The Women's Podcast

In Ireland 40% of people don’t live in a couple. When you look at those in the 16-29 age bracket, that skyrockets to 71%. After almost a year of lockdowns, give or take the odd month when restrictions were relaxed, the rules introduced to fight the spread of coronavirus have meant that sex between single people, or established couples who don’t cohabit, has in effect been illegal, against regulations, or only allowed outdoors. So, is it possible to date in a pandemic? How difficult is it to live a life starved of physical affection? And, what will dating be like when all of this is over? In response to a listener email highlighting some of the issues around being a single person in the pandemic, we gathered a panel of women together on Valentine’s Day to discuss the realities of dating, or not, during lockdown. In today’s podcast Róisín talks to Irish Times advice columnist Roe McDermott, journalist, blogger and Irish Times contributor Filomena Kaguako and Emily Wicks, a beauty blogger and plus size model from Waterford who was on First Dates last year. 🚨Announcement 🚨- Season three of the Women’s Podcast 'Big Night In' kicks off at 7pm on Saturday March 6th. We’ve got Mary McAleese, Tolu Makay, Maeve Higgins, and more, lined up for an evening of conversation with Róisín Ingle. Tickets on sale, soon!

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Nature writer and essayist Kerri ní Dochartaigh was born in Derry, Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles. The daughter of a Catholic mother and Protestant father, her childhood was one of trauma and violence. Struggling to identify with either side, her family were forced out of two homes and were also victim to a frightening petrol bomb attack. In her first book, Thin Places, ní Dochartaigh lays bare the ways in which these events affected her life. Weaving between two contrasting genres, nature writing and memoir, the book is an emotional history of the Troubles and an exploration into the comforting and healing power of the natural world. In today’s episode, the writer speaks to Róisín Ingle about the meaning of Thin Places and the idea that certain locations can make us feel closer to the other world. They also discuss her experiences growing up in the North, some serendipitous moments along the way and the meandering search for a sense of belonging.

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Thousands of Poles have taken to the streets again in recent weeks, in protest against the introduction of new legislation effectively banning abortion. It follows last October’s constitutional court ruling that outlawed abortions in the case of foetal abnormalities. According to the ruling, which cannot be appealed, the only remaining circumstances for a Polish woman to end a pregnancy legally in her home country are in cases of rape, incest or health risk.On today's podcast Róisín speaks to three women about the situation in Poland: Julia Marciniak, Hospitality and Tourism coordinator for Unite the Union and Polish pro choice activist, Iwonna Kowalska, a Warsaw-based member of the Polish Grannies protest group, and Alibhe Smyth, a longtime LQBTQ+ and abortion rights campaigner here in Ireland.https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/europe-and-central-asia/poland/

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Dr Jessica Taylor is a UK-based psychologist, sexual violence survivor and author of the best-selling book Why Women Are Blamed For Everything. She is also a senior lecturer in forensic and criminal psychology and the Director of Victim Focus - an organisation that addresses victim blaming practices in social care, policing, mental health and support services. On today’s podcast she talks to Róisín about a new, world-first training and research programme she has developed in partnership with Rape Crisis Network Ireland. The programme is in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the proliferation of online counselling services. Its aim is to ensure that remote trauma counselling for victims of sexual violence is carried out correctly, that it is standardised and that it is really working for the victims. Jessica also talks to Róisín about her own life story, overcoming shocking rape and physical abuse as a teenager, returning to education and training to be a psychologist, going on to become one of the UK’s most vocal advocates for survivors of sexual violence.

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Bad Bridget is a five-part podcast series which tells the unheard stories of Irish girls and women who emigrated to North America in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The series is a culmination of over five years worth of research by historians Elaine Farrell of Queen’s University Belfast and Leanne McCormick of Ulster University. Each episode delves into the lives of these women who travelled across the Atlantic and didn’t quite find the American dream. The extensive research into police, court and prison records uncovers the types of criminal activity in which Irish women were involved, including drunkenness, sex work and murder. In the 1860s, Irish women alone made up 86% of the female prison population in New York, while a 19th-century survey of 1,238 foreign-born sex workers found that 706 were Irish, just over half. In today’s episode, Farrell and McCormick speak to Róisín Ingle about the Irish women that history chose to forget.

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What’s your lockdown style? Are you still getting fully dressed, washing your hair and putting makeup on? After 12 months at home, for many of us, leggings have become part of our daily uniform while our jeans are gathering dust. A year into this new comfy way of life, we ask the question, what have we become? To discuss this, Roisin is joined on today’s show by beauty columnist Laura Kennedy, comedian and co-founder of the MOB comedy theatre and school, Erin McGathy, and Jen Hogan, parenting columnist, author and mother of seven. Also in this episode, Roisin recites an excellent poem by a woman called Jan Brierton, which truly captures the spirit of Lockdown 3.

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In our latest podcast we hear about the Gender Disparity Report on Irish radio, compiled by the Why Not Her? collective. It outlines a continuing gender disparity among the 20 most-played songs by Irish artists on Irish stations between June 24th and December 24th, 2020. On today’s podcast, Roisin Ingle speaks to activist and Why Not Her? founder Linda Coogan-Byrne about the report’s findings, where improvements have been made and what she believes needs to be done to achieve greater gender and racial diversity on Irish Radio. The hugely successful singer-songwriter RuthAnne also gives her reaction to the report and describes her own experience as an artist trying to break through what she describes as the “lad sound” on Irish Radio.Later in the show, we speak to Marin Alsop, a groundbreaking orchestra conductor considered to be one of the best in the world. Marin was recently a guest tutor on the National Concert Hall's award-winning Female Conductor Programme. Our co-producer Jennifer Ryan caught up with her afterwards.

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Five Minute Therapy is the first book by Dublin-based psychotherapist Sarah Crosby. Packed full of practical exercises and powerful insights, it provides readers with the tools to reflect on their life experiences and explore who they are and who they might like to be. Think of it as your own pocket therapist. In today’s episode, Crosby speaks to Róisín Ingle about her journey from archaeology to psychotherapy, her early struggles with an eating disorder and how the Instagram page @theMindGeek set the wheels in motion for the book. From boundary setting, the joys of self discovery and how to be a good friend to others, Sarah shares some excellent tips on how to mind your mental health during another tough lockdown. Also, a reminder that Winter Nights is kicking off on Monday 25th January. It’s a five-day online festival of conversation, culture and ideas. Amongst the events, Roisin Ingle will be joined by Holocaust survivor Edith Eger as they explore ways to change the thoughts and behaviours that can keep us prisoners of our past. More information and tickets can be found here: https://www.irishtimes.com/winter-nights

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This Friday, Trinity College Dublin professor Jane Ohlmeyer will deliver the Ford Lectures at the University of Oxford in England. Just ten women have delivered the prestigious lectures since they were founded in 1896 and prof Ohlmeyer will be the first woman from a university in Ireland to be invited to do so. Born in what was then Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) to a Northern Irish mother and a South African father, Ohlmeyer grew up in Belfast at the height of the Troubles. On today's podcast she talks to Kathy Sheridan about the last impact witnessing that violence has had on her. She also speaks in detail about her career, her fascination with the British Empire and Ireland's place in it, the experience of being a woman bashing on the glass ceiling in higher education and how she is feeling about the Ford Lectures. Rumour has it prof Ohlmeyer will be in the running for the soon-to-be vacant provost job at TCD. But as she explains in this podcast, she can't really go into that at the moment. Watch this space....If you'd like to see prof Ohlmeyer deliver The Ford Lectures, they begin on Friday 22 January at 5pm online. Tune in by following the link on the Oxford website - https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/james-ford-lectures-british-history

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Raw, tired, angry and emotional. That’s how our guests on today’s podcast feel.It’s as they attempt to digest the government-commissioned report from the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes released this week. It found a shocking number of deaths and widespread abuses at religious institutions for unmarried mothers and their children in this country. Set up in 2015 following revelations about the deaths and burials of hundreds of children in Tuam, Co Galway, the commission was charged with examining what happened to vulnerable women and children in mother and baby homes in the State during the period from 1922 up to 1998. It found that 9,000 children - most of them babies - died in these institutions during that time. On Wednesday, Taoiseach Mícheál Martin apologised to survivors on behalf of the State saying, "we embraced a perverse religious morality and control, judgementalism and moral certainty, but shunned our daughters."To talk about the report, Kathy Sheridan is joined today by Rosemary Adaser, survivor of the industrial school and mother and baby home system, Noelle Brown who was adopted from Bessborough mother and baby home as an infant, and legal academic Mairead Enright, who has written extensively on law and feminism, reproductive justice and historical injustice.

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