing on her own singing career. Ruth-Anne has just released her new single ‘Superman’, which she says is "anthem for women who have felt men took advantage of them in their position.” She spoke to Roisin ahead of her performance at the Kaleidoscope festival in Wicklow this weekend.Plus: Ahead of Dublin Pride parade on Saturday, Róisín talks to director of Dublin Pride Clodagh Leonard and chair of TENI Sara Phillips about Pride and the issues facing LGBTQI people in Ireland today.But first, Kitty Holland is in studio to discuss the need to always be vigilant when it comes to women's healthcare and what she's been watching on TV lately. See acast.com/privacy for pri

On today's show Róisín talks to number one bestselling author Karin Slaughter. Karin, who has sold over 35 million copies of her books, was in Ireland recently for the Murder One Festival’s Midsummer series of talks – a visit which coincided with the publication of her new novel, The Last Widow. In this podcast she talks to Róisín about the violence in her books, how she likes to divide the gore evenly among the sexes, and about the fact that she keeps a gun in her home. They also talk about Donald Trump and about her recent appearance on Good Morning Britain, where she clashed with presenter Piers Morgan in a discussion about violence in the TV show Killing Eve. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, two 14-year-old boys were convicted of the murder of schoolgirl Ana Kriégel on May 14th 2018. Irish Times Crime Correspondent Conor Gallagher was in court for the duration of the trial. He talks to Róisín about the trial and about Ana Kriégel, the beautiful young girl who was brutally murdered aged just 14.Later: Róisín speaks to Orla O’Connor, director of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, about former garda Majella Moynihan, who was threatened with dismissal from the force in the 1980s for having a baby with a colleague while unmarried. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In today’s show, Roisin Ingle speaks to the Irish-Nigerian journalist, author and academic Emma Dabiri about her book Don’t Touch My Hair. The book is about the history of black people’s hair and for Emma, this story begins with an upbringing in Ireland where her hair was a “constant source of deep, deep shame”. Emma, who lives in London, talks to Róisín about growing up in inner city Dublin, why she had a lot of anger towards Ireland when she left and why she believes Michelle Obama would never have made it to the White House if she had an afro. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In her latest book, Home Grown: How Domestic Violence Turns Men Into Terrorists, Joan Smith writes that the violence perpetrated by men against women – whether it is sexual, physical, psychological, or all of the above – creates terror but is not recognised as a form of terrorism. In today's podcast she speaks to Kathy about how this link was identified decades ago, but never acted upon.Later: Róisín talks to newly elected Labour councillor Annie Hoey about the gendered questions she has faced about her private life since running in the recent local elections.Plus: Róisín and Kathy discuss sports bras, Kylie Jenner and free public transport for women in India. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Award-winning Irish Times reporter Rosita Boland has been enthralled by travel ever since gazing out at the Atlantic Ocean near her childhood home. In the last 30 years she has visited some of the most remote parts of the globe carrying little more than a battered rucksack and a diary. Now she has written a book about some of the stories from those adventures, Elsewhere. She shares some of them with Róisín and tells her what's next on her travel itinerary. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

France will host the Fifa Women's World Cup for the first time when the tournament kicks off tomorrow – Friday 7th June. Ireland and Arsenal footballer Louise Quinn tells Róisín who to look out for.Also today: Irish Times business journalist Laura Slattery on sexist advertising, the Spice Girls and the French Open.Plus: At their AGM this week, the National Women’s Council of Ireland brought together newly elected women councillors, and others who were unsuccessful this time, for a discussion about their campaigns, their leadership journey, barriers for women to enter into politics and their vision for change. Jennifer Ryan went along. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As a nine-year-old girl, French author Adélaïde Bon was raped by a stranger in the stairwell of the affluent Parisian block of flats where she lived. Now her memoir, The Little Girl on the Ice Floe, has been translated into English, telling the story of the rape she suffered that day and the self-harm and self-hatred that followed. Most movingly, though, it captures the way Adélaïde’s pain was hidden from her family and friends through the decades that followed, until the day that she received the phone call from the police detective on the case, informing her that the perpetrator had been arrested, a man who had spent decades in France, but also across Europe, targeting girls. On today's show, Adélaïde speaks to Jennifer Ryan about writing the book, the power of rage and her hope that her book can be of help to other victims of sexual assault. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What is rewilding? Well, it’s an adventure that exists somewhere between a holistic retreat in the wilderness and an uncivilised summer school, designed to re-kindle our connection to our untamed nature. On today's show Róisín talks to Carol McInerney a movement therapist and meditation teacher, Siobhan de Paor, a poet and performance artist, and Kathy Scott of the Trailblzery, about Solstice, a one-day rewilding event in the Dublin mountains. Plus - Irish Times features writer and columnist, Jennifer O'Connell, talks to Róisín about what's on her culture radar and her recent column which tackled the thoroughly unsexy thorny topic of domestic duties. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Executive Director of Oxfam International Winnie Byanyima talks to the Women's Podcast about her early life growing up in Uganda during the regime of Idi Amin, her activism at university which led her to flee to England, the role she played in writing the country’s constitution and her work on global gender inequality. Ms Byanyima has just begun her second term as Executive Director of Oxfam International and she speaks to the Women’s Podcast about the work they do. She also talks about the sexual exploitation scandal involving some of Oxfam’s staff in Haiti which came to light last year and how the charity is still working to recover from the fallout. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This time last year we were gearing up for May 25th, the date of the referendum to repeal the 8th Amendment. It was a momentous time, so today the Women’s Podcast looks back, forward and outward. This episode focuses on what has happened in Ireland in the past year and what needs to happen next. It also looks at the situation in Northern Ireland where abortion is still illegal, the United States where there has been a dangerous row back on women’s reproductive rights under President Trump and to other places like Malta and Argentina.Joining Róisín to discuss this is Sorcha Tunney from Amnesty Ireland, on the phone from New York pro-choice activist and journalist Katha Pollitt and Orla O’Connor, director of the National Women’s Council of Ireland, Time Woman of the Year and one of the leaders of Together For Yes.Plus: Róisín talks to Belfast actor Amy Molloy and Welsh writer Rachel Tresize about their play Cotton Fingers. Set in Belfast it tells the story of a young woman making the journey to Wales to access

On today's show, Kathy talks to acrobats Molly Keczan and Glory Dearling - AKA The Silver Starlets – about how they got into their line of work, what it's like to be women street performers and their participation in the Laya Healthcare City Spectacular, which returns to Dublin and Cork this July.Later: Róisín meets architect and interior designer Denise O’Connor, who runs her own design consultancy, Optimise Design. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

566 out of a total of 1,960 candidates running in next week’s local elections are women. That’s 29 per cent and marks an increase of more 100 on the 2014 local elections – or just shy of 22 per cent. So, progress is being made, but is it happening quickly enough? Kathy talks to Women for Election chief executive, Ciairín de Búis.Later: We meet three more women who are entering politics for the first time in the local elections on May 24th. Kathy talks to Grace McManus who is running for Sinn Féin in Wicklow, Fianna Fáil candidate for Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, Olivia Buckley and Lorraine Hall, who is on the ballot for Fine Gael, also in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Following her own brilliant short story collection Multitudes, Lucy Caldwell has guest edited the sixth volume of Faber's long running series of new Irish short stories. This collection is called Being Various and it includes stories by writers living on both sides of the Irish border - Sally Rooney, Jan Carson, Kit de Waal, Lisa McInerney and Kevin Barry to name a few - in a bid to capture the energy of Irish writing, from crime to magical realism, and everything in between. On today's show Lucy talks to Róisín about why she feels we are in a golden age of writing in Ireland and how she came to choose the stories in Being Various. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

First: A new report has found that thousands of women who are currently "on home duties" represent a major source of untapped potential in terms of addressing skills shortages. The research, carried out by the state's further education and training authority SOLAS, shows that of the 218,000 women between the ages of 20 and 64 who are not currently participating in the workforce, 16,000 could potentially be attracted to return to work with supports such as flexible working models and training courses. Nikki Gallagher from SOLAS and Joan McNaboe, who authored this report, talk to Róisín about the findings.Later: More than 500 women are running in the upcoming local elections and around 40 per cent of those who have declared for the European elections are female candidates. Have the recent referendums on the 8th Amendment and marriage equality inspired some of the first time women candidates to have a go at mainstream politics? Socialist Party candidate for Europe and Dublin City Council Rita Harrold, Green Part