The Women's Podcast

Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times–bestselling author of several acclaimed novels, including The Interestings, The Uncoupling and The Wife. One of her first books, This Is Your Life, was made into a film and became the directorial debut of the late great Nora Ephron. On today's episode, Wolitzer speaks to Jennifer Ryan about her 12th novel, The Female Persuasion, which explores inter-generational feminism, female sexuality and touches on timely themes around the MeToo movement. She also talks about female mentors and her friendship with Nora Ephron, how men and women are treated in the publishing industry, and Nicole Kidman's plans to bring The Female Persuasion to the big screen. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Waking the Feminists shone a light on the representation of women in Irish theatre. Now, women in Irish traditional and folk music are trying to address the gender imbalance across their sector through the Fair Plé initiative. It began with a meeting at the Cobblestone pub in Dublin and two of the women who were there that night – harpist Una Monaghan and singer Pauline Scanlon –speak to Róisín Ingle on today's podcast and perform the song My Dearest Dear. This Saturday Fair Plé events are taking place around the world as part of a day of action, ahead of a showcase event at the Cork Midsummer Festival on June 16. For more information go to www.fairple.comWant to get in touch? We're on Facebook and Twitter @ITWomensPodcast and you can email us on thewomenspodcast@irishtimes.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The book being reviewed today, a tense, deftly written novel about an apparently perfect nanny’s transition into a monster, will take your breath away. It's called Lullaby and it's an English translation of a book by the French writer Leila Slimani. Our book clubbers Roisin Ingle, Bernice Harrison and Niamh Towey were totally freaked out by Lullaby and might not recommend it to parents of young children, but all agreed it was an absorbing read and one that stays with you long after you've put it down for the last time.Next time on the book club: Edna O'Brien's The Country Girls. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Kurdish journalist Nurcan Baysal has been called a terrorist by the Turkish state. Her house, with her two young children inside, has been stormed by Turkish police armed with Kalashnikovs seeking to jail for her Tweets and she faces up to three years in prison for the crime of humiliating Turkey's security forces, by reporting on human rights abuses against the Kurdish people. Recently Baysal visited Dublin to receive an award for her work from Front Line Defenders. She spoke to Kathy Sheridan about why she will not allow fear to prevent her from speaking up for those who can't. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Minister for Health Simon Harris speaks to Kathy Sheridan in this episode, telling her that legislating for abortion is his “number one priority” and he will “get it done this year”. Following a landslide win for the Yes side in Friday's referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment, Minister Harris is joined by Together for Yes campaigner Ailbhe Smyth and Róisín Ingle, who told her abortion story three years ago, to mark the occasion. Also, on the line to have a word with Minister Harris, Marian Keyes tells him what the win means to her personally. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On #8thRef Eve, we invited three women into studio to reflect on the campaign with Kathy Sheridan. Straight from doing her rounds at the National Maternity Hospital on Holles Street in Dublin, Master of that hospital, Rhona Mahony, joined Professor Fiona de Londras, an Irish academic and the Professor of Global Legal Studies at the University of Birmingham, to look back on what has felt like a very long campaign. Also joining them in studio was acclaimed American journalist Katha Pollitt, author of author of Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights, who has been here for the past week to cover the referendum for The Nation. Before all that, and after an editorial in The Irish Times calling for a repeal of the Eighth Amendment, Tara Flynn puts words to The Women's Podcast's view on the referendum. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As Ireland prepares to go to the polls in a once in a generation referendum on the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution this Friday, Irish Times political reporter Sarah Bardon talks to Kathy Sheridan about what exactly we'll be voting on, what happens if the Eighth is repealed and she also debunks some of the campaign myths that have been circulating for the past few weeks. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For the past couple of weeks, and even months in some cases, canvassers have been working hard on either side of next week's referendum on the Eighth Amendment, going door to door in a bid to persuade the electorate of their side of the argument. We sent our co-producer Jennifer Ryan out with groups on either side to meet some of those people who have been giving up their evenings and weekends to do so. Later on, Roisin Ingle will be talking to former Sydney Rose Brianna Parkins who you might remember caused a national gasp during the Rose of Tralee festival, when she used her platform to call for a referendum on a repeal of the Eighth amendment. She has a piece in The Irish Times today where she explains why she has taken leave of absence from her job as a journalist in Australia to campaign for Yes. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As a crisis pregnancy counsellor with One Family, Marguerite McCarthy has seen and heard it all when it comes to women and pregnancy. She speaks to Kathy Sheridan about her concerns that the debate around the referendum on the Eighth Amendment is focusing too much on what we call the 'hard cases' and the voices of those 'ordinary women' who make the decision to end their pregnancies are not being heard enough. Also on today's podcast, one of those so-called 'ordinary women', Louise White, speaks about her experience of crisis pregnancy and the shame she carried about it for too many years. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

“He needed to be heard, after 34 years of silence,” says Irish Times journalist Rosita Boland, of her interview in last Saturday’s paper with Richard McDonnell, the former boyfriend of Ann Lovett. On today’s episode of the Women’s Podcast, Boland talks to Kathy Sheridan about the latest chapter in the story of the young woman who died in 1984 after giving birth at a grotto in Granard, Co Longford. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

79-year-old friends, Ann Ingle and Mary Fleming, are on opposite sides when it comes to the referendum on the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, which recognises the equal right to life of the mother and the unborn. Mary tells Kathy Sheridan she will be voting no on May 25th because she feels abortion is killing a baby. Ann, meanwhile, will be voting yes. In a robust conversation, the women, who are in a writers group together, explain how, even though they disagree strongly on the issue of abortion, they won’t be falling out with each other over the referendum. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Earlier this year, Ciairín de Bush was appointed CEO of Women for Election, the not-for-profit, non-partisan organisation helping to get more women into politics. The Kerry woman was previously the director of Start Strong, an advocacy organisation campaigning to improve early childhood care and education policies in Ireland. In this episode, she talks to Kathy Sheridan about her new role, the kind of training Women for Election offer, why it’s so important to keep working on female Dáil representation – which currently stands at 22 per cent – and why a strong female leader is nothing to be afraid of. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Irish actor Amy de Bhrún has been in Vikings, Coronation Street and the most recent Jason Bourne film. Next week she returns to the theatre with a female-led production that she has written herself. ‘I See You’ runs from May 11-26th at Theatre Upstairs in Dublin and it tells the tale of Limerick-born Lady Mary Heath, the first female commercial pilot and all-around trailblazer. Fellow Irish actor Roxanna Nic Liam plays the role of Modern Mary, to de Bhrún’s Mary Heath. In today's podcast, they perform an extract from the play and explain why this story deserves to be told. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Well over a year since we were shocked to our cores by Hillary Clinton's defeat in the 2016 US Election, we still can't quite stop talking about it or trying to make sense of it. It may be even harder when you're Jennifer Palmieri, former communications director for Clinton's presidential campaign. Before stepping into that role, Palmieri served as White House Communications Director for U.S. President Barack Obama and she also worked for President Bill Clinton. She has just published her book, Dear Madam President: An Open Letter to the Women Who Will Run the World. Kathy Sheridan spoke to her about that and lots more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Later in this episode, co-producer Jennifer Ryan talks to lifestyle blogger Lily Pebbles about her book about female friendships, The F Word. But first, Women’s Aid warned last week that Ireland’s overstretched legal system and insufficient resources for survivors of domestic abuse, are leaving women at risk of further harm even after they leave an abusive partner. Director of the charity Margaret Martin spoke to Róisín Ingle about their 2017 annual report and about the many issues raised in it, including marital rape, sexual consent and victim blaming. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Irish Times journalist Sorcha Pollak is the writer of the weekly New to the Parish series, which focuses on migration and immigrant communities in Ireland. Sorcha’s book based on the series has just been published and to celebrate its release we hosted a special live episode of the podcast at The Dean Hotel in Dublin. Our guests on the night were Sorcha and three women she has interviewed for the series:Syrian woman Maisa Al-Hariri, a student in business and economics at UCD who came to Ireland from Greece with her family in December 2016. Flavia Camejo, who grew up in the city of Coro in northern Venezuela and worked as a journalist for a national newspaper before moving to Ireland in 2014. And Janneke van Nijnanten who moved to Ireland from the Netherlands in 2011. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In today's episode, we go time travelling back to the Ireland of 1983, to the unusually hot summer and autumn of that year, in the run up to the contentious abortion referendum. You will hear letters to the editor of the Irish Times during the campaign, and in its aftermath, from the referendum that resulted in the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We joined forces with the Dublin Dress for Success campaign to mark the end of another successful fundraising and clothing drive, recording an episode in front of a live audience in the salubrious surroundings of the headquarters of their sponsor Eir in Dublin 8. The conversation focused on women in the workplace and how things like the gender pay gap and returning from maternity leave can be improved to help level the playing field between the sexes. Our guests in this podcast: Carolan Lennon, CEO Eir, Sonya Lennon, designer, tech entrepreneur and founder of Dress for Success Dublin, and Gillian Harford, Head of Diversity & Inclusion at AIB. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Little over 34 years ago, a 15-year-old girl died after giving birth at a grotto in the small town of Granard in Co. Longford on a freezing cold, wet day in 1984. That girl, Ann Lovett, would have turned 50 last Friday, April 6th. Irish Times journalist Rosita Boland has written about Ann Lovett in the past. Recently she wrote an in depth article about not only her death, but also her life, and what kind of person Ann Lovett was. On today's podcast, Rosita talks to Kathy Sheridan about writing that story. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Repeal the 8th: the anthology, is a collection of stories, essays, poetry and photography around the movement for reproductive rights in Ireland, edited by Irish Times columnist Una Mullally. It features work by journalists Kitty Holland and Nell McCafferty, novelists Lisa McInerney, Anne Enright and Louise O’Neill, as well as a host of others like comedians Tara Flynn and Aisling Bea. On today's podcast, Mullally and Galway poet Elaine Feeney – who has contributed her piece History Lesson to the book – speak to Kathy Sheridan about the anthology and the Repeal campaign.Repeal The 8th, published by Unbound, is out now See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.