The Women's Podcast

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 people who need abortion services. Also in this episode, Roisin meets Charlotte Tilbury the woman behind the internationally successful make-up brand. She talks about why cosmetics give women confidence and explains the “lipstick index”. Tilbury was speaking at the Brown Thomas Style Summit and listeners to the podcast can win tickets to similar events by emailing thewomenspodcast@irishtimes.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

"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 Róisín about the campaign and why nothing short of radical shift in how we view drugs and drug users is needed.Produced by Róisín Ingle and Jennifer Ryan See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On today's show, Róisín hears about Anna Parnell, pioneering Irish feminist, founder of the Ladies Land League and younger sister of Irish Nationalist Charles Stewart Parnell. Anna has long since been written out of Irish history, but Lucy Keaveney has been working hard to reverse that. She talks to Róisín about Anna and about her commemoration at Ilfracombe in England this weekend. Lucy is joined by journalist Martina Devlin who has written about Anna in her new book Truth and Dare, a collection of short stories about some of Ireland's trailblazing women.Later in the show, historian professor Christine Kinealy speaks about the abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who toured Ireland in 1845, and the women who helped him while he was here.Also today: Hannah Gadsby at the Emmy's and Christine Blasey Ford.Produced by Róisín Ingle and Jennifer Ryan See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On today's show, Róisín Ingle talks to Alice Malseed and Sarah Gordon about their hilarious Fringe Festival production, BILLY, which takes a disbelieving look at the reassuring rituals of our pastel-coloured, neatly organised, turbo capitalism-fuelled world. Later, Bernice Harrison talks to actor and playwright Gina Moxley about her latest work, The Patient Gloria, which has been called “a timely meditation on female desire in a new political context where misogyny is the winning ticket” and is inspired by the 1965 films, Three Approaches To Psychotherapy, also known as The Gloria Films. Plus: We discuss the Scally report on the Cervical Check scandal & Serena William's nightmare at the US Open Final last weekend.Produced by Róisín Ingle and Jennifer Ryan See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The world’s first gathering of women’s parliamentary groups is being held in Dublin Castle as part of its commemoration of a centenary of female suffrage in Ireland. The two-day conference is being arranged by the Oireachtas women’s caucus, which was founded in Leinster House last year. We talk to Catherine Martin, Chair of Oireachtas Women's Parliamentary Caucus and Fiona O’Louglin FF TD about what will be discussed at this historic meeting of female leaders.Produced by Róisín Ingle and Jennifer Ryan See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Belfast woman Suzanne Connolly was 11 when her adoptive father John Rossi began sexually abusing her. He did so almost daily until she was 14 when after disclosing the abuse to a school friend she was taken out of her home and placed into care. Despite telling the police about the abuse and Rossi admitting his crimes in the 1980s, it took 34 years for the case to be heard. This week John Rossi was convicted of five years in prison but is likely to serve only half of that. Connolly waived her anonymity exclusively to the Irish Times in order to name her abuser and to express her belief that the judicial system is “rigged against children and enables paedophiles in their crimes”. She tells Roisin Ingle why she is hoping she can play a part in changing the system so that more predators are brought to justice and children in vulnerable situations are protected. Also on this week’s episode, we hear from the makers of Kiss Kiss, Slap Slap, a play about rape culture in Dublin Fringe Festival.Music: I Knew A Guy, b

The German Ambassador to Ireland, Deike Potzel, has been touring the country since her appointment last November in a bid to learn about Ireland from the Irish. Her Excellency has worked in the diplomatic corps since the late 1990s, with postings in Singapore and Tehran in the past. On today's podcast Ambassador Potzel speaks to Kathy Sheridan about growing up in East Berlin before the wall came down in 1989 and about how life for women in the east was very different to the west when that happened. They also speak about the recent referendum on the 8th amendment and Germany’s abortion laws, before delving into Brexit, the rise of the far right, immigration and Germany’s role in Ireland’s austerity after the collapse of the banking system… just a few light topics of a Thursday. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Pope Francis touches down on Irish soil this Saturday morning 25th August, for the second papal visit in Ireland's history. For many Catholics this is an occasion to be celebrated, but for countless other people the arrival of the pope stirs up feelings of anger at the legacy of the relationship between church and state in Ireland. Maeve O'Rourke is a senior research and policy officer at the ICCL and has worked tirelessly on behalf of the Magdalene women on a voluntary basis. Conall Ó Fátharta is a journalist with the Irish Examiner and has written extensively about mother and baby homes, forced adoptions and the Magdalene women for that paper. In today's episode they speak to Kathy Sheridan about the ongoing problems with how Ireland is addressing its legacy of church-related abuse.Also on the podcast, Emer McLysaght, co-author of Oh My God What a Complete Aisling and it's soon-to-be-published follow-up, The Importance of Being Aisling, reads a letter to the pope from the much-loved character she created wi

Irish Times journalist Rachel Flaherty did what many people are understandably wary of doing, she opened up about her unhealthy relationship with food and her challenge to become fitter and healthier. In an article in the Irish Times, she explains why she made the decision to do something about it when at five stone overweight, she found herself struggling to climb the stairs. She speaks to Róisín Ingle about making that decision, what she has done since then and deciding to write about it. Later in the podcast you'll hear from The Smashing Times Theatre company about their excellent Women in an Equal Europe project, with Nigerian-Born Broadcast Journalist, Motivational Speaker and writer, Vanessa Ogida, and Mary Moynihan of Smashing Times. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In case you missed, it the Irish women’s hockey team made history last week, becoming the first Irish team ever to reach a world cup final. They lost to a formidable Dutch side in that match, but they were already winners by then, having entered the competition as underdogs and never expecting to get so far. In this episode Kathy Sheridan speaks to two of those amazing women, forward Anna O’Flanagan and midfielder Chloe Watkins. They tell about the tournament, what their achievement means to them, but even more importantly, what needs to happen now to keep that momentum going. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this week’s episode, Roisin Ingle talks to Portlaoise novelist Helen Cullen who is causing a stir with her debut novel The Lost Letters of William Woolf. Cullen explains how she went from working in RTE to writing her first novel which to her delight was snapped up by Penguin. The book is being described as Up-Lit, short for ‘uplifting literature’ and an antidote to the doom laden global political climate. Also in this episode, Jennifer Ryan visits a new exhibition in Dublin Castle celebrating the legacy of legendary textile artist Lucienne Day who was a one-woman pioneer of contemporary art in the 1950s and 1960s in Britain. This week the Women’s Podcast would also like to send our best wishes to the Irish Women’s Hockey team who are up against India tonight hoping to secure a place in the World Hockey semi-final. COYGIG!Music: I Knew A Guy, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Creative Commons Attribution: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ten of Ireland's leading theatres, drama festivals and theatre companies have agreed to a range of gender equality policies, which in some cases will see “gender-blind casting” or ensuring that half of new shows will be written by women. The gender equality policy for the theatre sector, launched by Minister for Culture Josepha Madigan, arose from the Waking the Feminists campaign to address the under-representation of women, including writers and directors, in Irish theatre. Roísín Ingle talks to academic Dr Brenda Donohue, who has produced a study on the subject, & Lynne Parker, director and co-founder of Rough Magic theatre company. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From Margaret Atwood's adventurous canoe trip in the Canadian Wilderness, to Alison Spittle's irate naked granny, to Lisa Dwan's near-death brush with a barracuda, here are some memorable summer holiday stories from friends of the podcast. Hats off to Joya and Priya Hobson who were put to work by their mother Róisín Ingle at the Borris Festival of Writing and Ideas, to gather these stories. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sexism has been a bigger problem than racism at the World Cup in Russia, according to anti-discrimination experts advising FIFA. There have been reports of fans harassing female broadcasters while they worked and the head of FIFA’s diversity program says they want less focus on attractive women in stadiums in TV broadcasts. Female pundits have been more plentiful for this tournament, but there is still some distance to go before women football analysts are taken as seriously as their male counterparts. RTÉ sports presenter Jacqui Hurley, Irish International footballer and RTÉ pundit for the World Cup, Stephanie Roche and Margaret Ward, a journalist and founder of Women On Air, speak to Bernice Harrison about what needs to be done if there's to be any chance of leveling the playing field. Later in the show: Beck Dorey-Stein has written a memoir called From the Corner of the Oval Office, an account of her five years as President Barack Obama's stenographer. She talks to Bernice about working at the White House.

Gone are the days when online dating was viewed with judgement or derision. Now, it's where hot young things seek out consensual one-night stands, where long term couples meet and where 50-something widows find "the most gorgeous man" they've ever seen, like Irish Times writer Joan Scales did. On today's podcast, she talks to presenter Bernice Harrison and Irish Times agony aunt Roe McDermott about her experience with Tinder. In the second part of the show, British journalist and author Emma Brockes speaks about her book, An Excellent Choice, which tells the story of her path to motherhood at 37, single and in the beginnings of a same-sex relationship. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today's episode was recorded in front an audience on the Woodlands Stage at the Body & Soul festival last weekend. The topic was Ireland after the #8thRef and how we got here. The guests: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Ailbhe Smyth, co-director of the Together for Yes campaign, founder of the Repeal Project, Anna Cosgrave and Claudia Horeau from Migrants and Ethnicities for Reproductive Justice. Up and coming alt-rock Limerick band Pow Pig performed live at the event. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Recently, Irish Times Social Affairs Correspondent Kitty Holland wrote about the increase in the number of young women taking their own lives in some of the poorest parts of Dublin. On today's podcast, she speaks to Kathy Sheridan about this story. Also on the show, Professor Veronica O'Keane, consultant psychiatrist at Tallaght Hospital, speaks about her initial shock at the figures and the factors that contribute to feelings of despair and loneliness among these women.f you are affected by any issue in this podcast, please contact Pieta House on 1800-247247 or the Samaritans by telephoning 116 123 (free) or by emailing jo@samaritans.ie See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Joe Mulholland, director of the MacGill Summer School, has apologised for the lack of gender balance on its 2018 and promised there will now be panels on the #8thRef and gender balance. A draft programme of the event shows there are 45 male speakers and moderators compared to 15 female speakers and moderators. Women's Podcast co-producer Róisín Ingle and Irish Times feature writer Deirdre Falvey join Kathy Sheridan to share their views on the controversy. They're joined on the line by Ben Tonra of UCD, who was one of the speakers lined up for MacGill but announced that he wouldn't be appearing unless they fixed it. He talks to Kathy Sheridan about why it’s important men step up and speak out about the “manel” culture. In the second part of the show, street performance artists Kate MIor and Sara Schmidt about the Laya Healthcare City Spectacular in Dublin's Merrion Square & Cork's Fitzgerald Park this July. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A two part documentary charting the lives of Irish women over the last century begins on RTÉ One on Tuesday (19 June) at 9.35pm. 'No Country For Women' travels through time, seeking historical answers in the journeys of a number of Irish women today, women whose lives and those of their mothers and grandmothers collided with discriminatory legislation. With contributions from the likes of former president Mary Robinson, journalist Justine McCarthy and trade union activist Mags O’Brien, this documentary pores over the history of women in Ireland, examining the long-term legacy of a century of government, legal and religious control over women’s lives. In this podcast, producer Anne Roper and historian Dr Mary McAuliffe, who acted as consultant and contributor to the documentary, speak to Bernice Harrison about No Country For Women, the process of making it and what they hope it will achieve. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Imogen Heap is an Grammy-winning songwriter and performer, who has worked with everyone from Taylor Swift to Jeff Beck. An early adopter of technology in her art, Heap has been involved in designing and producing musical gloves called MiMu. This week she was in Dublin to talk about her latest venture, the Creative Passport, at a spin-off of the Web Summit, MoneyConf. Heap came into studio while she was here and spoke to Róisín Ingle all about her innovations, her early life and some of the hard lessons she has had to learn in her career. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.