The Women's Podcast

By The Irish Times

Society & Culture

What's The Women's Podcast about?

The Women's Podcast, hosted by Róisín Ingle & Kathy Sheridan. Producers: Róisín Ingle and Suzanne Brennan.

By women, for everyone. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The Women's Podcast episodes:

04.18.2024
Narcissistic mothers: How to handle one and how to heal
What does narcissism in mothers look like? According to psychotherapists Helen Villiers and Katie McKenna, the narcissistic mother can be “extremely critical, condescending, oppressive and very judgmental”, with devastating impacts for the entire family. They can also use covert or...
04.11.2024
Rebecca Ivory: Free Therapy
In this episode, Róisín Ingle talks to debut author Rebecca Ivory about her new collection of short stories Free Therapy. The book takes its name from the second story in the collection, but the theme of therapy is there throughout;...
04.04.2024
Simone Gannon: Beauty through the ages
Simone Gannon is a content creator, digital marketing expert and the new beauty writer at the Irish Times. Since the beginning of the new year, she’s been entertaining us with her weekly beauty column, where she experiments with the latest...
03.28.2024
Living with Endometriosis
March is Endometriosis Awareness Month, so in this episode, we want to highlight the experience of two women living with the condition. Dearbhail Ormond is an entrepreneur and mother of one, with stage four endometriosis, who waited a staggering 18...
03.21.2024
Jan Brierton: Everybody Is A Poem
It’s World Poetry Day today, so what better way to celebrate it than with one of our favourite poets and friend of the show, Jan Brierton. In this episode, Brierton, a self-described ‘accidental’ poet, joins Róisín Ingle to talk about...
03.14.2024
Leave Molly mAlone / Protecting maternity leave for cancer patients
Tilly Cripwell, a 22 year-old musician, who regularly performs beside the Molly Malone statue in Dublin, is on a mission to stop people from inappropriately touching the sculpture’s breasts. In this episode, Cripwell tells Róisín Ingle how she’s launched the...
03.07.2024
International Women’s Day: The war on women in Palestine
This International Women’s Day, we are turning our attention to the plight of Palestinian women and children. So far, more than 30,000 people have been killed in the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the majority of which have been women and...
02.29.2024
The Referendum Special: Women, Home, Duties, Common Good, Care & Family
On International Women’s Day this year, March 8th, the Irish public will be asked to vote in two upcoming referendums. The first referendum concerns the definition of family as outlined in the Irish Constitution and proposes expanding the definition to...
02.22.2024
Secret Voices: A Year of Women’s Diaries
In this episode, Kathy Sheridan is joined by British author and journalist Sarah Gristwood, who has just released her new book, Secret Voices: A Year of Women’s Diaries. It’s a captivating collection of diary entries from women, looking back over...
02.15.2024
Overcoming perfectionism: Fiona Brennan and Edel Coffey
Being a perfectionist may sound like a good thing, but don’t let the name fool you. A perfectionist’s life is far from perfect. If you are one, or you know one well, you’ll likely know of the debilitating effects that...
02.08.2024
Make Gaeilge Great Again: Áine Gallagher and Mollie Guidera
In today’s episode, we’re dusting off our ‘cúpla focal’ and talking about the joys of Gaeilge with two Irish language innovators, Mollie Guidera, aka Múinteoir Mollie and comedian Áine Gallagher. But, don’t worry, you don’t need to have any Irish...
02.01.2024
Missing Persons: Clair Wills on the search for her secret cousin
In this episode, Kathy Sheridan is joined by British academic and author Clair Wills. In her new book Missing Persons, Or My Grandmother’s Secrets, Wills brings the reader on an intimate journey through her family history and lays bare the...
01.25.2024
Breakdown: Cathy Sweeney
Breakdown is the debut novel from author and former English teacher Cathy Sweeney. It tells the story of a disillusioned mother, living in a leafy suburb in Dublin, who leaves her house one morning and never returns. In this episode,...
01.18.2024
Breaking barriers: Inny Ekeolu and Aghogho Okpara
In this episode, we are joined by two young black-Irish women who have excelled in their respective fields of law and medicine, despite plenty of obstacles along the way. Trainee solicitor Inny Ekeolu and second year medical student Aghogho Okpara...
01.11.2024
Double Act: Millie Daniel-Dempsey and Amy Robyn Lyster
All singing, all dancing duo Honey and Lemon are bringing their new show Double Act to the Project Arts Theatre on January 18th. It’s a whistle-stop tour of the history of women in entertainment. Think French & Saunders, The Cheeky...
01.04.2024
Your favourite episodes of 2023
This week, as we ease into the rhythm of a brand new year, we are taking the opportunity to bring you some highlights from your favourite episodes of The Women’s Podcast in 2023. You’ll hear Marian Keyes sharing some learnings...
12.28.2023
The Women's Podcast 2023 Review
2023: It was a year that broke global temperature records, riots took over the streets of Dublin and the world looked on in horror as more than 20,000 people were killed in the Gaza Strip, around 70% of which were...
12.21.2023
The Book Club: Christmas gift recommendations
If you’re looking for a last minute gift idea, you can never go wrong with a good book. So that’s why we’ve gathered our book clubbers, Niamh Towey, Bernice Harrison, Róisín and Ann Ingle in studio to share their favourite...
12.14.2023
Remembering Rosemary Smith
Irish motorsport legend Rosemary Smith died last week at the age of 86. To pay tribute to the trailblazing rally driver, we want to bring you this interview with Smith from 2018. Following the release of ‘Driven’, her memoir ghostwritten...
12.07.2023
Taking Back My Power: ‘Revenge porn’ campaigner Georgia Harrison
In 2020, author and reality television star Georgia Harrison became a victim of so called ‘revenge porn’ when she was secretly recorded having sex with her ex partner, Stephen Bear and the footage then put online without her consent. The...
11.30.2023
Emma Dabiri: Claiming your unruly beauty
Irish-Nigerian author and broadcaster Emma Dabiri is giving the middle finger to modern beauty standards. Growing up, Dabiri felt pressured to conform to “oppressive” beauty ideals, to shrink herself to fit in and to straighten her afro hair. Now, as...
11.23.2023
Justine McCarthy: An Eye on Ireland
In her new book, An Eye on Ireland, award-winning journalist and Irish Times columnist Justine McCarthy shares new and selected pieces of work from her long-spanning career in journalism. For four decades, McCarthy’s writing has challenged stereotypes, held power to...
11.16.2023
Cat Bohannon: How the female body drove evolution
In her new book Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution, author Cat Bohannon explores the history and science behind the development of the female sex. In this episode, Bohannon explains to Róisín Ingle why...
11.13.2023
The Book Club: So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan
At just 64-pages long, you could get through So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan in just one sitting. So if you haven’t read it yet, you’ve no excuse. The story follows Cathal, a civil servant working in Dublin,...
11.09.2023
Invisible woman syndrome: Why does it happen and what to do about it
Six years ago, when writer and psychotherapist Lucy Cavendish turned 50 , she began to feel like she didn’t fit in anymore. With her four children reared, Cavendish’s identity as a working mother was gone, leaving her feeling as though...
11.02.2023
Catherine Cleary: How to grow your own forest
Three years ago, Irish Times contributor Catherine Cleary decided to buy the cheapest land she could find in Ireland, with the dream of planting her own native forest. Following a long search, Cleary and her husband Liam, eventually came across...
10.26.2023
Best of The Women's Podcast: Elizabeth Day
Romantic love, widely elevated as a subject worth interrogating, tends to get a lot of attention while platonic friendship is woefully neglected in the public discourse. Enter, self-described “friendaholic” Elizabeth Day who is attempting to redress the balance. The author...
10.19.2023
Menopause: Claire Dinsmore on ‘the power years’
This week, marked World Menopause Day, a day to raise awareness and break the stigma around perimenopause and menopause. To celebrate this transitional period in life, we’re joined today by Claire Dinsmore, a certified perimenopause coach and fitness fanatic based...
10.12.2023
Agnes O’Casey: Lies We Tell
A graduate of Dublin’s Lir Academy, English actress Agnes O’Casey made her big break in the highly acclaimed BBC series Ridley Road in 2021. Now the rising acting star is playing the lead in her first feature film, Lies We...
10.05.2023
Máiría Cahill: Rough Beast
Rough Beast: My Story and the Reality of Sinn Féin is the highly anticipated memoir from former Irish Senator Máiría Cahill. Growing up in west Belfast, steeped in the traditions of Irish republicanism, Cahill seemed destined for a political career...
09.28.2023
Marian Keyes at 60: what the beloved, best-selling author has learned about life
Today we’re delighted to be joined by best-selling author and friend of the podcast Marian Keyes, who celebrated her 60th birthday earlier this month. In this conversation with Róisín Ingle, Keyes shares the nuggets of wisdom she has gleaned from...
09.21.2023
Sinéad Kennedy on the joys of solo travel
In this episode, author, travel writer and wellbeing coach Sinéad Kennedy joins Róisín Ingle to discuss her new book Life is a Cycle. It’s an honest and lighthearted memoir, detailing Kennedy’s commitment to living a life filled with excitement and...
09.14.2023
There’s something about Mary McKenna / The Coil’s Lament
Mary McKenna is the CEO & Founder of Tour America & Cruise Holidays / The Travel Suite, one of Ireland’s most successful travel agencies. Founded in her sitting room almost three decades ago, the company has gone from strength to...
09.07.2023
Anne Enright: The Wren, The Wren
Following on from the success of her 2020 novel Actress, Anne Enright is back with her latest book The Wren, The Wren. It’s a multi-generational story, exploring family trauma and the love between mother and daughter, told through three members...
08.31.2023
Dublin Fringe Festival Friends: Sadhbh Malin and Sinéad Gallagher
The Dublin Fringe Festival kicks off next month on Saturday, the 9th of September. Once again, the festival features a stellar line up of women-led productions, ranging from comedy, theatre and performance art. Making their debut at this year’s Fringe,...
08.27.2023
The Book Club: Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood
This month our booker clubbers have been reading Old Babes in the Wood, a collection of short stories from award-winning author Margaret Atwood. The book explores themes like love and relationships, what it means to be human, the ageing process...
08.24.2023
Rosemary Murphy: The 40 year-old medical student (and mother of 12)
Rosemary Murphy, a dynamic 40-year-old woman from Dolphin’s Barn in Dublin, had two major goals from childhood. The first was to have a large family. The second was to study medicine and become a doctor. As a mother of 12...
08.17.2023
Elaine Feeney: Booker Prize Nominee
Irish author Elaine Feeney is nominated for the 2023 Booker Prize for her novel How to Build a Boat. The writer from Galway is one of four Irish authors and the only Irish woman to make the long list this...
08.10.2023
Clit Bait: Everything you need to know about your clitoris
In this episode, we have two experts on hand to share their extensive knowledge of the clitoris, a much ignored and often overlooked part of the female body. Urologist Dr Rachel Rubin and author of ‘Vagina Obscura’ Rachel E Gross...
08.03.2023
Ejaculate Responsibly: A whole new way to think about abortion
American blogger and author Gabrielle Stanley Blair is on a mission to change the conversation around abortion. Rather than centering the debate around women and their bodies, Stanley Blair suggests a crucial refocus: MEN. In her new book ‘Ejaculate Responsibly’,...
07.27.2023
Remembering Sinéad O’Connor
Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor died this week at the age of 56. A trailblazer, feminist and advocate for social change, O’Connor will be remembered for her outstanding contribution to music and her courage in speaking out against the status quo....
07.20.2023
Caitlin Moran: What About Men?
A regular on The Women's Podcast, journalist and author Caitlin Moran was in Dublin recently as part of her latest book tour. As someone who regularly discusses the problems of girls and women in public, Moran has often been confronted with...
07.13.2023
Dina Kraft: My Friend Anne Frank
In this episode, writer and journalist Dina Kraft tells the story of Holocaust survivor Hannah Pick-Goslar and her childhood best friend, Anne Frank. Hannah and Anne met in Amsterdam as young girls and spent many happy years playing together, before...
07.06.2023
I Will Be Good: Peig McManus
I Will Be Good is the new memoir from Peig McManus, an unforgettable Dublin character, who grew up in 1940s Ireland, under the shadow of the Second World War. Now in her 80s, Peig reflects on a life lived boldly...
07.02.2023
The Book Club: Holiday reads
In this episode, book clubbers Niamh Towey, Bernice Harrison, Róisín and Ann Ingle share their summer reading recommendations. Amongst their favourites are The Guest by Emma Cline, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid and The Rachel...
06.29.2023
Cecelia Ahern on empathy, rage and menopause
It’s almost twenty years since Cecelia Ahern released her debut book P.S I Love You. Now the author is back with her nineteenth novel, In a Thousand Different Ways. It tells the story of Alice, a highly empathetic person who...
06.22.2023
Grand: Noelle McCarthy
Broadcaster and writer Noelle McCarthy was born and raised in Cork, but now lives in New Zealand with her husband and young daughter Eve. Her new memoir ‘Grand: Becoming my Mother’s Daughter’, examines the tumultuous relationship she had with mother...
06.15.2023
Naoise Dolan: The Happy Couple
Best-selling author Naoise Dolan is here to talk about her highly-anticipated second novel The Happy Couple. It tells the story of Celine and Luke, their upcoming wedding and the three friends who may draw them apart. In this episode, Dolan...
06.08.2023
COYGIG: Vera Pauw on Ireland’s FIFA World Cup dreams
The countdown is on for next month’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia. In this episode, Vera Pauw, manager of the Irish women’s national football team, talks to Róisín Ingle about the mood in camp, her hopes for her players...
06.01.2023
The magic of biodiversity: Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin
In May 2019, the Irish government declared a climate and biodiversity emergency. To guide us through everything we need to know about biodiversity loss and the impact it has on the natural environment, we’re joined by activist, educator and former...

What's The Women's Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Women's Podcast episodes:

Narcissistic mothers: How to handle one and how to heal

Rebecca Ivory: Free Therapy

Simone Gannon: Beauty through the ages

Living with Endometriosis

Jan Brierton: Everybody Is A Poem

Leave Molly mAlone / Protecting maternity leave for cancer patients

International Women’s Day: The war on women in Palestine

The Referendum Special: Women, Home, Duties, Common Good, Care & Family

Secret Voices: A Year of Women’s Diaries

Overcoming perfectionism: Fiona Brennan and Edel Coffey

Make Gaeilge Great Again: Áine Gallagher and Mollie Guidera

Missing Persons: Clair Wills on the search for her secret cousin

Breakdown: Cathy Sweeney

Breaking barriers: Inny Ekeolu and Aghogho Okpara

Double Act: Millie Daniel-Dempsey and Amy Robyn Lyster

Your favourite episodes of 2023

The Women's Podcast 2023 Review

The Book Club: Christmas gift recommendations

Remembering Rosemary Smith

Taking Back My Power: ‘Revenge porn’ campaigner Georgia Harrison

Emma Dabiri: Claiming your unruly beauty

Justine McCarthy: An Eye on Ireland

Cat Bohannon: How the female body drove evolution

The Book Club: So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan

Invisible woman syndrome: Why does it happen and what to do about it

Catherine Cleary: How to grow your own forest

Best of The Women's Podcast: Elizabeth Day

Menopause: Claire Dinsmore on ‘the power years’

Agnes O’Casey: Lies We Tell

Máiría Cahill: Rough Beast

Marian Keyes at 60: what the beloved, best-selling author has learned about life

Sinéad Kennedy on the joys of solo travel

There’s something about Mary McKenna / The Coil’s Lament

Anne Enright: The Wren, The Wren

Dublin Fringe Festival Friends: Sadhbh Malin and Sinéad Gallagher

The Book Club: Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood

Rosemary Murphy: The 40 year-old medical student (and mother of 12)

Elaine Feeney: Booker Prize Nominee

Clit Bait: Everything you need to know about your clitoris

Ejaculate Responsibly: A whole new way to think about abortion

Remembering Sinéad O’Connor

Caitlin Moran: What About Men?

Dina Kraft: My Friend Anne Frank

I Will Be Good: Peig McManus

The Book Club: Holiday reads

Cecelia Ahern on empathy, rage and menopause

Grand: Noelle McCarthy

Naoise Dolan: The Happy Couple

COYGIG: Vera Pauw on Ireland’s FIFA World Cup dreams

The magic of biodiversity: Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin